Road Test: Fiat 500 MPW

Having driven the cheerful and funky Fiat 500L, my next review car was its larger sibling, the 500L MPW, which the Italian automaker claims to be the most compact 7-seater in its category, writes Trish Whelan. It provides passengers with a lot of comfort in the smallest room possible.

This people carrier measures 4,352mm in length, 1784mm in width and 1,667mm in height and so offers the roominess normally found in much larger vehicles.

Engines are the 105hp 0.9 TwinAir petrol, six-speed manual; the 85hp 1.3 MultiJet five-speed manual or five-speed automatic; and the 105hp 1.6 MultiJet with six-speed manual transmission. My review car was the 1.3 MultiJet 85hp diesel, matched to a user-friendly manual 5-speed gearbox. Both worked well together. You can also have it with Dualogic semi-automatic transmission with a 5-speed gearbox.

Funky looks run in the 500L family and the MPW has them … and a bit more! They’re also very practical family cars, nimble enough for city driving, and are capable operators also on country roads as well as out on the motorways where they can cruise with the best of them.

The MPW is really a stretched version of the 500L to turn the car into a 7-seater with two smaller seats behind the middle row ones suitable really only for small people or for children. Fiat recommend they are just for persons up to 1.65m in height so take out the tape measure to be on the safe side! Seats offer good comfort and support and there’s lots of leg room behind for those in the middle row ones.

As with the 500L, the interior is very well finished and the low scuttle line and all that glass means very good visibility out front.

Families need lots of storage areas and there are 22 such cubbies located around the car, including two glove boxes with a shelf inbetween. There was no front arm rest at all, not even a narrow pull up/push down one. And I really didn’t miss it. As with its siblings, you sit up high so these cars are easy to get in and out of as well as offering good visibility.

The car had a really useful three-level cargo floor, adaptable for whatever it is you need to carry. The boot can take 400 litres with seats all in use (they can fold flat) but when using just five seats, with the rearmost ones stored below the floor, this rises to 638 litres, and all within a footprint at least 20cm shorter overall than the equivalent C-segment estate.

Just two trim levels are offered with this version of the 500L range, Pop Star and Lounge, with three engines choices and three transmissions so there’s something to suit everyone’s needs.

While the official figure for the combined cycle is 4.2 L/100km (c. 67mpg), my car's trip computer showed a less frugal 5.3 which isn’t bad at all for such a big car. These 500L MPWs are in Bands A/A3/A4 for annual road tax. Mine was in Band A3 of €190 per annum.

The 500L range comes with a high level of standard equipment even on the entry level Pop Star level. It includes air conditioning, cruise control, 16-inch alloy wheels, 5-inch Touchscreen radio with Bluetooth, leather-trimmed steering wheel and gear knob, painted dashboard, six airbags, a full suite of stability and traction control safety systems as well as rear parking sensors, and smart looking side mouldings with chrome inserts . My Lounge version added rear electric windows, front fog lights, dark tinted windows, an electric sunroof, suede dash, dual-zone automatic climate control, automatic headlamps and wipers, front seats with seat back tables and storage nets, rear privacy glass and an electric sky dome glass sunroof.

You'll find the spare wheel underneath the car as there’s no room for it under the cargo area with the space taken up by the two extra seats. The wheel is released by controls under the floor which could prove difficult to accomplish if you have a blow out on a cold, dark night. (It’s always a good idea to be prepared so try it out at home if you can; find exactly where your spare is, how you go about releasing it and also see where the tools are.

This MPW takes 15.4 seconds for the 0-100km/h trip, but it’s not that kind of car. What you get is a good, steady performer well worth a test drive if you’re in the market for a seven-seater family car.

Seven body colours, nine bicolour combination and three alloy wheels colours are available so you can choose your own combinations.

Prices for the MPW start from €23,550 for the 0.9 TwinAir, 105bhp version, excluding dealer delivery charges.