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How the Fiat 500 Plans to Nag You Into More Fuel-Efficient Driving

By jim motavalli

Updated on: December 6, 2010 / 6:24 PM EST / MoneyWatch

Cars have traditionally been dumb devices that didn't care how you drove them, but Fiat thinks it has a better idea for the subcompact 500 model it is shortly to introduce to the U.S. market -- onboard "eco:Driving," which enables the car to monitor bad (that is to say, inefficient) driving habits such as jackrabbit starts and abrupt braking.

Critics who complain about the "nanny culture" might not like the idea of their car criticizing their driving, and it's in line with GPS systems that sound judgmental when you make a wrong turn, and anti-drowsiness systems (standard on some luxury cars) that display coffee cups and stop signs and interrupt the audio system to say, "Take a Break. Now!"

Fiat's eco:Driving system will be standard on the 2012 500 (with a starting price of $15,500) that comes to the U.S. in January, spokesman Ariel Gavilan told me. It isn't automatically activated -- the car owner has to go to the Fiat eco-driving website and download the software onto a thumb drive, then plug it into the car's USB port -- then reverse the process to let the software analyze driving data. But once it's working, the system will keep an eye out for late gear changes (bad for fuel economy), jerky acceleration and de-acceleration (ditto) and failure to maintain a steady speed (that's what cruise control is for).

The software has been downloaded 140,000 times in Europe, where it's available on a broad array of Fiat models. According to Candido Peterlini, a Fiat vice president of product development, data from Europe, based on studying more than 5,000 drivers, reveals that:

The British know how to handle manual transmissions properly;
The Germans hit the gas too hard but do a good job of maintaining a constant speed;
Italians are no good at all at slowing down gently;
The Spanish aren't good at any of these things, but are quick learners.

The best-in-class British drive at 62 percent fuel efficiency, but it goes downhill from there. The Italians (who, after all, make the 500) are at 58 percent, and the Spanish at 57 percent.

Fiat says that correct eco-driving can reduce fuel costs by 16 percent, so that should be a good selling point for a car that's already very good on gas (there's no EPA rating for the 500 yet, but it should be in the 40s on the highway).

eco:Driving is part of an unusually comprehensive (for an economy car) "Blue & Me" 500 connectivity package that also includes a hand-held navigation unit (you can take it with you as a guide for walking tours) that docks on the top of the instrument panel, and a touch-screen display that displays real-time traffic and weather.

The biggest challenge for Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne as they deploy this Italian import is to get Americans to overlook the "Fix It Again, Tony" legacy that hastened the automaker's hasty departure from the U.S. market in 1984. My friend owned an 850 coupe that had visible rust when it was brand new.

The 500 is a beautiful, retro design that unfortunately evokes a model with no resonance on the American market (the original 500 microcar). VW, by contrast, benefited from considerable nostalgia for the 60s Bug when it introduced the New Beetle. So although the handouts refer to the 1960s 500 as a "timeless icon," it makes more sense to emphasize Italian styling (Ferrari is a good reference point) and the great fuel economy. If eco:Driving enhances that image a bit, all the better.

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Photo: Flickr/JeanM1