People often refer to the “rental car lottery” meaning that despite what you book, you never really know what will be allocated to you until the point of collection. In reality, though, there are usually options to change the car allocated to something else (though extra money may be involved) if you don’t like what you are about to receive. The real lottery concerns dealer courtesy cars or service loaners. These became a necessity as dealers moved to larger sites out of town which are only readily accessible by car, so almost all have a fleet, often quite varied, of cars that are loaned out for a day or so. Few dealers ever promise that your service loaner will be in any way equivalent to the car that you have just dropped off for them to work on, and most of the time they simply have a fleet of the smallest cars in the range that they sell. Sometimes it is different and they end up registering cars that were ordered and just never sold so you get a car which is actually quite a bit older than the plate would suggest in a spec which presumably found no takers when the car was brand new. I’ve certainly seen both approaches and have a wide variety of service loaners over the years. Dropping off the Abarth for its annual service and MoT at Johnson’s in Swindon, I could see that there was a key fob on the desk with the paperwork but had to wait til it was handed to me to see what I was going to receive. It turned out to be a 22 plate Fiat 500X, a model I’ve both received before and also experienced for a longer period as a rental car in Italy. I knew it to be a decent car, so was not unhappy with the allocation, especially as I was likely only to drive home and back to the dealer on a day which was grey and later on going to be wet. So I signed the paperwork, checked the car for any damage (this time there was none), and set off.

The 500X was launched in 2014, the third in a family of cars that aimed to capitalise on the legendary Fiat 500, and for which Fiat thought they could charge a premium price, as the style alone would have a “want one” factor. Whilst that has always been the case for the 500 model of 2007, the larger 500L that followed so completely missed the mark that most people decided they simply did NOT want one, even though it was a better car that reputation and initial press coverage suggested. Largest of the trio, the 500X fell somewhere between the two. For sure, it did well in the looks department, successfully taking 500 styling cues and applying them to a family-sized crossover. Whilst decently spacious, the 500X did not wow anyone with its driving dynamics and the car was generally felt to be a mid-pack contender in a hotly contested class. There was a mid-cycle update in 2018 which refreshed the looks and added the latest tech to the spec sheet and some more minor changes came in late 2021 when the easy to spot visual changes were more or less confined to a new badge on the front. Throughout what is now quite a long production life, Fiat have continued to tweak the range of engines on offer and the trim versions available, so there’s actually quite a complex history to the car as it comes close to the end of its production cycle.

I was slightly surprised by the car I had in Italy last year, as that one turned out to be diesel powered, as I thought that the diesel models had all ceased production some time previously, but that seemed not to be the case. The previous UK car, back in 2021, had been a 1.0 Hybrid, using the Firefly engine that Fiat had not long before introduced into all their models to try to reduce CO2 emissions across the range, and I assumed that this was the engine that was still being used in the 500X in 2023. However, it turned out not to be the case, as whilst it is true that there is only a single engine offered in UK market 500X models, it has been changed again. These days you get a 1.5 litre four cylinder petrol hybrid generating 130 PS that comes coupled to a seven speed dual clutch automatic transmission. The car always starts on the battery, but I found that the petrol engine kicked in pretty swiftly after that, and was generally aware of it doing so, as it was often on the jerky side. Once it had taken over, though, the 500X proved quite zingy and the car was smooth and refined especially on the motorway. The transmission was not perhaps the best, sometimes proving a bit slow to react in the way you would expect, but overall, this 500X felt lively enough if not exactly over-flowing with the brio that used to characterise all Italian cars. Blame emissions regulations for that!

The 500X was developed alongside the Jeep Renegade and shares the same platform and off-road running gear. As a result, it’s a genuine off-roader and for most of its life has been offered with a  choice of two-wheel or four-wheel drive, with the latter using a torque management system to activate the rear axle whenever needed. This means the 500X is genuinely well-suited for those in rural areas, and even with just two-wheel drive it will have little trouble navigating icy roads and hills, thanks to the addition of an electronic diff. Of course, despite all that ability, the vast majority of 500X buyers will never venture anywhere more taxing than a grass verge. The good news here is that the 500X is quite capable and comfortable on-road. These days you can only get a front wheel drive 500X, so that is the spec I received. The steering is relatively light and had a slightly disconnected feeling that was not particularly welcome, but which is almost universal in family cars these days, but you still get a good feeling as to how much grip is available. There is the possibility of firming it up if you select Sport mode. The handling is neat and tidy and there is pleasingly little in the way of body roll, so this feels like a decent family car out on the road. It rides smoothly on 225/45 R18 tyres and the suspension ensures that some of the worst bumps are smoothed out, so the car always feels controlled out on the road. The brakes worked well. All round visibility is pretty good. There are a number of ADAS features now included and I was left in no doubt as the presence of Lane Keep Assist, as, like in so many cars, it could be a bit over-reactive.

Like the smaller 500, the 500X’s interior is scattered with retro touches. The effect of the body coloured trim is somewhat lessened when the external paint is black, as in this case, though. Material quality is variable, with some of the switches lacking the sort of precision that you might get in a VW Group product.  The three-spoke steering wheel is leather and alcantara wrapped and is not too chunky, making it pleasant to hold. The instrument cluster comprises three cowled dials, with a central speedometer flanking a rev counter and a combined unit for fuel level and battery power. There are a couple of chunky stalks which include an auto setting for the wipers. Lights operate from a switch on the dash and there is also an auto setting for these. Steering wheel buttons are used for cruise control, audio repeater and trip computer display selections. The centre of the dash contains the bright and colourful 7” touch screen for the uConnect system. Although there are no longer physical buttons associated with the system, this is one of the slickest and easiest to use systems out there. Functions include inbuilt navigation, speed limit recognition, text reading as well as DAB radio,  Apple Car Play and Android Auto. Beneath this are two rotaries and some switches for the dual zone climate control. It is all easy to use, perhaps a consequence of the fact that this was all designed a few years ago when ease of use was actually considered important!

It is easy to get in and out of the passenger compartment. The 500X’s cabin is roughly on par with family hatchbacks such as the Volkswagen Golf for space. Up front, tall adults will fit just fine and the front seats have a wide range of adjustment. That is all manual, and only the driver gets a height adjuster. The seat belts are both height adjustable. There is plenty of adjustment for the steering wheel, both in/out as well as up/down, unlike the smaller regular 500, and the 500X’s raised height means you get a decent view out of the front of the car when driving. The seat itself proved comfortable, with plenty of support in all the right places.

Even in the back, six-foot adults will fit with relative comfort, although a third passenger sitting in the middle will find their seat is uncomfortably hard and they’ll also be short on foot room because the front centre console intrudes into the floor. Unlike in the Citroen C3 Aircross, the Fiat’s back seat doesn’t recline and can’t be slid backwards and forwards to let you get a balance between boot space and rear legroom. The small rear doors mean access might be more of an issue and the hidden Isofix points make it tricky to fit a child seat. Although, the 500X’s height means you don’t have to bend your back too much to get it into position. Slightly surprisingly, considering this is one of the posher trims now offered, there is no central amrest.

Quoted capacity of the 500X’s boot is 350-litres, which is large enough to swallow a couple of suitcases and its low load lip and large boot opening make it easy to pack with luggage and it is a nice regular shape. You also get a large hidden cubby under the floor that’s big enough to hide large valuables such as a camera. The boot is particularly deep, even with the parcel shelf in place, but is narrower than some between the rear wheel arches. The rear seat backrests are asymmetrically split and simply drop down, though the resulting long load platform is not flat. Inside the passenger compartment, the 500X has plenty of nooks and crannies to swallow the odds and ends that tend to accumulate in a family car. You get two gloveboxes and there is a net on the back of the front seats, as well as a couple of cupholders and big door pockets up front, with smaller ones in the back. The centre front armrest also hides a deep pocket, although the way the whole assembly wobbles when you nudge it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Whilst there is only one engine available, there are a number of different trim versions of both the regular 500X and the open=topped Dolcevita model. The Pop trim provides an affordable entry point into the 500X range. New for 2021, the family’s colour palette is broadened by a new, exclusive Sicilian orange livery, complemented by new fabric blue seats, embellished with the FIAT monogram and a dedicated dashboard in new Techno blue. The Connect trim level offers a high level of technology as standard, with the 7-inch Uconnect infotainment system with DAB radio, Apple CarPlay™ and Android Auto™. On all three models, new seats are paired with a brand-new dashboard finish in matt silver. The 500X Connect comes with black seats, techno-leather steering wheel with audio controls and 17-inch alloy wheels. It also features dark tinted rear windows, fog lights, LED DRLs, parking sensors and dusk and rain sensors. In its Cross trim level, on top of the Connect specification, the 500X debuts new seats with a camouflage-patterned centre panel and vinyl inserts, plus 19-inch alloy wheels, roof rack and automatic air conditioning as standard. The top of the range is the Sport trim is enhanced by 18-inch alloy wheels in burnished black, or optional 19-inch wheels, and exclusive matt Fashion grey livery.  Other styling features include body coloured side skirts and wheel arches, diffuser-style rear bumper, dual chrome exhaust and the full LED headlights and fog lamps. The distinct character of the trim levels can be further enhanced to customise the 500X while offering significant financial saving. These include: The Magic Eye Pack which includes front parking sensors and rear camera, NAVI pack and ADAS pack with Blind Spot Detection and Adaptive Cruise Control and is available on Connect and Cross; The Comfort Pack includes automatic air conditioning and adjustable seats, visibility pack with xenon headlights, electrochromatic rear view mirror and dusk and rain sensors and is available on Pop, Cross and Sport; The Style Pack includes chrome-plated details and privacy glass with the full-LED pack Available on Connect. The test car was a Sport.

This 500X struck me as a perfectly pleasant sort of family car. It’s got plenty of space, drives quite nicely and has a dose of Italian panache that is lacking in the long list of rather bland and forgettable rivals. In purely objective terms, many of them are probably “better” cars than this Fiat, but whether you would actually warm to a Skoda Karoq or VW T-ROC in quite the same way is perhaps all the reason why the 8 year old Fiat is still in production and still finding buyers. Not that many in the UK, to be sure, but that has long been the case with larger Fiat models in the UK market, but enough to keep it on sale for a little while longer. It’s just a shame that the rumoured Abarth version never actually made it to production, as that would surely have added the sparkle that would really bring this car to life and put it on more people’s shopping lists. There are, of course, quite a number of 500X models on the secondhand market these days, and it takes a real marque expert to tell all the different engine and trim levels apart as they have been changed many times since 2015. Of the three models I’ve driven, it’s hard to say which was “best”. This one was certainly the smoothest, and the best equipped, though I think I would have preferred it with the manual gearbox you can’t have with this engine.