Fiat Bravo test drive since 2007 hatchback

All photos of Fiat Bravo since 2007

Calculation for feelings

The newcomer of our Fiat Bravo market today will have a serious test. Exam it will be the gold standard of golf class and a generally accepted standard. Grandfather against Salagi. Grated kalach against the baby. Who will win?

It would seem that Golf is not the best opponent for Fiat. It is produced for many years and in the foreseeable future will be replaced by a new model. Golf is the choice of pragmatists, while Bravo poets. That we do not bother us at all. The standard is the standard to act as a measure for beginners. And therefore, by wielding golf, we will check the new attempt to the Italians who have chosen them in one of the most popular and mass classes. The previous Stilo experiment was a failure and failed even in Europe (not to mention Russia). Did its creators draw the correct conclusions?
Although to consider the styl to a complete failure is dishonest. Remember his appearance? Personally, this hatch is still pretty to me. However, Italians always painted better than others. And this time they made homework in the best of all. Including, better golf. And there is no need to justify the Germans, saying that he is already old, that he does not take other values \u200b\u200bat all with design, took and take it. Although someone is boring, but a self-sufficient type of sock, of course, will like. But you just put a Bravo Italian nearby! And Bravo - in our case, we tell the gentlemen from the center of the Fiat style. Golf’s salon is familiar and at first glance even more boring than appearance. But here it is comfortable, comfortable, nice. The finishing materials have not yet been old, and the assembly quality is what Italians will learn from German colleagues until the end of the world. In a modest Golf salon, the feeling of premium is very distinct, and it only intensifies when the car begins to move

But, Stop! It’s too early to go. We did not even look inside Bravo. What kind of surprise did Fiat Interior prepare us? I open the heavy door and stand for a few seconds, opening my mouth. I'm trying to put on emotions in slender streams of thoughts. This interior was painted with brave strokes. It seems that he went straight to the series directly from the pencil sketches of designers. And they didn’t even let the technologists be knitted. Only the front panel finish with bluish elastic plastic, which imitates carbon, costs a lot.
But as the insides study in more detail, the initial delight subsides a little. The eclectic finish is surprising with heterogeneous plastic. All this looks, it seems, harmonious, but some things could be done carefully. For example, plastic bordering door handles or a white crown sticking connector for connecting USB devices. Planting here is not as comfortable as in Golf. Climate control works worse. The best visibility is also for the German. And the sound quality of the audio system is not the strongest side of Bravo.
Ergonomics? For Italians, the synonym for this word is a habit. Yes, you will have to get used to the location of many keys. As well as to the blind speedometer. But what stylish fonts, what an exciting red backlight! The owner of the golf sits and quietly rejoices in cool ergonomics, excellent chairs, and the quality of the assembly with the prefix super. And the driver of Bravo is cheered up by people who first get into his car. They have no time to peer into the nuances of assembly or evaluate the convenience of using the rear janitor. Just wow and thumb up. Try to surprise someone so much with the interior of the golf, even the sophisticated itself.

However, a visitor to the Bravo salon can also let the curse to Italian designers. For example, if he puts his head on the doorway, sitting down on a highly installed front chair. These chairs are in the soul of orthopedic doctors. It is worth sitting on them, and immediately you have to straighten your shoulders. The shape of the back is pushing, and it itself is elastic. After golf, I got used to the preventive landing for a couple of days. And got used to it! But in every quick turn, a kind word recalled the tenacious, wrapping up chairs of a German competitor. We really wanted to get golf with a mechanical gearbox, but few people buy a two -liter machine without a machine gun, and they do not keep these in test parks. Therefore, a comparison of accelerated dynamics could only be carried out with a certain degree of theoretization. But the engines are faced face to face without any doubt and reservations.
This is the confrontation of the old and new schools of motor construction. Under the blue German hood, the usual 2-liter row four. Who will you surprise her now? Even with FSI injection? Such engines will soon become an inverted page in the annals of the automotive industry, because low -voltage turbocharged engines are rapidly in fashion. In this light, it was very interesting to arrange a comparison of adherents Old School and New Wave. In fact, a two -liter atmosphere has only two obvious advantages. Elasticity in the entire speed range and more predicted response to work by the accelerator. Otherwise, it's just a hard worker.

But t-jet is a terrible provocateur! I admit, calmly I went to Fiat only once. And even then as an experiment (checked fuel economy). The rest of the time is the pedal for metal! And even if this engine is dead up to two thousand revolutions, let it eat more in the forbging mode than the atmospheric opponent, but what he gives in return, you will not buy at the gas station for any money. Watching a lever in Italian chopped gearbox (it’s good that the inclusions are clear), I cut the stream into parts with blue bears. The first, pause, picking up, an angry roar of a small turbo engine, jump forward. The second blow, and in the wake of a drunken turbocus, we and Bravo with a sank fly out of a sluggish stream. 8.5 seconds to hundreds, it turns out, can be a good adrenaline delay! But in the case of this motor, there is life after a hundred. One and a half hundred horses, backed up by a solid torque, allow you to quickly reach the mark of 200 km/h and not get lost on the highway in this adult speed range.
And what? With a machine gun, of course, you can forget about a dashing start from a place. But even if he was with mechanics, he would hardly charge fiat. The German is slightly inferior in dynamics, but gains speed completely differently without boot, without a grooved growl. If you have never been sitting VW Golf, then Fiat's handling will surely like it. A sufficient electrical feedback comes to the steering wheel with an excellent cross section. The rolls in corners are small. The reactions to the rulers are peppy. But Italian chassis lacks elasticity and energy intensity. If under the wheels, broken asphalt has to either significantly drop speed, or put up with sensitive, loud blows. Eh, very slightly squeeze the suspension! By the way, this option is provided. This is a machine in the Sport version, with more rigid shock absorbers, a sports control regime, 17-inch wheels.
Golf does not need any sports versions, and in stock he will give a head start in the class exceptional behavior on the road. You sit in a well -defiled chair, take the steering wheel in your hands with an amazing effort at any speed and in the first turn you feel the car entirely as part of your body! As if from birth was sitting here. Golf does everything as you wait for a rebuild, slipping, elasticly overcomes the poor fate of roads. Behind his steering wheel, you enjoy every meter of movement. And the even motor, despite all its boredom, manifests itself better where the craving helps not only to disperse, but also to change the trajectory of movement. In the discipline, controllability is an unconditional victory for the German participant in the competition. But the brakes are parity.
The days of the fifth golf, despite all its advantages, alas, are numbered. And this is the first and essentially the only one against its acquisition. Otherwise, it is an amazing set of brilliant automobile qualities. With the exception of emotions from contemplation. Fiat is a controversial car. Like any Italian, it is more spectacular from the outside and inside, but there is no completeness in it inherent in VW. But no one says that you only need to love correctly. After all, loving, forgiveness. Or get used to them.