Fiat Avventura – Expert Review

Fiat has launched its Punto EVO based crossover ‘Avventura’ last week which is being derived from Italian word ‘Adventure’. As a brand Fiat has not tasted much success in India like they have achieved in other countries. Avventura is Fiat’s third launch this year after Linea and Punto EVO, Fiat is on revival mode in terms of its service network, car performance. Punto EVO is great example of it as Fiat is aiming to increase its market share in India. Our experts tried their hands on Avventura so let’s know their opinion on Fiat Avventura Crossover.

Price:

• Price is the foremost USP for any car especially when we talk about the Indian car market and it buyers. When there is a lot alternative available in the same segment than price becomes more important for car manufactures.
• Fiat launched Petrol version of Avventura between 5.99-7.05 lakh which is quite competitive according to its rival cars like Ford ECO sport and Toyota Etios cross.
• Price of diesel Avventura starts at 6.89 lakh which goes up to 8.17lakh which is less than the Ford eco sport but slight higher than Etios cross. 

Engine & Performance:

• As far as power is concerned Avventura petrol trim delivers least amount of power sharing the same amount with Toyota Etios cross, Topping the chart here at least on Paper is Ford EcoSport with 123power and highest torque.
• Diesel engine power figures are quite similar to what other car of this segment are offering but torque is a main player here Avventura here falls behind from Ford Eco Sport by a whisker.
• Let’s move onto the road performance of Avventura crossover, there is nothing much to talk about the performance as it get same set of engines that we have seen earlier 1.4L FIRE petrol and 1.3L Multijet diesel engine.
• Petrol engine performs decent though you will require frequent gearshifts but after crossing 3000rpm mark there is decent punch available.
• Gear shifts have improved considerably but rubbery feeling hampers it altogether, in this department Volkswagen’s gearbox and Ford Eco Sport’s is nicer to operate.
• In ride and handling Avventura performs well, steering wheel is heavier though but it provides good support and feel, Avventura is very heavy car around 200kg more than Toyota cross which somehow snag the performance of Avventura.
• Claimed mileage of Avventura is 20.5KPL for Diesel and 14.4KPL for petrol which is slight on the lower side especially of Petrol one, you would get only 9KPL for petrol on road and 13-14 KPL for diesel.

Space & Dimensions:

• Fiat Avventura is the shortest in comparison to Ford Eco Sport and Toyota Etios Cross with 1542mm height in comparison to Eco sport’s 1708mm.
• Avventura is certainly not the longest car either with at least 10mm short than Eco Sport and Etios cross.
• 2^nd row seats doesn’t have ample space for three persons, 3^rd occupant have to deal with cramped shoulder and legroom space.
• The only good about the dimension of Avventura is 205mm of ground clearance which not only excellent for observing potholes but it better than its competitor cars like Etios cross and Ford Eco Sport.
• Boot space is same as its standard sibling Punto EVO which is 280 liters and wheelbase of 2510mm is quite good.

Exterior:

• Avventura is based on Punto EVO hatch it is bigger sibling of EVO hatchback almost same overall design and looks.
• Starting from the front you will same headlights and grille which we have seen in Punto EVO but the thing which differentiate Avventura from its sibling is the lower bumper and wide air dam.
• Front side looks awesome with smoked black tear drop headlamps, chrome touch front grille and circular fog lamps.
• Side profile of Avventura carries Body colored ORVM’S with turn indicators, black door handles, 16” alloy wheels and rubber side cladding embedded with Avventura name.
• Rear side of Avventura is different from Punto EVO thanks to spare wheel inclusion which is getting mix response from masses in terms of its rigidness in its opening.
• Spare wheel adds more beauty to the looks of Avventura but when you try to open the wheel cover of the spare wheel it will take hell lot of effort and time and the spare wheel also makes the tail gate a bit heavy and it is also difficult to remove as it is protected with padlocks.

Interior:

• Interior of Avventura is a blender of refreshed Linea and Punto EVO, in fact same design and same layout like Punto EVO.
• As you enter in Avventura you will see two tone black grey and soft fabric has been used for grey color which looks fantastic complimented by the orange ambient lighting.
• Central console is different from any conventional central console due to tilt meter, clinometers and compass which are surrounded by piano black finish color scheme. Audio system is same like Punto EVO.
• The three spoke steering wheel is firm and easy to hold and has mounted controls of bluetooth and telephony functions.
• In Avventura you will surely find some rough and cost cutting areas like average quality of leathers, simple door handles certainly not made for SUV, rough finishing touch near key hole.
• Tow tone seats provide lacks thigh support unlike Punto EVO but it provides good lower back support.
• Rear passengers get A/C vents to keep them cool and 60:40 spilt for rear seats, overall in terms of interior Ford Eco Sport is far better than Avventura. 

Safety:

• Safety features of Avventura are at par with the competition and sufficient to ensure maximum safety for the passengers with features like ABS and dual airbags but not as standard equipments.
• Fiat Avventura hosts various safety features like Auto door lock, central locking, fire prevention system, immobilizer with floating code are as standard,
• While features like 3 point seat belt with load limiters, air bags with early crash sensors and height adjustable front seat belts are offered in top variant which should be introduced as standard equipments.
• Absence of rear parking sensors and rear parking camera is certainly adds to the disadvantage of Avventura. Ford Eco Sport has more safety features than what Avventura is offering.

Verdict:

Fiat priced Avventura in very aggressive manner, Avventura looks good from outset and decent from inside as well. Feature list of Avventura is also at also decent if not long; the overall goodness of Avventura is destroyed by the under powered engines which are not complementing the great looks of Avventura. If fiat would have brought more powerful engines than it will turn out to be a great package, though people will still buy this product just because of Avventura’s design.

Sandeep Singh