With Toyota’s venerable Tazz having finally reached the end of the road, Fiat is taking aim at the 1Â 500 to 2Â 000 budget-car customers that will now be looking elsewhere for sound, basic transport each month.
It has introduced the eCo, a low-spec version of its Palio. At R71Â 900 for the three-door and R73Â 900 for the five-door models, the car offers basic motoring in a modern body shell, powered by the same 1,2 eight-valve engine that drives more costly Palio stablemates.
Luxury features are limited to colour-coded bumpers, tinted windows, key-operated central locking, an immobiliser, a heated rear window, a rev counter and halogen headlights, while air bags and ABS are forsaken. The car is also pre-wired for a sound system.
Fiat claims a top speed of 164kph, and a 0-100kph time of 13,5 seconds, which is reasonable for a car in this price range. Service intervals are 20Â 000 km, and there’s a 12-month unlimited-distance warranty. The car also comes with a year’s free AA Fleetcare roadside assistance plan.