Fiat Seicento (600)
OVER the past few decades, carmakers have lost the art of making good small cars. They have lost sight of what good small cars should be. Just being small is not enough; they must have a reason to be small.
The greatest small car of all was the Mini. It was small enough to squeeze into tight parking spots and tight traffic. Just as important, it was huge fun to drive. It was also as roomy as a car just 10 feet long could possibly be and had terrific pep to its step. It was also cheap. Finally, it looked fantastic, an exemplar of great form following great function.
Nowadays the only company building great small cars is Fiat. The Italians never deserted the small car niche, which could be one reason that it never lost the knack. While rivals were killing their baby models in the race to launch so-called ''superminis,'' Fiat kept the faith. (It also launched the best supermini of the '80s, the Fiat Uno, just to prove that it knew how to master cars of the next class up.)
Fiat's first great baby car was the Topolino of 1936, designed by Dante Giacosa, but it was the original Fiat Seicento of 1955 and, even more, the Nuova Cinquecento of 1957 that put war-ravaged Italy on wheels. They were cheap because most Italians were still poor, they were tiny because urban roads were small and narrow, and they were stylish and desirable because they were conceived by Italians. As with the Mini, which came a few years later, they were also spirited and fun to drive.
The new Fiat Seicento nobly continues Fiat's mastery of the small car art. It is based on the 1990s' Cinquecento, which it succeeds, and, like its predecessor, it is built in a Fiat factory in Poland, which helps to keep costs low and make it good value. It is as small as any car needs to be, yet can still accommodate four adults, at least for short journeys. It is designed for the city, and has nippy acceleration and pleasingly direct steering. The windows are all deep and the pillars comparatively narrow, to give terrific visibility a rarity these days. This facilitates parking and maneuvering in traffic.
In Western Europe, it is designed to be a second, city car, which is why the Fiat engineers did not bother unduly to make the little car quiet and refined on long journeys. Wander onto the highways and the old 900cc engine whose history is almost as long as Fiat's groans and whines, as it expresses its displeasure at such inappropriate use. If you want to do long country runs in your Fiat Seicento, make sure you plump for the stronger and much newer 1100cc unit. Around town, though, the cheaper 900 is fine.
The notchy gearshift was the worst feature of the last Cinquecento. The new car's shift is more direct and less troublesome, but there is still a balkiness and inconsistency about its action. It is the Fiat Seicento's only dynamic weak spot.
The cabin is trimmed in bright, fun materials, big dashboard bins can store all sorts of clutter, and the instrument binnacle is a grapefruit-sized pod right in front of the driver with small spedometer, fuel gauge and clock. There are no other instruments, for the simple reason that no other instruments are necessary.
Since Fiat's recent success with the last Cinquecento, other carmakers are racing back into the small car segment. The Volkswagen Group has a brace of challengers (the Seat Arosa and the coming VW Lupo), and the Japanese and Koreans are crowding in too. I haven't driven the Lupo yet but, of the others, none works convincingly. They are either too frumpy or, as with the Ford Ka, too cramped. None has the same magical mix of utility and fun. The new Fiat Seicento is such a gas it almost makes driving in crowded, traffic-clogged European cities fun again.
Fiat Seicento (600). About $11,000. Four-cylinder 899cc engine, 39 BHP at 5,500 rpm. Five-speed manual transmission; front-wheel drive. Top speed: 139 kph (86 mph). Acceleration: 0-100 kph in 18.0 seconds. Average fuel consumption: 6.0 liters per 100 km.
International Herald Tribune
July 10, 1998
Gavin Green