Fiat 500 Stop&Start Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Fiat 500 Stop&Start
Prices: £9,500 - on the road
Insurance Group: 4
Emissions: 113g/km
Performance: 0-62mph 12.9s / Max Speed 99mph
Fuel Consumption: (combined) 58.9mpg
Safety: Driver and passenger airbags
Dimensions: Length/Width/Heightmm 3550/1650/1490mm

STOP AS YOU MEAN TO GO ON

Our Rating: 7.4 / 10

Now we can do our bit for the planet even when we’re not going anywhere with the Fiat 500 Stop&Start. Steve Walker takes a look.

Maybe you thought Fiat’s 500 was pretty economical. It’s certainly small and the mainstream engines aren’t too big or powerful. Well, it obviously wasn’t economical enough for Fiat. The Italian marque has given its monumentally cute little city car a punt in an even greener direction with the inclusion of Stop&Start technology. Could this be the 500 to have?

One day soon, it’s likely that all cars, or at least all mainstream ones, will feature a system amounting to Fiat’s Stop&Start. Many of the manufactures offer it already on selected models, in one form or another. Basically, it turns off a vehicle’s engine when it’s stationary and automatically restarts it again when the driver wants to move off. Through this, the fuel that’s burned and the emissions that are released while our vehicles are static with their engines running can be saved and a small contribution can be made to the planet’s welfare, not to mention our own bank balances.

It’s the entry-level 1.2-litre petrol engine that has the honour of being paired with Fiat’s Stop&Start system in the 500. It’s a 69bhp unit that can spirit the city car to 62mph in under 13s, then on to a 99mph top speed which is quite quick and will seem a whole lot quicker from within the confines of the diminutive 500. Stop&Start is activated by depressing the clutch, as you would anyway when coming to a halt, then taking the car out of gear and lifting the clutch. When the clutch is fully raised, the engine stops. To restart it again, simply depress the clutch pedal and when it reaches the bottom of its travel, hey presto. If you don’t want to use Stop&Start, simply keep the clutch in when stationary or turn the system off completely via the button mounted on the centre console. Sensors tell the system if the engine is still cold and it will not operate until enough heat has built up.

Much of the 500’s underpinnings are based on Panda running gear – no bad thing as the Panda is a fun steer. Like the Panda, the 500 uses simple MacPherson strut suspension up front and a basic torsion beam at the back. A few centimetres have been added to the width of the car’s track, giving it a foursquare appearance and Fiat claims that body rigidity is around 10 per cent better than the Panda. The car serves up a comfortable ride and nippy handling that’s perfect for the urban environment.

At 1.65m wide, 1.49m high and 3.55m long, the 500 doesn’t take up a great deal of space. For reference, a MINI is 1.91m wide, 1.40m high and 3.68m long: in other words much wider, a little lower and a fair bit longer. Even Renault’s second generation Twingo, at 3.60m, won’t fit into some parking spaces the 500 will be able to squeeze into.

Delicious design details drip from the 500. It’s like a tiny pearl, especially when the ivory finish interior is specified. There’s a very well-judged blend of retro chic and ruthlessly modern contemporary design inside, with circular head restraints, a glass roof and iconic 500 badging on the Panda-sourced dashboard.

Chrome-ringed vents and a fascia that can be specified in the same colour as the body, mirroring the painted metal dash of the Nuovo 500, are just some of the interior design features. The exterior treatment is cool and clean with only the front grille and door handles differing significantly from the Trepiuno show car. Hats off to Fiat in this regard. So often we see cars that look fantastic as prototypes on a show stand only to arrive in production form virtually unrecognisable.

The 500 Stop&Start is based on the Lounge trim level and is priced the same as a 1.2-litre Lounge model. The difference is that a few items of the Lounge equipment including the sunroof are deleted from the Stop&Start to compensate for the cost of the extra technology.

Prior to the 500’s arrival, the speculation was that it would target the kind of premium prices that BMW charges for its MINI but Fiat is sticking to what it knows with affordability remaining a key weapon in the 500’s armoury. This is a far more faithful interpretation of a classic motoring icon than the Bavarians have been able to achieve. And, if you don’t care about badge equity, don’t mind about the fact that you only get three doors and get the right deal, the Fiat will make plenty of sense.

The point of Stop&Start is to lower fuel consumption and emissions, so h