Fiat makes a great car…uglier
The Fiat 500 is a quirky little European supermini that oozes style, looks right at home on the French Riviera being driven by a leggy blonde in a summer dress and shades, rips up the tarmac at the hands of boy racers in Abarth form and is generally a throwback to what made the 1950's original great.
It's a formula that works brilliantly. Why, then, would Fiat be so daft as to make variants? Have they learned nothing from BMW and its experimentation with the Mini brand? Yeah, they're well built, but darn ugly and purists would call it them an abomination next to the original.
The Fiat 500 now has a random letter 'L' added to it. L means large. It means mini-SUV based on a supermini hatchback. It means weird protrusions at the back, unnecessary bulges to fit the undoubtedly larger drivetrain, bigger wheelbases which take everything away from the driving experience and introduce loads of roll for the top-heavy body, and more space which inspires you to have more babies. The Bubonic plague did that, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Although the car is bigger, the motors are a little underwhelming on paper – 1.4 litre (95 HP), 1.4 litre T-jet (120 HP), 0.9 litre TwinAir (105 HP) as well as a range of bi-fuel versions of these. Meh.
Having destroyed itself in the process of being cool and quirky without actually being anything more than a curse on humanity, Chrysler seems to have spread heavy doses of horridness into Fiat. There are Mopar parts on offer to tart up your 500L, Chrysler's motorsports division now providing the hot bits catalogue since Abarth probably flat out refused to touch this monstrosity.
The 500L is no doubt a result of Fiat thinking of Chrysler as a legitimate part of itself, which any European car manufacturer should absolutely avoid if they want to succeed while dragging an American brand in tow. Just ask Daimler AG. Lets just hope Chrysler keeps its cheese-and freedom-dipped fingers out of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati.
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