Driven: Fiat 500L

There’s plenty to like about the Fiat 500L because it’s practical, decent enough to driver and very spacious. Not much of a review I know, but I want to focus on my nagging problem. It’s not so much the car itself, but the ‘500-ification’ of the Fiat range. The 500L is a essentially a replacement for the Multipla, axed in 2010, and a seven-seater version, the 500XL, is also on the way. Fiat has shown a crossover variant too, likely called the 500X, which is a shoe-in to take over from the slow-selling Sedici. The 500 has unquestionably been, and continues to be, a hit for Fiat. In the UK, in the first five months of this year,13,700 were sold. That’s up from 10,400 in the same period last year. But it represents 66 per cent of all Fiat UK’s sales, and with the arrival of the L, X and XL that figure is likely to rise further. The problem is if you don’t like the 500’s styling – and many people don’t – there’s precious little in the Fiat range for you. It feels like all the eggs are going in one 500-badged basket and in the UK, where there’s little mainstream affection for the Fifties original. And I’m not convinced that’s a good idea for the long term.