FIAT 500L

Fiat’s 500L is a five-seater MPV designed to take on the Citroen C3 Picasso, Ford B-Max and the equally trendy, retro-pastiche Mini Countryman, offering the chicness of the 500 with miles more utility. here’s plenty of touches you can point to to prove Fiat’s really thought out how to make life easy for families. The 343-litre boot’s large, top-hinged door is sprung to shut with just a one-handed push. The doors are lightweight, and though little-uns might find the raised rear bench a touch high to clamber into, there’s stacks of room in the cabin, and 22 cubby holes dotted around to ram kiddie paraphernalia into. The tall glasshouse doesn’t just aid headroom either: visibility through the slim split A-pillars is praiseworthy and it’s light and airy inside, cranking up the 500L’s cheery vibe. Like the regular Fiat 500, there’s a solidity to the fixtures that you might not expect. the 500L feels like it’ll take plenty of abuse inside, but doesn’t substitute funky design for grey swathes of hewn Germanic plastic. Toughness is backed up by safety too: the 500L scores five stars from Euro NCAP overall, and gets six airbags as standard. Thumbs up to Fiat for finally pulling a decent driving position out of the bag: the 500L’s driver is treated to a far more comfortable pose than the sit-up-and-beg 500 or Panda. The seat is far more comfortable too, if less pretty (though who cares about how a seat looks anyway?). The 500L’s gearchange too is better than its smaller stablemates: the lever is long, the throw longer, and 50% less notchy than in small Fiats.