Παρουσιαση Fiat Stilo Multiwagon απο top gear September 03

Fiat - Stilo Multi Wagon

Two previously untrumpeted phenomena, both germane to this car, came to my attention during a brief foray through the outskirts of Turin in the Stilo Multi Wagon: the first is an increasingly prevalent obsession amongst Italians with the fruits of German industrial output. The second, bearing testament to the inordinate length of a bells'n'smells service, is the astonishing quantity of fag butts you'll find littering the forecourt of any Catholic church.

In truth, the latter is only relevant when the snapper decides said church makes a jolly backdrop and yours truly has to come over all 'Big Issue' and pick every... single... one... up. But the former might go some way to explaining why not only does Stilo styling have much of the Teuton about the mush, but also, as the 31 per cent drop of Fiat sales broadcast by 'Cretin's Network News' on the morning of my drive suggests, the car isn't selling as well as expected.

We're told, however, that things are now picking up. Moreover, the Italians do love a shooting brake. So the arrival on the scene of what, by any other name, is simply an estate version of the five-door Stilo may yet help shoehorn the populace out of their VWs and into this home-grown alternative.

The box on the back adds 263mm to the length of a five-door Stilo and the weight of 90 bags of sugar. The tailgate boasts independently hinged rear glazing and opens into 510 litres of kennel space. Rear suspension dampers have been inclined to keep wheel- arch intrusion to a minimum, and the plastic sheathed rear bumper forms a flat sill at loadspace level. A choice of rear seating allows either for sliding, rake adjust split rears that won't fold absolutely flat, or a fixed alternative that will - providing a wardrobe-swallowing 1,480 litres astern.

That's the good bit. The rest depends on your take on the five-door Stilo...

Though the global frock hasn't shown much evidence of being blown up by the car thus far, my only real gripe is a lack of comfort behind the wheel. True, the steering adjusts for rake and reach, and the seatbase for height. But wind the seat base south and a void the width of my palm opens between base and back, leaving rump in the tropics and both lumbar support and wheel in the Arctic Circle.

Equipment levels match those of the five-door too, including the optional Connect system which so enraged Clarkson he lobbed it under a Scania, but which found me a car park, bank, curry house and bed for the night on the south coast in three minutes flat; only failing with a five-star hotel because, in Portsmouth, no such thing exists.

A choice of 1.6- and 1.8-litre petrol engines vie with 80 and 114bhp iterations of a 1.9-litre turbodiesel for your attention. I was awarded the 1596cc, 103bhp petrol option which, despite displaying all the free revving enthusiasm of the classic Italian, struggled some what with the estate's weight.

Ultimate dynamics, unless Labrador puke is your bag, aren't a priority here. A 10 per cent increase to power-steering weight hasn't upped the level of helming involvement a jot, and the front undercarriage geometry feels somewhat pigeon-toed. Nonetheless, the car corners tidily enough with some initial body roll well controlled thereafter. Ride quality is, however, something to crow about, especially at low speeds. Which makes the lunacy of pilot position ergonomics all the more irritating.

That aside, the only thing wrong with the Multi Wagon is that the back looks uncomfortably like something Subaru might have sketched for the Legacy and then rejected. Odd, that - I always thought Germany was in Europe.

Anthony ffrench-Constant