Many of you will be unfamiliar with Fiat Cromas since they are scarce on British soil. The Croma is quintessentially a Vauxhall Vectra/Saab 93 underneath which is why many smart British people decided to forget about the Fiat badge and buy themselves Vauxhall Vectras. Obviously that isn't the main reason why the Croma didn't sell very well when it was launched way back in 2005, someone at Fiat came up with the bright and pointless idea of making a car that's as spacious as an MPV with the boot space of an estate and a sort of family hatchback looks. This was all very well and good in theory but the finished product obviously didn't appeal to any of the target markets, which ended up with a sort of mongrel car. So why have I made my dad spend money on one?
The Croma has a very specific niche: it only truly appeals to the needs of families consisting of leg room needy teenagers. Obviously there were other reasons why I persuaded my dad to choose this specific model mainly because of the panoramic sunroof which makes playing I-spy on a journey a lot more interesting. Other added benefits include; a dual zone climate control which in theory, could make a mini tornado when the front air vents are on cold and the back ones on hot, parking sensors which provide a more scientific alternative to the traditional 'Back.....back.....back........back...BANG..oops!' reversing technique, but more importantly its 1.9 JTD Multijet diesel engine matches, if not beats our petrol Alfa Romeo 156 due to 150 break horse power, six gears and being pretty efficient at the same time: up to 57.6 mpg in fact - perfect for driving to Italy in the summer.
Obviously there were alternative family cars out there, but there wasn't much sub £6k with less than 30,000 miles on the clock which really suited our needs . There were times when my dad wanted a proper 7 seater MPV but the prospects being driven about in a van filled with seats didn't appeal to me. Since my dad is Italian, it is only natural for him to stick to all Italian car brands, which is the reason why we currently have a half fixed (or half broken it depends whether you are a pessimist) Fiat 500L, a Cinquecento, an Alfa Romeo 156 and a Fiat Tempra. Unfortunately, the Alfa may have to go when petrol prices hit £30000000 per litre after the budget and the Tempra is on is on its last legs after doing more than 200,000-ish miles (I'm not sure after the digital speedo reset back to zero after 200,000km) and serving us for more than twelve years. This begs the question will our new practical family car last more than 12 years and beat it's predecessor, the trusty Fiat Tempra? Only time will tell.
The few bad points: It's not the most visually pleasing of cars, despite being designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro; designer of many a fine Alfa Romeo, the rear bumper and wheel arches seemed to have been designed on one of his off days, it's all a bit bulgy. Some might say that this is all for the excellent five star EuroNCAP rating for adult occupants, although it isn't so good for pedestrians - a meagre one star. The paintwork is a peculiar colour, technically it is called metallic ivory which translates as a blend of silver, gold and cream or commonly known as beige. Obviously in an ideal world, most cars would be Ferrari Rosso Red or Giallo Fly but unfortunately second hand cars don't come with custom paint jobs.
Things to watch out for: many a Croma were used as rep mobiles driven to their limits, things like suspension and brakes seem to wear quite easily. Thankfully ours came from a Fiat dealer so they replaced everything before handing over the keys plus threw in one year's free warranty and one weeks free insurance. According to my parents, the service in the dealership was excellent, the salesmen was very helpful and they knocked off quite a bit from the asking price, this came as a great surprise to me as we are normally used to our local dealership asking for extortionate amounts for used cars with the added bonus of mind-numbingly boring salespeople who know more about financial packages and profit margins than the cars they sell.
As a family car I'd rate it 8/10 it's great, but not ideal for everyone, it doesn't have the looks of an Alfa Romeo 159 Stationwagon, nor does it have the practicality of the - Ford Mondeo. So until they make an Alfa Romeo which is a spacious as the Ford Mondeo and cheap enough for us to afford, we'll keep the Croma.
