I really like the 2016 Fiat 500X. I think it's a great crossover design, and I think it has a real shot at winning over mainstream Americans' hearts in a way no other Fiat could. But I had to laugh at some of its press photos, which make it look absolutely rugged as fuck.
The original Fiat 500 was designed, like the Mini and its other contemporaries, to be a small, efficient city car. It's designed to be tiny and cheap and park-able. The new 500 is much the same way.
That's why seeing the 500X — a crossover that uses the 500's design elements — plowing through streams and flying across dirt is so off-putting. Hilarious, even. It just looks comically out of place.
In fact, maybe Fiat Chrysler was doing a photo shoot for a Jeep when they looked at 500X and said "Ehh, bring that along too, what the hell, right?" Either way, the cute ute makes me laugh when it tries to do Jeep-stuff.
The thing is, the 500X is based on the 2015 Jeep Renegade, which seems to be a competent off-roader so far, so odds are Fiat's crossover actually can do some of this stuff. We just know that nobody is actually going to drive it that way. It has about as much chance of going off-road as a brand new Range Rover. Or really, most every new crossover.
Maybe I'll show up to the Rubicon Trail in a 500X. That would make a great story and piss a ton of people off. I love doing both those things.
Are you sure the Neiman-Marcus is around here? This one doesn't have GPS.
NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING
What? Oh, come on!
COME ONNNNN.
Will this void my warranty?
I don't like the wilderness and I want to go home now