During the summer, the neighbors’ car takes time off, but not quite. The series is transformed for five episodes to answer the question you have always asked yourself: what are the personal cars of the Caradisiac journalists. Very recent powerful and gleaming cars? Youngtimers? Old cars? Watch out for surprises. This week, Pierre-Olivier Marie presents his daily with a taste of Italy.
He may be Caradisiac’s deputy editor in charge of news, but his car is not really a novelty since it is celebrating its 12th birthday this year. But Pierre-Olivier Marie never tires of his Fiat 500, even after more than a decade behind the wheel. And not only for its practical aspects. “When I look at it, I always feel a certain emotion. Because unlike other cars, it has not aged”
dailymotion
The Caradisiac special neighbors’ car: Pierre-Olivier Marie and his all-purpose Fiat 500
If the line of the small Italian is timeless, what about its engine, a good old 4-cylinder 1.2 l of 69 hp? “It is indestructible” And much better, according to POM (the nickname of Pierre-Olivier Marie) than the TwinAir, the famous twin that Fiat slipped under the hood of its city cars during the previous decade.
Moreover, even if the “four-legged” is not the most powerful block of all time, it is rather sober, “and is satisfied with 5.5 l on the road and 6.2 in town”. A city that is his kingdom. The 500 has a Crit’air 1 sticker and the little “city” button which further lightens the already light power steering, even for those who have given up driving in Paris. “Anne Hidalgo won and I take the train to get there from Yvelines where I live”.
A practical car in town, easy to park and rather robust is not necessarily the best car in the world. Except that it hides a secret: its astonishing habitability. The rear seats? “My kids are holding on to it with no problem.” And by folding the bench seat, POM even managed to transport half a stere of firewood, “a real utility”.
A Swiss army knife car
A van, which turns (almost) into a minivan and which turns out to be ultra-urban, therefore. But in addition, it is not too badly equipped in this finish, “pop”, since it has air conditioning and a car radio that is certainly facetious since it passed away after a dark story of lost code. The fault of its driver, whose talents as a handyman are inversely proportional to his journalistic talents, and who managed to ruin the device while trying to dismantle it.
Yet this car whose talents he boasts is not his, at least originally. “It was my wife’s.” But he hastened to sting her as soon as she got a company car. Since then, he has never left his Fiat 500. Resell it? He doesn’t even think about it. Especially since he had bought it for 11,500 euros, and currently the call price exceeds 15,000 euros. In addition, it displays only 88,000 km on the odometer. Barely a teenager who will still be able to haul enough wood to face many more winters.
