A new 120hp diesel engine will underpin an expanded choice in the Fiat 500L small MPV range which will reach Irish dealers in June, writes Brian Byrne.
The 1.6 Multijet II power unit will be the flagship engine in the upgraded MY14 versions of the 500 sub-brand that is proving to be the saviour of Fiat across Europe.
The upshift for the relatively new 500L also includes new colours, a new fabric and leather upholstery for the top-spec versions, and new accessories from Mopar.
There is also a special 'Beats' version featuring a high-end audio system, but this is unlikely to come to Ireland for cost reasons in the price-conscious Irish marketplace. And we're certainly not going to get the new 120hp turbocharged 1.4 petrol engine that's also part of the powertrain expansion programme.
The 500L competitors include the Opel Meriva, Ford's B-MAX, Peugeot's 2008 and Nissan's Note. The Italian car has shot to the top of its segment across Europe through 2013, and currently enjoys a 17 percent share in its class. They like it back home, too, in Italy it sells four out of ten cars in the segment.
If we're wondering why, maybe it has to do with fashion as much as the — very practical, also funky — design. Certainly, as a country which can claim one of the major fashion capitals of the world, Fiat has tagged onto that to make the current 500 hatchback a fashion icon. The basic car has spawned more 'edition' derivatives than, well, its arch-competitor Mini from BMW. Or the slinky fashion houses of Milan. Case in point, the Diesel version didn't relate to fuel for the engine, but to the young people fashion house.
So it is with the 500L. We have the specification designations, Pop, Pop Star, and Lounge. There are the Trekking and Living derivatives, and the 7-seat MPW. Now there is the Beats. Or there isn't, for us. Truth is, as I write this on a flight back home after spinning around northern Italy in a couple of the latest variants, that doesn't worry me. I'm a fair bit over 18, and hearing deteriorates consistently after that. So, unfortunately for sound gurus Dr Dre and Interscope Geffen A&M Records chairman and record producer Jimmy Iovine (Eh, who?) who apparently helped develop the Beats 500L audio ambience, it was lost on me.
Not so what I consider the essential of the Fiat 500L series, its very true practicality as a family car, especially for the young family that still appreciates the unashamedly funky styling. It is built well, it drives very well, it feels right. Most of all, it's a car that I would have no qualms about having my gorgeous grand-daughters in Australia, and my equally lovely baby grandsons in America, transported around in.
It happens that next week in Ireland I'm driving a 500L on my weekly review. One that won't be changed at all by the arrival of the MY14s I was in today. They'll just add to the options. So I'll close this report on what I've written so far.
Except to say that we also drove a new variant of the 500 hatchback. Which I can't tell you anything about until 1 March, as I'm honour-bound to an embargo because the dealers in various markets haven't got the same details yet.
It's probably fair to say, though, that you shouldn't lose sleep over it. It's really Fiat being Italian. I have this theory. Everybody believes that France invented bureaucracy. They didn't. Italy did, but France stole it. And fixed it. And the Italians are still doing it the old way. It can be endearing, though. Like the 500 series.
