Remember the doomed Fiat Croma? Fiat pulled the plug on the large hatchback in 1996. In the UK, there wasn't a wet eye in the house. So raise your eyebrows for Croma Mark II... Fear not though, comeback Croma is no attempt at retro recycling. In fact, beyond the name, the Croma is a totally new model, sharing underparts with the Vauxhall Vectra. And it's a milepost, signalling Fiat's marathon absence from the D sector.
The D what?
Across Europe, around one in every five cars are Ds: family-size saloons, hatchbacks and estates, the chief protagonists being Renault's Laguna, Ford's Mondeo and Peugeot's 407. Having had bags of time to eye up the rivals, Italy is acting wisely: make Croma II a crossover car that straddles various buying tastes. Hence the what's-that? shape. By any stretch of your shopping this is an estate car, but most of the cubic centimetres go to front and rear-seat passengers, not luggage. So really it's an elongated hatchback and much more of a versatile factotum than any of those three-box, traditional saloons.
Can Fiat do the big-car thing though?
True, Fiat's is far more fizz-pop mini-motoring than business-class luxury. Which is why the genesis of this model coincided with the hiring of Stefan Ketter. See him as The Wolf in Pulp Fiction. Herr Ketter was the man behind much of BMW's rise in the late 1980 and early 90s as head of quality. Now, Fiat has bagged him and he has the power to halt a multi-million pound production line because of one squeaking door mirror. The result? All the cars Tiscali tested on the first drive wouldn't dare make so much as a whimper.
What's the tone then?
Be prepared for a surprise. This is Fiat dressed for dinner - impeccably coutured with excellent attention to such fine details as a proper, solid glovebox lid, a neatly finished steering wheel, a decent, meaty Blaupunkt stereo and chairs that think they're thrones. From tip to toe, this is designed to go the distance - as in the kind of distances long-haul businessmen tirelessly suffer in the name of economic progress. Standard kit, from Dynamic spec up, is generous too: you get air con, power windows all round, seven airbags, a centre console cool box, heated electric door mirrors, ABS, a trip computer, 16-inch alloys and remote tailgate opening.
Go on then, fire her up
Here's a statistic for diesel devotees. Five years ago, just 10% of D sector cars were diesel. Now? It's 60%. Which is why although Fiat has petrol 1.8s and 2.2s, it's confident that the 1.9 16-valve JTD diesel model, from ¯¿½17,995, will be the main machine. There's an eight-valve 120bhp diesel version too, at ¯¿½15,995, but it has the same emissions and fuel economy. Later on, we'll get a 200bhp 2.4-litre diesel, but the model tested here will be the one to buy.
The reason?
Over a mixture of twisty Lancashire lanes and foot-down Mancunian motorways, it's an absolute blinder. It's geared to exploit plenty of overtaking surge from low speed and fitted with a markedly tall sixth speed for quiet and economical high-speed cruising. The chassis handles just about anything, the steering's crisp and there's little intrusion from wind or engine noise (assisted, to some degree, by innovative sandwich-design glass, which dampens sound transmission). The Croma thinks it can rival a decent MPV, a seasoned estate or a classic hatch. And here's the surprise: it can.
Tiscali verdict: 8/10 A shock rival to Mercedes-Benz's B Class?
