Fiat 500L Driving, Engines & Performance | Top Gear
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Driving

What is it like to drive?

It’s very good in town, that’s for sure. The steering is calm and easy, perfect for city schlepping. There’s even a dead patch around the straight ahead, so you don’t have to keep making tiny corrections. This, of course, means it’s also a bit woolly and unresponsive during keener driving, and this is where the Fiat 500L falls down.

Not literally: despite being a tall thing, Fiat’s kept body roll reasonably well contained, so it doesn’t wallow about so much as, er, change direction slowly and steadily. It’s derived from a version of the Fiat Punto platform, so feels similar to that. Just a bit less enthusiastic. Pity.

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The engines are good. The 1.6-litre diesel is very good but in this class, petrol is just as important: the 1.4 is so-so but the MultiAir is pleasingly fine. Not everyone is charmed by the oddball two-cylinder TwinAir it seems, because Fiat's deleted it from the range. But the bigger 1.4 turbo remains, and it's sprightlier than most. 

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Highlights from the range

the fastest

Fiat 500L 1.4 T-Jet 120 Pop Star 5dr
  • 0-6210.2s
  • CO2155.0g/km
  • BHP120
  • MPG42.2
  • Price£17,090

the cheapest

Fiat 500L 1.4 Pop Star 5dr
  • 0-6212.8s
  • CO2143.0g/km
  • BHP95
  • MPG46.3
  • Price£15,775

the greenest

Fiat 500L 1.3 Multijet 85 Easy 5dr Dualogic
  • 0-6215.1s
  • CO2105.0g/km
  • BHP85
  • MPG70.6
  • Price£17,335

Variants We Have Tested

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