Fiat Evo is so stylish (From Dorset Echo)

Fiat Evo is so stylish

11:28am Friday 29th January 2010 in

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THINK small cars and a string of super-successful Fiats should spring to mind.

The Fiat 127, first of the ‘superminis’, was voted Car of the Year 1972 and became Europe’s best-selling car, continuing in production until the introduction of the Fiat Uno in 1983, by which time a total of 5.6 million had been built.

The Uno, voted Car of the Year 1984, was another best-seller and its successor, the Punto, was another Car of the Year winner, in 1995, with over seven million produced worldwide, including over 650,000 sold in the UK. In Grande Punto guise it is still Europe’s fifth best-selling car.

Now the new Punto Evo, priced from £10,995 to £14,395, is set to build on the strengths of its illustrious predecessors and move the game on with a host of innovations.

To cater for customers who are more demanding than ever, the Punto Evo has been designed to meet the requirement for smaller, more environmentally friendly cars that are easier to park and more affordable to run, yet still stylish, safe, comf-ortable and fun to drive.

Fiat has managed this by combining ground-breaking new engines with a healthy dose of technology and features traditionally associated with larger cars.

It incorporates many advanced safety features to further enhance the ownership experience, including knee airbags, double seatbelt pre-tensioners and ESP with hill-holder – the only car in its class to have it.

In line with Fiat’s philosophy of technology-for-all, every model in the range is fitted with the firm’s Blue&Me interface that allows drivers intuitive control of all the car’s major functions. And all models, except Active, can be specified with the cutting edge Blue&Me TomTom system.

This means fingertip access to a touch-screen navigation system, mobile phone, trip computer and MP3 player with steering wheel commands.

It also includes Fiat’s ground-breaking eco: Drive which helps owners lower their fuel consumption and exhaust emissions, with real-time suggestions for more environ-mentally friendly motoring.

But this car’s launch is made particularly noteworthy because it heralds the unleashing of two important new ‘Ecotechnology’ engine line-ups, the MultiAir petrol family and MultiJet II diesels. The Punto Evo’s range of five engines all conform to Euro 5 emissions requirements and are all fitted with Start&Stop technology as standard. Low CO2 emissions mean customers will also pay low levels of Vehicle Excise Duty (Car Tax) – just £35 in the case of the new Punto Evo MultiJet range.

Whichever engine customers choose, they’ll have two differ-ent chassis philosophies and five trim levels to deliberate over.

All the GP and exclusively three-door Sporting versions follow the Sport chassis philosophy with racy on-road behaviour and more assertive looks. Three or five-door Comfort versions come in either Active, Dynamic or Eleganza trims with a more elegant look and feel to them.

Even the entry level Active model features a generous amount of standard equipment including front driver, passe-nger and driver’s knee airbag, five standard-size seats, two rear head restraints, front electric windows, height and reach adjustable steering wheel, electric mirrors, and Blue&Me infotainment.