Cutting-edge on-board technology
 

In addition to an enjoyable drive, people expect to enjoy a sense of well-being in a Fiat. This means surrounding the driver and passengers with technologies that ensure outstanding acoustic and climatic comfort. The result is a muted, enveloping environment, free from vibration thanks to the careful soundproofing of the car and the outstanding torsional and flexural rigidity of the bodyshell. The Nuova Croma also proposes an original new DVD system, the evolution of the Blue&Me™ system, CONNECT Nav Plus, the ‘Interscope Sound System’ Hi-Fi, and a large opening sunroof.

The Nuova Croma guarantees uncompromising control and enjoyable driving. Comfort on the road and dynamic behaviour have always been inherent in Fiat cars, and in this model they become real strengths. Thanks to the tried and tested suspension system, tyres developed specifically to increase comfort and safety, and electro-hydraulic power steering that makes every manoeuvre more comfortable.

The new model offers the best the market can offer in the field of automated devices to reduce driving fatigue, such as Cruise Control, a rain sensor and parking sensor, tyre pressure monitoring and ‘Follow me home’ headlights. And the new model also offers front foglights with an adaptive ‘cornering’ function, which are activated automatically with the dipped beam on the basis of the steering lock (at speeds below 40 km/h, following the activation of the direction indicator, or for large steering locks, the onboard computer only activates the foglight on the inside of the bend). The Nuova Croma fears no comparison where comfort is concerned, and guarantees a relaxing drive in all road and weather conditions.

NVH (Noise-Vibration-Harshness) Comfort

The Nuova Croma has achieved a high standard of comfort which means quiet, vibration-free driving (an excellent 65% at 140 km/h). This result was made possible both by the usual package of sound-deadening elements and the introduction of no fewer than 18 expandable partitions (they are positioned inside the boxed elements where they prevent noise from propagating and isolate the passenger compartment from the outside world), and by an innovative windscreen. The 2 sheets of glass are separated by a film of PVB plastic, adopting multiply technology to enhance acoustic comfort. The different properties of the multiply material result in optimal damping of the sound waves: the noise inside the passenger compartment is attenuated, particularly in the 200 kHz frequency band (the wave frequency in which the most annoying noises occur on the road). Vibration is limited by a particularly rigid bodyshell structure. Flexural rigidity is excellent at 960 daN/mm, while torsional rigidity is 100,600 daNm/rad (outstanding on a car with a rear tailgate). Particular attention was also paid to the rigid attachment of all the mechanical organs and to the suspension, which was designed to achieve the highest possible levels of handling and comfort, in all driving conditions.

The DVD system

The collocation ‘innovation and emotion’ is one of the mainstays of the Fiat Automobiles philosophy: making state-of-the-art technology and ‘intelligent’ solutions that simplify and improve life on board a car available to everyone. The Nuova Croma is no exception, and it even proposes an exclusive DVD player mounted on the ceiling with a 9” screen. This sophisticated device can read any digital support (DVD, DVX, CD, CD-R, CD-RW - MP3, SUPER VCD, VCD, FOTO CD and WMA), and comes complete with remote control and infrared headphones.

Blue&Me™ and Blue&Me™ Nav: communicating and travelling without borders

One year after its launch, the Blue&Me™ system is enjoying huge commercial success, in fact 20% of purchasers of Fiat Group Automobiles models request the system, and it has also received a number of prestigious international awards. The Nuova Croma will be available with either the basic level Blue&Me™ (including a hands-free function with Bluetooth® interface and advanced voice recognition, USB port, MP3 reader and SMS interpreter), and the latest version of the device, Blue&Me™ Nav which also incorporates a navigation function at a really competitive price. Blue&Me™ Nav is already designed to be compatible with a range of telematic services created in partnership with Telecom Italia, in the best Fiat spirit: simple, useful and at the best price on the market. They include:

• SOS Emergency: in an emergency, pressing the SOS button puts you in contact with the operations centre and sends a text message that locates the vehicle. The service is also activated automatically if an airbag inflates. This allows the vehicle to be located promptly so that mechanical or medical assistance can be dispatched. During the contract warranty period, these services are free of charge.
• INFO Service: information at the motorist’s service. Wherever he goes, he can always receive updated information about events, cinemas, museums, road conditions, train times, restaurants, theatres and plenty more. Press the INFO button to speak to an operator who will give you the information he requires. INFO Service is on a pay-as-you-go basis, without a monthly fee; you only pay for what you need to know.
• Insurance services: thanks to the satellite location system and to agreements with the major Italian insurance companies, discounts of up to 20% will be available on Third Party liability policies, and up to 50% on Fire and Accident. And it will be possible to trace the car using the tracking system if it is stolen, or to calculate how many miles it travels, on the basis of which some companies will stipulate ‘tailor-made’ insurance policies which are more advantageous because they are based on the customers’ real needs.

Blue&MeTM Nav incorporates a simple, intuitive pictogram navigation system that features an innovative method of introducing the destination using voice controls. The destination is calculated in real time because the map of the country is memorised on the USB pen drive, which makes access to the data faster and quieter than when a CD is used. And with Blue&MeTM Nav all the various functions interact, so that the telephone, music and navigation information is all displayed on the control panel. It is also possible to listen to music that is loaded on the same USB pen drive as the map, or on a media player, and to telephone using the hands-free function.

All the strong points of the system

Blue&Me™ was developed in 3 years by Fiat Group Automobiles and Microsoft. The partnership was ratified in July 2004, with the long-term goal of designing innovative telematic systems for cars, and it has created a product that has established itself on the market, exploiting a perfectly integrated technology that is in complete harmony with the user, as its name suggests.

Based on the Windows Mobile for Automotive system, this device features an open system that is always in step with the times, updateable, flexible and modular. With the help of Magneti Marelli, Fiat Group Automobiles and Microsoft offer a platform that adapts to most cell phones, music players and other personal devices, replacing current expensive, rigid hardware, with the great advantage of being able to constantly adapt to innovations on the market, remaining perfectly integrated into the car. All at an accessible price.

Blue&Me™ is really safe and easy to use. The voice control system, which is perfectly integrated into the controls on the steering wheel and the information on the instrument panel, allows a customer with a Bluetooth® cell phone to use it even if the phone is in a jacket or bag, without taking his hands off the wheel. And the advanced voice recognition system allows immediate interaction, because the voice does not have to be ‘learned’, and even allows incoming text messages to be interpreted aloud.

Occupants can listen to hours and hours of digital music in MP3, WMA and WAV format recorded on an iPod, a cell phone, an MP3 player or a USB pen drive, by connecting a digital device to the USB port. The customer who purchases the Blue&Me™ Nav system will receive a navigation kit comprising a USB pen drive with the memorised map, and a back-up CD that can be used to transfer the map onto a personal MP3 player or iPod. The Nav key connects directly to the navigation menu, which can also be accessed via the controls on the steering wheel, or vocally. The USB key is inserted to start navigation, and the driver uses the keys on the steering wheel to choose his destination by selecting the initial letters of the address; he can even complete it vocally.

Like all other information, the navigation details can be displayed on the control panel: destination address, pictograms of the directions to follow, information on arrival and the usual vocal suggestions of the manoeuvres to make, reproduced through the speakers.
 

Unlike most navigators, on which it is not possible to navigate and listen to music CDs at the same time without a CD changer, with Blue&Me™ Nav it is easy to navigate and listen to the music saved in the media player. The navigation program can be used on a personal computer together with the back-up CD, to save the maps of a number of countries, purchased separately, on the USB pen drive. Then the driver can select a whole country (for example Italy, France, Germany, etc.), or part of a country (for example northern/central/southern Italy), or even a region that groups together maps of different countries (for example northern Italy and Switzerland, Austria and southern Germany).

The radio and ‘Interscope Sound System’ Hi-Fi

The Nuova Croma offers a radio complete with audio CD player (a version with an MP3 file reader is also available), that is perfectly integrated into the design of the dashboard, in an ergonomic position in the upper part of the facia, where it can easily be reached by the driver or passenger. The radio is combined with an audio system with six speakers: 2 tweeters and 2 woofers in the front door panels and 2 full-range woofers in the rear door panels.

An interesting Hi-Fi system known as the ‘Interscope Sound System’, is also available, designed and calibrated specifically for the Croma’s revamped passenger compartment. It comprises 8 speakers (2 tweeters and 2 woofers in the front and rear door panels, a 100 W subwoofer and a 30 W amplifier), and employs a particularly sophisticated technique to process the sound, developed with SRS Labs. What makes the sound experience on board the car really unique is the fact that the new system uses SRS 3D, Focus and TruBass effects simultaneously. The first method (3D) spatially equalises stereo reproduction, exploiting the position of the speakers and improving the spatial perception. The second method (Focus) raises the virtual position of the sources of sound. This gives the sensation of listening to speakers positioned higher than they actually are, and improves acoustic efficiency by adjusting the frequencies perceived by the human ear. And finally, the third method (TruBass) extends the perceived frequency field towards the bass, enhancing the effect of the subwoofer so that the listener feels he is listening to a system that produces extended, very deep basses. The result is a more enveloping sound, which recreates a correct stereophonic effect even for listeners who are positioned some away from the symmetrical axis of the speakers (as in the case of the car).

CONNECT Nav Plus

On request the Nuova Croma can be fitted with the CONNECT Nav Plus system, a sophisticated, latest generation infotelematic system that incorporates a satellite navigator, radio, CD player, GSM dual-band hands-free telephone, voice controls and Infomobility services. Positioned at the centre of the facia, this device has a 6.5” 256-colour TFT active matrix screen, where the driver can follow the indications regarding the route (also via voice messages). Now with even more intuitive and user-friendly graphics, CONNECT is the telematic solution designed to put technology at the service of the driver and to make life on board even more comfortable and easier during the journey to one’s destination: the driver only has to press the green key to access the GPS/GSM network and the advantages of satellite communications, dialoguing aloud with an operator, a personal assistant who is ready to respond to any request for information, in the driver’s language.

A number of particularly useful services are available, for example: receiving information about traffic conditions on the Italian motorway and superhighway network in real time, customised to a particular route or area of interest; requesting the address or telephone number of a private individual or company, from the Drive Me service. The operator will send the information to the instrument display panel by text message, after which the destination may be selected by touching a single key, and it is equally simple and immediate to call the number in the message without having to key it in; and finally, a 24-hour online medical consultancy service.

Climate System

There is a choice between a conventional manual climate system, and an automatic system with dual-zone control of the temperature and the air flow: this means that the driver and front passenger can choose not only individual temperature settings but also the distribution of the air flows. This climate system includes an automatic/manual recirculation function, radiation sensors with an ‘equivalent temperature’ control strategy and a combined air and dust filter. The air is conveyed into the passenger compartment through 4 adjustable vents on the facia and a central diffuser which distributes the air efficiently inside the car without bothersome direct jets of air. There are 2 more swivelling vents on the console for rear passengers. And the air for the front and rear footwells travels through special ducts. The total net area of the vents and ducts is an amazing 4.6 dm2.

Panoramic opening sunroof

Life on board Fiat’s new Station Wagon is made all the more enjoyable by the optional large opening sunroof (approximately 1.5 m2); this sunroof takes up almost the entire area of the roof and comprises two glass panels: a fixed rear panel and an electrically opening front panel. Inside there are two sunblinds that slide independently towards the rear of the car. The panoramic sunroof offers occupants a completely new relationship with the surrounding environment, and they are able to enjoy the luminosity and the sense of freedom that this large glazed surface provides. When the driver wants more light inside, the system lets him keep the sunroof closed but open the blind underneath. If, on the other hand, he likes the feeling of driving ‘in the open’, the front glazed panel and sunblind can be opened completely in just seven seconds, to produce a real ‘window onto the sky’.

Front and rear suspension

The front suspension adopts a MacPherson layout and is mounted on a hydroformed steel frame. The system is independent and the dampers act as both damping and bearing elements, working together with a transverse link to guide the hub during oscillation. The advantages of the MacPherson system are its small size and the possibility of adjusting the changes to the suspension set-up with an applied load. It also makes it possible to achieve the best possible compromise between handling and comfort right at the design stage.

The Nuova Croma incorporates a Multilink suspension system in the rear axle with four links (three transverse and one longitudinal) connected to a supporting frame to guarantee excellent dynamic comfort. Multilink suspension technology is the best available today and solves the problems related to longitudinal and transverse forces independently. For example, lateral forces are absorbed by the three transverse links. The length, layout and rigidity of the wheel supports were designed specially to maintain the wheels with an applied load in an optimal position, thus positively influencing the behaviour of the car when cornering.

And thanks to its longitudinal and transverse links, the Multilink system allows highly precise vertical movements of the wheels, while at the same time limiting longitudinal and transverse displacement; this makes for excellent roadholding. And finally, light alloys were used extensively to improve suspension behaviour, in particular for the front and rear pillars, and the aluminium front transverse link.

Electro-hydraulic power steering (EHPS)

The power steering system on the Nuova Croma is of the electro-hydraulic type, and its intervention varies with the speed of the car and the steering lock. The power steering is programmed to decrease its effect as the speed increases. This means that the driver can turn the wheel very easily when parking, but maintain a safe contact with the road at high speed. In practice, the system varies the hydraulic power assist (number of pump revolutions) according to the steering rotation speed and the vehicle speed, providing more assistance for parking and very low hydraulic assistance at high speed. And because the system is only triggered during steering manoeuvres, it also reduces fuel consumption compared to a conventional hydraulic system that is always driven by the engine.

Tyres

All the tyres for the Fiat Croma have been designed to optimise performance in all situations. Particular attention has been paid to comfort but also to the ability to hold the trajectory on corners and the capacity to absorb obstacles. The tyres adopted are: 205/55 R16 (with sheet metal rims), 215/55 R16 (with alloy rims), 215/50 R17 (with alloy rims) and 225/45 R18 (with alloy rims).