You only have to walk past your local primary school on a weekday morning to come to one inescapable conclusion. People are idiots.
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Fiat's rugged 500L Trekking impresses both on and off the road |
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You'll see literally hundreds of parents delivering their precious offspring directly to the front gates (normally contravening several sub-sections of the Highway Code in the process). And what car do they choose to do this in? Yup, it's almost always a 4x4.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to tell people not to buy an off-roader. But does it not seem slightly ridiculous to spend a great deal of money on a huge 4x4 when you know full well that it'll never traverse an obstacle bigger than a sleeping policeman?
Enter the Fiat 500L Trekking, the new off-road version of the 500L. Unlike your standard Chelsea tractor, it's not a bona-fide off-roader; if you're looking for a car to drive up a Scottish mountainside, this isn't it. However, the Trekking offers virtually all of the off-road capabilities the average motorist will ever need while remaining compact and agile enough to work well in the city.
Mechanically-speaking, the Trekking is basically the same car as the 500L; however, Fiat has raised the ride height by 10 per cent and given it some chunky bumpers and all-weather tyres.
It's still a front-wheel drive car, but Fiat has given the Trekking a clever new traction control system which simulates the behaviour of a locking front differential. This means that when one wheel loses traction, the grip is sent to the wheel with the most grip and the brake is applied to the other one, minimising wheel spin.
It works too. The Trekking is an impressive performer in light off-roading situations such as a steep and muddy field.
Like the 500L, the Trekking is available with a choice of two petrol engines -- the cracking 0.9-litre TwinAir and Fiat's 1.4-litre four-pot unit -- and two diesels, a 1.3 and a 1.6.
We had the bigger of the two oil-burners in our test car and were suitably impressed with it. The engine is a little coarse and unrefined at higher revs; however, it pulls well and offers smooth and relaxed performance both in town and out on the open road. The power is sent to the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox which offers crisp, positive shifts, making the Trekking an enjoyable car to drive. There's also a Dualogic automatic gearbox on offer.
On the road, the Trekking is a comfortable car to drive. The off-road tyres make for a slightly firmer ride than you get in the standard 500L but the handling is good and the steering feels sharp and direct, if a little over-light.
Inside, the cabin is suitably stylish and the quality of the materials is very good indeed. You sit quite high up in the car but there's loads of headroom in both the front and back and plenty of legroom in the rear seats too. The boot offers 400-litres of storage space and features an adjustable floor, making it easier to load and unload heavier items.
Standard equipment across the 500L Trekking range includes cruise control, a five-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Bluetooth, air conditioning, six airbags, dark tinted windows and 17-inch alloy wheels.
On our test drive we also had the opportunity to test out perhaps the 500L Trekking's most impressive bit of kit, City Brake Control. The purpose of the system is to prevent or lessen damage in low speed collisions by slamming on the brakes automatically. The effect is impressive, if slightly unnerving, and one of the best things about the system is that it lowers the Trekking's insurance costs.
The Trekking carries a £700 premium over the standard 500L, with prices starting from £17,095. For that money you get the entry-level 1.4-litre petrol engine, but to get the 1.6-litre diesel we had in our test car you need to fork out £19,590, putting the Trekking in the same price bracket as its major rival, the MINI Countryman.
Whether or not it's worth the extra £700 to go for the Trekking over the standard 500L will be purely down to how often you intend to use the car off-road. But if you're looking for a good-looking, spacious and charismatic family car with some genuine soft-roading ability, the 500L Trekking seems like an excellent choice.
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