FIAT Bravo Review

At a time when most American carmakers preferred to ignore voices forecasting a harsh economic environment, Fiat chose to bring a new model on the compact class market to compete against Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus, Opel Astra and a few others. It was January 2007 when Fiat took the wraps off the Bravo, a model that was officially unveiled to the general public in March the same year, at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show.

Bravo is not an all-new presence on the market, as Fiat previously used the same designation for a different vehicle manufactured between 1995 and 2001. Still, following a weird and purely marketing-based decision, the Italian company decided to discontinue the old Bravo and introduce a new vehicle called Stilo, a separate model that failed to impress. After scratching their heads for a while, Fiat's bosses decided to revive the Bravo nameplate, but only as a five-door hatchback.

So, here it is, the new Bravo, a vehicle manufactured by Fiat in Piedimonte S. Germano and aimed at the European market, but also sold in some other countries, such as Brazil and other South American nations. In Australia however, Fiat sells the Bravo as Ritmo due to an unfortunate twist of events: Mazda's Australian division holds the rights over the Bravo nameplate so Fiat had to turn to Ritmo.

As you have already noticed, Fiat's Bravo is involved in quite a fierce battle, as Volkswagen's Golf is already known as a best-seller in most countries across Europe. Furthermore, Opel recently refreshed the Astra and hopes to drive it on the path to success with more economical engines and more features at a lower price, as compared to the other models in the class.

These are exactly the same areas Fiat is trying to tackle with Bravo, as it aims to offer at least the same equipment levels as the competitors, but at a lower price. The version we tested is the Dynamic, a trim level priced in the 18,000 Euro range and featuring the 1.6-liter Multijet engine developing 120 horsepower.

We'll get straight to the point in the chapters below, so keep reading the next paragraphs to find out our opinions on the car.

Fiat's Bravo is a handsome car, that's for sure. We won't go that far and say it's gorgeous or a head-turner, but it is attractive enough to make you keep your eyes on its body more than a second. Although some might believe that the car was designed by Giugiaro's Italdesign, the same automobile design and engineering company that created Fiat's Punto and Grande Punto, it's not. Bravo is the exclusive creation of Fiat Style Center, the Italian company's in-house division responsible for designing new models.

Bravo is far from being a "regular" 5-door hatchback. The front fascia is inspired by the one on the Grande Punto but comes with restyled headlights, grille and fog beams. Opinions are divided on the front look but some people think that it has "something" from a Maserati, especially when viewed from the side.

The rear on the other hand is completely different as compared to Grande Punto. It continues the aerodynamic feel of the rest of the car, with a fairly small rear window, which by the way has lots of disadvantages. The exterior mirrors are large enough to compensate for the tiny rear window we've told you about, providing a quite acceptable view of what happens behind the vehicle.

The new Bravo has only a few things in common with the old one, which was also sold as a five-door hatchback under the name Brava. Still, we can notice some slight similarities when compared to the three-door version, especially thanks to the sporty attitude and to the re-worked rear (99 percent-different from the five-door.

It measures 4336x1793x1499 mm, slightly bigger than the Golf (4199x1778x1478 mm), which usually translates into more interior space and larger trunk. And speaking of cargo volume, Bravo has 400 liters, more than Golf (351 liters) and Opel Astra (370 liters).

Considering the sporty look of the exterior, it would be natural to have some high expectations when getting behind the wheel. And the Bravo surely doesn't disappoint. The plastics used on the dashboard doesn't seem cheap at all and we must admit that we really liked the carbon fiber-like cover on the central part of the console. On the other hand, the plastics used for the storage compartments on all four doors seem to be the cheapest possible, just like the one seen on our childhood's toys "made in" China.

The two-tone dashboard is dominated by the center console that obviously gives you access to all functions of the car, including climate control and the audio system. There are no LCD screens or fancy displays but instead, there are two small screens that show the current song, temperature and let you browse among climate settings. The steering wheel comes fitted with volume controls and other buttons that let you use the Blue&Me feature (you'll find this function detailed in the Gadgets section).

Overall, the interior is somewhat stylish, although some people could consider the seats a bit uncomfortable on a longer trip. There's no leather trim whatsoever, except for the steering wheel and the gear stick. However, it is available as an option for all Bravo configurations.

The amount of space, is pretty limited but, unless you're an NBA player, you should be able to drive the Bravo. Riding as a rear passenger however can prove to be a nightmare, as the test with our colleague (who measures almost 2 meters) proved us how difficult to travel on the back seat actually is.

Curiously, although the car we tested came fitted with several advanced features (including dual-zone automatic climate control, Blue&Me and adaptive fog lights), the vehicle was missing rear electric windows. They are available as an option but, still, as compared to competitors, it could represent a disadvantage.

The trunk has a volume of 400 liters with the rear seats in place, while the capacity can be increased to up to 1175 liters with folded seats. A thing worth mentioning is that the rear seats cannot be folded entirely, as the bench is somehow blocking the backrest from being pushed down.

The interior is fitted with several storage compartments but none of them are large enough to fit a bottle of water for instance. Two of them are placed just underneath the handbrake lever, with one being used by the ash tray. With a little effort, you can push a bottle on the door compartment but still, it's obvious that none of these has been designed to hold a larger recipient.

Probably one of the most annoying things inside the Bravo is the rear window. Visibility is incredibly low and this is probably the reason while Fiat chose to install so large exterior mirrors. The rear windshield wiper cleans only a limited area of the window which, in difficult weather conditions, reduces visibility even more, making various maneuvers, such as parking, more difficult than one would expect with such a small vehicle.

Bravo's dimensions are somewhat appropriate for city driving and we must admit that squeezing through cars isn't difficult at all. The 1.6-liter Multijet powerplant is more than enough for driving the car in the city but the 6-speed manual transmission is a bit annoying especially in a crowded city. Sure, an automatic transmission would be more than welcome but the best we could get was a DualLogic configuration, only available as an option across the range.

The aforementioned powertrain isn't impressive in terms of fuel consumption and emissions. The officials figures are pointing to a hard-to-achieve (and trust) 6.9 l/100km (34 mpg) but we weren't able to go lower than 8.9 l/100km when driving as economically as possible.

The feature that counts the most in urban driving however is the so-called "City" mode. Also available on some other Fiats out there, this special function was specifically created to increase handling and lighten the steering, which basically translates into easier parking and more comfortable turns. And even if we're not exactly the kind of drivers who'd like a car without power steering at all (let's name them classic car aficionados), we must admit that Bravo's "City" mode is a bit too much and could sometimes lead to more trouble, especially in tight turns.

Front visibility is already one of the areas Bravo excels in, mostly thanks to the front large windshield but, there's more than that. The car comes fitted with "cornering" adaptive fog lights which are automatically switched on while cornering, depending on the angle of steering.

The car we tested was equipped with parking sensors, which turned parking into an extremely easy process, no matter how tight the space.

But, again, the tiny rear window is the source of a new headache. Not only because it reduces visibility enough to force you to put all your faith in the parking sensors, but also due to the fact that it also cuts the amount of light within the car down to a "below average" level.

All in all, the Bravo is quite useful if you're just planning to go shopping or just travel to and from your office but you still may be unpleasantly surprised by the fuel consumption figures you achieve after spending some time in a traffic jam.

At the first glance, the model doesn't seem too spacious, comfortable or simply appropriate for long trips, but Bravo might be able to make you change your mind.

First of all, the maximum speed for this particular version is 195 km/h (121.1 mph), with the engine developing 300 Nm of torque at 1,500 rpm. The maximum torque is delivered at impressively low revs: 300 Nm at 1,500 rpm which, in the context of an open road, is fairly welcomed.

Unfortunately, there are several "minuses" at this chapter, and we'll detail them below.

First of all, the engine seems a bit too noisy at higher speeds and, although this might sound like a really awesome feature for those of you who'd like a sporty car, driving it on a highway might become annoying after a few hours of continuous driving. Secondly, there's no cruise control which, once again, turns it into a more city-oriented model. Cruise control is however available as an option across the range.

Fuel consumption is now closer to official figures, as the best we could achieve was 5.4 l/100 km (43.5 mpg), not too far from Fiat's 4.1 l/100km.

The car weighs 1,320 kilos and this is almost unnoticeable while driving on open road, but stability and handling remain decent even at higher speeds. Cornering at higher speeds however could cause some trouble to less experienced drivers, especially due to the lack of ESP, which makes the vehicle prone to oversteering or understeering.

However, once again, the adaptive fog lights are quite an useful feature, especially when driving on serpentine roads where visibility is reduced to a minimum. As we said, the cornering front fog lights are specifically designed to increase visibility by switching on the light automatically depending on the angle of steering.

Another good thing on Bravo is the design of the taillights which have been specifically adjusted to block the air flow from getting to the rear of the car and thus affect the aerodynamics. Inspired by several other models currently on the market, Fiat's engineers created a small "fin" on each taillight to improve aerodynamics, which further translates into improved fuel consumption and less emissions, no matter the speed.