Used Fiat 500L Hatchback 2013-present review

In 2008, Fiat released its reincarnated 500 to the world. As you’ll probably be aware due to the number you’ll see milling around these days, it went down a storm, becoming the perfect transport for urban fashionistas everywhere. For Fiat, though, the question was how to capitalise on its success, and translate it into a larger, more family-friendly car that’d carry the same appeal. The answer was this: the Fiat 500L.

It won’t have escaped your attention that the 500L’s styling unashamedly mimics the cues of its smaller stablemate. Whether it does so successfully, mind you, rather depends on who you ask. Either way, the 500L was offered with a similarly bright palette of colours and a range of personalisation options, so if nothing else, it stands out from the crowd.

A 2017 facelift saw mild revisions to specification and styling, and included the renaming of the Trekking version to Cross, to tie in with other Fiat models.

Looking at the 500L, you’d be hard-pushed to imagine it’s a particularly sporty thing to drive, and you’d be right. Slow, remote steering makes it feel ponderous, and while the body doesn’t lean over as badly when cornering quickly as other MPVs, it still feels rather stodgy to drive.

And while the 500L doesn’t ride badly, neither does it do so particularly well. Poor road surfaces don’t trouble it too much, but larger potholes and ruts cause jarring thumps to be sent through the cockpit.

What’s more, while the 1.6-litre diesels are punchy enough, most of the smaller engines feel a little weedy when tasked with hauling the 500L’s weight, especially the naturally-aspirated 1.4. All of the engines, bar the rare 1.4-litre petrol turbo, make too much noise and vibration, and there’s a lot of road and wind noise into the bargain which make long trips wearing. Automatic 500Ls, meanwhile, which are badged Dualogic, are jerky and slow to respond in traffic.

Inside, the 500L’s dash is rather plasticky, though better quality materials were used after the facelift. Even these versions, though, suffer from flimsy-feeling indicator stalks and switchgear that feels cheap and nasty to the touch. The touchscreen is fast and responsive, but a little complex in its menu system, meanwhile.