Fiat Auto SA looks to the striking Bravo to banish the apparition of the staid Stilo. Style is not really an issue here, but is there the substance to back it up? We’ll know when it arrives here in July.
Fiat Auto SA looks to the striking Bravo to banish the apparition of the staid Stilo. Style is not really an issue here, but is there the substance to back it up? We’ll know when the newcomer arrives here in July.
Fortunately for Fiat aficionados, the first impressions of the Bravo are fairly favourable, given the success of the Grande Punto with which it shares a number of styling cues. If you think “scaled-up Grande Punto”, you won’t be far off…
It certainly looks distinctive, and with a swooping roofline, snouty front treatment and an evolution of the previous Bravo’s striking brakelight design – you will struggle to lose the Bravo in a car park full of largely non-descript compacts. The Bravo will look to lure buyers away from the likes of the Ford Focus and Peugeot 307 with its generous proportions. At the same time, the effect of clothing a C-segment offering in a wealth of curves and eye-catching details is likely to have potential Citroën C4 and Seat Léon buyers twitching with indecision, although the pricing (yet to be announced by Fiat) will play a big part in determining what cars the Bravo will take on.
Some believe that Fiat has a knack of building cars with good-looking exteriors and interiors that leave you wishing you were anywhere but in them. The interior of the previous Bravo (which was never available in South Africa) was a brittle, grey environment that seemed like such a letdown to a striking exterior. Fiat has clearly taken heed of this shortcoming with a very sporty, stylish cabin. From Alfa-esque recessed dials circular air vents and a stunning swathe of soft-touch dashboard; the new Bravo appears to have bucked the aforementioned trend.
The only memory of the Stilo will be the re-worked version of its floorpan (upon which the Bravo will be based). Head of the Fiat brand, Luca De Meo, claims that the company has learned from the mistakes made with the Stilo by addressing the electronic gremlins that afflicted the old car and trimming down the number of built-in extras to keep pricing competitive.
Bravos bound for the European market feature a wealth of extras that such as dual-zone climate control, a choice of two sound systems, tyre pressure sensors, parking sensors, cruise control, rain sensors and a 1,24 m panoramic sunroof that will most likely feature on locally launched models.
A new version of the Blue&Me module allowing USB media integration and a degree of sat nav along with the more navigation-focused Connect Nav Plus look unlikely to feature on our Bravos.
There is a veritable acronym assault when it comes to safety equipment made available to the Bravo range. The new car will feature ABS with EBD as well as CSA (Crash Sensitivity Algorhythm) and ECS (Early Crash Sensor). The latter features detect the early stages of a potential accident and ready a number of safety features and indicators to warn of such an event. The front airbag system, dubbed airbag smart2, integrate with these sensors and can be adaptively deployed depending on the severity of the accident.
The safety drive continues with an optional Hill Holder that applies the brakes for that split second the driver moves their feet from brake to clutch pedal and ASR with Motor Schleppmoment Regelung; a system that transfers torque to the engine during aggressive down-shifts to alleviate drive wheel drag.
The Bravo will officially be available here in July and although the South African engine line-up is still under review, CARtoday.com has been given a couple of pointers regarding the powerplants that could propel the Bravo.
Testing has thus far dictated that the model’s standard non-turbo 1,4 litre engine will most likely not make its way over here. The two turbocharged 1,4 litre units on offer in Europe look likely to come to our shores in both 88 kW and 110 kW guises, and a high-output diesel delivering around 112 kW is also on the cards.