I’ve never been impressed with the Yaris and after having a rental I don’t think I could buy one. There are lots of other options out there (Accent, Fit, Rio, Mazda2, etc.) that are rated higher. Consumer Reports gives the Yaris a 41, which is 19 points lower than the next best rated car in that class. Have you looked at the Hyundai Veloster?
Test-drive both. Your mind may make itself!
My biased opinion: I wouldn’t own a Fiat if you gave it to me and paid me to keep it.
Now, that’s probably irrational, but I owned a Fiat in the early 80s: my parents bought it used from some friends. They had rather a soft spot for the brand (though they never owned one themselves!) I think because the local Fiat dealer was a member of our church, and used to let the parish hold Mass in their showroom while the church was being built.
It was a while before I forgave my parents. The car was a complete piece of junk. Actually, calling it a piece of junk is pretty insulting to any self-respecting junk heap. Pretty much everything but the steering wheel had to be replaced at one point or another - often multiple times. I went broke keeping it running - every time I started to save up some cash for a down payment on a replacement, the fucking thing had another 300 dollar repair bill. One of my brothers had owned one (purchased new) and it was not a good car. Both cars stranded us multiple times.
So, even though the brand has been completely reworked for its reintroduction into the US, I can’t get over my previous bad experience.
More rationally: how long have the new Fiat models been around? I mean, they’re new in the US but what about other countries? This will give you some more data on reliability. The Yaris has been around for several years in the US, and is more of a known quantity.
Either car will be new to you, and cool just for that alone. The Fiat may have prettier models in the ads (hell, I’m a straight female and I find them nice to look at!) but there’s a lot to be said for a car that you’re confident won’t let you down. Plus you can pimp up the Yaris with a sweet sound system, nicer seat covers etc. with the difference in purchase price, if that’s the model you choose.
Editing again: I see someone mentioned that the Yaris isn’t getting very good reviews from Consumer Reports, so it may not be the better choice for you.
Concur. There is, to my knowledge, no universally-recognized “my car’s broken again” phrase that anagrams to TOYOTA.
If you like driving at all, get the Fiat. The Yaris is a horrid thing to drive.
I borrowed a circa 2006 Yaris from a family member once and it’s the only car I’ve ever spun accidentally - with no warning at all I was suddenly going backwards around a roundabout.
I’ll add one more pro-Yaris anecdote. Mine has consistently gotten better than advertised MPG over the 4.5 years I’ve had it. I am not a leadfoot, but I’m not a hypermiler either.
Go the Fiat says the guy in Australia with a 2011 Jeep Wrangler, 1985 BMW 325 convertible and a Ducati 1096. I am paying out to much in repairs and petrol but by god I enjoy them all…
Yaris, Japanese for boring…
Lipstick on a pig… oh and maybe get some of those stick family stickers as well :p:p
Super-safe & reliable, but only Ok mileage is the Volvo C30. Comfy , great resale value, etc,. fast as a greased lizard on a hotplate. Ask Rick.
The Yaris is one of the few Toyotas that Consumer Reports does not give a good rating to.
Oh and just to be really clear on this the Yaris is REALLY REALLY REALLY slow.
The Fiat may not be quite as reliable as the Yaris, but will be nowhere near like the pure automotive masochism of driving an air cooled VW. I think if you’ve been generally happy with the Beetle, the Fiat will exceed your wildest dreams of how reliable and cheap to operate an automobile can be. While the Yaris may be slightly more so, if you’re comparing it to your old Beetle the difference is infinitesimal. The Yaris will also likely bore you to death.
[QUOTE=Simple Linctus]
Oh and just to be really clear on this the Yaris is REALLY REALLY REALLY slow.
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Not compared to a '74 Beetle!
Another thought: have you looked at any of VW’s current offerings? The Jetta and Golf are in the same ballpark as the Fiat, and even the New Beetle isn’t that much more. They’ve had their ups and downs, reliability-wise, over the last couple decades but they seem to have been pretty on-the-ball the last few years. They’d give you a bit more fahrvergnügen than the Yaris without being a totally unknown commodity like the Fiat. Maybe you’d even get a loyalty discount!
People are still reading my thread? I am grateful and a little humbled.
In fact I test-drove a Yaris before starting the thread, and this past weekend I drove another Yaris at a different dealership. Then I went down the street to my county’s only FIAT studio and test-drove a 500 Pop. Both makes were easy to operate, as much as I could determine from short spins around the block that never exceeded 40 MPH. Trivia: the FIAT has a flip-down center armrest; the Yaris does not.
Very good points. I expect to keep my next vehicle for as long as it will carry me, so starting out correctly and being diligent about maintenance should improve the odds of reliability for either choice. Which means “breaking in” the engine, a whole other controversy, but I digress. And while I can neither confirm nor deny possessing a soul, I have already admitted to having emotions. 
Your whole post is good, but “pure automotive masochism” is the best summation I’ve ever seen. I am so stealing that phrase.
Thank you again to everyone who replied. I may be writing a check as early as this coming weekend.
You’re buying a new car with a warranty. Don’t worry about “reliability”. The reliability of pretty much all mainstream car brands, except VW/Audi/Land Rover/Jaguar are very good and much better than even the best cars of 20 years ago.
…that being said I don’t think the base model FIAT 500 (not the Abarth) is really all that much to write home about. It’s at this point a fairly old car (debuted like what, 2007 in Europe?) and it won’t do as well in crash safety as the Yaris, which is certainly not a bad choice in this price range. By all accounts GM has this segment sewn up with the Chevy Sonic though, especially with the turbo engine, but it’s also the most expensive in the segment.
I have a Yaris. Best money I ever spent (on a car, anyway).
Word of advice: if the battery dies, take the car to the Toyota dealer. I [foolishly] installed a new battery and fried… something that cost me $1000 to fix.
Huh. I’ve been driving my Fiat since 1980, where as the only car I’ve ever hauled to the junkyard was a Toyota Tercel.
And about that whole “Tony” thing: The problem is* Tony*, not the Fiat.
Hate to be the guy who chooses none of the above but might I suggest a 2nd hand mini cooper s?
Yaris if you want a reliable vehicle (and you said you did.)
IMO if you can deal with more frequent problems down the road the Fiat would be fun. Be prepared to have a way to get it to/from the garage and live without it sometimes.
FWIW I had a 1974 Fiat 124 Spyder for a few years, really neat car and it was more reliable than my 1978 MGB. But not that reliable.
No worries, I’ve had years of practice. 
No new car yet, but possibly by tomorrow night. I just wanted to thank the dopers who offered suggestions of other makes and models. Some of them were indeed on my list of candidates before I narrowed it down to two.