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Sure, it's tight in the back and the driving position is bit like a van's, but as an urban commuting device the 500 is twice as smart as a smartfortwo. Photo Gallery
The Fiat 500 JTD comes second by today's fuel yardstick.
Seems like only yesterday that the first boast made for any new car was the speed with which it got from standing to 100km/h. Performance benchmarks were all that counted.
Now, the essential question is how few litres from the planet's ever diminishing store of fossil fuel a car uses in the course of driving 100km. By that measure, the diesel version of Fiat's retro chic 500 is the second most impressive car Australian money can buy.
Fuel economy
With a claimed consumption of 4.2 litres per 100km in ideal conditions, it betters Toyota's triumph of marketing, the hybrid Prius, ‘trailing’ only the seemingly miraculous claim of 3.9L/100km for the Mini Cooper D, which arrives this month. Be interesting to see how that goes in real world running.
What can be said with certainty, over several days in Sydney's increasingly horrendous peak hour traffic conditions, this tiny oiler 500 realised an entirely credible 5.5L/100km. Of course, you can't help but wonder if anyone with $30K to drop on what is essentially a 3.5m/980kg lifestyle accessory cares about a few litres either way.
Drivetrain
And in that case, the free revving, but hardly thirsty, 1.4-litre petrol engine version would be the way to go. It would certainly be the more agreeable to live with, with less of the early and often cog swapping the JTD must have to be kept in its narrow torque band - good thing the gearstick in that delightful cabin (just love those faux Bakelite accents) is so high and ready to hand.
Driving
Italian carmakers believe their engines should be heard and that's fine as far as it goes, just that the doughty 1.3-litre four pot diesel is a bit of a throbber. When combined with rain pelting on the glass roof and the scraping wipers, it made for some cacophonous rides home.
With either engine, though, comes top-spec ‘Lounge’ trim. With the soul and opulent option of beautiful brown vintage leather, our test car came with voice activation, i-Pod, Bluetooth compatibility as standard.
If the olive green paint made it resemble something you'd find in a massive martini, this is perhaps the most pleasing 500 exterior hue next to good old white.
Sure, it's tight in the back and the driving position is bit like a van's, but as an urban commuting device the 500 is twice as smart as a smartfortwo.
For the record - and for whatever it's worth - the claimed 0-100km/h time is 12.5 seconds.
FIAT 500 JTD
Price: from around $29,990 (driveaway)
Engine: 1.3-litre turbo diesel; 55kw/145Nm
Economy: 4.2L/100 claimed
Transmission: 5-speed manual; FWD
