Bush Baby: Fiat 500L Trekking

Fiat seem to be ‘keeping up with the Jones’ with the launch of their Fiat 500L Trekking at the L.A. Auto Show this week, following in the footsteps of the Mini Countryman, Volkswagen CrossPolo, Nissan Lavina X-Gear and other such compact CUVs. While we can’t picture the 500L Trekking wading through the Okavango Delta, the same goes for its competitors, which are all urban crossovers designed to deflect the odd trolley at the mall, or out intimidate your parking lot opponent in Black Friday madness.

The Fiat 500L is an enlarged version of the lovable Fiat 500 and uses Fiat’s new “small-wide” architecture to provide 660 mm more length together with 152 mm more height and width over the 500 hatch. The result is 42 percent more interior space according to Fiat, who have added a touch of ‘tough’ to the little Italian with this latest Trekking derivative.

The exterior of the 500L Trekking has been given extended bumpers, wheel arches and side skirts in a grey plastic, along with 17-inch alloy wheels. The Trekking has also been given scuff plates at the front and rear, as well as black inserts at the base of the doors and rear bumper.

The interior features a unique two-tone Nero/Marrone (black/brown) interior trim and also benefits from Fiat’s Uconnect infotainment system, which includes a 5-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth connectivity, streaming audio and voice recognition.

The 500L Trekking is powered by the same 1.4-litre turbocharged, 4-cylinder, MultiAir engine that is found in the 500 Abarth. This gives the Trekking 120 kW and 250 Nm of torque, which should give the car plenty of ‘get-up-and-go’. The engine can be paired with either a 6-speed manual or 6-speed dual dry clutch transmission (DDCT), which drives the front wheels. It is likely that Fiat will introduce their 1.3-litre diesel and 1.2-litre, 2-cylinder, TwinAir petrol engines to the range at a later stage.

The Fiat 500L is already available in Europe, while this Trekking model will enter the U.S. market in mid-2013.

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