2023 Fiat 500 Hybrid Rental Review

[Nick1994]

Just what you've all been waiting for! I've been in England for about 2 weeks and had a rental car booked to travel from Liverpool over to the Peak District, then down through the Cotswold to Cardiff in Wales, then I returned it today in London. Overall I logged about 575 miles. I was going to rent a nicer car but decided I wanted the full England experience, being crammed in a tiny car that they all would drive and it had to be a stick shift! Car had 1300ish miles on it at pickup. I'm not sure I understand the "hybrid" part. It never ran on full electric. Coasting would recharge the battery level indicated on the dash, accelerating would usually lower it. Other than that it was just like normal stop-start.

Keep in mind I owned a 2004 VW Beetle which was leaps and bounds a better car. The only better thing in the Fiat was the cupholders.

Pros:

• Decent fuel economy. The computer logged 52 mpg but I hand calculated 42 mpg. Maybe their gallons are different? I didn't drive for fuel economy though. But I also didn't drive it like the fine Italian sports car that it is...
• Stop-start was pretty good. Push in the clutch and the engine started. I was more ok with it since it was in a cool climate and the a/c turning off while the engine was off was fine. I'd die in Phoenix.
• Decent handling. Lots of twists and turns on the country roads here and it held it's ground.
• It had 4 cupholders

The OK:

• Ride. It was pretty rough but not sure they can do much else in such a tiny car.
• Interior quality. Actually pretty decent materials for a budget car but the turn signal, cruise control, and wiper switch were like they were 3D printed they were so cheap.

Cons:

• My god this thing was SLOW. 1.2L of fury. Around the city it was just fine but it has no torque out on the road it runs out of steam easily in the higher RPMs.
• Ground clearance. This thing scraped bottom several times when pulling off to the side of the road where you'd never think it would scrape. It even scraped the belly on a PAVED road that had a bit of a crown to it.
• Comfort. It wasn't awful but the seating ergonomics are bizarre. Maybe ok for shorter people. The seat bottom is only adjustable 1 way which would be fine if it would move the entire seat bottom and not just the rear of it.
• No backup camera. Standard on US cars for the last 5+ years, you'd think they could throw one in here.
  

Overall a decent city car. Shifted fine and would get someone from point A to B in the small cities in the UK. Not sure I'd want to take it out on the highway much though.

 

[skyactiv]

I think stick hybrid cars are considered a mild hybrid and can't switch between electric only and gas and electric simultaneously.

 

[atikovi]

Looks the same as U.S. models when they were sold here. They also have the Abarth version which is a lot more entertaining to drive. I'm waiting for the required Fiat bashing posts soon.

 

[AZjeff]

Would love to see clown car pics of Nick getting in and driving!

Work or pleasure trip?

 

[Oillover]

We had a Fiat Panda years ago, also with a silly small engine.
Despite being stick, it also was a joke when accelerating on the Italian highways.

Never again!

 

[NormanBuntz]

How did you like shifting with your left hand?

 

[Nick1994]

Would love to see clown car pics of Nick getting in and driving!

Work or pleasure trip?

Vacation from London to mostly Chester

 

[Nick1994]

How did you like shifting with your left hand?

You know, not as bad as I thought. Very intuitive. I may or may not have pulled out a few times on small streets on the wrong side of the road though

I'm not a veteran stick-shift driver but this thing was a breeze to drive.

 

[Oillover]

You know, not as bad as I thought. Very intuitive. I may or may not have pulled out a few times on small streets on the wrong side of the road though

I'm not a veteran stick-shift driver but this thing was a breeze to drive.

If you liked that, you should try a Honda manual transmission.

After 30 years of driving manual transmissions from BMW, Toyota, Ford, Volvo etc., it's literally the easiest/most enjoyable manual transmission to work with.

 

[KrisZ]

Yeah, that’s small cars for you and some folks on here yearn for this stuff for some odd reason. They probably never driven one, just look at their good MPG numbers.

I had a Fiat Tipo, which is similar in size to VW Golf and it was pretty good. Had a 1.0L 3 cylinder turbocharged engine and it was pretty peppy. Run out of steam at higher RPMs, but was enough for passing.
I averaged around 40mpg, so all this hybrid stuff seems like a waste in comparison.

 

[ctrcbob]

Im

1. As per mpg, Imperial Gallon is one fifth LARGER than an American Gallon. Your mpg seems correct.

2. Per good shifting, best manual shifting I ever had were the Renault Laguna’s I had (a 1.8 and a 2.0) that shifted great. Like shifting through butter.

 

[Marcozi]

FIAT: futile Italian attempt at transportation. Or, fix it again, Tony!

 

[pezzy84]

I had a 2012 500 Sport with manual some years back. Was an absolute hoot to drive - felt like you could toss it around a 90 degree corner at 60MPH and stay on the road. The 1.4 in that thing moved it quite nicely and actually sounded quite nice for a 4 cylinder, I'm kind of surprised the MultiAir valve train technology has not really expanded outside the Fiat world nor been recognized, it is pretty stellar technology that makes variable valve timing look ancient.

I had a lot of fun with that car. Now off to autotrader to see if I can find a nice clean, cheap used example as a fun car to keep alongside my ID.4.