Instrumented Test
The best thing about Fiat’s new 500X crossover is that it has almost nothing in common with the Fiats currently languishing on dealer lots. Fiat sales are down 13 percent overall this year, and June sales were off 30 percent from the same month in 2014, the worst performance among all auto brands. Nobody at Fiat-Chrysler should be surprised. The Italian brand’s core product, the tiny 500, is entering its fifth year. Fiat’s first attempt at a more mainstream four-door model for the U.S., the 500L, is as salesproof as any car in our market; calling it homely is like saying the star of Fiat’s Abarth advertisements, fashion model Catrinel Menghia, is merely pretty.
The 500X attempts to address all of the brand’s shortcomings with a fresh design that takes more styling cues from the Porsche Macan than either of its stablemates. The 500X is attractive and distinctive and it has a real back seat with a cargo hold that’s reasonably sized for its class. The cockpit is well thought out, with a center-mounted infotainment screen that comes straight from the corporate Chrysler parts bin. The same goes for its powertrain, which is shared with its platform-mate, the Jeep Renegade. Both are built in Fiat’s Melfi, Italy, plant.
The 500X can be had with a 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder and a six-speed manual, but only as a front-driver in entry-level trim. A naturally aspirated 2.4-liter four mated to Chrysler’s irascible nine-speed automatic powers all others, with four-wheel drive tacking an additional $1900 onto the price. Base models start at just $20,900, but a loaded 500X runs up to $32,500. Our test vehicle, with four-wheel drive and the 180-hp 2.4-liter, stickered for $29,100. If that makes the 500X seem somewhat pricey, it’s symptomatic of this class of compact crossovers. Regardless of make or model, it’s easy to pay a lot for a little.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in performance—and the 500X is no exception. It was unimpressive at the test track, where its numbers were almost carbon copies of the 500L’s. In the quarter-mile, the 500X was only able to manage a 16.8-second run at 82 mph, and it pulled a miserable 0.78 g on our skidpad. This last number was particularly disappointing given how taut the 500X’s steering feels and how firmly it rides on the street, sometimes excessively so. Braking performance was a respectable 163 feet from 70 mph, about what we see in most cars that weigh as much as the 3361-pound 500X and aren’t shod with high-performance rubber. Compared with other little utes, however, its numbers aren’t out of line. It’s just that we have a hard time wrapping our heads around spending $30,000 for a small vehicle that isn’t much fun to drive, especially when it gets only 24 mpg in mixed usage. There are so many great affordable cars on the market—take a look at our 2015 10Best Cars list for some ideas—that there’s little reason to settle for merely good.
Of course, you’re not buying something in this class for track days, and the 500X is more successful in its primary mission of offering stylish transportation. But as is often the case with current Fiat-Chrysler products, the 500X has the feeling of being unfinished, like nobody was really sweating the details as much as just trying to get the final product out the door. Nowhere is that more apparent than in its transmission. Unlike every other vehicle we’ve driven with this nine-speed, we did see the 500X actually shift into its highest gear. But like the others, it was constantly shifting back and forth between seventh and eighth on the highway to maintain speed, and dynamic driving situations had it hunting around for the right gear. At one point, we even felt the 500X almost stall because of the transmission’s eagerness to be in a higher gear. We found that choosing Sport mode on the 500X’s three-position drive-mode selector—the others are Auto and Traction+—cures much of the indecision. Just be certain to turn and hold the knob in place to ensure that it actually changes the mode setting.
Italian quirkiness, that euphemism for poor design and questionable quality, is at times charming in the cheaper, tinier 500. But that’s a car that, for many of its owners, is more of a toy or a fashion statement than anything else. Here the bar is higher, and although Fiat-Chrysler has certainly outdone its previous efforts, there’s still room for progress to be made.
