2012 Fiat 500 TwinAir review
Fiat 500 TwinAir
By Bob Hume, 31st January 2012
The Fiat 500 TwinAir was always going to be a challenging car to produce. The concept was a highly efficient petrol-engined car that was both affordable and desirable; a refreshing change from almost every other manufacturer's apparent aim to build increasingly ugly electric cars.
Expecting me to like it was also a daunting challenge. Two cylinders? Efficiency? Surely this wouldn't be much fun...
Fiat 500 Twin Air
Delivered to my drive in duck-egg blue and looking outrageously cute, I began to pass less-than-objective judgement on it within seconds: this really isn‘t my kind of thing at all. I like stupidly fast, stupidly masculine cars.
Don‘t get me wrong, I like the 500 and its aim to revive the values of the original. First produced in the 1950s, this was arguably one of the most important cars in history. State-owned FIAT helped to bring post-war Italy out of economic turmoil by bringing cheap mobility to its workforce with a no-frills ancestor to the city car.
The new 500, in its various guises has already carved an impressive niche for itself. It‘s distinctive, classy and has undoubtedly stolen some of the market that would have ended up behind the wheel of a MINI.
Fiat 500 TwinAir interior
I’ve driven the Abarth versions of the car, including the Esse Esse on both track and road, and absolutely loved them but then, they were fast, fun and covered in stripes and scorpion badges. That's my kind of thing.
The cabin is deceptively spacious but you will probably still fondle your front seat passenger at some point, whether by design or not. Rear seating will accommodate 2 reasonably proportioned passengers and boot space is pretty limited but still useable. The good-quality plastic dash is finished in the same colour as the body to resemble the pressed steel item on the original 500 and the display pod and switches are also suitably retro.
Modern petrol cars are shedding cylinders in an effort to make them more efficient; most hot hatches are down to four, the Polo BlueMotion somehow manages with three and now there’s even a Bentley Continental GT that has to make do with a V8 instead of its trademark W12.
Fiat 500 TwinAir
The TwinAir has just two cylinders doing all the work inside its 875cc engine but the diminutive unit is deceptively strong and features some clever technology. Designed from a clean sheet, this twin-cylinder is engineered around Fiat‘s MultAir induction technology and has a small turbocharger.
The original 500 is still about in plentiful numbers in Italy and I‘ve heard them rattling about the streets of Modena and Naples during recent visits. The quaint sound of the simple engine has been neatly captured, if refined a bit by its 21st century counterpart. It growls happily through the gears and at idle, produces an amusing chuffing burble. It's an infectiously cheerful car.
Driving the TwinAir is a learning experience. First and second gears are just to get you rolling - the revs top out very quickly and after that, general driving is all about momentum. You‘ll need to stir the pot a bit if you‘re presented with hills but there is enough power to overtake, even at motorway speeds. Astonishingly, it‘s not slow at all; with 85bhp in a small, light body, it‘s nippy and extremely manoeuvrable. Ride and handling are both decent enough too.
Fiat 500 TwinAir
As far as fuel consumption goes, Fiat claims 68.9 mpg. Usually manufacturers‘ economy figures should be taken with a pinch of salt but I managed to get the car to record 74mpg over a normal ten-mile journey without really trying. That was in ’Eco‘ mode, which is engaged by pressing a slightly awkwardly-placed button on the passenger‘s side of the dash and works by readjusting the fuel/air intake and compression, as well as calming the little turbocharger down a bit.
Those are incredible figures whatever way you look at them and represent the manifestation of a certainty that car experts have possessed for years: we simply don‘t need complicated hybrids or full-electric cars that are charged by burning fossil fuels - at least, not yet. We do need small, efficient combustion-engined cars like this one.
Fiat also seems to have achieved its aim of providing the TwinAir at an affordable price: the entry level ’Pop‘ will cost you around £10,700 whilst the 'Lounge' trim level car (as tested) is a shade over £12,000.
I admit it - I was wrong. The Fiat 500 TwinAir is fun, affordable and very clever but most of all, it remains steadfast to the principles of the legendary car that it pays tribute to. My final opinion on the FIAT 500 TwinAir is predictable: I loved it.
