Stilo shows its mettle

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

As chief sub-editor of this newspaper, Alan Young's job and that of his sub-editing staff has been to make sure the words in it mostly make sense.

He has a whole bunch of other things to do, too. But that's the guts of it.

The other day Young sent editorial staff a memo. It said: "The verb 'to source' doesn't have a place in the vocabulary of anyone with an ounce of literacy. Use 'find' or 'get' instead."

That's Young, hotshot guitarist and author of a book on gospel music in America's Deep South. To him a garden rake isn't an "implement of destruction", as Arlo Guthrie sang in Alice's Restaurant. It's a garden rake.

In Young's world, an implement of destruction is a sledgehammer. Like Ernest Hemingway, he prefers "nickel and dime" words over "$10" ones.

So when he saw the Fiat Multipla people-mover, his description of the car came as no surprise: "It looks like it was beaten to within an inch of its life by a giant ugly stick."

No "Not sure about the looks." Or "It's a funny shape." Nothing so sappy. Just a jarring summary, softened slightly by the follow-up: "Hope it goes better than it looks."

Actually, it does go better than it looks. Much better. Especially the turbo-diesel variant with its torque. The interior packaging is clever, too, with every-which-way seats for six people. And it handles well, firm-footed on its wide footprint. The only clumsy bits are the messy switches and dials in the front. And the, um, looks.

Some say the Multipla was designed after an Italian coffee pot, the aluminium one that screws apart in the middle. The inspiration for the pot, so the story goes, came from a winemaker, who sawed a wine barrel in half and put the top on the bottom.

He liked what he saw and somehow the inverted shape found its way into a design house.

This might indeed be true. But the Multipla looks more like it was shaped by the Tyrrhenian Sea - tossed in as a lump of Vesuvian pumice and tumbled about on a rocky shore for a couple of thousand years before a beachcombing Fiat designer came across it.

Whatever the origins of the design, the Multipla is Fiat's first example of its space-frame technology, where the body sits on a skeleton made up of sections of steel or alloy frames.

Such a build method is adaptable, cuts costs and is strong. Fiat will build more cars this way. Young, however, is one who will hope that they don't look like the Multipla.

Fiat changed the factory building code again for the Stilo, the new three- and five-door hatchback range launched in Auckland 72 hours ago. There are four models - two five-door Stilos and three-door and five-door high-performance Abarths.

The Stilo - Italian for "style" - is two cars sharing the same name but with different dimensions, seating positions and dashboards. Fiat said lessons learned from the flexible Multipla production process helped in building the Stilo.

The three-door Stilo Abarth is a sportier, low-slung model, 4180mm long, 1780mm wide and 1470mm high - more a coupe than a hatchback.

The five-door is a mini people-mover, 4250mm long, 1760mm wide and 1520mm high. Its rear seats can be moved around, it has aircraft-type tables on the back of the front seats, and the passenger-side front seat folds flat for picnics.

The Toyota Corolla hatchback, in comparison, is 4175mm long, 1695mm wide and 1470mm high.

Both Stilos come well equipped, with power-operated this and that, six airbags, anti-lock brakes and electronic aids to help to prevent the careless driver going backwards in circles.

The Abarth models come with a 2.4-litre five-cylinder engine developing 125kW at 6000 rpm and 221Nm at 3500 rpm and mated to a sequential Selespeed gearbox. The last Fiat Abarth in New Zealand was the 130TC Strada in the late 1980s.

The standard Stilos are powered by either a 1.6-litre four-cylinder producing 76kW at 5750 rpm and 145Nm at 4000 rpm, or a 1.8-litre developing 98kW at 6400 rpm and 162Nm at 3500 rpm. Both units are linked to five-speed manual gearboxes. Buyers who want the convenience of an automatic box will have to wait until next year.

The Stilo sits on MacPherson strut suspension in the front and a semi-independent system with torsion beam in the rear, a set-up which provides good ride and handling.

Fiat distributors Ateco Automotive NZ is banking on the new model to further boost Fiat's stocks.

"The arrival of the Stilo is a turning point for Fiat," said the company's general manager, Lawrie Malatios. "It is the model on which Fiat's success in New Zealand will be built." The 1.6-litre Stilo costs $29,995, the 1.8-litre $32,995 and the 2.4-litre three- and five-door Abarth $42,995.

Fiat liked the Stilo prices so much it reduced those of other models this week. Punto prices are down by up to $2000. The two Multipla models are cheaper, too - the 1.6-litre petrol is down from $39,995 to $37,995 and the 1.9-litre diesel from $43,995 to $39,995.

Young isn't losing much sleep over either price.