# My first new car: Toyota Yaris or FIAT 500? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-new-car-toyota-yaris-or-fiat-500/639865 "2012-11-04T17:04:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-new-car-toyota-yaris-or-fiat-500/639865/61 "2013-09-20T03:49:07Z")
Ha ha, no. Right now she’s sleeping beneath her custom car cover, awaiting the weekend. Meanwhile my poor faithful Beetle works weekdays until I find the right buyer. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-new-car-toyota-yaris-or-fiat-500/639865/62 "2013-09-20T15:03:50Z")
> [@Fiat500S](#): > > [snip]…The Fiat is 9.2-9.5 seconds 0-60 mph floored…[snip] Oddly enough, 0-45 comes in at approximately 0.1 seconds, and the final 45-60 takes up the other 8.9 seconds. 😃 I find my manual nearly effortless in traffic, and it had hill assist braking, so no rolling backward. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-new-car-toyota-yaris-or-fiat-500/639865/63 "2013-09-20T20:47:55Z")
How much for the Beetle? Where are ya? ---
**Author:** ![NicaNurs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NicaNurs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicaNurs)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-new-car-toyota-yaris-or-fiat-500/639865/64 "2015-04-14T17:08:32Z")
@plankster: Any regrets on the Fiat 500 instead of the Yaris? I have owned 2 Tercels and went 2 1/2 decades on that combo. Since 2008, driving lots of freeway from east to west L.A. I’ve been getting 37 (the max advertised) mpg in a Yaris with 105,000 miles. But I am turning it over to a family member (to keep him off a motorcycle) and thus am in the market for a new car. A few years ago, I drove an automatic Fiat 500 as a rental and it was absurd. The automatic tach’ed way too high and I keep wondering why anyone would want an automatic Fiat. But when I test drove my verde chiaro Fiat 500 with 5 speed manual transmission last week, I developed a huge crush. So I’m back where plankster was a few years ago, with my head telling me that the Yaris has served me so well and deserves my loyalty, and my heart remembering that verde chiaro. My mechanic says he doesn’t have any customers with Fiats. So he didn’t say he wouldn’t buy the Fiat, but where will I take it if I do have problems? ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-new-car-toyota-yaris-or-fiat-500/639865/65 "2015-04-14T18:39:41Z")
I recently saw a list of the ten worst cars and the Fiat was on it. And not at the “good” end, IIRC. Evidently, its a maintenance nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-new-car-toyota-yaris-or-fiat-500/639865/66 "2015-04-14T18:52:48Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > I recently saw a list of the ten worst cars and the Fiat was on it. And not at the “good” end, IIRC. Evidently, its a maintenance nightmare. FWIW, I believe that was the 500L, which shares very little with the 500 other than the name. eta: Consumer Reports ranks Fiat dead last in terms of brand reliability, so it’s not like the 500 is great, but they did call it the most reliable Fiat, so there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-new-car-toyota-yaris-or-fiat-500/639865/67 "2015-04-14T19:48:09Z")
> [@NicaNurs](#): > > My mechanic says he doesn’t have any customers with Fiats. So he didn’t say he wouldn’t buy the Fiat, but where will I take it if I do have problems? Wild guess: The FIAT dealer. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-new-car-toyota-yaris-or-fiat-500/639865/68 "2015-04-14T21:25:51Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > FWIW, I believe that was the 500L, which shares very little with the 500 other than the name. > > eta: Consumer Reports ranks Fiat dead last in terms of brand reliability, so it’s not like the 500 is great, but they did call it the most reliable Fiat, so there’s that. Plus I believe the major issue with the 500L has been the Chrysler infotainment system, which has been dragging down the ratings of a lot of other Jeep, Dodge, etc models too. I don’t think it comes at least with the basic 500’s. > [@Rick](#): > > Wild guess: > The FIAT dealer. Or perhaps the mythical Tony we always hear so much about. ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-new-car-toyota-yaris-or-fiat-500/639865/69 "2015-04-15T02:16:01Z")
> [@NicaNurs](#): > > @plankster: Any regrets on the Fiat 500 instead of the Yaris? I have owned 2 Tercels and went 2 1/2 decades on that combo. Since 2008, driving lots of freeway from east to west L.A. I’ve been getting 37 (the max advertised) mpg in a Yaris with 105,000 miles. But I am turning it over to a family member (to keep him off a motorcycle) and thus am in the market for a new car. A few years ago, I drove an automatic Fiat 500 as a rental and it was absurd. The automatic tach’ed way too high and I keep wondering why anyone would want an automatic Fiat. But when I test drove my verde chiaro Fiat 500 with 5 speed manual transmission last week, I developed a huge crush. > > So I’m back where plankster was a few years ago, with my head telling me that the Yaris has served me so well and deserves my loyalty, and my heart remembering that verde chiaro. > > My mechanic says he doesn’t have any customers with Fiats. So he didn’t say he wouldn’t buy the Fiat, but where will I take it if I do have problems? First off, I’m glad the Yaris worked for you and I hope the new owner appreciates it. Far from having regrets, I am still besotted with my Pop. However, I do have cautions for a prospective 500 owner, the most important being your source for service. When I bought mine in Nov. '12 there was only one FIAT dealership (excuse me, “studio”) in the county, but fortunately it has a good service department\*. Not every area is so lucky, and I strongly suggest lurking at and/or joining a forum to learn which service centers are stellar and which are maddening. Chrysler dealers/service are supposed to be able to fix 500s, but I don’t even have to tell you that a dedicated FIAT place will be better, even if it’s farther away. Here are some FIAT forums, one of which I’m a member of: [http://www.fiat500usaforum.com/forum.php](http://www.fiat500usaforum.com/forum.php) ; [http://fiattech.com/forum](http://fiattech.com/forum) ; and [Fiat 500 Forum](http://www.fiat500owners.com/forum/) . Funny, I didn’t care for the Verde Chiaro green when I first saw it, but it’s grown on me. It is certainly unique. \*To forestall the obvious question, I’ve only taken it in for scheduled service (under warranty), and once to retrieve a clumsily dropped filler cap that fell beyond my reach - they refused to charge me for that. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-new-car-toyota-yaris-or-fiat-500/639865.md?page=3)