1985 Fiat Croma
It was described as particularly well designed with more than enough space inside and luggage compartment. There was enough power available for long distances. Consequently, the brochure shows a piece of
fabric right next to the power and torque curve.
It was, after all, an interesting car, balancing on the fine line between a conservative sedan and a hatchback. What is meant here is a clearly attached rear, but with a large tailgate.
It still belonged to the old versions, in which not only were the seat backs foldable in whatever ratio, but the bench was treated in the same way beforehand, so that a really fairly flat surface was created.
The space for the footwell of those sitting in the back was correspondingly large. In Germany, those looking for space began to reject a lot of things that didn't exactly look like station wagons, without checking,
for example, the air resistance, which was quite good here for the time.
Of course, the 60 to 40 split of the rear seat bench and the opening of the tailgate as far as possible went well with this, but taking into account the still remaining tail lights. What doesn't fit, but was willingly
added, was a sporty engine.
Heavy loading and a lot of engine power do not necessarily have to happen together. Fiat justifies the advanced engine technology as being more family-friendly, of course, with significantly reduced fuel
consumption.
No, you don't have to endure particularly eye-catching colors in the interior of an Italian family car, on the contrary, you were caressed by woolly-looking velor with a tasteful striped pattern. Only the headrests
seem to have been borrowed from the Halloween arsenal.
The dashboard also intentionally doesn't fit in completely harmoniously. It probably has its emphasized angularity from the early days of the Fiat Ritmo and continues to do so in this comfortable environment.
And all of this with appropriate equipment and 88 kW (120 hp) for acceleration to 100 km/h in just under 10 seconds.
What is striking on the outside was the windshield wiper washer system for the headlights and, on the inside, both the electrically operated glass roof and the standard radio, which is not only labeled 'stereo' but
still 'digital too. The central locking also includes the tailgate and fuel tank flap.
The electronic fuel injection system is mentioned several times, but now we're slowly turning to the turbo version with intercooler and impressive performance figures for the time. In addition to the standard ABS,
there were internally ventilated brake discs at the front.
The interior goes up another notch with more bucket-like seats, electrically adjustable and heatable, upholstered in sumptuous velvet cord. The steering wheel was very different back then compared to today simple, but
provides a view of so many displays that the speedometer is almost neglected next to the central tachometer.
The diesel engines are very important, and in fact not the ones listed above, but the direct injection engines with turbochargers and intercoolers that appear two years after the start of series production. They produce around
200 Nm at 2000 rpm and 68 kW (92 hp), even though they only have a displacement of 2 liters instead of 2.5 liters.
The poor result of the crash test shown in the video below did a lot of damage to the Croma, but is now heavily doubted. Wikipedia says: 'In the case of the Fiat Croma, a dubious vehicle from pre-series production was said
to have been used, whether due to supposedly bad intentions on the part of the German testers or due to sloppiness at Fiat, who provided the vehicle, is unclear.'
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