THE CAR IN FACTS
With Citroen (Nemo) and Peugeot (Bipper) also debating on what route to take in this shrinking market sector, Fiat stands alone in pushing ahead with its Fiorino, which is an Italian take on the French pair.
Far from scaling back, Fiat’s recent revamp has included Euro6 engines, a fresher look and a improved interior, all of ● Price: £13.015 ● Engine: 1.3-litre, diesel ● Power: 94bhp ● Torque: 148lb/ft ● Load length: 1523mm ● Load width : 1473mm (max) ● Load height: 1205 mm ● Payload: 660kg ● Max towing limit: 1000kg ● Economy: 72.4 mpg ● CO2 emissions: 104g/km which won’t be shared with Citroen or Peugeot.
Renamed as the Fiorino Cargo, it comes in variety of guises and trims, including a offroad variant called Adventure which sports a raised ride height, mud and snow tyres plus an electronic diff lock to aid traction; a neat little package which will appeal to many.
The new Euro6 engines comprise of a zesty 1.3-litre unit, under the usual Fiat banner of Multijet, in 80bhp and 94bhp tune while petrolheads can opt for a 77bhp 1.4-litre alternative.
Transmissions are all fivespeed but there’s a cheesynamed automated manu- al option on certain models, called Comfort-matic – would you believe! Aside from a conventional van line up, two passenger-carrying crew versions are listed.
The Fiorino recently won its category in the prestigious annual What Van? Awards and with justification. It’s a very pleasing ‘little big van’ that drives with typical Fiat verve, especially the perky 94bhp diesel engine which, deceptively, needs to driven like a petrol unit to make it perform at its best but unlike numerous other Euro6 engines, there’s no Adblue additive to worry about.
In a similar vein, the handling is hot hatch like and for an owner-operator, the Fiorino is a viable dual role vehicle that’s both smart enough looking to be seen in and comfortable and refined enough, in mid-range SX trim, to drive around in.
Like the French duo, Fiorino boasts a useful cube-style 2.5 cubic metre load bay, accessed by asymmetrical rear doors and, on most versions, a standard side door with a handy twin adding £230 to the invoice.
With a maximum load width that’s almost as good as the larger Citroen Berlingo and Peugeot’s Partner, there are also ample tie-down points provided, although we’d liked to have seen some form of floor protection.
A full size load bulkhead is £80 and essential reverse park sensors £150. Pricier options include alloy wheels at £425 and £500 for air conditioning. Start/stop adds a further £200 if you feel you need it.
Starting from £11,315, the Fiat is slightly cheaper than the Citroen Nemo but the base (and we reckon better made) Ford Courier undercuts them all by £100. Fiat is a past master of pushing good deals so shop around, particularly if you want contract hire as you’ll find much better deals on larger vans such as Berlingo and Partner as well as Fiat’s own Doblo. Size seems to matter in this respect.