I've bought the Fiat version
I've bought the Fiat version here in the UK. Its a great little car - there's a but coming - but it is too short for tall people. I'm a bit tall, 6'3", and I knew it was a bit compact, but its not my only vehicle, so I figured I would manage for a while, and it would a fun little commute car.
And I will, but I have to get out every hour, can't spend any longer in there. If my foot is hovvering on the clutch pedal then my hand near the centre console won't go past my knee easily. I agree with the poster who said this car is 2" too short in the leg room. That's about what I'd rate it at too. The pedal box and footrest just needs shoving back 2" Short people would be fine as the seat would move forward OK, and I think position to the wheel would be fine. It really needs another 1-2" in the headroom too. My father got in for a ride and he's shorter than me, only about 6' or just under, and he said he felt too high for it.
The passenger side is just silly though. Presumably it has enough space for a pedal box there, because there are cars sold with the steering wheel on that side. But they've chosen to raise the floor there for some reason (footrest?), so its just too short. So unless I take my shoes off to gain another 1/2" of space, I can't be a passenger. Why did they choose to block off the bottom of the passenger footwell? Its crazy.
I'll enjoy my 2 years with it, but unless Fiat sort this out with Mazda, it will be going back and I won't be buying another.
Width wise, I don't agree with the people saying that if you can't get in then you're too fat. I'm not fat at all, I'm just tall, and width wise it is very tight because my frame is large, and the seats aren't really well suited to the wider shoulder. But my wife, who is not fat either, and is only 5'10", is also finding the seats a bit pinched because female hips are usually wider for the same height as a man.
Obviosuly they have used the standard frame sizes for Japanese men and women as the Mazdas and not European-origin, who are often of a larger frame.
I think this is the big reason this car isn't selling well enough in the US and Europe compared to the Mazda. The Mazda has a lot of younger buyers, who like the more modern appearance, and haven't filled out much yet. But the Fiat has more retro looks that appeal to the slightly older audience, but they're making a car that doesn't properly fit 50% of European origin people.
As for the rest of the car. Well, the engine is great. I've the 140bhp Fiat, not the 170bhp Abarth (because i wanted the quieter car with slightly softer suspension). Driven normally I don't notice any turbo lag at all, it revvs freely and pulls well. Its fun. The only time I've noticed any lag is if I've been dawdling in 2nd gear with revs way too low (sub 1000rpm) and then tried to pull away. Its too low for the turbo to be spinning. But if you had popped it into first, its off like a little rocket.
The roof works flawlessly, and the wind noise even at 70mph is fine if the side windows are up. A little blustery if they're down, but not bad if you're only doing a few mins at that speed.
The Bose speaker system (i have the plus model) sounds great and its nicely audible with the roof down.
Infotainment system is terrible. I understand its Mazdas and not Fiats. Its clunky and a bit slow and the nav controls aren't great. But the crowning glory of this is the sat nav system. Its shockingly bad. Consider that Google do a system that is free and really well sorted (so long as your phone can keep a GPS signal), this is going back ten years. You can't enter a postcode, its almost impossible to set waypoints to force it along a route, and if you enter an address it need the number of the property and unless you give it this it won't even begin the search, so you can't just get to an approximate location.
So usually I just turn off the screen and listen to the radio and the car, because thankfully its soundtrack is pretty cool.