Fiat Trip to Seattle

Last weekend I went to the Supercross. It was amazing. I can't wait till next year.

They say the best part of a journey is the trip. My friend Brent and I took that trip in a Fiat 500 to Seattle.

Driving the Fiat started on Friday night when I gave three customers a ride home. It looks small on outside but they are surprisingly roomy on the inside. After dropping everyone off I headed home on Dewdney Trunk road. Just past the dam on the Mission side, there are a couple switch backs. I thought “this is a pretty good place to test the handling". So I opened it up a bit and drove it pretty hard into the turns. The car responded well with just a hint of understeer. I was very impressed with the small cars handling.

Saturday morning we headed out for Seattle. First up was a stop at the gas station. The fuel light was on but it only cost about 40 dollars to fill. While filling the car we were asked a ton of questions about the car. A lady even asked if she could sit in it

Then we headed down the road on the way to the boarder. We were very surprised to have people honking and giving us the thumbs up. I had to chuckle because Brent wanted to take a Viper to Seattle but we wouldn't have got that many honks or waves in a Viper.

First stop in the states was Starbucks in Lynden. Another round of questions and inside we went to get some coffees. Then back on the road.

Next up was the Seattle Premium Outlet mall for a quick stop (Brent had to pick up a Birthday present for his wife). No problems parking even in the smallest spaces. We also thought it would be fun to stop traffic and take a picture in front of the fountain near the Tulalip Casino. After everyone honking at us we discovered we could have taken a great picture in front of the Whale sculptures behind there a lot easier.

Then off to Seattle. Things were going great, then the traffic hit. The Fiat we were driving was a standard but the clutch was light enough that my left leg didn’t get tired in stop and go traffic. Our turn off was 8 km away but we were going nowhere fast. We went past a accident. Great we thought, but we were going nowhere. We went past a second accident. Great we thought, but we were going nowhere. We went past a third accident. Things got better after that.

We got downtown and headed for Pikes Place Market. I love going to the market. Crazy people, crazy things for sale and flying fish. Brent had never been to the market and commented how there were people from all walks of life there. Homeless people to people who seemed quite well off.

Starting from a standing stop on hill in a standard vehicle can be quite challenging .The Fiat has a hill stop assist. This means even on the steepest grade the car does not roll back when you take your foot the brake to start out.  This is a great feature that takes some of the stress of downtown driving away.

 

The race was incredible but that will be in a different story.

After the race we headed home. The Fiats headlights worked great. Brent commented a couple of times how they lit up the road.

The best part of driving after 11:00 at night is Washington State is no real traffic. We were able to set the cruise at 120km/h no problems. The Fiat is very stable and handles well at highway speeds. We got home at about 1:00 on Sunday morning.

I had a little running around to do on Sunday so I took the car on Sunday too. It's really funny. Some people have no idea what their looking at and some people know exactly what they are looking at when they see the Fiat. It’s great to hear peoples stories of summers in Europe or growing up Europe and how there is a real love for these cars.

Monday morning I filled up the Fiat. It took only 35 litres. That is for sure, the least amount of fuel I’ve ever used going back forth to Seattle.

I really enjoyed driving the fiat. I wasn’t sure taking it on the highway was going to be a good experience. I can say I would take it any day on any highway trip. The seats were very comfortable, the Bose stereo sounded great. We even had Satellite radio. Brent thought the solid ride and headlights were the highlights of the little Italian car. Both of us were presently surprised by how quite on the highway the car rode. It really drives like a car twice the size.

Also on Monday I gave the keys back to Ian and ended my weekend test drive. Next time maybe I can take the Viper but I doubt I will get as many honks and waves.