The New Bravo was officially launched last Saturday (30th June) and Mervyn Stewart Fiat/Alfa very kindly loaned a Bravo TJet Sport to me to take to our club meeting for the members to see.
I have been driving an Alfa Brera with 200BHP for the past 5 months, a car that I think is exceptional so when they told me the Bravo Sport had a 1.4 turbo engine, in a family saloon, I wasn't expecting a lot from it. But more of the engine later.
The shape of the car is very like the Grande Punto but bigger.



You can definately see the family resemblance from the rear to the old Bravo which I suspect is no coincidence, and a very nice touch.



I got a nice surprise when I opened the drivers door. It looks very sporty indeed inside. The black seats red inserts in the bolsters and seat bases and are finished in a mixture of a web effect material and Alcantara style cloth. The seats red stitching and the leather steering wheel and gear knob have the same red stitching.



The dash is one of the nicest I have seen in a family car, and wouldn't look out of place in an executive car. The white dials are very simple to read and have the little lights to tell the driver about hanbrake being on and so on are grouped in a circle inside the dials. There's a trip computer as well and it's all right in the line of site. The steering wheel has volume controls etc to operate the radio, and on this car also has the button for the excellent "Blue&Me" system for your mobile phone to connect to the car.
The radio system and the heating system use the same types of display and again are very easy to read.
Now all these things were very nice but it was the quality of everything that really struck me. The dash top is like a kevlar effect but has a soft touch to it and every were I looked gave me a real the feeling that real effort has went into making the Bravo special. There are nice touches all over the car but a little one that made me smile was the little lights illuminating the inner door handles at night. Now you have to admit, that's thoughtful.



I mentioned the engine earlier and will admit at this point I was expecting just ok performance. All I can say is WOOHOO!!! what an engine. Everytime I pressed the excellerator all I could think of was "Uno Turbo". For those of you who were never fortunate enough to have driven an Uno Turbo, it was a mad little rocket that Fiat brought out in the 80's that showed a clean pair of heals to many a larger sportier car.
A 1.4 Turbo petrol engine putting out 150BHP, Fiat have yet again made a very special engine that will be talked about for years to come.
I found it very hard indeed to keep my speed down for 2 reasons, 1 the car is so quiet and the engine so responsive that you don't realise the speed your going and 2,, A cracking little Turbo engine, excellent 6 speed gearbox, 18" wheels on low profile tyres, steering a sharp as you need and excellent handling, just makes you want to go looking for those twisty back roads, in a family hatchback.
But wait, it gets even better. While driving along I spotted a little button on the dash with the word "Sport" written on it. I pressed it. The engine response got even quicker and the steering got a little heavier and I was 19 again and want to stay out all night just driving the thing when the roads are empty.
And look,



The boot is big enough to carry the groceries and a pram. I would even go shopping as long as I can just drive round the carpark while my Wifes inside.

Fiat have made an excellent job of the New Bravo and yes people who know me say I'm totally biased towards all things Italian but I really believe Fiat have it cracked with this car and would urge anyone looking for a family car to try a Bravo before deciding on a lesser car from some other maker. Don't believe all you read from some of the so called motoring experts.

I have just one complaint. I HAD TO GIVE IT BACK TODAY!