Cruising outside of Washington D.C. I came upon this interesting vehicle. About the size of an Audi A4 Avant, perhaps. Sportwagon size. And it has a Fiat badge and odd license plates. And plastic wheel arch cladding. And two sets of fog lights or something. Like some kind of strange Italian Subaru Outback.
Did some research (all of it in translated Portugese). Apparently this is a Fiat model produced only for the South American market in Brazil. It's FWD with a 1.8L engine producing a whopping 110hp or so. But the interesting part is that it comes stock with a "differential locker" (I'm guessing it's just an LSD, but Portugese translating made that tough). Also it's only about 2500lbs!
It's called the Fiat Palio Weekend "Adventure" (there are two other variants with smaller engines....SMALLER than a 105hp 1.8L!!). And the engine is apparently some kind of GMC Ecotec....not a Fiat/Chrysler engine.
So anyhow, pretty intriguing. And for some reason I really want one (perhaps swapped to something with a bit more oomph under the hood).
Oddly enough, was being driven by a blonde, white middle-aged woman and did not have diplomatic plates. So not really sure what it was doing in Maryland..
Also, it's smaller than it look in the picture (16" wheels will do that). I'd say it was no larger than my WRX, even though the cladding and stance kind of make it look like a small SUV. Definitely just a compact wagon with tall ground clearance.
This youtube vid shows them off-roading it and using an "ELD" electronic locking differential. So it's a legit locker rather than an LSD. Interesting. Also shows it doing high-angle slope drives and stuff usually seen in 4x4 ads. Looks to handle terrain quite impressively.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n66_1xMqALQ
Interesting that it didn't have diplomatic plates. When I worked in Delaware I frequently saw unusual vehicles running up and down I95 with diplomatic plates.
In DC we see them all over the place (diplomatic plates). This definitely had "home country" plates. They had two dashes between three sets of 2-digit numbers. I couldn't read the country though.
EDIT: Just went and looked at the other picture I took. Can't read the country, but comparing it to images on Google, it's clearly a Mexican plate from Chihuahua state...I can hear Donald Trump now, saying that Mexicans are bringing underpowered strange cars into the US that have inferior crash-test standards 
For when you're a lesbian, but you're also Italian.
irish44j wrote:
In DC we see them all over the place (diplomatic plates). This definitely had "home country" plates. They had two dashes between three sets of 2-digit numbers. I couldn't read the country though.
EDIT: Just went and looked at the other picture I took. Can't read the country, but comparing it to images on Google, it's clearly a Mexican plate from Chihuahua state...I can hear Donald Trump now, saying that Mexicans are bringing underpowered strange cars into the US that have inferior crash-test standards
A few years ago, there was a VW Polo running around the OSU campus area with Mexican plates.
I am biased as I like Fiats... but I do kinda like it
I saw a few of these in person when I was in Brazil a couple of years ago. I too found them strangely cool.
RossD
UltimaDork
6/6/16 7:24 a.m.
There are few 'USA' communities in several Central and South American countries. It could be an ex-pat snow bird coming back to visit.
WilD
HalfDork
6/6/16 9:27 a.m.
That is pretty rad. I can't help but think that Fiat could sell more than a couple of those here in the USA if priced reasonably.
Looking at Fiat's current model lineup, they would have to revamp it to fit on the 500 platform before bringing it here.
Interesting wagon. It looks like "the other Subaru Outback."
