Fiat Tipo Cross review

Introduction

The Fiat Tipo is a very unassuming car. Just ask anyone about it. Most people, even those who pride themselves on knowing their vehicles, will probably respond with “the Fiat, erm ...”.

What might shock you is that Fiat has made the Tipo since 1988. Of course, you would probably recognise it if you saw an older model (cue the inevitable “Oh, that’s what a Tipo is”). But the fact remains: the Tipo has always been in the shadows of the likes of its sibling, the Fiat 500 - and other small hatchback rivals.

And that is what Fiat is hoping to change with its latest version. It has been around since 2015 (confession time: we had barely noticed, either). But a facelifted model was launched in 2020, along with a new variant – the Cross – which aims to add SUV-like appearances to this otherwise anonymous car.

At a Glance

But is it any good? Well, first impressions certainly are. It isn’t the most attractive vehicle in the world, nor does it make you go “wow” when you look at it. But the Cross has nice enough looks to be competitive.

The front has a wide but reasonably thin, horizontal grille that spans the car's width, bar the room needed for the headlights. Next, add some 'n-shaped' bodywork in a different colour to accentuate the SUV styling elements. Then, ‘umbrella’ it over the smaller lower-grille and add a couple of fog lights, and you have a decent-looking car that appears to have modest off-road capabilities.

Down the side of the Fiat, there is a crease that goes through the centre of the door handles. Then there is an indentation in the lower part of the doors, while more protrusions – roof rails and a rugged, patterned scuff-plate side skirt – add strength to its SUV credentials.

The back of the Tipo Cross is less successful but blends a roof spoiler over the rear windows with a thick, meaty rear bumper. Two taillights shaped like bicycle seats extend from the side towards the middle of the boot lid, with more SUV-styled trim along the bottom.

These different coloured off-road-like strips (silver on our test car) give more appeal to the ever-increasing number of SUV customers out there. For a little car, it is pretty stocky, but without losing some sense that it has got at least a bit of athleticism in its arsenal.

It won’t be causing thousands of would-be Fiat 500 owners to switch allegiances. However, overall, the Cross is a nice-looking motor with presence and personality.

Key Features

There is only one trim on offer. You see, technically, the Cross is one of the standard Tipo hatchback’s trims, sitting alongside the entry-level City Life trim and the top-of-the-range Red trim (the latter of which is curiously written in brackets).

No matter, though, because the amount of kit you get as standard with the Cross will make you feel like you’ve leased the top-of-the-range one anyway.

You get 17-inch alloys, a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system with SatNav and Bluetooth, a DAB radio, and USB slots in the front and back. The Italian-made car also houses a seven-inch digital instrument display, adaptive cruise control, climate control, and automatic high beam. On top of that, there are electrically adjustable heated door mirrors, LED headlights, a speed limiter, start-stop, a premium wrapped steering wheel and dark-tinted rear windows. Then, there is the SUV styling with roof bars, side skirts, front and rear skid plates and black wheel arches.

You also get a tonne of safety gadgets as standard, which we will cover later.

Wow! Some of these things don’t come as standard on BMWs and Mercs.

The Tipo Cross has a higher ride height than the rest of the Tipo range. And although it is very much a front-wheel-drive car, it at least looks like it could go off-road.

Sadly, there is only one engine on offer, which won’t do anything to satisfy those wanting some performance. It is a 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol unit that produces 100PS.

The Fiat weighs 1,335kg, which is average for its size, but it is no Heffalump either. So, hopefully, the lack of power is offset somewhat by the lack of extra mass.

You get a five-speed manual ‘box, too, by the way.

Performance & Drive

The lack of choice in engines and transmission means that there is only one variant for us to test and, in all honesty, our expectations were low. But the Tipo Cross exceeded them.

The 100PS engine feels good; it accelerates off the line well from a standing start and doesn't appear to struggle to get going or get up to a comfortable cruising speed.

Despite the zero to 62mph time of 12.2 seconds, it feels quite a lot quicker than that. The Fiat never feels sluggish and, although you need to thrash it on motorways, it doesn’t seem outpaced when driving around town or on minor roads.

Notwithstanding its off-road looks, it is more of a city car and not especially suited to long-distance driving. There is a bit of wind din at higher speeds, although it is well soundproofed. Therefore, you won’t be deafened by the engine, which creates quite a racket. The gearbox feels dated and, with most manual ‘boxes being six-speeds nowadays, this only has five, so it revs pretty high.

Given the engine specs, a top speed of 113mph isn't bad. But because the Cross feels more at home on low-speed roads, we wouldn’t recommend driving it to the limit, even if it were perfectly legal.

The ride comfort isn't fantastic – it isn’t uncomfortable, but it does amplify bulges and potholes in the asphalt. In addition, the higher ride height means it has a high centre of gravity, so it feels more prone to wobbling than the rest of the Tipo range. Consequently, the Cross doesn’t offer a smooth driving experience. And, at 70mph, it feels out of its comfort zone and can be pretty fidgety, needing constant adjustments to the steering wheel to keep it in a straight line.

Regardless of that, the handling isn’t bad. The amplified ride height meant we were surprised by the limited body roll in the corners, even when taken at speed. In all honesty, though, the Tipo Cross isn’t intended to be thrown into bends. The steering is civilised but not set up with the precision needed to drive the Cross at the limits of its grip. So if you are on a twisty B-road and expect it to change direction quickly, you will find it is not responsive enough.

There are two driving modes – Normal and City – which affect the steering. City makes the wheel feel lighter, suitable for changing direction around town centres and parking. Meanwhile, Normal feels slightly heavier. The lack of a Sport mode says it all, though – competitors certainly offer more enthusiastic handling.

All that said, it is unlikely you will be leasing a Tipo Cross to explore the thresholds of tyre adhesion to the road surface. It really doesn’t need a Sport mode so, unless you are keen on performance, the Fiat is perfectly acceptable for its intended purpose.

Running Costs & Emissions

The Tipo Cross produces 131g/km of CO2, while you can expect it to return 48.7mpg, which isn’t bad. Mind you, we had hoped it would hit the 50s – like Ford’s1.0-litre petrol engine can – given how small the powerplant is.

You will pay £215 for the first year’s road tax, decreasing to the standard £150 for the following years.

Thanks to the petite engine, servicing costs should be cheap. Expect £130-£175 for a full service in most garages.

Fiat also provides a three-year warranty with unlimited mileage, but we doubt you will worry about this too much, seeing as you are leasing the car. It is always handy to know, though, eh?

Interior & Technology

If it is possible to have an inferior yet superior interior (the poetics are purely coincidental), then this is it. It looks nice, if not overly luxurious, yet feels cheap at the same time. Weird, or what?

The Fiat's cabin is laid out well in terms of style, but it is dominated by hard plastics that feel very much like coloured, patterned Tupperware.

It ruins what is otherwise a charming aesthetic, with a nice steering wheel that is styled well, with silver surrounds in places, and has many buttons that give it a premium feel.

But that is as good as the Tipo Cross gets inside. The air vents look a bit yesteryear, as do the dials for the air conditioning. Plus, besides the infotainment screen, which is rounded and sprouts up out of the dash like a small tablet, that is about all there is to it.

It is a real shame. It almost seems as though half of Fiat’s design house was on the right track, but the other half had been left a decade or two in the past. And it badly lets the Tipo Cross down.

It is much like the visibility, which is good out of the front, but really compromised at the rear due to the enormous pillars obstructing your vision. The rear-view camera and parking sensors largely mitigate this, though.

The infotainment screen is about as high as the digital instrument display, so it takes no effort to glance at it while driving. But, seeing what is on it can be a challenge as it is on the small side by today’s standards. There is no rotary dial on the centre console, which is a shame, but there are a couple of smaller dials at the bottom corners of the screen itself. This arrangement is better than nothing and far less cumbersome to use than rivals who insist on having a touchscreen-only setup. It isn’t the best system in the world, though, and it is not the most responsive, either.

However, the digital instrument display is reasonably vibrant – and very lovely to look at.

Practicality & Boot Space

The Fiat’s front seats are very comfortable, and there is plenty of movement in the steering wheel and driver’s seat. This means finding an optimal driving position is straightforward, while adjustable lumbar support is also standard.

The rear seats are reasonably spacious, too, given it is a small car. There is a lot of leg and headroom, helped by the fact that the roofline doesn’t slope down all that much.

Three grown-ups in the back will be a stretch, however. But we have seen a lot worse, while the middle seat isn't incredibly comfortable by comparison.

The boot is also extremely generous with a capacity of 440-litres, which is more significant than its hatchback rivals and nearly as much as a Dacia Duster.

Bizarrely, Fiat doesn’t publish figures with the rear seats down, but we reckon it is somewhere in the 1,250-litre ballpark. The seats fold away in a 60/40 formation, although this leaves a slight hump in the floor when you do, so you can’t create a completely flat boot.

Safety

The standard Fiat Tipo was crash tested by Euro NCAP back in 2016, earning a four-star rating.

It scored 82 per cent for adult occupants, 60 per cent for children, 62 per cent for pedestrians and 57 per cent for safety assists.

Most cars manage to achieve a five-star rating nowadays, though small family cars are sometimes the exception to the rule. However, it is also worth bearing in mind that Euro NCAP made its assessments more stringent in 2020, so the same car wouldn’t score as well as it did a few years ago.

That said, the Tipo didn’t have as many safety gadgets on it when examined as it has today. Therefore, we would expect the safety assist score to jump up, although to what extent that would affect the overall rating is not known.

The Italian includes a whole host of safety equipment and gadgets for peace of mind. These include intelligent speed assist, traffic sign recognition, autonomous emergency braking, driver drowsiness monitoring, parking sensors, a parking camera and a lane support system.

That is a lot of tech without being asked to cough up quite a few extra pound notes.

Options

To Fiat’s credit, there is barely a single optional extra available because just about everything that could be on the list is included in the Tipo Cross as standard.

Many are available as extras if you choose a lower trim, but the Cross is exceptionally well equipped.

A full-size spare wheel only costs a few hundred pounds - and that is it.

We should mention that, for the body colour, it comes in a choice of one – solid white. Anything else (solid red or metallic shades of orange, black, dark grey, light grey or very dark blue) costs extra.

Rival Cars

There aren't masses of small hatchbacks that have been given the SUV treatment – usually, the SUV crossovers are a tad bigger.

A Kia XCeed, a Dacia Sandero Stepway or even a Skoda Kamiq are worth looking at if you’re after a compact SUV-styled vehicle. The Dacia Duster also offers excellent value for money.

If you don't mind losing the slightly raised ride height and settling for a regular small hatchback, then the rest of the Tipo range is rivalling the likes of the Volkswagen Golf, Peugeot 308 and Ford Focus. Vauxhall is just launching its all-new Astra for 2022, too, which is better than ever.

In truth, most of these cars are superior to the Tipo – the flipside being that the vast majority won’t be as well kitted-out as standard.

Verdict & Next Steps

The Fiat Tipo Cross is quite a frustrating car.

It has many plus points, but there is a sense that many of its drawbacks could easily have been avoided.

Despite the engine’s petite size, it is well optimised, decent for short-distance driving, and it handles relatively well. And, for a small vehicle, it is spacious and practical, comes exceptionally well-equipped as standard and has a decent look to the interior.

But scratch away at the surface, and you will find the inside is very cheap and even dated in places. What is more, the infotainment system trails challengers for size and quality, while the ride comfort could be better.

The lack of engine options will put off anyone who wants the extra economy of a diesel. But, that said, not engineering multiple powertrain options keeps Fiat’s development costs down, which means savings for everyone.

It is just as well because, just for info, the Tipo Cross is over £22,500 if you were to buy outright rather than lease. This is expensive when you consider an entry-level Volkswagen Golf is only a couple of grand more, while SUV enthusiasts can get a top-of-the-range Dacia Duster for less.

In isolation, though, this Fiat is a good car, with inoffensive looks and a wholesome personality. But, compared with its competitors, there are far more logical vehicles to lease.

Where to next?

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**Score based on Select’s unique meta score analysis, taking into account the UK’s top five leading independent car website reviews of the Fiat Tipo Cross

**Correct as of 25/02/2022. Based on 9 months initial payment, 5,000 miles over a 48 month lease. Initial payment equivalent to 9 monthly payments or £3,223.26  Ts and Cs apply. Credit is subject to status.