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Beauty as the most up-to-date expression of Italian style

Developed by the Fiat Style Centre, the design of the Bravo is a perfect blend of aggressiveness and power, as you would expect of a 5-door compact, set off by an extraordinary amount of roominess inside. A sporty, flowing line that guarantees robustness and agility in spite of its aesthetic refinement.

To start with, the new model is generously sized – 434 centimetres long, 179 cm wide, 149 cm high and with a wheelbase of 260 cm – even if the Bravo’s smooth, almost aggressive lines give it a sporty, sparkling and extremely dynamic look, designed to underline its ‘muscles’ simply and straightforwardly. The Fiat Bravo’s strong personality is particularly evident at the front; the front end is important, like that of a small GT, into which the elongated headlights are set with original tension and strong Italian styling (they are the work of Magneti Marelli - Automotive Lighting).

The externals a succession of classical references, an excellent opportunity to re-read the brand’s traditional styling elements in a modern key. Take a quick look. First, the original rear light clusters which recall those of the previous Bravo, which were also the work of Magneti Marelli - Automotive Lighting. The front reiterates the distinctive features of recent Fiat models, particularly the Grande Punto: from the raked, forward windscreen to the drop-shaped headlights, inspired by the well-known Italian GT tradition, down to the graphics of the lower air intake and the grille. The tapering of the front and rear underline the impression of great compactness conveyed by the Fiat Bravo. But this in no way diminishes the elegance of the lines that run smoothly from front to back, into the integral bumpers and the light clusters with their converging wedge shape. Suffice it to say that in the rear of the car, the waistline is high and slopes sharply, to emphasise the sense of sportiness.

The styling of the Bravo reconciles stylistic elements that were once irreconcilable. For example, a front end that is aggressive but modelled to respect pedestrian safety requirements. Both the structure and the modelling are the fruit of detailed analysis, developed in line with the latest legislation, which envisages rounder shapes, a wider bonnet and a tapered bumper structure, which is easily perceptible in the plan view, to reduce the area involved in a collision to a minimum.

And if the Fiat Bravo conveys a new concept of sportiness on the outside, the inside environment is one of superb quality and painstaking attention to detail, giving a sensation of great solidity and compactness. The design, materials and fabrics used are all enhanced by the carefully chosen colour combinations, which underline the elegance or sportiness of the different versions. The Active outfit offers 2 interior environments, the Dynamic and Emotion versions offer a choice of 3 environments with 3 different shades, and the Sport outfit proposes 2 environments in 2 different colours. Bravo customers are also offered leather upholstery: on the Dynamic and Elegance versions, this comes in black with grey or blue stitching, or in marmoset with contrasting stitching. The Sport outfit offers black leather upholstery with red or blue overstitching.

The front and rear seats of the Bravo deserve a special mention. They were designed to guarantee the best possible comfort to all passenger percentiles, and developed in close collaboration with the best Italian ergonomics and sports medicine specialists. First of all, to enhance comfort and to absorb vibration in particular, the front seats incorporate an improved lumbar support system that sustains the back better. The front seats are also padded with foam that adapts to the shape of the body and have an 'antisubmarining' structure that prevents the body from sliding forward, under the seat-belt, in the event of a violent head-on impact. The front seats also offer various adjustments: height, longitudinal (with a stroke of an amazing 240 mm), squab rake (by a knob that provides continuous step adjustment), and lumbar. The height of the head-restraints can be adjusted and, on request, they can be fitted with an anti-whiplash system, which brings the restraint closer to the occupant’s neck in the event of a collision. And finally, the front seats offer the option of electric movement and adjustment, with intuitive, ergonomic controls.

The rear seat squab splits 40/60, and the seats incorporate an antisubmarining structure and padding with differentiated support in different parts of the seat cushion (this is a parameter that measures the compression of the padding under the weight of the body). The rear seats are also fitted with Isofix attachments for child seats, and three head-restraints.

Great care has gone into the design of the instrument panel (developed by Magneti Marelli), which is enclosed in a dashboard that is turned entirely towards the driver, with soft lines that blend aesthetically with the lines of the facia. The large, immediately visible digits of the instrument graphics make the information easy to read and readily available. At night the illumination is orange, a shade that allows the pupil to focus more rapidly when alternating between the dark of the road outside and the luminosity of the dashboard. The onboard instrumentation is available in two versions, depending on the outfit, and includes a number of important functions. For example, the multi-function display gives access to several menus, and sub-menus. These speak the driver’s language (there is a choice of Italian, English, German, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish and Turkish), and offer a wide range of functions, including the time, date, programmable acoustic signal, radio visualisation, check control and more besides.