Louth Motors: Could Fiat be the new kid on the block?

Fiat, remember them? Not too long-ago Fiats were everywhere in Ireland. Our roads were full at various times with Uno's, Punto's and Bravo's. But somewhere along the way Fiat lost direction. Dealers were lost, or could not be retained, with the influx of other brands competing for their turf.

The management of Fiat in Ireland was, to be kind, a bit haphazard and as a result sales slipped off a cliff. Now, Fiat in Ireland is handled by the Gowan Group and as a result I predict that we will see Fiat as a much more attractive offering than before.

There will be more places to buy and service your Fiat which is key to selling cars here in Ireland. Throughout the changes, upheavals and malaise the one thing that people forget was that Fiat actually make good cars.

I'll bore you again about my 97 Fiat Bravo which to this day is still my favourite car of all the cars I've owned. Especially with the TSW alloys I fitted from new.

Who does that any more getting non-manufacturer alloys fitted to their new car? It was right car, right time and I loved it. Never caused a single day of bother, was solid and rattle free.

Some of their cars were divisive like the Multipla but the Panda, "new" 500 and the revised Bravo were as good as anything offered by their competitors with one key difference. They were honest cars, offering value and specification at a keen price.

Where they dropped the ball was in service and servicing but I feel this is going to be addressed as a priority from here on.
Take the Tipo Cross I've just been driving. It's a 5-door hatchback/estate shape that looks modern if understated, is very competitively priced and equipped. I'll back that up.

It starts at €24,995 in uninspiringly named Base trim. For that you get as standard the likes of, speed assist and traffic sign recognition, lane support, cruise control, air-con, 6 airbags, 7-inch touchscreen, smartphone mirroring, emergency braking and all-around electric windows with the best audio controls that's on sale with the volume and station controls at the back of the steering wheel. Perfection.

That's a proper family car for 5 adults that can return 6.7l/100kms from its 3-cylinder, 100hp petrol engine. Perfect for a family in these mad, out of control, cost of living times.

It has generous cabin and boot space at 440l which beats the 392l in the latest Ford Focus with which is shares basically the same physical dimensions. But that starts at €32,865 and only gives you 25hp more. Is it ~€8k better? Remember as well that this Tipo won a European Autobest award when it was first released back in 2016.

The car is fine to drive and zippy and feels a lot faster than the 12.2s quoted to get to 100km/h.
It doesn't have the same finessed driving dynamics of the Focus and you can see that the money went into specification rather than driving engineering.

That said I loved the back-to-basics manual driving it offered and I'd have no issue being behind the wheel of it all day. I took my elderly parents and sister up to the Sally Gap / Military Road in the Dublin mountains and the car's suspension took everything those unforgiving roads threw at it.

For a car starting at €25k there are of course some economies and sound insulation is one of them. Over 120km/h and you notice it in terms of wind and road noise. It's not a dealbreaker by any means but worth pointing out and seeing if it is for you.

The interior is spacious and it's usual to report in a car where the price is low and attractive that the quality of the materials used are sub-par. I'd say marginally sub-par compared to today's competitors but a world away from sub-par interiors of four or five years ago.

An atrocious interior just won't cut it anymore and if you balance the cost of the Tipo v the quality offered you'll conclude that it is a lot better than you'd have expected.

Fiat sold 357 cars in Ireland last year, less than half of one percent of the entire market. Some of the brands ahead of it could not hang onto Fiat's coat tail not too long ago. The forgotten Tipo only sold 38 cars last year and in an age where every euro counts this is a bit perplexing.

It can't be the cars, so it must be the lack of dealers and servicing facilities. Fiat have committed that from now on all cars will be electrified - be it hybrid or all electric. So, with the right powered cars and new impetus from Gowan, I'm convinced the Fiat brand will be rejuvenated and we will start to increasingly see more of them on our roads.