Despite driving a Volvo sedan nowadays, my dad has always been a station wagon man. That makes perfect sense because he's a smart guy and wagons are the smartest choice one can make. The Fiat Tempra SW? Not so much.
The Tempra was hardly more than a Tipo hatchback with some added metal and glass. It was Fiat's small family wagon for the nineties. First available with carbureted 1.4 and 1.6 engines, post-1992 cars came with electronic fuel injection. Our green wonder was one of those, with the 1.4 with central throttle-body injection and no power whatsoever.
Now, I know the Tempra SW was also available with all-wheel drive, a turbodiesel with lots of torque and larger gas engines, but ours was the 1.4 and there was nothing sportwagonish about it apart from the folding rear bumper, which was very practical indeed. Also, it was a manual. That was good, because the other choice was a CVT variant.
We bought it because it was cheap, and that's exactly how it felt, thanks mostly to random pieces coming off in the cabin day after day, numerous electrical glitches and the power windows falling into the doors on a regular basis. My dad is one of the worst when it comes to car maintenance, but in this case, I couldn't blame him. The Tempra was a disgrace to all wagons out there.
Why do I bring this up now? Well, I just watched this old ad on Centro Storico Fiat's Youtube channel, and so should you!
Piu spazio all vita? Maybe for a miserable one, yes.