The Fiat Ritmo is known overseas as the Fiat Bravo. Though a compact five-door car, the Fiat Ritmo has looks that cunningly disguise the roominess it contains inside its cosy cabin. The sporty looks are sharp and very individualistic, and start at the front with the sleek headlighting design. The observer has a rapid sense of speed as the solid bonnet lines flow up and over the low raking windscreen, curved roof and down over one of the prettiest rear ends in the small hatch business. With engineering worthy of a five star Euro NCAP rating, blended with fine craftmanship, the fiat Ritmo is a superbly safe and sexy small hatch.

The Ritmo comes with a couple of peppy engines that combine a good bit of zip with economic performance. The 1.4 litre-turbo petrol engine is very sharp. It has the goods to deliver 110kW of power and a lusty 230 Nm of torque, but its combined fuel economy figure of 7.1 litres per 100 kilometres makes this little Fiat attractive to those wanting to cut their fuel bills. The heart of the 1.9 litre diesel engine boasts 305 Nm of torque, while it matches the 110 kW pwer output of the smaller petrol alternative. With an average fuel consumption of 5.6 litres per 100 kilometres, you have to agree with me, you have a very competitve package in the game of ever increasing fuel prices. Though a diesel, the engine almost matches the 1.4 litre turbo for out and out acceleration with a nine second period required for reaching 0-100 km/h, from a stand still. You have a superb six speed manual transmission to play with in either of the Fiat Ritmo variants.

On the inside, the Fiat Ritmo is well equipped for the rhythms of life, as the name Ritmo suggests. The Fiat Ritmo has been designed to be super-quiet in the cabin with soundproofing and a rigid bodyshell that eliminates noisy vibrations. This leaves you free to enjoy the sounds and other features of the Blue&Me ™ system. Blue&Me ™ is a joint production from Fiat and Microsoft that integrates communications and the audio system – via voice activated controls. This system can also read your SMS messages aloud for you, smileys and all. The new Blue&Me Nav™ system also incorporates a sophisticated navigation system. Whether all this latest technology will be available on the Australian Fiat Ritmos is still unclear – it’s certainly in the European models.

The Fiat Ritmo seats up to five very comfortably – and can take up to 1175 litres of luggage with the 60/40 split fold rear seats down. The seats in the Fiat Ritmo have been designed with input from sports medicine so they squeeze and support in just the right places – a further demonstration of the truism that European cars give you seats you sit in rather than on. A dual zone climate control keeps everyone inside the Fiat Ritmo cool or warm to their liking. The Fiat Ritmo’s Skydrome panoramic tinted sunroof gives an added level of driving pleasure.

The Fiat Ritmo has performed excellently in the Euro NCAP tests, earning the full five stars – just what you need for a smaller vehicle. The Fiat Ritmo has a range of both active and passive safety features, ranging from head restraints for all five seats and six airbags (front, side and curtain) to the handling, which comes with not just ESP and traction control, and ABS with EBD in the disc brakes, but also the Hill Holder function. The crash severity detector keeps all the systems under control, so you won’t get the airbags deploying unnecessarily.

Designed to be sexy, sporty, spacious and safe, the Fiat Ritmo is sure to be a fine choice in the Australian new car market.

Current model series include:

• Fiat Ritmo 1.4 Dynamic
• Fiat Ritmo 1.4T-Jet Emotion
• Fiat Ritmo 1.4 JTD Dynamic
• Fiat Ritmo T-Jet Sport
• Fiat Ritmo 1.9 JTD Emotion
• Fiat Ritmo JTD Sport

For any more information on the Fiat Ritmo , or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Fiat dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!

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