Fiat 500X Lounge 2015 Review

Fiat 500X Lounge
Local Launch Review
Sydney

The 500X might just be the softest soft-roader the world has ever seen – Fiat's stylish shopping-trolley car in shoulder pads and an almost manly frock – but it's probably the cutest. At the image-conscious end of the tiny-SUV market, the bold, bullish Italians are hoping that will make all the difference, and that people will pay top dollar to look so good. And that no one will mention it's very, very closely related to Jeep's Renegade…

There was a time, not that long ago, when we would have laughed…

"Ha, the world's gone SUV mad! You watch, next they'll be making BMW off-roaders. No, Porsche ones! What about a Mini SUV?"

"No, get this, a four-wheel-drive Fiat 500 – imagine that!"

We can laugh no more, or only ruefully, because the Fiat 500X is an almost fully formed reality, launching on to Australian roads priced from a slightly optimistic $28,000 for the base Pop model (don't worry, it gets worse – there's also a 'Pop Star' at $33,000) to the seemingly unrealistic $39,000 for the Cross Plus.

It's a lot of money for what's not an enormous amount of car, but it follows in the footsteps of the similarly expensive, and mechanically almost identical, Jeep Renegade.

The big difference of course is style, and the two cars are a great example of how different countries can clothe the same sheep in different wolf's clothing or, as Fiat's highly entertaining Chief Marketing Officer, Olivier Francois, would put it, wrap them in red leather.

Francois, who is behind some of the best and funniest car advertising and marketing campaigns you'll ever see, decided in 2014 to break up his brand into two textiles.

Cars like the Fiat Panda and Punto are denim – functional, practical, universal, affordable and not popular in Australia at all, partly because they weren't quite as bargain-basement here as they are in Europe.

"If your cars can't be affordable, like in Australia, you need to give people another reason to buy them," Francois says.

The word "can't" is interesting in that sentence – making cars cheaper isn't that hard – but let's move on to the second part of the Fiat brand: red leather.

These cars, like the 500 range and the imminent 124 Roadster, are passionate, sexy and desirable, "but still accessible; you pay just a little bit more because they make you feel special."

Francois stresses the analogy further, suggesting it's like flip-flops vs high heels – you can walk in both, but the heels are the ones you desire. Unless you're a bloke, of course, but then you probably won't buy a 500.

Essentially, what Fiat is selling is the idea of Italian style. They say their cars can activate the dormant Italian gene that lies within all of us, and will make us want to buy things like the 500X.

But would you?

Well, the entry-level Pop at $28K might look attractive, at least literally, but it's got a six-speed manual – which will rule out 98 per cent of buyers – attached to the weedier version of the 1.4-litre twin-air engine, in a front-drive format with 103kW and 230Nm.

The Pop Star is the cheapest auto and gets the same engine plus a DDCT six-speeder that's not exactly the latest word in transmission technology, for $33K… It’s also front-drive only.

To buy into the whole all-wheel-drive, sportingly Italian idea of the 500X you have to step up to the Lounge at $38,000, which gets you a segment-first nine-speed auto, a beefier 125kW and 250Nm version of the 1.4-litre engine and lots of trendy fruit, like a Beats stereo system by Dr Dre (a good mate of Francois').

Another $1000 gets you the Cross Plus, with even more flashy bits.

By using the 'Mood Dial' you can choose ruggedness or sportiness, and apparently there is much fun to be had when you select the Chequered Flag mode.

"You don't have to put your inner Sebastian Vettel on a leash just because you chose a higher driving position," as Francois puts it.

Which is true; you can drive any car like an aggressive, hateful road hog.

Sportiness is not the 500X's strong suit, but it must be said that this will not be a problem for its core market. They will love the way it looks and be entirely satisfied with its performance, and deeply in love with its interior.

In terms of driving, there's some predictable and not at all alarming understeer and a bit of tyre squeal if you go too fast, but you don't feel like it's going to tip over or crack up into its component pieces.

On smooth, flowing roads there's even some enjoyment to be had (although you'll need to turn up the trendy Beats stereo to drown out the tyre roar) with steering that's reasonably involving and willing.

The engine in the Lounge is rev-happy and keen to shift down in Sports mode, but it's never going to fly up steep hills. The version in the Pop is obviously more asthmatic than the Lounge, but as a city car it's still got enough for any city car park.

On broken bitumen, however, there's a definite bounciness and flightiness to the ride that suggests exactly no work has been done on aligning the suspension tune with local conditions.

On European roads, with their complete absence of coarse-chip surfaces and generally better-maintained black top, the 500X would no doubt shine somewhat brighter.

The greater prevalence of snow over there is what the all-wheel-drive versions have been developed to cope with, but launching it in urban Sydney on the first day of scorching summer means we'll have to wait to find out how capable it is.

Suffice to say that there is no hard-core Trailhawk version available, as there is in its twin-under-the-skin Jeep Renegade. Fiat folk tell us it's more of a weekend-away car than a get-away-from-it-all one.

Much is made of the new nine-speed gearbox but its shifts are surprisingly noticeable and even shunty for such a modern gearbox. The other asset is meant to be quicker acceleration in low gears.

Fiat claims the 500X offers 70 safety features (only some of them are optional) but we're not quite sure how they get to that number unless they're counting the brakes, the roof, the doors and the seat belts.

The cabin is reasonably spacious in front and average adults will be comfortable enough in the back, although tall blokes find their heads rubbing the sunroof lining.

In summary, the Fiat 500X is not a long-distance hauler, nor would you expect it to shine on rutted outback roads – the ride has enough trouble with Sydney's inner-city ones – but the fact is that all of this matters little.

What Fiat is selling is not an off-roader, nor really even a soft-roader. It is selling a lifestyle, a brand play, an alternative to the bland and every day. Francois tells us that every 500X comes with "a little supplement of soul, something you won't find elsewhere in the marketplace… Something intangible."

And when it comes to the slightly wild pricing, Fiat also reckons that no car you can get for anywhere near its price offers so many 'X factors' for the money. Whatever that means.

Fiat will not sell huge numbers of the 500X, not in Australia at least (pricing in America is, as usual, far more attractive), but it will sell enough to make a business case – and to make a place, it hopes, for the Fiat brand in aspirational Australians' hearts.

So just stop laughing.

2015 Fiat 500X Lounge pricing and specifications:
Price: $38,000 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 125kW/250Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 6.7L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 157g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: TBA