Category: Small Family 
Price Range: £10,995 to £16,405
Smooth, willing and flexible 1.6 diesel engines, good economy.
Uninspiring handling, patchy interior, lack of steering feel, low-speed ride.
Fine 1.6 diesel is the pick of the Bravo range.
Small Fiat diesels are some of the best in the business. What they lack in refinement, they make up for in punchy performance, flexibility and a petrol-like appetite for revs. So the firm's new small capacity 1.6-litre engine has much to prove.
Available in either 103bhp or 118bhp variants, the 1.6-litre direct injection common rail unit is a development of the 1.9-litre engine created under the firm's short-lived technical partnership with General Motors. The more powerful 118bhp version directly replaces the 1.9-litre 8v diesel with the same power output, while the 150bhp 16v 1.9 continues to head the Bravo diesel range.
Both low- and high-powered units are almost technically identical, with the 118bhp only differing with the addition of a variable nozzle turbocharger.
Both units are already Euro 5 compliant, thanks to a novel compact particulate filter sited behind the engine, close to the engine's exhaust manifold. This arrangement benefits from the higher exhaust temperatures that help the system work more efficiently.
The exception to the Euro 5 rule is the new 'Eco' model that's estimated to cost an extra £300 over the entry engine. Sharing the same 103bhp it has longer gearing and an ECU set for low CO2 emissions of just 119g/km. The catch is that in order to reach this emissions goal, the particulate filter has had to be ditched to the detriment of its Euro 5 acreditation.
Prices start for the 103bhp 1.6 Multijet at £13,800, with the more powerful 118bhp variant costing an additional £700.
