We test drive the new Tipo, built in Turkey, but with an Italian heart (and styling), it's the best car the Bursa plant has ever made
Overall Score 67/100
Fiat has produced a much better car than any that came before it… from its Bursa plant, in Turkey, that is: the all-new Tipo. It’s a model that revives an older nameplate that was initially used to designate a much smaller city runabout built from 1988 – 1995.
The latest Tipo is available in three body styles, hatch, wagon and sedan; I drove the latter on a moderately lengthy out-of-town drive and found it moderately satisfying to be behind the wheel of even if it is by no means a car to write home about.
The driving experience itself is kind of lackluster, with dead steering and spongy brakes, but that was all made up for (in the case of our tester) by the 1.6-liter diesel engine which was the star of the whole package.
IN BRIEF
RECOMMENDED FOR:
Families, Sales Agents, Seniors
CREATED FOR:
All Terrain, Highways, Urban Driving
HATS OFF FOR:
Comfort, Engine Power, Luggage Space, Passenger Space
BANG FOR THE BUCK:
Good
DRIVE
Powertrain 8/10
Fiat is renowned for making excellent diesel engines, and this latest 1.6-liter has a lot going for it. With 120 PS / 118 hp and 320 Nm / 236 lb-ft to play with, channeled to the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox, it pulls itself down the road with surprising pace.
The unit is also refined, sounding quite hushed most of the time and also lacking the vibration that some latest-gen diesels still exhibit.
Handling 6/10
The Tipo had a very obvious and clear direction for its suspension engineers: outright comfort. It soaks up bumps with far more grace and composure than it ought to have at this price point.
It does come with the obvious tradeoff of having serious roll through the corners, a moment when the disconnected-feelings steering becomes really noticeable. It’s not what I’d call unsafe, but confidence inspiring it is not.
Safety 6/10
The Tipo gets six standard airbags, ABS, ESP and traction control and that’s pretty much it. You can’t specify active cruise control, front crash prevention or mitigation, nor can you opt for lane departure warning either.
INTERIOR
Comfort 8/10
Inside, the Tipo has pleasantly soft seats that in conjunction with the soft suspension give it an old school feel from behind the wheel; it retains the best comfort characteristics of cars from 15 years ago that are no longer present in most stiffly-sprung new cars with hard seats – I mean that in the most positive way possible.
Quality 5/10
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there is actual soft-touch plastic in the interior of the Tipo. It’s sadly only found on top of the dashboard, and pretty much all other places you touch lower down in the cabin are… not pleasant.
Practicality 7/10
You can lose plenty of your possessions aboard the Tipo, even if you opt for one without the optional center armrest; the glovebox has enough space for something like eight pair of leather gloves (it’s pretty big) and the door bins are also decently cavernous; the two cup holders are well placed too, which helped me combat my usual tendency to spill coffee all over the interior.
Infotainment 6/10
You can get the Tipo with Fiat-Chrysler’s Uconnect touchscreen infotainment system, but our tested didn’t have it. It had a conventional CD/Mp3 player with Bluetooth that was pretty good to use, but looked outdated.
Oh, and the sound quality was quite poor and even regular volume made some songs sound distorted.
BUDGET
Efficiency 7/10
On my combined nearly 800 km round trip, the Tipo averaged 5.5 l/100km without me trying to hypermile it. The value is good for such a car with similar specs, but it’s not excellent, as most of the driving was done on open roads at around 100 km/h.
Equipment 7/10
The Tipo is available with the usual slew of options you find in most cars nowadays. What it lacks are active safety systems, blind spot warning or lane departure warning, which aren’t even optionally available.
Only safety systems available for it are front, side and curtain airbags, stability control and a tire pressure monitoring system (now mandated by European Union rules).
The lack of active safety kit is offset by its connectivity options, as you get Bluetooth and USB.
Acquisition 7/10
If Fiat had priced the Tipo to compete directly with models like the Ford Focus or Renault Megane, it would have been beaten hands down on nearly all fronts. However, it’s around 30 percent cheaper than those models and for the money (if you get one with decent spec and the engine which we tested and that became our pick of the range) it is definitely recommendable.
Just make sure not to set your expectations for sporty driving or interior quality or technology too high; disappointment will start setting in soon after you do.