[Test Drive] Sweet Fiat 500X..an adorable SUV

[Kim, Song-Yi] It’s cute, adorable and stylish.

This is my first impression of Fiat’s All New 500X. If it is personified, it may look like Chloe Moretz.

Its face, the front part, gets a huge and round headlamps and the slightly prominent center part makes overall appearance look rounded. The unique ‘Whiskers & Logo’ first used for its older brother, 500, also can be found in 500X, gives some joyful feelings.

The rear part also has cute image. Square rear lamps are used, but its edge is rounded as like the headlamps. The concavely designed trunk lid makes overall shape look curvy.

Interior is simple. Dials and gauges are all round, which emphasizes unification feeling with exterior design. A 6.5 inch display also fits well with overall atmosphere.

Actually, 500X is not really small. It is positioned in the small SUV segment. Its whole length is 4270mm, width is 1795mm, and the height is 1620mm, which means it is even bigger than Mini Countryman or Peugeot’s 2008 in the same segment. Unlike its cute image, 500X has enough space. Also, some storages such as dual globe box help clean up.

I drove ‘All New Fiat 500X Pop Star’ and ‘All New Fiat 500X Cross Plus’. The front wheel drive model, Pop Star gets 2.4 liter gasoline engine which outputs 188hp and 24.2kgm. Cross plus, the all wheel drive model, gets 2.0 diesel engine that produces 140hp and 35.7kgm.

In the city, 500X is nearly flawless. As a small SUV, its absolute size is quite small, so it ran comfortably in the complex city. Also, it is easy to find a parking space where a number of cars are parked.

On the highway, 500X ran stably. Through its nine-speed auto transmission, gears were shifted smoothly, steering wheel worked perfect at the cornering course. There is no any powerful feeling though. There are three different mood selectors for 500X, but they did not give much impression. 500X does not emphasize driving performance, so overall, it ran quite smoothly. Fuel efficiency of both gasoline and diesel were 9.6km/ℓ and 12.2km/ℓ respectively.

Unlike most of SUVs that emphasize masculine style, 500X is feminine and energetic. In terms of its price, Pop Star is 29,900,000won, Cross is 35,800,000won and Cross Plus is 39,800,000won(when individual consumption tax reduced), so it is the most affordable model among the same segment vehicles.

Also, some safety systems such as Blind Spot Monitoring and Rear Cross Path Detection are adopted for Cross Plus, so they help drive more safely. However, Cross Plus produces some quite serious vibrations and noises. In terms of Pop Star, navigation is not offered as a basic option, and its engine noise is a little much.