News: Alfa Romeo to get Ferrari engines?

Well, not exactly. But kinda. You see, it was announced today that "Ferrari will take a more active role in engine development for Alfa, similar to what Ferrari already did for Maserati." Those the words of Fiat-Alfa-Chrysler (and therefore, Ferrari-Maserati too) boss Sergio Marchionne. 

Road Test: Fiat Punto 1.3 MultiJet

Price as tested: €15,495

+ Styling, improved quality, excellent engine, value, comfort, space
– Still too much cheap cabin plastic, not much else
= Unfairly ignored compact hatch, deserves more attention

I bet you've forgotten about the Fiat Punto. It wouldn't be hard to be fair. Since its 2000 heyday when it was one of the best selling cars in Ireland's all-time bumper year for car sales, the Punto has steadily slid down the car sales cliff, in spite of a gorgeous 2005 re-issue with Maserati-like styling by Giugiaro. In a class populated by the likes of the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo, Peugeot 208, Kia Rio and so many talented others, it's just too easy for the Punto's light to stay well and truly beneath a handy bushel.

And I'll also bet you have some pretty lazy pre-conceptions about Fiat cars in general. If you're of a certain age, rust and electrical maladies will still be top of your list when it comes to Fiat, in spite of two decades where Italian build quality has done nothing but improve.

Of course, Fiat itself has seemed to occasionally ignore the Punto. While the glamorous 500 and the practical Panda have since come along to take centre stage, the current Punto is merely a facelifted version of the car that was launched in 2005.

So, I wasn't expecting all that much when I grabbed the keys to the test car. Yet another facelift of the Punto has come along, reversing some of the rather poor styling decisions made when it became the Punto Evo in 2009, but I too had fallen prey to assuming I knew the Punto's place in the universe.

I'm therefore pleased to report that I was wrong. The updates to the latest generation have gone a long way to strengthening the Punto's hand and it's actually a much sharper competitor to the likes of the Fiesta and Polo than you would have thought. Certainly, it looks arguably better than either, and the cabin now benefits from much higher quality surfaces than before, albeit you don't have to look too hard to find hard, scratchy plastics.

There's good space in there too, and the seats are comfy while out back, the boot is big and well shaped.

The actual production version of the updated 1.3-litre MultiJet Diesel engine will have 85bhp in the Puntos you'll find in dealerships, but our test car actually had the old 75bhp version fitted. No matter, even with the rise of the clever little two-cylinder TwinAir petrol, the diesel is the Punto to have, even if it is a pricey option. Quite apart from exceptionally good economy and emissions figures (90g/km of Co2 and potentially as good as 80mpg if you're in-cred-ibly delicate with the throttle) there is the matter that its 200Nm of torque means it is a relaxed and capable long-haul car, something you could never have said of the old 1.2-litre petrol. Mind you, an extra cog in the slightly slack-shifting five-speed gearbox would help in this regard.

Also a touch slack is the steering, which feels entirely artificial and fake, which is a shame as through the clouds of over-assistance you can feel a really quite talented chassis at work. It's not quite as sharp or rewarding as a Fiesta, but it's more fun by far than most others in the class to throw around, and in spite of ever-increasing girth the Punto still feels properly small and enjoyably agile. It also rides better than it did in 2005 when I first drove it. It still jiggles a little over small, sharp surfaces, but bigger bumps are smoothed over with a deft Italianate roll of the shoulders.

Add to that a reasonably affordable list price of €15,495 which includes pretty decent equipment as standard, and the Punto's package is starting to come together really rather well. And then there's the intangible loveliness that comes with merely driving an Italian car. A little touch of flair, a merest hint of style all makes the experience that bit more enjoyable. It's not something that will appeal to all, perhaps indeed only to a select few, but it's the difference between shopping on Grafton Street or in the Grand Piazza in Milan. You just, or at least I just, feel as if you're cutting a bit more of a rakish figure climbing out of your Punto at the kerb side.

No, the Punto's not perfect, and yes, thanks to that broad public perception you will pay a harsh price come resale time, but I left it back feeling quite surprisingly sad to see it go. Character is a rare thing in an increasingly homogenised car market, and the Punto has that in buckets. To find that it also has a remarkable amount of substance to back that up was simply a welcome surprise.


Fiat Punto 1.3 JTD 85bhp
Price as tested: €15,495
Price range: €13,495 to €15,495
Capacity: 1,248cc
Power: 85bhp
Torque: 200Nm
Top speed: 170kmh
0-100kmh: 12.7sec
Economy: 3.5l-100km (80mpg)
CO2 emissions: 90g/km
Road Tax Band: A2. €180
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star adult, 4-star child, 3-star pedestrian

News: 500 L Trekking signals new Fiat future

Fiat seems to be committing itself to a future of spinning all of its models off the 500 brand name in future. A recent report released by Fiat stated that it sees no future in trying to sell conventional b and c segment hatchback in Europe, which seems to spell the death knell for the Punto and Bravo. 


But the 500-based 500 L, which launches in Ireland in the spring, is already spinning off derivatives to allow Fiat to attack multiple market niches with one basic vehicle as a base-point. The first such version is the rugged-looing 500 L Trekking, which was launched at the Los Angeles motor show last week. It's basically a standard 500 L with bigger wheels, faux-4x4 bumpers and side panels and an upgraded two-tone interior. In the new year, we'll also see seven-seat 500 XL and proper 4x4 500 X versions as Fiat goes after the Mini MPV and compact SUV markets. Will buyers be any more attracted to such cars than they would have been to a standard Punto? We'll see...

Helping set the FIAT 500L Trekking apart from its siblings are aggressively-styled front and rear bumpers, wheel-arch and rocker-panel mouldings and larger 17-inch alloy wheels. Inside, a unique two-tone Nero/Marrone (black/brown) interior echoes the earthy feel of the exterior styling cues and, as with the standard FIAT 500L, there’s a choice of a 5.0  or 6.5-inch touch-screen Uconnect infotainment system, the latter offering satellite navigation and a media hub in addition to the former’s Bluetooth connectivity and music stream capabilities.

According to Tim Kuniskis, FIAT Brand Manager for North America, “With the rugged personality of the Trekking we will attract a wider cross-section of customers while keeping intact all the great benefits of the Fiat 500L.”



Meanwhile, the 2012 LA Motor Show was also the venue for the North American debut of the new FIAT 500L, which differs only slightly from the European model in terms of its final execution, mainly due to local legislation. The North American model is powered by a 160hp 1.4-litre turbo-charged petrol engine, mated either to a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission.

The new FIAT 500L and FIAT 500L Trekking are produced at FIAT Group Automobiles’ manufacturing plant in Kragujevac, Serbia, and will arrive in North American dealerships in mid-2013. The FIAT 500L is expected to go on sale in Ireland in the spring of 2013 and the European version of the FIAT 500L Trekking is likely to follow in the autumn. Prices and final specifications for Ireland will be announced closer to the both vehicles’ respective Irish launches.

News: All-new Maserati Quattroporte revealed

Maserati's new Quattroporte isn't just a (gorgeous) new luxury saloon, to take on the likes of the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series; it's also the kicking off of a massive renewal for the Maserati brand with three all-new models and a plan for 50,000 sales a year.

That's a massive increase on current Maserati sales, but Fiat bosses have big plans for its premium performance brand, and to leave clear air between it and in-house rival Ferrari, the three new models (including this new Quattroporte) are going to be as far from mid-engined supercars as is possible.

The Quattroporte, seen here, will make its official debut at the Detroit motor show in January, and will continue with Ferrari-based V8 power; most likely an updated version of the 4.7-litre engine currently found in Maserati's GranTurismo coupe.

The new Quattroporte is longer and more spacious than before, but with more light weight aluminium in its structure in an attempt to keep its bulk under control.

“Maserati stands today at the edge of an unparalleled strategic and industrial growth that will see our presence in the world rise to 50,000 units a year by 2015" Harald Wester, Maserati's CEO told us. This growth is a challenge for which Maserati has carefully prepared itself and that we all welcome with anticipation.

“It is a growth based on those values of style, elegance, quality and performance for which Maserati has always been recognised and praised in almost 100 years of history. This exciting progression will make the new Maserati a true global player with two new production sites in two different continents and a heart solidly planted in Modena, Italy, where our roots are.

“It is a growth that will be based on three new models entering two new segments of the automobile market – and it starts with the all-new 2013 Maserati Quattroporte.”

The two other models? Well, this is where the mouth really starts to water. First up, probably late next year, will be a new Ghibli; but unlike the sixties original, this Ghibli will be a four-door saloon, smaller than the Quattroporte, that will take on the likes of the BMW 5 Series and Audi A6. There may even be a high-po diesel version using a twin-turbo derivative of the VM Motori V6 diesel found in the Ghibli's distant cousin, the Chrysler 300C.

After that will be the Levante, Maserati's first foray into the SUV world and a rival to the Porsche Panamera. Expect a swoopy body atop a much-modified Jeep Grand Cherokee platform with, again, likely diesel as well as petrol, powerplants.

News: Is this Ferrari's new 900bhp engine?

 We know that Ferrari is currently hard at work on F70, areplacement for the blistering Enzo hypercar, and in fact we've already seen its all-carbon chassis, at the Paris Motor Show. But now, here is the first image of its 900bhp hybrid engine...

It's a bit blurry, but Dutch website Autoblog.nl is pretty sure that this is the first image of Ferrari's new wonder engine nestling in its carbon-fibre cradle. The large grey box, with the orange wires, sitting at the back between the exhausts, is the KERS unit which, F1-style, harvests electric power from braking and various other systems and allows the driver to thumb a button for extra overtaking oomph, or for a short trickle on pure, zero-emissions electric power.

Quite why you'd need extra overtaking oomph from a 7.3-litre V12 in a carbon-chassis supercar that will probably weigh about as much as a Fiesta is a bit beyond us though...

Road Test: Fiat Abarth 500C

Price as tested: €31,000 (approx)

+ Styling, engine, handling, seats, quality, sense of fun
– Tiny boot and rear seats, quite thirsty, no official imports yet
= Funnest hot hatch of the moment




Like a Scottish Terrier carrying a Kalashnikov, the Fiat Abarth 500C is packing way more aggression than befits something so small. The standard 500 is cute, chic, even (whisper it) a bit girly. The Abarth is its mildly psycho brother who's into body piercing and headbutting walls.

As with all great Italian cars, the heart of the Abarth is its engine, a 1.4-litre turbo petrol developing 135bhp. 135bhp doesn't sound like much these days, but it's accompanied by a decent slug of 200Nm of torque and, in practice, there's more than enough grunt to both hoick you up the road at a suitably impressive rate and keep you making rapid gearchanges on the stubby five-speed manual, punching them through from the elbow.

When you do that, and especially during fast upshifts as you accelerate, the optional Monza exhaust (which actually adds 5bhp thanks to improved engine breathing, bringing the Abarth up to 140bhp), with its mildly hilarious quad exit pipe, bangs and growls like a grumpy howitzer battalion. It's all ludicrously entertaining, and thanks to the 500's diminutive dimensions, it all happens at a reasonable rate of consumption. 8.1-litres per 100km sounds a touch thirsty for a small car, but in the context of the fun on offer, it's a perfectly acceptable price of admission.

It always used to be the case that with high-performance Italian cars, you paid for the (glorious) engine and the rest of the car was thrown in (and together) for free. Famously, journalist and racer Paul Frére complained to Enzo Ferrari that his Testarossa Le Mans racer had such a big, flat windscreen that it was crawling down the Mulsanne Straight while the sleek Jaguars and others blasted past. "Well you know," declared Il Commentadore airily, "aerodynamics are for people who can't design proper engines..."

Thankfully, the Abarth 500 proves that such dismissiveness is truly a thing of the past for fast Fiats (effectively what Ferraris have been since the seventies; heresy I know). The 500C feels beautifully built for a start, with high levels of cabin quality and gorgeous high-backed Alcantara bucket seats. Rear space is somewhat compromised by these bulky buckets, but it was hardly all that roomy to begin with, and by choosing the C over the regular hatch 500, with its peel-back convertible roof, you are effectively resigning yourself to having no boot space to speak of. A squashy bag is about the limit.

No matter. Once you get rolling, you won't care about the practicalities. It may sound odd to say it of a stiffly sprung sporty thing with big optional alloys and watch strap Pirellis, but the Abarth actually rides better than the standard 500.It bounces around less, even though it's plainly harder than the standard car, and the steering, so remote on a normal 500, is here full of feel and delightful weight. There is simply tonnes of grip, a little hint of the back end squirming around when you corner seriously hard and an abiding sense of out and out fun and enjoyment. Occupying an even smaller amount of road than Mini's conceptually similar Cooper S Works, the 500C feels ideally suited to Ireland's twisty and narrow back roads. And because it's not over-burdened with some silly specific output, you can enjoy ringing its neck a little without attracting the attention of either sides of the legal profession.

When the going gets properly twisty and slippery, it’s best to thumb the TCC button just below the aircon controls. That activates an electronic differential which brakes an unloaded front wheel to prevent power being spun away and which also helps the Abarth’s chassis to reduce understeer to an effective minimum. Unlike some similar systems (or a pure mechanical diff) it doesn’t bring with it unnecessarily hefty steering or camber-following tendencies, it’s much more subtle and effective than that.

As yet, Abarth models are still not officially imported into Ireland, but their visa status is due to be updated any time now. For the meantime, you can personally import one (a process that I’m sure your local Fiat dealer would be more than happy to help with) and you’ll have to fork out in the region of €27,000 for the 500C, about €2,000 less for the hatch. Our test car came loaded with options including that wonderful Monza exhaust and the gorgeous high-back Sabelt seats which swelled its price by €4,000. Pricey for such a small car then, but very much worth it to my mind. Besides, try speccing a Mini Cooper S up to similar levels and see where you get to...

You could spend even more and upgrade to the Essesse kit, which brings with its more power (160bhp), uprated brakes and tweaked suspension, but the extra stiffness would probably ruin the Abarth’s rather lovely ability to flow with bad roads rather than fighting them, so I wouldn’t bother.

Personally, I'd skip the C part too (the roof is nice and all, and works at speeds of up to 80kmh, but its usability in Ireland is always going to be limited) and go for the hatch, which also brings with it a more practical boot and that slight cut in price. Would I buy one? Oh, if only I could afford it. Hot hatches have become, as a species, somewhat too refined and practical of late. Even the likes of a 200bhp Clio or DS3 can fail to provide much in the way of outright thrills, so steady and safe are they. The Abarth feels a touch more unruly, raw and on the edge than that. It's the hot hatch as she is meant to be spoken.


Fiat Abarth 500C
Price as tested: €31,000 (approx)
Price range: €12,895 to €27,000 (approx)
Capacity: 1,368cc
Power: 135bhp
Torque: 200Nm
Top speed: 205kmh
0-100kmh: 7.9sec
Economy: 6.5l-100km (43.4mpg)
CO2 emissions: 155g/km
Road Tax Band: C €330
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star adult, 3-star child, 2-star pedestrian

Road Test: Fiat Panda 1.2 Easy

Price as tested: €12,995

+ Funky, spacious interior, bigger boot, ride and handling
– Economy could be better, styling looks a touch bulbous
= Fiat’s small car now feels big, but in a good way

2012 is very definitely going to be the year of the small. Whatever the Mayans might have in for us, however much The Hunger Games tries to takeover and no matter what you may have heard about some tournament in Poland where overpaid future pub landlords kick an inflated pig’s bladder about, 2012 is the year of the small car.

Two of the most significant cars to be launched this year are both tiny, both cost around the €11,000 mark yet have the style and sophistication of much bigger vehicles and both are critical to the future of their makers.

The other one is the Volkswagen Up!, which we’ll be testing next week but first up is the new Fiat Panda, the replacement for Fiat’s much-loved tiddler which was launched way back in 2003.
Yet for a car that was knocking on for a full decade in production, the outgoing Panda was still feeling and looking rather fresh and rather lovely, a fact that makes the task before its replacement that much harder. Not only will that be to keep happy Panda buyers in the fold, entice new customers to the Fiat and Panda badges and generally be well received, reviewed and retailed, but like its progenitor, it has to shore up Fiat’s delicate finances. True, those finances are vastly more robust than they were when the 2003 Panda was launched, but nonetheless, this is a crucial new model for a car company that needs a big hit right now.

So you can forgive Fiat for playing it slightly safe with the exterior styling. While all the panels and the detailing is new, there is much here that is familiar from the old Panda. The three-window side view, the slightly boxy, unapologetically upright shape. It is less utilitarian than before, less overtly square, but while the front end (with a face that looks very similar to what’s coming on the new 500L MPV) looks nice and cute, around the back it looks a little puffed-up and botoxed.

Inside though, the news is all good. Fiat has attempted to coin a new word, the Squircle, to describe the squared-off circle motif (or is it a rounded square?) that dominates the interior design. From the main dials to the switchgear to the steering wheel centre to pretty much everything on view, all is squircled up to the max. It could have been irritating, but thanks to a rather funky, slightly seventies retro vibe, some solid build quality and some inherently sensible layout ideas, it all works. The seats, which once again are a touch perched up, are nonetheless comfy and there’s more elbow room than before, thanks to the Panda being slightly larger in every dimension than before. There’s useful oddment storage pretty much everywhere your hands fall, and there’s new-found room in the back seats, proper adult room., thanks to a longer 2,300mm wheelbase. Behind that, there’s now a decent boot, sized between 225 and 260-litres, depending on which version you buy.

And that extra space is significant. It moves the Panda ever so slightly above most of the competition, into the realms of the small family car, as opposed to the small urban runabout. I’m not saying it’s now wildly spacious, but a family of two adults and two kids will fit, with a little bit of squishing, and there’s still space in the boot for a decent sized trip to Tesco’s.

That sense of greater space and usability is reflected in the way the Panda drives. Now, that’s not to say that it feels all growed up, at least not in the sense that it’s still fun to chuck around and still revs eagerly like a small, enthusiastic Italian car should, but there is palpably better refinement on long motorway runs. Sidedrafts and the turbulent air around fast-moving lorries now bothers the Panda not a jot, yet it hasn’t lost its feeling of verve and agility around town. It still slices into and through urban gaps that would stymie a larger car and parking in typically restrictive and tight city multi-stories is a joy, not a chore.

Surprisingly, the 1.2-litre petrol engine, well, surprised us. We had been assuming that the motor of choice would be either the 875ccc turbo TwinAir (noisy but gutsy and bursting with character) or the much-admired (but quite expensive) 1.3 MultiJet diesel. The 1.2 FIRE (Fully Integrated Robotised Engine) can trace its roots all the way back to 1985, yet it is feeling better than ever in the new Panda. 69bhp and 102Nm of torque don’t sound like much, and a 14.2sec 0-100kmh time sounds positively tardy, but on the road, the 1.2 pushes the Panda along with decent conviction, good refinement and not-bad economy. We say not-bad, because an average of 7.2-litres per 100km on our test is just that; neither good nor bad, just about acceptable, even if well short of Fiat’s claimed 5.2-litres per 100km. In the Panda’s defence, much of our test mileage was motorway based, and had we kept to main roads and urban driving (even with the surprising absence of stop-start) it’s likely the economy figure would have been much better. The Co2 figure of 120g/km is just fine though, and keeps you in the lowest €160 tax band.

Prices for the Panda are similarly low. €11,995 gets you the basic Pop 1.2, while our mildly specced-up Easy would set you back €12,995. More expensive are the TwinAir and MultiJet models, but given that the 1.2 is so good, you might be able to safely ignore these. That basic price does make it more expensive than the cheapest new VW Up! but then the Up! is just a three-door for the moment.

It is just about impossible not to like the Panda. It carries with it a sense of charm and fun that has been almost eradicated from larger, more expensive cars. It’s enjoyable to drive, reasonably spacious and practical and, given that the touchy-feely quality was right on the money, seems impressively well built too. Make no mistake, in the year of the small, this one’s a biggie.

Facts & Figures

Fiat Panda 1.2 Easy
Price: €12,995
Range price: €11,995 to €15,545
Capacity: 1,242cc
Power: 69bhp
Torque: 102Nm
Top speed: 164kmh
0-100kmh: 14.2sec
Economy: 5.2-100km (54.3mpg)
CO2 emissions: 120g/km
Tax Band: A. €160 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 4-stars; 82% adult, 63% child, 49% pedestrian, 43% safety assist

Road Test: Fiat 500L 1.3 MultiJet PopStar

Price as tested: €22,000 (approx)

+ Masses of cabin space, cute styling, good quality, well priced
– Only ordinary to drive
= Could be the best all-round Fiat yet


There is one caveat that needs to be observed for all that follows. Italian car launches are notoriously difficult things to actually assess a car on. Our time with the new 500L was relatively brief, and most of the mileage was in the tight, urban confines of downtown Turin. And we got lost, which never helps. So, now that you’re aware of all that, we can begin...

Fiat is in bad need of a big hit. Hmmm. I seem to have written those words before, five years ago, just before the Italians launched the little 500, the sales of which pulled the company back from the financial abyss.

Now though, while the abyss is not so deep as it was in 2006 and Fiat is not teetering on the edge of it (thanks to its finances being well and truly pumped up by a resurgent Chrysler), sales are falling in its European heartlands and with investment being reduced and factories being shut down, Turin needs a new sprinkling of the 500's magic.

And this, the 500L, is the car Fiat hopes will revive its European fortunes. Although it carries the 500 name, it's actually only distantly mechanically related to the chic city car. It's a 4.15-metre long MPV, styled to looks closer to an SUV and with a simply massive cabin for stuffing your family into. When they say the L stands for Large, they really weren't kidding. the 500L towers over a tiny 500 hatch, and there's sufficient cabin space for a six-footer to have genuine lounging space in the back seats. Honestly, space in the back makes a mockery of almost every rival I can think of. A Focus, Golf or Astra feels ridiculously tight in comparison and even such other high-roofed competition as the Citroen C3 Picasso and Opel Meriva don’t have the legroom to compete.

The fact that the cabin also looks and feels of very high quality indicates that Fiat is still pushing well along the road to eradicating its old reputation for fragility, however difficult it may be to unstick that impression from Irish minds. All the surfaces inside have a pleasingly hefty, yet silky, feel and as long as you specify some of the brighter colour options, it feels like a warm, welcoming place to be. The steering wheel, slightly squared off as it is in the new Panda, feels especially good and the complex, three-movement exterior door handles do a great job of making the car feel techie and interesting just by yanking the door open.

While Irish specs have yet to be decided (and a circa €22,000 price for the 1.3 MultiJet diesel model has still to be agreed) there will be an awful lot of high-end optional extra available, including a city safety self braking setup, a 1.5-metre long glass roof and a stereo designed by hip-hop legend Dr. Dre (ask your kids...) and even an in-car Lavazza espresso maker that slots into one of the cupholders. Yes, really. You have to tick the options box for this, really, you do. We all thought it was a late April fool when we saw the press release...

Standard features include a 5" touch-screen infotainment system with Bluetooth connection for your phone and music player and an EcoDrive Live function that monitors your driving, admonishes you for being too profligate and which Fiat claims (somewhat implausibly) can save you up to 1,200-litres of fuel over the life of the car.

The rear seats fold and tumble with just a quick flick of a button and the 400-litre boot has an adjustable floor that allows you to segregate the shopping from the peat briquettes, or perhaps the laundry from the wet dog.

Our test car has the 85bhp 1.3 MultiJet diesel which boasts a 110g/km Co2 figure and better than 62mpg on average. But with only 200Nm of torque to haul around 1,300kg of 500 (and that's an empty kerb weight) it struggles to do anything to excite. It's a decent, engine, with good refinement but little verve and a rubbery five-speed manual gearbox doesn't help either. A 0-100kmh time of 14.9secs shows you how hard it’s having to work, but in fairness, it only rarely feels all that slow.

When the 500L arrives in Irish dealers at the end of the year, a 105bhp 1.6-litre diesel should be available and that will doubtless prove a better match. Petrol-heads, if any remain in Ireland, might be enticed by the 105bhp two-cylinder 112g/km TwinAir engine. We may not get the choice though, as Fiat Ireland is keen to keep the range as streamlined and simple as possible, so it might be that the only 500L we will get in Ireland will be this 1.3 Pop Star spec.

To drive, the 500L feels fine, but it lacks the quiet stolidness of a Skoda Yeti or the pin-sharp steering of a Mini Countryman. It's competent, capable and has nicely weighted steering and a good, if occasionally bobbly, ride quality but there are few causes for complaint here. Like the engine, it's safe but not really engaging.

Style-wise, it tries to take 500 design cues and inflate them to a much bigger size which, as Porsche found trying to translate a 911 coupe into a Cayenne SUV, isn't entirely successful. It looks good in certain colours, odd in others (beige is an especially bad choice) but certainly distinctive and different.

But it's that cavernous cabin that really sells the 500L. Families will love it for its sheer space, its brightness and its adaptability. Fold the front seat flat and you can fill the 500L with IKEA flat packs and still have space left for a driver and rear seat passenger while kids will have no trouble at all in filling the 22 interior pockets and cubbies. The fact that it seems on this encounter to be robustly built will mollify the worries of their parents.

Its sales prospects in Ireland depend entirely on whether enough Irish buyers are willing to look past their old prejudices about the brand. Nissan proved with the Qashqai that this was a serious possibility, and who a few years ago took either Hyundai or Kia seriously? Those willing to suspend disbelief long enough to try a 500L will find it an engaging proposal.



Fiat 500L 1.3 MultiJet Pop Star
Price as tested: €22,000 (approx)
Price range: TBA
Capacity: 1,248cc
Power: 85bhp
Torque: 200Nm
Top speed: n/a
0-100kmh: 14.9sec
Economy: 4.2l-100km (67.2mpg)
CO2 emissions: 110g/km
Road Tax Band: A €160
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested

Road Test: Chyrsler Delta 1.6 M-Jet 120

Price as tested: TBA

+ Different, nice styling, spacious, good quality, refined
– Middling chassis, unknown value for money, brand image needs work
= Affordable luxury? Almost, but needs a dynamic shake-up

So, after all the political wrangling, the financial back and forthing and the foaming at the mouth by aggrieved Lancia fans, the Chrysler Delta is here. A product of Fiat’s buy-out of bankrupt Chrysler and Jeep in 2010, combined with Fiat overlord Sergio Marchionne’s insistence that Chrysler will be kept to US shores and Lancia will take Europe. Except in right hand drive markets, where the old Lancia rust and unreliability rep was deemed to be too big a mountain for the marketing department to scale.

What we’ve got is a Lancia Delta (more or less unchanged from its continental launch in 2008) with Chrysler badges, and that is both a good and bad thing.

Good? Well, yes. Much though us car nuts would like to see the return of a brand a revered as Lancia to our shores, the simple fact is that far too many people will still regard a Lancia as a rust and parts nightmare and would walk, swiftly, away. Chrysler, in spite of such horrors as the old Sebring, has little or no backstory in the compact car market, and a lot of general goodwill thanks to nice cars like the Voyager and 300C. So in that sense, Marchionne’s decision was a no-brainer.

Bad? Well, yes. You see, and I don’t think this is just a car nut thing, but you expect a Chrylser to be big. To have a V8. To be a sofa on wheels, which chrome. And the Delta is none of those things.

It’s a Focus-sized hatchback, with a few twists. Twists like that long, long wheelbase which means you get a whopping amount of legroom in the back. It’s not quite limo-spec, but it’s not far off it.

Up front, you start to see the real, hard evidence of Chrysler’s assertion that the Delta is an affordable luxury car. There is a lot of leather, much of it with nice contrast stitching, quite a lot of chrome and some very high quality plastics. Some poor quality plastics too, sadly, and that does undermine the luxury case somewhat, as do switches and dials just lifted wholesale from the Fiat Bravo, with which the Delta shares its mechanical package.

And again, that sharing is some good, some bad. The good is largely in the engine, a 120bhp, 300Nm 1.6-litre diesel that’s well ahead of most of the competition in the power and torque stakes (so it IS a bit American then). It’s a well sorted unit, and sounds much quieter and more subdued here than it does in the too-noisy Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Chrysler claims 4.9-litres per 100km fuel consumption, which we’d believe as we managed a decent 5.5 average, but its Co2 emissions are just too high. 130g/km means it’s a band above its rivals from Ford, Citroen and Volkswagen.

What about the chassis? Hmmmm. There are some good things here. The steering and turn in are both sharper than we were expecting and the ride is mostly fine. It deals very well with big bumps and lumps, but suffers when the road is covered in small, short-wave stuff. Handling wise it is nicer to chuck through a corner than you’d think, but still well and truly short of the Focus and Golf in dynamic terms. It does have a better combination of ride and handling than the too-stiff Citroen DS4 though.

Ultimately, you can really feel that this is actually already a three year old car. It just doesn’t feel as dynamically well sorted nor as cleverly designed inside as it should be. Take the seats for instance. They look great (leather, again with contrast stitching) but when you actually sit on them, you feel too perched up and unsupported. They should, and could, be much comfier and if you’re selling your car as an affordable luxury carriage, they really ought to be.

The other issue is price. We don’t yet know how much the Delta is going to cost and that’s a fairly critical issue. OK, so Chrysler isn’t stupid and will no doubt have noticed that all of the Delta’s major rivals are in the €20-22k price range, so so will be the Delta. But its potential success or otherwise will depend on whether it’s at the top or bottom end of that range. If it’s a bargain, then it’s got a chance. If not, then probably not.

It’s not a bad car, the Delta, and in Chrysler terms, it’s a good introduction to a marketplace it’s never really dipped a toe in before. But you just can’t help feel that there is more, and better, to come from the Fiat-Chrysler tie-up. A more sophisticated chassis, more attention to detail in the cabin, a clearer sense of what it means to be a Chrysler; all these things would help.

In fairness, that does look as if it’s going to happen. Fiat has given long-serving stylist Lorenzo Ramiciotti the job of coming up with a styling language that works for both Lancia and Chrysler, on both sides of the Atlantic. If he can do that, and if the engineers can come up with a dynamic setup that can pay homage to the marketing bumph of affordable luxury, then this whole Italian-American deal could work out OK.


Facts & Figures

Chrysler Delta 1.6 M-Jet 120
Price as tested: TBA
Range price: TBA
Capacity: 1,598cc
Power: 120bhp
Torque: 300Nm
Top speed: 193kmh
0-100kmh: 10.7sec
Economy: 4.9l-100km (57.6mpg)
CO2 emissions: 130g/km
VRT Band: B. €156 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star adult, 3-star children, 2-star pedestrian