Do not adjust your set. The new engine, which is a turbocharged petrol unit, really does have a capacity of under
one litre, which makes it smaller than the engines in many of the motorcycles reviewed from this column.
Such a diminutive capacity, or such a meagre cylinder count, hasn’t been seen in this country for years, and even then only at the bargain basement end of the market.
One that comes to mind is the FSM Niki which, perhaps ironically, came from the same Polish factory as today’s 500, and was also based on a Fiat, albeit one well past its prime.
The Niki sold here was powered, if that’s the word, by a two-cylinder air-cooled 650cc engine. It screamed its head off, yet didn’t produce a lot of power. Torque was so low it felt like you were making more gear changes than a F1 driver at Monaco. That was about the only similarity with F1; there may be a word in Polish to describe the Niki’s nastiness and noisiness, though not in English.
So what has changed? First, a huge leap in engine technology has enabled smaller engines to produce power and torque figures we once associated with much larger powerplants – while delivering emission figures that are almost breathtakingly low.
Second, there’s a general acknowledgement that added greenness is needed and a willingness to pay for it, at least by some motorists.
Fiat is not the only company offering “genuine reductions”.
Ford is readying a four-cylinder version of the Falcon. In earlier decades this simply wouldn’t have worked, no matter what the performance. Buyers of cars of a certain size demanded a six or, better still, a large-capacity V8. Some readers may remember how much the short-lived four-cylinder Commodore four was shunned.
The basic Mercedes-Benz E-Series – a car now almost the same size as a Falcon – has a 1.8-litre petrol engine. It produces 150kW, thanks partly to turbocharging.
VW offers a 1.2-litre in its Polo and Golf models. Audi and BMW have 1.4 litre and 1.6 litre engines respectively in their smaller models. Volvo’s S60 can be had with a 1.6, even in wagon form.
That said, some makers still bundle the best features with the biggest engine, a convenient way of disguising how much you are really paying for extra capacity.
Back to the Fiat, the most extreme piece of downsizing yet. Despite its size, the new Fiat engine produces 62.5kW and 145Nm, power and torque figures that are respectively 15 per cent and 23 per
cent up on the previous base engine, a 1.2-litre four.
The outgoing 1.4 engine produced 74kW, though lower torque than the 850 Twinair. Fiat has announced the Twinair engine will be eventually available in a wide variety of outputs, peaking at
105kW.
That’s the beauty of turbocharging; engines can be comparatively easily calibrated for different applications.
For something that was supposedly on death row a few years ago, the reciprocating petrol engine has come a long way.
The five-speed manual version we drove has official figures of 4.5lt/100km fuel consumption, and emissions of 95 grams per kilometre.
The Dualogic version, with a “robotised” clutch pedal-free manual, is better again, recording 4.1lt/100km and 92 grams.
We were all stunned a few years ago when the Toyota Prius hybrid produced 3.9lt/100km and 89 grams. Admittedly, Prius is a bigger car than this, but is also far more complex and expensive.
The 500 Twinair is claimed as the cleanest-burning production petrol engine in existence. Its compact size and low weight also make it an ideal candidate for linking to an electric motor in hybrid powerplants.
The engine’s virtues on paper would be purely of academic interest if the Twinair lacked the driveability necessary for a city car. So how does it go?
In short, the Twinair is not miraculous, but mighty impressive.
It is surprisingly smooth and quiet at idle. A balancing shaft helps there. It takes quite a bit of throttle to get it moving, but once you are used to it that’s no problem.
It’s a little raucous with wide open throttle, but so was the 1.2.
This is one free-spinning little unit. It redlines at 6000 rpm and seems to get there very quickly, requiring plenty of work with the gears. For this reason, the clutchless manual might be the more relaxing option around town.
Rest to 100 km/h takes a respectable 11 seconds.
Once up and cruising it’s all pretty relaxed and refined, yet if you zip down a gear you can still make the car take off when needed.
To improve economy there’s an eco setting that reduces torque, and stop-start technology to close the engine down at traffic lights. The Twinair utilises some very clever combustion technology including electro-hydraulic valve management, low-friction internal surfaces supposedly developed by the Ferrari F1 team, and a turbocharger that kicks in at very low revs.
It is entirely likely the more powerful variants of this engine will power cars the next size up, including perhaps small Alfas (though one suspects not Ferraris, which are also built within the Fiat Group). If Fiat succeeds here other importers are likely to bring in sub-1 litre engines.
A few other notes on the car, rather than the engine: the 500 is largely unchanged but has been pimped up a little, with dark alloy wheels and a blacked-out roof panel. Many of the body trimmings are now finished in a satin grey rather than chrome. The same finish extends to the dashboard, which was previously colour-matched to the outside hue.
Other changes have been made to the interior, but there’s nothing extreme enough to scare the horses.
The price is effectively about $2000 cheaper, at about $23,000 plus on-road costs. The roll-back cabriolet 500 also gains the Twinair engine. The higher performance Fiat 500-derived Abarth models will continue with four-cylinder engines.
FACT BOX
Price: (excluding on-road costs) $22,990
Engine: 850cc turbocharged two-cylinder (petrol)
Power/torque: 62.5kW/195Nm
Fuel economy (combined cycle): 4.5lt/100km
CO2: 95g/km
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