If those who say that beauty is only skin-deep while ugly goes right down to the bone were correct, then Fiat’s recently launched Multipla would be a good car to avoid.
But happily that’s not the case. After driving the car at the launch I felt the same way about it as I often do about the ugliest pup in the litter – I wanted to pat it on the head, take it home and give it a biscuit.
The Multipla looks like it was designed by two different teams, one doing the superstructure and one the nether regions, with neither group seeing the handiwork of the other until production was well under way. Get behind the wheel, however, and it soon becomes apparent that this is possibly the most practical family car around.
The middle front seat folds forward to form a table-top between driver and passenger when it’s not needed for a third bum, and the stubby gearlever is placed alongside the steering wheel on the facia, allowing for swift, slick gear changes with minimal distraction. The three individual rear seats can all be moved, removed and adjusted to suit the requirements of the moment, allowing the cargo area to be expanded from 430 to 1900 dm3 in a jiffy. There’s tons of space inside, and the impression is further enhanced by the acres of glass on all sides.
The Multipla comes with a very high specification level, which includes electrically adjustable seat height for the driver, electric heated mirrors with built-in blind-spot eliminators, remote headlight adjustment, a trip computer and check control, ABS, dual front airbags providing protection for all three front seat passengers, loads of courtesy lights and stowage trays and a CD/radio with steering-wheel mounted controls.
The Multipla will be available only with a 1.9-litre JTD direct injection common rail diesel engine, which offers a healthy 85 kW at 4000 rpm, and 203 Nm of torque at a lowly 1500 rpm. On the road it performs well, leaving us no grounds to dispute Fiat’s claimed top speed of 176 km/hr and 0-100 km/hr time of 12,2 seconds. For such a weird looking car the Fiat manages to get around corners pretty briskly too.
The Fiat Multipla is a very well conceived and practical vehicle, and at R209 500 it offers excellent value. Although not new to the rest of the world – it was launched internationally about two years ago – as a newcomer on the South African motoring scene it could prove a worthwhile Car of The Year candidate for 2003.