2014 Fiat 500l Lounge on 2040-cars

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Fiat updates Euro-spec 500 with new equipment, Cult trim

It's been seven years since Fiat relaunched the 500, and it has, by and large, been a runaway success for the Italian automaker. Numerous variations on the theme have followed - from the convertible 500C and performance-oriented Abarth models to the 500L minivan and upcoming 500X crossover - but it's high time that Fiat give the original hatchback a bit of a refresh, and that's just what it's done... to some extent, anyway.
Debuting this week at the Geneva Motor Show, the updated 500 features a number of enhancements to keep it fresh and with (if not quite ahead of) the times. That includes a redesigned instrument cluster centered around a seven-inch TFT display developed by Magnetti Marelli. There's a new 900cc turbo two-pot TwinAir engine being offered with 105 horsepower and 107 pound-feet of torque that can get a Cinquecento so equipped to 62 miles per hour in 10 seconds and on to a 117-mph top speed while delivering 67 miles per gallon (at least on the European cycle). Finally there's a new Cult trim level pictured here, being added to the top of the range that builds on the Lounge trim with more equipment like 16-inch alloys, gloss black roof, chrome or gloss black wing mirrors and more.
We're still waiting to find out what, if any, of this equipment will make the jump to the US model, but for now you can scope out the press release below and the high-res images in the gallery above for a closer look.

2015 Fiat 500L Living [w/video]

Turning The World's Largest Fiat Into A Larger Three-Row MPV
We've explored every offering of the Fiat 500 family meant for the United States, plus all of the Abarth variations. But the 500 now also comes super-sized; we recently attended a drive of the larger 2014 Fiat 500L people-mover and its Trekking edition, and found them both to be generally enjoyable. We Americans, however, are suckers for anything that comes in an even bigger size than Large, so witness this Fiat 500L Living, which will be landing on our shores sometime in late 2014.
The essential benefit here is that this 500L is bigger (i.e. longer) by 8.3 inches, thereby adding cargo space and, to our eyes, filling out the natural profile of the slightly scrunched design of the standard 500L. You can maximize your 500L Living cargo space to 59.7 cubic feet by knocking down all the seats, or you can opt for the "+2" seating arrangement that sacrifices 3.5 cubic feet of volume for a tantalizing third row of chairs that seems to turn some consumers into dogs of Pavlov, no matter the degree of usefulness of said added row.

2015 Fiat 500 Abarth automatic targets broader appeal

There aren't many manual-transmission-only offerings on the US market, and now there's one fewer. The 2015 Fiat 500 Abarth has just gone into production with a newly available automatic option.
We've known that the hair-raising, high-performance Cinquecento has been scheduled to get a two-pedal setup for some time, but now we have more specifics on the gearbox itself. According to Fiat, the six-speed automatic is derived from the same Aisin unit used in the standard 500, but it's been substantially reengineered to cope with the 1.4-liter MultiAir turbo engine's added power. Allison Singer, a vehicle integration engineer on the 500 Abarth's development program tells Autoblog that the modifications to the gearbox include "gears that have been reinforced and a few extra clutch plates," among other changes. Unfortunately, there are no paddle shifters, as the 500's steering wheel was not designed to accommodate them, but at least there's a +/- manual gate on the gearshift lever.
Interestingly, the automatic brings with it substantially different power numbers than its manual counterpart. The new model receives 157 horsepower and 183 pound-feet of torque, which is 3 horsepower less than the manual, yet it packs a whopping 13 pound-feet more torque, which should aid drivability. By comparison, the five-speed manual 2015 Abarth registers 160 hp and up to 170 lb-ft. New features that come with the auto include a dedicated sport mode, rev-matched downshifts, fuel-cut upshifts, shift logic that holds gears in corners and 'fast-off' situations, along with sharper throttle tuning. Despite the added torque, Singer admits that "The manual will probably be a tiny bit quicker as far as performance goes," but she is confident that the transmission's availability will open the car up to a much broader market of buyers.