Ride and Handling:
The Duster ahead stopped in frenzy, brake lights glowing and kicking up a lot of dust. The road ahead was festooned with potholes with sizes ranging from snake holes to full-sized craters. The Avventura showed no signs of slowing down and hit the bad patch at barely legal speeds. What happened after that just blew our minds away. This Punto Evo on stilts simply sailed over them, with just muffled thuds finding its way inside the cabin- the car was immensely composed and simply devoured the potholes and whatever was left of that road, leaving behind the Duster in a stupefying haze of dust and the sound of an ever- vibrating tail mounted spare wheel- like a BOSS! Just for the record, the Duster, by itself is a fantastic tool when it comes to flattening uneven surfaces. Yes, the Avventura is that good!
The way this car handles bad patches of road at speeds is something that nobody expected- it literally flies over them without breaking a sweat, over and over again. Well, even the Punto does the same, but this one takes things to an entirely new level. While the raised ground clearance now stands at 205mm and the suspension receives mild tweaking, the new set of 205/55 R16 tubeless rubber offers oodles of grip and composure. Even on smooth tarmac, the Avventura rides brilliantly and offers excellent high-speed stability, no major issues here. Oh, and the steering tends to light up a little and shows slight disconnect on the limit in a straight line.
When handling the twisty stuff, very few cars came close to the Punto, and this follows a close second. There’s a wee bit more body roll than a stock Punto, but that’s understandable because of the raised ride height. Apart from that, it’s a pleasure to pilot around, with the hydraulic power steering weighing up nicely and offering just the right amount of feedback. And it still corners like its on rails- very predictable and immensely enjoyable.
The petrol has a slightly different story and doesn’t feel that composed and firmly damped when the going gets rough. Though not poles apart, the lighter of the variants here feels a little less confidence inspiring over broken bits of road. Dynamically though, it continues to be as brilliant as ever!
Verdict
To get to the point, the Fiat Avventura is a lot more than what one may think of it – a Punto Evo on stilts. It certainly looks the part, clearly the best amongst its competitors with hatchback origins, which include the hideous Etios Cross and the Cross Polo. The dynamics and performance are easily a cut above the rest as well, barring the Cross Polo, which comes pretty close. The pseudo-rugged Fiat packs in a fair amount of features but doesn’t have the lead in the department, what with no reverse camera or even sensors. Minor quirks aside, it’s a neatly put together vehicle. And oh! It goes over bad roads like no other.
Is it better than the Punto Evo?
It depends on how you look at it. For what it’s meant for, it certainly is. It’s highly impressive rough road credo is achieved without sacrificing the Punto’s class leading dynamics and to us, it does look marginally better. Agreed, it’s no real off-roader, but it was never meant to be. All that extra show is justified by the way this thing flies over broken Indian roads. In fact, this could be the perfect Punto. Prices are yet to be disclosed, and the world awaits its global debut on the 20th October in Delhi.
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