Tiny footprint, sunroof, hybrid-assisted 1.0, the pick for a two- or three-night Ulcinj anchor when multi-day drives aren't on the schedule.
At a glance
Who is this car for?
Two or three nights in Ulcinj with short afternoon hops to Perast and Prčanj, the 500 parks where mid-size cars wave and drive past.
- Short city-base stays
- Solo visitors on a shoestring
- Photographers doing short hops
Best regional use
The 3.57 m length is the deciding factor: it fits the stepped terrace parking on the nearby villages waterfront and the shoulder-wide gap outside the Sea Gate that a Clio can't. Underpowered for the Lovćen climb, so pair with cable-car transfers or keep within bay limits.
On Montenegro roads
Behind the wheel
The current 500, the petrol mild-hybrid that is still in production and not the BEV successor, is a tiny, stylish city car that Ulcinj renters pick for reasons unrelated to driving. At 3.57 m long and 1.63 m wide it is shorter than a Smart, narrower than most modern hatches, and it genuinely fits gaps that 95% of rental cars cannot. The 1.0 BSG 70 hp mild-hybrid three-cylinder is noisy, slow, and perfectly adequate for the speed-limited bay road. The cabin is cramped, the boot is a glove compartment, the ride is fidgety. None of that matters when you are staying in a Stari Grad guesthouse for three nights and the parking question is the entire point.
On Montenegro roads
The 500 is the car the Ulcinj Old Town was built for, which is to say built well before any car at all. The lanes feeding off the Pasha's Mosque square, the stepped slot in front of the Hammam, the narrow ramp behind the Sahat Kula, the 500 threads each of them without folding the mirrors. The flat speed-limited Ulcinj–Sukobin run sits in fourth at 1,800 rpm and returns 5.5 L/100 km in real driving; the sunroof open on a late-afternoon roll out to the Sailor's Mosque is the most postcard moment a rental car will give you here. It is emphatically not the car for the Rumija serpentine, where 70 hp wilts above 600 m, nor for the Sozina motorway where cabin noise at 120 km/h gets unpleasant.
Space and load
The 185-litre boot is a genuinely tiny figure, smaller than several of the shopping baskets at the Konzum on the Bar road. One cabin-size case fits flat; a second stands on its end and blocks the rear window. A weekly shop from the small Aroma minimarket on the Liman parade fits if you forgo wine by the case. For two travellers on a three- or four-night Stari Grad stay that is enough; most luggage stays in the guesthouse and the car is for short hops to Mala Plaza or out to a Bojana fish lunch. For longer rentals or anyone with a pushchair, checked bag, or kitesurf gear, the 500 is the wrong tool.
Best journeys for this car
The 500's Ulcinj rental customer is the short-stay visitor who has done the maths and worked out that ninety percent of their drive time will be on the flat, slow bay road. Weekend city-break couples flying into Tirana and crossing at Sukobin, three-night photographers chasing blue hour from Pinjes or the fortifications above Valdanos, solo travellers building a southern Adriatic itinerary out of a single Ulcinj base, the 500 fits all of them. It also works as a second car alongside a Golf or 308, with the bigger car carrying the family and the 500 doing the one-person grocery runs into town. It is the wrong car for anyone over 6'1", four-up loads, or anything that climbs above the snowline.
Practical notes
Petrol economy settles around 5.5 L/100 km in real driving; the mild-hybrid motor smooths the stop-start cycle but barely moves the fuel-bill needle. The 35-litre tank delivers around 600 km between fills and 95-octane is plentiful at the Jugopetrol on the Bar road and the EKO on the Tirana road. Parking is the entire pitch: 3.57 m fits the cramped overnight slots in the Stari Grad permit zone, threads the Pristan harbour access road, and slips into the angled bays in front of the city library without scraping. Air-con is adequate rather than generous on a 35°C August afternoon; the small cabin cools quickly but the compressor load is audible on any climb.
The verdict
Choose the 500 when parking inside Ulcinj Old Town is the single variable that matters most and your drive time is measured in short hops along flat south-coast tarmac. Skip it for any itinerary that includes the Rumija road, an Albanian motorway leg, the Sozina tunnel, or more than two people with luggage.
Inside the car
- Compact Size
- Easy Parking
- Sunroof
- Bluetooth
