Fiat 500 the closest thing there is to time travelling

Spending a week in a Fiat 500 made me think of time travelling. It is a subject that has long fascinated science fiction authors, with the possibility of being able to surf into the past or future raising exciting scenarios.

For instance, if you could visit the past, would you seek out Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin at an early age with the view of possibly altering their eventual personalities? Which brings us to the real reason for this story. Unlike humans, the car industry has been able to travel back in time.

VW brought back the Beetle, BMW the Mini and 14 years ago, Fiat introduced a modern version of its iconic 500. Stellantis, the purveyors of FCA, recently streamlined the Fiat 500 range, and this writer was offered the opportunity to host the TwinAir Sport derivative as a house guest.

It was a pleasure. For a start, the current Fiat 500 looks pretty much like its illustrious forefather – unlike the current Mini, which has progressively drifted away from its initial roots. The Fiat 500 can not be mistaken for anything else.

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In Sport configuration, it boasts racy bumpers, a front spoiler, Sport badges and unique 16-inch spoked alloy wheels in 195/45 R16 rubberware.

The current Fiat 500 also sticks to the original concept of a light car propelled by a small engine.

The modern version has a kerb weight of just 930 kg, and a gross vehicle mass of 1 370 kg.

Under the bonnet is a two-cylinder, turbocharged, 875cc petrol engine, that produces 63 kW of power at 5 500 rpm, plus 145 Nm of torque at 1 900 rpm. This go to the front wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox.

Active safety features include ABS with electronic brake assist, traction control, stability control, hill start assist and park distance control. If you still toss it into the scenery seven airbags – front, side and curtains – will do their best to keep you alive.

Inside, the Fiat 500 Sport boasts a multitude of stuff normally associated with larger, more expensive cars. This includes an onboard computer with multi-information display, a seven-inch digital instrument cluster, Bluetooth, satellite navigation, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, a USB port, electric windows, a tyre pressure monitor, climate control, a multi-function steering wheel, cruise control, central locking, and a heated rear window.

The three-door car is officially a four-seater, but the rear passengers will have to be pretty small. The front seats – covered in cloth and artificial leather – are superbly comfortable.

The little car was a joy to drive. The maximum torque, being available at relatively low engine speeds, made it responsive in city traffic, even just using fourth gear.

But the fun came when pushing the FIat 500 a bit. The sound, which becomes an aggressive rasp at over 3 000 rpm, is addictive. With a claimed 0 to 100 km/h time of 11 seconds and top speed of 173 km/h the Fiat is by no means an aspiring race car. But, it feels so good.

Combine the engine noise with a slick gearbox, direct steering and general feeling of being planted on the road, and this car fully involves you as a driver. That is something many manufacturers of faster, more expensive, passenger cars can not seem to achieve.

The little Fiat 500 invites you to enter corners at speed, responding instantly to steering inputs by going exactly where you point it. There is almost no body roll and you can execute your exact line, making you feel as if you are driving better than you actually are. At this writer’s age, that could be dangerous.

The test vehicle was also remarkably frugal on fuel. Over the week, while making no effort to drive economically, we averaged a petrol usage of 5.8 L/100 km.

It was difficult to find fault with something that brought so much fun into my life, and I finally settled on the fact that the car has one of those pathetic space saver spare wheels.

At R274 900, the Fiat 500 TwinAir Sport comes with a five year/100 000 km warranty. Its service intervals are set at 15 000 km.

For more information on the Fiat 500 range, click here.