When I pulled into the parking spot of our townhouse, after our 1^st drive in the 2014 Fiat 500 Sport Hatchback, my 3 and a half year-old son proclaimed, “Daddy, this is the first day with this new car… and I already love it!”

For the past couple of days now, he’s had a lot of fun being close enough to grab the front passenger’s seatbelt, announcing, “Hey Daddy, I got the toilet paper!”

Why wouldn’t a little boy love a Fiat 500? It’s one of the coolest cars he’s ever seen, like it’s from Mario Kart Wii. And here in Nashville, we don’t see a lot of them on the road, despite the fact I work right down the road from the Fiat dealership.

It has been interesting how my thoughts on the Fiat 500, which is part of the Chrysler group, has so quickly changed since  first test driving it. On day one, I was sort of paranoid of how unsafe I assumed the small car is. I also assumed it had no real power.

But by day three, I realized I actually really liked driving the thing. It’s truly a lot of fun. Turns out, it has much more power than I realized. Whereas I thought I’d be struggling to keep up with the speed limit, instead, I keep going 10 miles over the limit before realizing it.

As for the safety concern, I was definitely surprised to see that compared to the Toyota Tacoma I just reviewed, the Fiat 500 actually earned the same overall government safety rating: four stars.

But what possibly surprised me the most about this car is how much room it has, despite how it looks.

It made me think of how on the classic 1980s Smurfs cartoon, their house appeared to be the size of a mushroom, but once the Smurfs went inside, it was very size-appropriate to their bodies.

Granted, at 5’9” and weighing 142 pounds, I’m not a particularly large man, but still, I am able to fit in the trunk of the Fiat!

More importantly, while sitting in the driver’s seat, the top of my head clears the ceiling of the car by over 3 inches.

I was extremely surprised to discover that I can sit in the back seat, directly behind the driver’s seat with it still in place from me sitting there a moment before, and there is room for my legs.

So in theory, four men my size could fit into a Fiat 500, plus one more in the trunk!

I’m actually bummed I have to return this car next Tuesday. It really is a lot of fun.

That’s my opinion, here are the stats…

Government Vehicle Safety Ratings: Out of 5 Stars

Overall Vehicle Score 4

Frontal Crash- Driver 4, Passenger 3

Side Crash- Front Seat 5, Rear Seat 5

Rollover 4

Fuel Economy: 30city/34 highway; 32 combined

Annual Fuel Cost: $1,900

Standard Equipment:

Engine: 1.4 Liter 14 Multi-Air Engine

Transmission: AISIN 6-Speed Automatic

Total Price as Shown: $22,200