Road test: Fiat 500L Trekking 1.6 Multijet

I was quite prepared not to like the Fiat 500L Trekking. Jacked-up small people-carriers pretending to be 4x4s aren’t my thing, but the car won me over.

The standard 500L had a slightly mixed press, partly thanks to styling ideas nicked from the cute 500 and applied to a bulbous multi-purpose vehicle that slightly resembled a pregnant Dalek without the sink plungers. Still, the interior was practical, fun and genuinely huge.

The Trekking sits 15mm higher than the standard car, which I expected to muck up the handling, has winter tyres, which I imagined would be noisy, and something called Traction+, claimed to give this two-wheel-drive car greater skills off road, which I reckoned would be a gimmick. Well, some judicious suspension tweaks mean there’s nothing top-heavy about the handling, the tyres seemed quiet, and although the Trekking won’t trouble a Land-Rover in the rough, its traction system kept the car moving on a gentle off-road course.

Fiat expects this faux-rural car to appeal most to townies, and has fitted something called City Brake Control, which uses sensors to spot obstacles and stop the car to avoid or reduce collisions at between three and 19mph. It seemed to work very well. It also makes the car cheaper to insure.

A hill hold system is another useful feature. We drove a 1.6 Multijet diesel, which seemed slightly flaccid at low speeds, but given a little stick punted the car along perfectly acceptably. The only dynamic criticism was that the brakes felt a bit sharp.

Fiat 500L Trekking 1.6 Multijet 105hp
Top speed: 105mph 0-62mph: 12 seconds;
MPG: 50.4;
Emissions: 122g/km;
Price: £19,590