I fell in love when i drove one
Me too Chris, and it was a bit of a big decision in trading in my Stilo Abarth, but when i drove the Bravo it made me grin like the first time I drove the abarth, so it was a done deal.
Hellcat.... I hope they can find you one as you will enjoy the car on a daily basis and really not want to get out of it but go around th eblock one more time
what colour you also thinking of?
sorry guys I will have to borrow a digi camera as mine broke a while back and have not got around to getting a new one, but will get one in next day or so for some piccies.
But first impressions of the car in under a week of driving it, IT DOES NOT feel like driving a Fiat, In that I mean they have screwed this baby together really well and I've had now 6 Fiat cars and this Bravo feels in build quality more like a high end luxury car.... the doors when closing have that really nice deep clunk as you close them, the fit and finish inside are really well designed, many nice little nik nak pockets all over the place, the dash looks superb in the day and night ( the White Dialed Sport version ).
Driving well I thought the Abarth held the road well, this one is just as good if not better... grippy little bugger, with minimal body roll if any when going around corners or changing direction quickly, plus its so quiet and smooth... some roads by me are really rought and I felt every bump in the Abarth ( ok yes sports suspension ) but minimal road uneveness is felt, the accelleration even for a 1.4 is damm good, i noticed in the specs that the torque with the Sport button pressed to remap the engine is more than the Abarth resulting in a slightly quicker 0-60, turbo lag.. well whats that!!! its instant and you just get a minute kick when pressing the loud peddle hard
Other notable small touches that I'm impressed with are:
Seats I find once you get your driving position sorted, its good, but I like firm seats anyhow.
Blue&Me works really well, very impressed with this, voice commands are well recieved, not had one as yet be missheard, Bluetooth mobile connection is good and worth having if its not standard on the Bravo anyones thinking of, USB connection for MP3 players works really well, I've been using USB Pens, mainly as I use them in work to listen to music while working, has many options all USB players have in reading the Tags for Artist and Title, plus you haev many options in having playlists, play by artist, genre etc, only one think to note is that it does not read a USB pen if formatted from default FAT to NTFS, it needs to be FAT ( i may need to try again to just make sure as I generally have my USB formatted to NTFS )
Boot is fairly big and does me, the release for the boot is novel in being the boot Fiat badge, iirc most cars before the August run will only come with Fix n Go, but I'm used to that with having it for the Abarth, but cars after Aug in most versions will have space saver, but check with dealer on this.
Nice touch is the small light just barely illumination the interior door handles in the front.
Radio CD is good quality and I have to say the switch gear nobs are well put together, the feel as if they wont fall off.
all in all I think Fiat have a 2nd winner on their hands after the Grande Punto ( I did notice in dealer when i picked mine up that the first version of the Grande Punto Sport 1.4 TJet 120 has been released ) If you haev not taken one for test drive do so, you will be impressed.
Edit: forgot the bad......
Well rear visability isnt great but I've been in worse cars, the glove compartment should really have a lock!
I miss the top storage over the glove compatment the Stilo had.
Should really come with a car alarm as standard!
The Window opening buttons I feel are too far forward in the door arm rest, and the weird little tiny door pocket at the front of the longer one, is a PITA to get things back out of it!
Small niggles. which for me do not detract from the car, I find the plus's outweigh the minus's.
I will get some pics of exterior and interior in next couple of days.
