Fiat Croma: Fiat keeps popping a question about one of its latest offerings, asking in advertising if it is a MPV or an estate or a saloon. The answer, bizarrely, comes in the question; it's not any one on its own, but a bit of all three and more, a crossover in fact.
You get the impression that Fiat believes it is charting new territory with the Croma. The press material waxes on about developing a vehicle that didn't fit neatly into any pigeonhole, "for people whose lifestyles won't be pigeonholed either".
The hype reaches new heights when we are told that Croma "combines many of the successful features and advantages of lots of different types of vehicles and cleverly puts them all together in a new way". Wow!
We can see what Fiat is trying to do. The market for large hatchbacks from non-prestige marques is in a downward slither: the customers are bailing out and into better-looking off-roaders and more versatile MPVs by the thousands. Then there's the lure of cars from prestige marques: more European buyers opt for a BMW 3-series instead of a Ford Mondeo. The D family segment, represented by cars like the Mondeo and Opel Vectra, is in a kind of crisis.
Fiat would have us believe that its Croma is a clever response to that crisis. We are not so sure.
Our test car came with the 1.9-litre Multijet turbodiesel unit that develops 150bhp, an engine well known to us, and one which featured in our recent road test of the revised Vectra. It also does service with Saab and Alfa Romeo. In Croma service, it is credited with a top speed of 210km/h, getting from zero to 100km/h in 9.6 seconds.
Oddly, it didn't feel as scintillating as it was in the Vectra, but then the Croma is bigger and bulkier. While the six-speed gearbox endows the engine with that old reliable of diesels, the useful spread of torque or pulling power, the power itself doesn't come across in any sort of impressive or memorable way.
Petrolheads with families forced into a diesel compromise wouldn't find it much fun: a better choice would probably be the top of the range 2.4-litre Multijet. Fiat promises that it will make them rethink their anti-diesel prejudice.
We drove the Croma only lightly loaded and it was reasonably rewarding with its frugality. On a mixed diet of town and country driving, we managed just over eight litres per 100km (34.5mpg). Official figures show 8.2 l/100km in the urban cycle, 4.9 l/100km extra urban and 6.1 l/100km combined.
Croma drivers or owners aren't likely to be hurtling through the bends, but it surprised us with its good handling composure. Less appealing was the ride. Over bad and indifferent surfaces that abound on Irish roads, it felt choppy and unsettled.
Only on motorways and more immaculate National Primary routes, did the Croma seem really at home. With the tall gearing, the kilometres were effortlessly gobbled up.
The whole raison d'être of the Croma is its crossover credentials, so does it break new ground in terms of flexibility? Sadly, not. It comes with a mildly elevated driving position but remains a strict five-seater.
We thought that the rear seats might have folded completely flat but they don't and they don't slide or recline either. Loading it to the parcel shelf gives a boot that is no bigger than that of the Mondeo or Vectra estate. Folding the rear seats and loading it to the roof gives the same load-lugging capacity as comparable estates.
For the record, the boot takes 500 litres with the rear seats in use and 1,610 litres when the rear seats are folded down.
Saying that, the Croma is a hugely spacious vehicle with an interior usually found in luxury cars. Rear seat passengers can stretch out, even cross their legs.
The interior looks quite opulent. One of our passengers liked the styling a lot, remarking that it was a change from "that awful Multipla". But he also remarked that it was no more practical than a large saloon or estate car and that indeed would seem to be the nub of the matter when it comes down to it.
The styling isn't wildly distinctive in spite of the best efforts of Mr Giugiaro and his Italdesign studio.
At Croma's international launch we recall the chief engineer saying that buyers wanted an alternative to MPV shapes which were a bit too commonplace. No one during our test, however, gave it a second glance: it didn't attract any attention.
A mild irritant during our drives was the occasional activation of the hill holder warning light. A screen message told us the hill holder wasn't operational. We scurried to the handbook which has a lot of pages dealing with warning lights: on dealing with the hill holder, it advised seeing a Fiat dealer. In the event, there was no problem.
A colleague told us he was driven mad by the door warning light staying on when, in fact, all doors were closed. It turned out that the bonnet wasn't shut properly.
Then there was the interior finish: twice during our driving, a cap illustrating the gearbox configuration fell off the gear stick.
Our test drive Croma came in Dynamic trim level and there's a high level of specification that includes an automatic dual zone climate system. As well as ABS, it comes with EBD (electronic brake effort distribution) and ESP (electronic stability programme). Croma has achieved the maximum five-star rating from Euro NCAP.
With a price tag of €33,495 this Croma is one of the most expensive Fiats around. Only the Ulysse MPV is more. Competitors include the Ford Mondeo Ghia estate 2.2 TDCi at €40,220, the Peugeot 407 SW 2.0HDi at €38,405 and the Opel Vectra 1.9CDTi estate at €35,700.
While it has a price advantage and offers a lot of car and equipment for the money, we doubt if it's a compelling proposition for most big wagon shoppers. We are not convinced either with Fiat's crossover notions: the blending hasn't worked.
• In an earlier report in Motors on the Fiat Croma (Fiat still has a way to go; Wednesday, November 16th), it stated there was a problem with a warning light staying on. It now seems that the light - which shows a door feature when lit - also comes on if the bonnet is open, which was the case with the test car. Fiat claims this is an added safety feature.