| Only time will tell if new Fiat is really Bravo |
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| Thursday, 09 October 2008 | |
 When Fiat launched their new Bravo to the Irish market just over 12 months ago Geoff Smyth, their Irish CEO at the time, said they were willing to drop the price of the new car to try and gain a foothold.Geoff admitted that Fiat had problems convincing people that the Italian company was capable of building good, reliable cars. And they were, he said, willing to drop the price of the car by up to 10 per cent below that of their rivals. Prices are still low, starting at e19,695 for the 1.4 petrol model. Sales have been good especially in Fiat's homeland of Italy. Overall in Europe last year 90,000 Bravo units were sold. Having previously driven the petrol model, this time I was due to drive the new diesel 1.6 multijet model, which costs e19,995. But unfortunately the diesel model was not available, so it was another spin in the 1.4 petrol for me. I'm told that there is a big demand for the diesel model as it's rated at Band A for C02 emissions and that means the lowest tax possible of e100 per annum. The Bravo, with those beautiful front headlamps, looks very classy externally and internally it's a fine spacious motor with plenty of room for three adults in the rear. The leg room for the rear passengers depends on the position of the two front seats. The boot is deep, but not huge. Inside the cabin is predominantly black, but with a nice touch of silver to lift the décor. It was very comfortable and I really enjoyed my trips on the now much clearer M50 where I got a warning 'bleep' if I went over 100kmph. Obviously you can set the 'bleep' limit to whatever speed you like and I must say I found this facility very useful. In one of their previous versions of the Punto, Fiat had what they called a 'girlie button' which when pressed made the steering a lot lighter. There was no such button in the Bravo, but the steering was certainly very light. There is, however, a 'sport' button on the dash which is supposed to give you more power when overtaking. But to be honest it was hard to tell if it really worked as the button didn't light up in the model I had. Also, the engine seemed powerful enough without the help of any 'sport' button. Overall the car is comfortable and there is plenty of room for three adults in the back seat. I would really have liked to have a go in the diesel, but it was not to be this time. However, the petrol model was really lively, but I rarely got an opportunity to go into sixth gear. Five gears were plenty for me. Fabio Mingrino, the engineer who led the team that brought the Bravo from concept to the road in a record time of just 17 months, was in Wicklow last year for the Irish launch to explain in great detail what goes into the design and manufacture of a new car. His presentation was very interesting and sales figures in Europe are excellent. But can this attractively-priced car convince Irish buyers to switch to Fiat? Only time and more sales figures will tell. |
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Developed by Kevin Flynn