Fiat 500L Living, 2014

 

 

 Fiat 500L Living, 2014

The Fiat 500L Living demonstrates Fiat's ability to design and produce innovative vehicles with maximum space efficiency. It is not by chance that the new model is leader among mid-sized MPVs in terms of the ratio between exterior dimensions and interior space, including both the passenger compartment and the boot. With the addition of the third row of seats, the new vehicle is the most compact '5 + 2-seater' MPV in its category: it is 435 cm long, 178 cm wide and 167 cm high. Despite being 20 cm shorter than a C-segment Station Wagon, the Fiat 500L Living ensures exceptional comfort, space and load capacity. 

The new Fiat 500L Living is the superlative expression of Fiat's characteristic ingenuity in creating vehicles that make everyday life more simple, and a bit more fun as well. The family feel is clear right from the external style, which rejects sharp edges in favour of "rounder" shapes, maintaining the friendly, cheerful look of the Fiat 500. But inside, the new vehicle is full of surprises, guaranteeing exceptional comfort, space and load capacity.

The truth is that the Fiat 500L Living cannot be confined to a traditional segment, as it takes the best of different categories, reinterpreting it to offer all of the following in a single solution: the charm of a 500, the agility and compactness of a mid-sized car, the comfort and content of a C-segment station wagon and the space and versatility of an MPV. These are the components of the new magic formula, which expands both the winning formula of the 500, a style icon offering continuous innovation and premium quality, and that of the 500L, which adds even more functionality to all of the above.

The interior environment is therefore a welcoming place, an extremely pleasant place to be, thanks to the wide range of colour combinations, dedicated solutions and exclusive accessories, such as the 6 interior upholstery options. For each trim level, the customers can choose between two special fabrics: Black/Red or Grey/Black for the Pop Star version, Grey/Grey or Grey/Beige for the Lounge version. Upon request, you can also customise your 500L Living even further, with two elegant leather upholstery options (Grey/Grey or Grey/Beige). Both trim levels come with black fabric seats on the third row.

The passenger compartment is filled with light from the glass roof, which can be operated electrically, and is no less than 1.5 metres squared.

The Space
The Fiat 500L Living boasts top class interior capacity and comfort, as well as offering innovative seating configurations to facilitate the transporting of both passengers and loads. To satisfy the most diverse needs, the new model is available in two configurations: 5 seats (as standard) or 5+2 (on request). In the latter case, the two additional seats can comfortably accommodate two passengers of medium height. What's more, access to the third row is facilitated by the large door surround and the 'one hand' mechanism which permits the seat to be folded down completely.

In the 5-seater configuration, thanks to the modular second row of seats, the luggage compartment has a minimum capacity of 560 litres (seats all back) and a maximum capacity of 638 litres (seats all forward). The Fold&Tumble 2nd row and the passenger seat can also be fully folded down. This means the customer can obtain a flat loading surface for the entire length of the passenger compartment (2.60 metres), for optimum use of the interior space: its volume reaches 1584 litres. And that's not all. With the 'Cargo Magic Space' system, the load platform can also be adjusted on three levels, separating fragile objects from heavy ones, clean objects from dirty ones, bulky objects from small ones. The load compartment is also filled with pockets and hooks, allowing you to transport any object in total safety and tidiness.

In 5+2-seater configuration, the Fiat 500L Living maintains its load capacity of 168 litres, above the segment average.

In total, there are more than 6,000 possible interior space configurations, as well as 22 compartments of different sizes, and the dashboard has been designed to group the instrument panel and main controls of the audio and IT devices into two distinct but adjacent zones. The passenger compartment is a pleasant place to be, as passenger room of 3.89 m3 and some internal dimensions confirm: the maximum width of the front part is 1456 mm (measured at the shoulders) while the height, from seat to roof, is 1034 mm (in the rear zone the measurements are 1387 mm and 993 mm, respectively).

The range of possible seat adjustments also contributes to top-level on board comfort. They can be adjusted on every axis using 8 different modes, starting from the driver's seat which offers, as standard, a longitudinal configuration and reclining backrest, while it can be electrically heated and adjusted both in height and at the lumbar level on request. The front passenger seat is fitted with a fold-down table backrest, offering a handy surface on which to rest everyday objects, such as a bag or a laptop. The rear seat offers the same versatility. It has a 60/40 split folding backrest that can be adjusted longitudinally and separately in 12 positions, with the third central head restraint and armrest offered as optional.

Driving experience
The new 500L Living is a car for moments of relaxation and travel in comfort, in part thanks to the layout of the suspensions - Mac Pherson at the front, torsion beam at the rear - which have been updated to guarantee the utmost in control and comfort.

The 500L Living can absorb shocks from rough surfaces and limit body movement, as well as boasting excellent lane change response speed. The result has been achieved thanks to the introduction of 'frequency dependent' shock absorbers - specific for the 7-seater version, more subject to the effect of the car's weight - which vary the damping in accordance with operating conditions:

• high damping in low excitation frequency conditions (pitch, roll) to reduce body motion, enhancing handling and safety;
• low damping at high frequencies (slight unevenness, rough paving, etc.) to increase suspension filtering and optimise comfort levels.

The front suspension with Mac Pherson architecture has a new anti-roll bar with extraordinary rolling rigidity made with hollow technology that provides increased performance and at the same time reduced weight. The front crossmember is also designed with high rigidity to achieve greater acoustic comfort and to integrate a third load line to improve energy absorption capacity in the case of collision. One of the innovations is the adoption of a "split" type of shock absorber mounting that transmits the loads to the body through two different routes, for improved filtering of road vibrations, better acoustics and more efficient shock absorption.

Finally, the rear suspension features 'torsion beam' architecture with a new, high rolling rigidity design which allows the weight from an anti-roll bar to be eliminated. Hydraulic bushes were also adopted to improve the car's level of comfort. Last but not least, the rear suspension of the Fiat 500L was further lightened in weight by adopting single tube shock absorbers.

Engine options
At launch, the Fiat 500L Living will be available with one petrol engine - the 105 HP 0.9 Twin Air Turbo - as well as two turbo diesels: the 105 HP 1.6 MultiJet II and the 85 HP 1.3 Multi Jet II, the latter also with Dualogic robotised automatic transmission. Each with their own different qualities, all exploited to the full in combination with the 6 or 5-speed manual gearboxes of the petrol and diesel engines, respectively.