2014 Fiat 500L 6MT / 6AT
Fiat's five-door mop bucket goes through our ringer.
TESTED
Although the diminutive Fiat 500 led the brand’s return to the U.S. when it bowed here in 2012, the second product in Fiat showrooms is the new-for-2014 500L.
It takes the Cinquecento formula and adds inflated proportions and four
proper passenger doors and is aimed squarely at the fast-growing
compact-crossover market. More practical but less exciting than the
plucky 500 it joins in the lineup, the 500L tests the limits of Italian
charm.
My, How You’ve Grown
The L is more than two feet longer than the subcompact, three-door 500
and nearly six inches taller and wider, casting a similar shadow to
those of the Kia Soul, Mini Countryman, and Scion xB.
The 500L’s swollen dimensions are good for a usable back seat and 22
cubic feet of seats-up storage versus the 500’s measly 10 cubes. The L
is also good for about 800 additional pounds of curb weight. Acres of
glass deliver great outward visibility, and the high-roof design
provides enough headroom to accommodate an Abe Lincoln impersonator
wearing a top hat.
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We didn’t expect much performance from the 500L, what with its weighing about the same as our long-term Dodge Dart Rallye
(3300-ish pounds) and saddled with the same 160-hp, 1.4-liter turbo
four that has proven frustratingly recalcitrant to throttle inputs
unless kept on the boil. As in the Dart, meaningful thrust here doesn’t
materialize until the 2500-rpm torque peak, which necessitates excessive
prodding with the right foot just to keep up with traffic.
A six-speed manual with a long, ropy shifter is standard on the base
$19,995 Pop model and allows the greatest control over the peaky 1.4’s
power delivery. Stepping up to the $21,195 Easy trim makes a six-speed
dual-clutch automatic available for $1350. But as we learned in a test of a similarly equipped Dart,
that pairing leaves room for improvement in shift quality and speed, as
well as coordination with the turbo four’s nonlinear power band. EPA
city/highway ratings are 25/33 mpg for the manual and 24/33 for the
dual-clutch, with our observed, throttle-heavy averages coming in at 23
and 27.
Slow and Not So Steady
The manual 500L was able to reach 60 mph in a sleepy 8.7 seconds and
eclipsed the quarter-mile in 16.6 at 84 mph. That makes it slower than
many of its competitors and about as quick as a 4.5-ton Ram 3500 diesel pickup
we recently tested. The 75-pound-heavier automatic 500L needed an
additional 0.4 second to 60 and 0.5 in the quarter but nearly eliminated
the gap by the 100-mph mark. Conversely, the dual-clutch version
carried a half-second advantage over the manual in the 5-to-60-mph
rolling start.
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