Episode 6: Fiat 500X vs Mini Cooper

In this episode, it’s Fiat 500X vs Mini Cooper… Italy vs. England. Are these cars terrific for parking in tight spaces? Is Harry Potter important? Does it matter the Mini Cooper has a manual transmission? Listen to this week The Pit Stop Podcast hosts Eli and Jonny to find out…

Two Tiny Heres

In this episode, Eli and Jonny take 2 tiny cars to see which one will come out on top. The Mini Cooper 4 Door Hardtop vs. the Fiat 500X. First, Eli gives a little bit of history on Mini Cooper and mentions it was launched in 1959 in England under the direction of Sir Leanord Lord, to fix the problem of too many big cars and expensive fuel costs. Fiat was founded in 1899 in Italy by a group of businessman and the first Fiat was exported to the US in 1908. Eli almost immediately mentions that the Mini comes with a manual transmission standard, whereas the Fiat comes with an automatic transmission standard in all models, and that most people in the US don’t know how to drive manual cars, plus the difference between both base models is $1400. But Jonny argues for $1400 less than the Fiat, the Mini Cooper offers you Leather Seats, Park Distance Control, and many safety features that the Fiat does not have.

Italy vs England

Eli also mentioned Fiat owned a majority stake in Ferrari in 1988 and that Fiat knew what they were doing for a long time whereas Mini was producing only 1 type of car before being joined with BMW. Jonny then argued the Mini Cooper weighs 500 pounds less than the Fiat, but Eli refuted and stated the Fiat has 40HP more than the Mini Cooper. Jonny also pointed out that Fiat sold 4300 cars in 2020 in the US, but Mini sold 28,100 cars in 2020 in the US. A huge difference by any standard.

Both Eli and Jonny mentioned which famous people have owned a Fiat and a Mini Cooper. Clint Eastwood, Danial Radcliff from Harry Potter, and Pope Francis all have Fiats. Jonny came prepared and stated that Mr. Bean, John Lennon, Ringo Star, Steve McQueen, Madonna, and Ed Sheeran all owned Mini Coopers. Needless to say, the list of famous people on both sides is impressive. Eli said that Harry Potter is more famous than everyone that Jonny mentioned, but Jonny obviously disagreed. Then Eli mentioned that the feature he thinks is useless on the Mini Cooper is that for an extra charge, the mirror caps on the Mini Cooper could come painted like the British Flag, and it was unnecessary for the US Market.

Ultimately they took it to the polls and the people voted 56% for the Fiat 500X and 44% for the Mini Cooper so Eli had won this round.