Hello! I love Car Talk! I am a loyal listener to your podcasts and reader of the column. Never thought I would have a question for you, but here it is. I currently drive a 2012 Fiat 500 (70,000 carefree miles). It is hard to give up due to a lifetime bumper to bumper warranty on the vehicle, but it isn’t safe enough for my family members approval. There are so many choices for cars now I’m not sure which is the best choice. My priorities are 1) environment 2) safety 3) comfort. My favorite cars in the past? 1) Fiat 500 (great gas mileage, not so comfortable for long trips). 2) Mazda Tribute (great visibility, solid mechanically). 3) Mercedes C240 (comfortable ride, not so good on repair costs). I am getting older and want a car that will have better visibility than the Fiat and safe enough to protect my old bones,
The cars that looks most attractive to me are the Honda HRV, Nissan Rogue and Toyota Prius. I would love to hear your thoughts on these or others you think would be good. Thank you! Yoga Laurie
Keep the Fiat. You obviously have one of the few good ones. It is plenty safe.
What did that cost extra ?
As for safety just ignore people and drive what you want to drive. There are very little difference in the safety of vehicles anymore.
Thank you so much!
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Laurie
When I bought the car it was $15,999.00 total for both the (brand new at the time) 2012 Fiat 500 and a bumper to bumper warranty. I am not absolutely sure but I think the warranty was 2,500.00 bumper to bumper for the life of the car or as contracts go, they put a number to it: 999,999 miles.
It has been pretty much problem free.
Received a new master cylinder due to a recall (I didn’t have a failure with it, but happy to change it out for a new one), Fiat replaced the window mechanism (window was slipping), oh and they changed the driver side seat out because customers complained about comfort(?). It had felt fine to me. Fiat also replaced a starter- for free!!!
It’s been reliable for me. But I only have 70,000 miles on it.
Laurie
Get a subaru forester, it is safe, easy to get in and out, economical to run.
CR rated it best for older drivers.
These are 3 different vehicules. If fuel economy is a concern take the Prius.The Prius is confortable,reliable and very safe. The best thing is that its a Toyota.
Keep driving the Fiat till it becomes very troublesome. At the current mileage you have a few years left.
I will agree, except to note that these 3 are VERY different vehicles.
Wouldn’t the OP be better-off to compare apples with apples, rather than comparing apples to oranges?
Troublesome, does not really matter if this ’ lifetime warranty ’ is any good at all .
I was thinking more of the inconvenience and being stuck on the road some dark and rainy night.
If the OP has issues with the 500’s visibility, they’ll really need to take careful test drives - most cars are worse!
And the same goes for driving comfort - at least a half hour test drive, on some rough roads.