Drove a 2013 Fiat 500 for a week; Love my Yaris even more

[CTScott]

I was in New Orleans for the past week doing a little family vacation. I rented a car, as we planned on also making our way out of the city a bit. With my rental package I could choose any car on the lot, but with no surprise to my wife and kids, rather than a Mustang or Yukon, I choose the smallest car there - A 2013 Fiat 500. I could have grabbed a Yaris, but when I travel, I always like to try other subcompacts for comparison. We were traveling fairly light, so luggage space wasn't an issue, but immediately my kids commented on how much smaller and less comfortable the back seat was.

The car was a six speed automatic and as I pulled out of the rental car area I almost turned back around as the acceleration was weak and the shift points felt very strange. By the time I made it out of the airport and onto the freeway I realized that it was just the nature of the car. Revving it up a bit brought the acceleration to an acceptable range, where I could comfortably merge onto the freeway and zip through traffic. The 4 wheel disc brakes had a great feel and performed well. The suspension felt a bit tighter than a completely stock Yaris, but the narrow width of the car made it feel a bit less stable than a Yaris in the turns.

The shorter length made street parking a breeze in the city as well as in the tiny parking garage at our hotel. We put just over 200 miles on it by the end of our trip and that was just enough for me (and my wife and kids) to be mighty glad to hop back in our Yaris after flying home.