Introduction

The Urban Cross is a version of the Fiat Avventura, but with more of a city focus. So that makes it a city-biased version of a rough-road-biased version of a city car. Go figure. It has been handed to me so that life at BikeWale gets a little easier – no longer will we have to hump our riding gear around in cabs, thanks to Fiat!

What's on offer

The 1.3 Multijet diesel engine that most of India’s passenger car market is intimately familiar with, in 90bhp/209Nm tune. There’s the same old five-speed manual feeding the front wheels as well. Since this is the mid-spec Dynamic and not the top-spec Emotion variant, there are a bunch of features missing. The list includes airbags, the wash/wipe/defogger for the rear window, split-folding rear seats, steering-mounted audio controls, and climate control. What is present in the car is quite a long list, too: there’s a touchscreen sat-nav system, Bluetooth audio streaming and telephony capability, a full trip computer. What’s more, all Urban Cross variants have the exact same external look – the base Active variant doesn’t have fog lamps, is all.

How do I plan to use the car?

The biggest component of my usage will be the commute, simply because it is such a long one. When we drive to office, the Urban Cross will have to go through 120km of village roads, city traffic and highway running. When we go to our shoot locations, it will be more of the same; this long-termer won’t get much rest, except over weekends. The fantastic ride also has me planning a long trip in it. It will also have to show the capability to carry a lot of motorcycle riding gear, when we head to launch rides.

Vehicle Stats

Variant – Dynamic 1.3 Multijet

Odometer reading – 12,306km

Positives – Looks, ride quality, features for a mid-spec variant

Negatives – Lack of storage space in cabin, no airbags

Fuel Efficiency – TBA

Photos: Kapil Angane