First Drive: Fiat 500X

What's that, then?

It's the Fiat 500X - something, in truth, of a no-brainer for Fiat. Blend the money-printing 500 city car's styling cues with a crossover body. Garnish with a price range covering basic Nissan Juke to flagship Qashqai money, and serve.

Can't argue with the business case, but the looks...

Granted, the 500X's chunky appearance won't be everyone's brand of coffee, especially as the cramped and dynamically-wanting 500 has always mainly traded on its cutesy retro looks.

If the heavy-handed plastic bumpers and rough-and-tumble ‘I am too a real 4x4' look offends you, there's a cleaner-looking 500X with regular body-coloured bumpers which, in the metal at least, doesn't look nearly as bloated as you might fear.

The humped rear's a tad Kardashian-esque, but it hides a decent-sized 350-litre boot. In fairness, the 500X is quite a clever design, dotted with 500 touches but with an identity all its own. After all, upsizing iconic design details onto a bigger car can be a nightmare (cough, Cayenne, ahem, Countryman). This thing could well be Fiat's Evoque.

So is Fiat going to do a five-door 500 without the crossover bits?

Nope. Not at the moment, anyway, and that's because underneath, this isn't a Fiat 500 at all. The 500X actually shares a platform with the Jeep Renegade, albeit with different suspension settings because the Fiat doesn't need stellar off-road ability to please American enthusiasts.

You can have your 500X with all-wheel drive in the ultimate ‘Cross Plus' version for an eye-watering £25,845 if you'd particularly fancy a depreciation black hole, but Fiat expects at least 80 per cent of UK sales to be front-drivers. The range starts at a more sensible £14,595.

Anything interesting mechanically?

Thanks to the Jeep platform-sharing agreement, you can team the all-turbo four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines with either a six-speed manual, six-speed dual-clutch or nine-speed automatic gearbox. Yes, nine gears in a Fiat 500.

You wouldn't want to, though. The nine-speeder is only available with the all-wheel drive 138bhp 2.0-litre diesel version, which is far from the version of choice.

Riding on 18-inch wheels, that car crashes over ridges in the road, and generally feels a bit agricultural. Though the 500X feels tautly suspended, it doesn't remain particularly flat in cornering.

The nine-speed box is a mixed bag, too. The changes themselves are impressively smooth and fast, but if you start paying attention to the readout on the funky digital instruments, you spot it rarely settles into one gear, often hunting for an even longer ratio in a desperate attempt to make the 51.3mpg claim a vague possibility.

Is it worth it for the off-road bragging rights?

Are you really going to take your 500X green-laning? Exactly. Should you venture into a particularly sticky section of playing-field car park, the 500X proves passably adept - it hesitates for a second as drive is shuffled between wheels, then on you plod.

Its sister car, the Jeep Renegade, is a much more sophisticated mud-plugger though, and remains the off-roading crossover of choice. Fiat's global chief Olivier Francais betrayed the 500X's true intentions in his presentation to the gathered media, by noting the 500X's 179mm ground clearance is "perfect for those particularly steep car park ramps". Quite.

So which is the version to have?

Fiat expects the 1.6-litre turbodiesel will do the legwork in the UK, and it's fit for purpose if a bit too grumbly when accelerating. But the surprise pick of the bunch is the peppy 1.4-litre turbo petrol motor. Good for 138bhp, it has a real zip to its character - it actually feels Italian: all eager and energetic. The six-speed manual shift is an enjoyable one too, much better than the little 500's change action, in fact. The whole powertrain is a cracker.

In Sport mode (there are also Auto and Off-road settings to alter steering, ESP and throttle response) the 1.4 engine even sounds the part, but you're also saddled with a dollop of unwanted ‘sporty' steering weight attacking you through the fat-rimmed wheel.

No matter which powertrain you pick, the car still doesn't respond to direction changes with the alacrity of a Mini Countryman, and the ride's pretty stiff in town even on the smaller 17-inch rims. But next to a Mokka, Yeti, or Qashqai, the Fiat doesn't offend dynamically. You're buying it for the looks anyway, aren't you?

Actually, I want practicality...

In that case, you can seat a six-foot passenger behind a same-sized driver, the rear bench is flat so the middle passenger has no cricked neck worries, and you get a passable amount of storage space in what is a cheery, well-finished cabin. It upsizes the 500's retro interior ambience much more successfully than the ogreish 500L minivan.

It's a pity the cool-for-school styling has rendered the rear window a letterbox, and the pillars are pretty thick too. And worse luck, Fiat seems to have employed the same individual who designed the 500 city car's attractive but uncomfortable seats once again. The 500X's front chairs sorely lack support, and the headrest is still a rock-hard pebble.

Sounds a bit style over substance...

Well, yes and no. The 500X does all the crossover-y things it ought to well enough to please most small families, and has a cheeky charm that the other Euro-boxes can't match. But the stiff damping and the cabin flaws might start to grate during the daily grind.

The 500X is a little more expensive than most rivals - which it counters with more kit - and we still need a go in Britain to investigate its busy ride. The jacked-up hatch game just got a lot trendier, but the 500X isn't as complete a family runaround as some of its talented rivals.

TG drives Wales Rally GB: day two!

What a BLAST! Day two of Wales Rally GB was awesome, simple as that. Five stages, four in the forests, one at Chirk Castle on tarmac, we’ve come through it all unscathed, the car is back in the service park without any bodywork damage, and we’re lying second in class. Wow, just wow.

Let’s not pretend things have been easy. The first two stages at Clocaenog on Saturday were a real test for the new makeshift sumpguard (literally a piece of 5mm thick steel plate that weighs about as much as the engine) that 586 Engineering had welded on overnight. We seemed to plough through those two stages on the belly. Rough as anything.

Oddly though, the biggest problem was the sun. It was shining. It doesn’t often do that in Wales in November. Driving flat out from light into dark, barely able to see through the muddied windscreen and trusting your co-driver that this is a ‘five right’ and not a hairpin or something, does call for a certain amount of commitment.

Read our report on driving day one of Wales Rally GB

We came out of stage two with something loose under the car and a gearbox that suddenly had issues selecting reverse and was clunking the shifts more. It got steadily worse through the day – we found out in the evening that one of the lower engine mounts had broken. That’s how rough Clocaenog was.

Stage three, Aberhinant was just plain scary. There was one section where they’d built up a causeway through a quarried section, about six foot higher than the surrounding ground. It was a mile of darkness, all grey rock and slate, like a Lord of the Rings battlefield. Loose, treacherous, and narrow, we saw two cars off in there, and nearly went off ourselves. Frightening.

We managed to rupture the exhaust somewhere in there too. Observers had previously told us that we were the third noisiest car in the National part of the rally, the only louder things being a Metro 6R4 and a Lancia Stratos. Now, apparently, we’re the loudest. The pops and bangs on the overrun were now a physical thump under the car, like the whole exhaust is bouncing up and hitting the car. We were already sending small flames out the back, later we’re told that bigger flames were happening right underneath…

Stage four, Dyfnant, was just mega. The best I’ve felt in the car, I think the best I’ve driven. The stage surface hadn’t been so destroyed by the WRC cars, and had a lovely flow to it. We also caught two cars in that stage. OK, so one was an Army Land Rover Defender and the other was an Escort MkII that had crashed and got going again, both of which cost us a bit of time to get around, but I couldn’t care less, it was epic to drive. Piling through there in the Hyundai i20 on Wales Rally GB even beats howling up a Tuscan hillside in a LaFerrari being chased by a McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 (something I was privileged enough to have done at the start of this week). Yep, this has been a terrible week at work…

Read our report on driving day one of Wales Rally GB

Chirk Castle is a mile long sprint around a stately home’s front drive. It’s fine, because it’s great for spectators, but not really what Wales Rally GB is about. And we’re in gravel mode with knobbly tyres. Not ideal. Still, we were 28th fastest overall and fourth fastest front wheel drive. Happy with that!

And that was day two. The crowds in the forests were just ace. So many people had hiked into the hills. There was fancy dress, flag waving, yelling, cheering, stamping, waving – it was proper. Thanks to everyone for making the effort – your support makes me want to drive faster than my co-driver is happy with… 

Now we just have to get it to the finish. Wish us luck…

First picture: Jamie Matthias

TG drives Wales Rally GB: day one!

So we’ve made it to the end of day one. Not without incident, it must be said. But we’re done, the car’s made it back to the service park at Deeside after the first four stages of Wales Rally GB.

Talk about eye-opening, though. Stage one started with a hairpin, where so much earth and rubble had been thrown up, it felt like driving through a trench. And that was the first corner of the first stage.

All the rallies I’ve done so far have had the 2wd cars running first, but here, of course, the 4wd world cars run first. And they rip the stage to bits. So by the time we get there, the stages are rutted, lumpy, bald in places, ankle deep in others, covered in rocky ball-bearings and chippings, and mud has been fired all over the place. It basically looks like they’ve towed ploughs through the whole course.

There’s only one line you can take. Leave it and you’re in the hands of lady luck. So stage one was tentative at best, and stage two was as well. My confidence was building as the fuel tank was emptying. It turns out a Hyundai i20 geared so that sixth is roughly equivalent to second in many road cars has a frightening thirst.

We started stage two with a quarter of a tank. After six miles, the fuel light came on. So I started driving more conservatively, using higher gears and trying to conserve momentum. But small things like this knock your rhythm and concentration. We made it through, but I still can’t say I thought I was driving well. At the fuel stop at the end of the stage, we got 39 litres into the 40 litre tank…

Full of fuel, stage three, Hafren-Sweet Lamb, started much better. I thought we were going really well. The car felt balanced, I’d worked out that carrying more left-foot brake through corners, and keeping on the throttle to activate the diff, improved traction and allowed you to make more adjustments to your angle of attack.

Still hadn’t mastered the technique for hairpins, though. And as we swept from Hafren into Sweet Lamb, there was this acute hairpin left. I turned in too early, and with co-driver Jack Morton hollering ‘keep it in, keep it in’, in my ear, I duly did. What we didn’t spot, couldn’t spot, was the ditch on the other side. We thumped in. Didn’t feel like much of an impact, but we beached the car. Jack and the marshals together tried to get us going, but it was only once they’d persuaded the spectators to put their phone cameras down and lend a hand that we got lifted clear and could continue.

We lost a couple of minutes. We also lost the sump guard. We heard it dragging as we barreled down into the main Sweet Lamb arena, then all of sudden it wasn’t dragging any more. We took it fairly steadily over the final mile to the finish – well, apart from the jump, because you have to give it the beans over the jump. I just hope someone’s got the picture, because that’s the money shot. (Send it to editor@topgear.com if so!).

We took stock before the final stage, Maesnant. Only one bracket held the radiator in place, the front bumper was lopsided and the headlight was hanging off. Gaffer tape came to the rescue. Gaffer tape always comes to the rescue. It’s paracetamol for rally cars.

85 grueling, painful road miles later we were back in service at Deeside. With headaches. And a slight sense of despondency. 586, the team that runs our Hyundai, had been far more proactive. They’d sourced some sheet steel for a new sump guard from a metal fabrication company nearby, which we then took to Hyundai’s WRC team, who were kind enough to cut it to shape for us. That’s what rallying is all about – thanks Thomas, Hubert, Tony and Danny, you were a massive help.

So as I write this at 10pm on the Friday night, the new sump guard is being welded into place ready for us to get back on the stages tomorrow. I’ll try to post another story Saturday night, but don’t forget you can follow me on Twitter (@OllieMarriage), or of course see live results at http://www.walesrallygb.com

Watch Kimi drift an F12 round Fiorano

Kimi Raikkonen hasn't had the greatest year behind the wheel of his F2014, registering just 53 points to date as teammate Fernando Alonso has clocked up 157.

But don't go thinking the 2007 world champ has lost his touch behind the wheel. Earlier this week, Top Gear hung out at Ferrari's Fiorano test track with Kimi, and was treated to a shotgun lap as the notoriously taciturn Finn chucked an F12 Berlinetta around the greasy circuit. Mostly sideways.

Sublime doesn't even begin to cover it. If you reckon F1 drivers today are simply button-pushers rather than proper drivers, have a good long watch of the video and prepare to quickly reconsider. This is proper helmsmithery: traction control off, right foot pinned, drifting the 740bhp, rear-drive V12 in the flippant manner that us normal humans might pilot a bumper car after a couple of glasses of mulled wine.

We shouldn't be surprised. After all, Kimi is every bit as proficient at rallying as circuit racing, competing in the WRC between 2009 and 2011. And, of course, he's Finnish. Finns learn sideways before they learn to walk.

Whichever way, it's all a trifle humbling. Trust us, there's nothing quite like wincing alongside a deceptively small Finnish man as he holds a legendarily spiky supercar at the very edge of sideways with just one hand resting lazily on the wheel - all the while chatting amiably about the limitations of road tyres - to make one very, very aware how entirely rubbish one is at driving.

At the F12 isn't even Kimi's company car. No, the snow-loving Finn has an FF on his driveway: more practical all year round, y'see.

"But most of the time in Italy," he tells us. "Someone drives me. Easiest that way."

A bit less embarrassing for us mere mortals, at least.

First drive: new Smart ForFour

What's this?

Big brother to the ForTwo, first cousin to the new Renault Twingo: it's the new Smart ForFour! Sharing its hard points with Renault's rear-engined city car, and built at the French firm's Slovenian plant, the ForFour sees Smart returning to the four-seat market for the first time since the not-very-fondly-remembered Mitsubishi tie-up of the same name a decade ago.

So is this just a Twingo in German drag?

The ForFour's platform - which sees the engine slung down on the back axle, driving the rear wheels - is identical to that of the Renault, as are its engines: a 71bhp, 1.0-litre naturally aspirated three-cylinder, and a turbocharged 90bhp, 898cc unit of the same configuration. A five-speed manual is standard, with a six-speed double-clutch transmission to follow.

However, Smart says 80 per cent of the ForFour's exterior is new, while 30 per cent of the components beneath are unique. Certainly this is rather more than a badge engineering exercise: from both inside and out, the ForFour looks quite different to its Renault relation.

How does it drive?

We tested the more powerful petrol mated to the manual gearbox, in which spec the ForFour drove, perhaps unsurprisingly, rather like that Twingo.

In other words, smartly enough, and without surprises, but perhaps lacking some of the vim you might expect from a rear-engined, rear-wheel drive car. We'd have to test the Renault and the Smart back-to-back to determine any differences in handling, but suffice to say any variations should be marginal.

Smart has clearly worked hard to engineer out any surprises from the ForFour's reactions: tip into a corner too fast and you get plenty of understeer, followed by - if you keep jamming the throttle - a heavy smothering under the Smart's electronic safety blanket (and no, you can't switch the ESP off). With our road-tester hats on, it's all a touch frustrating, especially as the chassis seems strong and the turbo engine is a cheery little thing.

Of course, to most potential ForFour buyers, this won't matter a jot. They'll care more about the ForFour's excellent turning circle - such is the advantage of front wheels unencumbered by an engine or tasked with delivering power to the road - and its refinement, which is a world away from the Peugeot 108s and Fiat 500s of this world.

On the motorway, the ForFour feels composed and grown-up. Smart says it employs 30 per cent more sound-deadening than the Twingo, and though we couldn't say for sure if it's quieter on the move than the Renault, it's certainly more than hushed enough.

Is it as practical as an especially practical thing?

It is. Smart has gone big on making the ForFour's modest interior as functional as possible: the rear seats fold flat, while their squabs can be flipped forward, leaving space for a 50-inch flatscreen telly (so we're told) where the rear passengers' legs would normally live.

The rear doors open to 85 degrees - so virtually at right angles to the car - making it easier to load children and other possessions into the back. The front passenger seat hinges right forward, too, providing load-space, Smart asserts, for a 2.2-metre flat-pack bookcase. Waddyamean, you don't commute every morning with a 2.2-metre flat-pack bookcase beside you?

Bootspace is inevitably limited by the presence of an engine perched on the rear axle, but this remains a clever piece of packaging.

So should I buy one?

Costing just £495 more than the equivalent ForTwo, this certainly looks good value against Smart's smaller offering. However, the ForFour is rather dearer than the Twingo: prices start at £11,620, just over two grand above the basest Renault. Of course, you get a bit more kit on your Smart as standard, but still, that's a hefty chunk of cash at this end of the market.

And, subjective as it may be, Top Gear doesn't feel the ForFour's styling carries off the city car joie de vivre thing with quite the same panache as the Twingo. Make your own mind up on that one: if you can get down with the styling and make the pricing work for you, the ForFour joins the Twingo at the very top of the city car class.

Audi A1 gets three-cylinder engines

After four years and over half a million sales, the Audi A1 has had a nip and tuck. It may have VW Polo roots, but that's not stopped it from making a rather significant contribution to Audi's slightly imperious growth.

The big news is a pair of new three-cylinder engines. Turbo triples are all the rage at the moment, especially in tiddly cars like this.

And more often than not their mixture of punchy performance and entertainingly warbling soundtracks immediately make them the pick of their respective range. Even if their quoted mpg figures are typically untouchable...

The pair consists of a 94bhp 1.0 TFSI petrol, boasting 65mpg and 99g/km claims, while an 89bhp 1.4 TDI Ultra is thriftier yet, with quote figures of 83mpg and 89g/km.

There's a range of four-cylinder petrols and diesels available, a highlight being the 189bhp 1.8 TFSI petrol turbo, which shares its engine with the new Polo GTI.

All are front-wheel drive, save for the range-topping 227bhp S1 Quattro, which continues service as a rather ace AWD hot hatch.

While new engines grab the headlines, there's been a host of other detail tweaks too. There's new electromechanical steering, which reduces its assistance with speed (we need to drive it to know how natural that will feel).

A seven-speed S-tronic paddleshift gearbox is optional on every engine and there's a new adjustable suspension system on the options list, its modes switchable via a refreshed drive select system.

Inside, there are more connectivity options. Naturally, there's been a minor refresh on the outside, too, though Audi's been sensibly shy with the CAD systems. Some S1-inpired tweaks bring a smidge more aggression and add 20mm to the A1's length.

Most models are on sale now, with the 1-litre triple arriving in spring, when it will kick off the range at £14,315. This or a Mini, dear readers?

The best rally save you will see today

Andreas Mikkelsen is a Norwegian rally driver, competing for VW and currently running third in this year's WRC. This much we could have told you before witnessing the clip above.

And now, having watched and re-watched of the best WRC saves we've seen in recent years, we can add this fact to Mikkelsen's bio: the lad clearly has bannocks of tempered steel.

Launching his Polo R off a jump at a cock-eyed angle onto a hideously narrow landing, Mikkelsen gathers up not one, but two high-speed slides with more than a dab of oppo, before somehow getting things under control for the next left-hander. Mad skillz, innit?

If you want proof of just how close to catastrophe Mikkelsen came, check out the reactions of the roadside photographers - who know a proper scare when they see one - scrambling for cover as the VW slews wildly over the tarmac.

The Norwegian's reaction after escaping unscathed? Impassive, naturally.

"Clean stage for us," shrugged Andreas after his run. "A small moment on the last jump..."

Mikkelsen will be competing at the Wales Rally GB this weekend. As will our own Ollie Marriage, in TG's homebuilt Hyundai i20 rally car. Expect similar feats of spectacular driving. Though at approximately quarter the speed.