Saturday,
June 30, 2007
New "Bravo" Continues
The
ANNOTICO Report
Recently,
Fiat has been making big strides in regaining lost market credibility via the
excellent Panda and Grande Punto.
The
Bravo is expected to continue those "winning ways". The Bravo is a
five-seat, five-door family hatch-back, that has a 1.4 litre
engine "one size fits all" but gives
upward variability with a turbocharger option to provide up to 2.0litre
muscle without associated higher fuel consumption and emissions penalties.
The
Bravo has performance, economy and highly enjoyable driveability. and the 148bhp petrol version - yours from a highly
competitive #12,895 - will top 130mph. It handles adroitly, rides smoothly with
standard suspension and is an altogether impressive package. The Bravos
interior decor is attractive (seats are comfortingly sup-portive)
and the car feels solid.
If
you have been sufficiently indoctrinated to believe that size matters, then you
might mull over this: the Italians are thinking small - they have found a
substitute for litres.
Not, of course,
in emotive areas that include wine, but certainly when it comes to engine size.
Tomorrow, the new Fiat Bravo will poke its handsome snout into the British car
sales trough and although it is a five-seat, five-door family hatch-back, its
petrol engine is a one-size-fits-all of just 1.4 litres.
True, the power spread spans 88bhp to 148bhp but 1.4 litres
is not exactly a firm basis for macho posturing.
So to give the
Bravo added bravura, the engine is allied to a small turbocharger to provide up
to 2.0litre muscle without associated higher fuel consumption and emissions
penalties. It works effectively, smoothly, without drama (early turbo-pet-rol engines could be recalcitrant to the point of terror in
some conditions) to give the car performance, economy and highly enjoyable driveability.
According to
Fiats figures, the 148bhp petrol version - yours from a highly competitive
#12,895 - will get to 62mph in 8.2sec, top 130mph, return a combined cycle
consumption of 39.8mpg and CO2 emissions of 167g/km. It handles adroitly, rides
smoothly with standard suspension (over firmly in Sport guise) and is an
altogether impressive package. There are a few niggles but the Bravos
interior decor is attractive (seats are comfortingly sup-portive)
and the car feels solid.
The #10,995
entry-level engine has a modest 88bhp but a 118bhp is
scheduled and it is likely to be a best seller.
At 1.9 litres, the two Bravo diesels - 148bhp and 118bhp
respectively - have not had the downsizing treatment. The economical 148bhp has
performance not much behind that of the similarly powerful petrol but I found
it noisy, harsh and suffering vibration; the 118bhp diesel was much the better
car and it manages 0-62mph in a respectable 10.5sec.
Recently, Fiat
has been making big strides in regaining lost market credibility via the
excellent Panda and Grande Punto. Its
New engine
developments are in prospect that will see even more downsizing. Harald J. Wester, Fiat
Groups chief technical officer and formerly with Ferrari, said that by
2015, a B-segment Fiat - smaller than the Bravo - could have an 800-900cc
turbocharged petrol engine with variable valve technology, giving good
performance and very low fuel consumption and emissions.
Fiat may have
been in the doldrums for a while, but it is making a sizeable
comeback.
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