No fuss Uno 45 a super little car

Press, 27 February 1986, Page 34

No fuss Uno 45 a super little car

BEHIND the WHEEL with

Peter Greenslade

While it is all very well i: to have a well-bred car in the garage, it is also pleasant to have food in the fridge. These are times when some of us are finding that we cannot have both. Now, fortunately, there is a solution. One can have both, thanks to the Aucklandbased Torino Motors. Torino has just introduced what is unquestionably the least expensive European car to grace a New Zealand motor showroom. What is more, it is imported in completely-built-up form. It is the $14,999 Fiat Uno FIRE (for Fully Integrated Robotised Engine) and it impressed me greatly when I drove it briefly at the recent Auckland press launching. Although its specification is pretty basic, this little honey must be one of the most technologically advanced small cars around these days. Its FIRE power unit, of 999 cu cm capacity, has five main crankshaft bearings and a single overhead camshaft. It is manufactured in-a new “robotised” factory at Termoli on the Adriatic

coast at the rate of 2500 a day, in a plant where less than 200 people spend their time attending to any hiccups indicated by the master computer controlling the actions of the robots that do the work.

Every one in the automotive industry makes a big thing of quality control. At Termoli that is left to the robots for, unlike humans, their attention never wanders, nor do their standards slip. A robot just goes on doing the job for which it was designed without complaint. It never becomes tired, bored or hung-over, so it never makes what are commonly known as Monday or Friday cars.

It is because of this remarkable little engine and the way it is manufactured that the car can be sold cheaply. As I drove the car, which is known as the Uno 45, it occurred to me that it would probably turn out to be the most significant Mini on the road since Alec Issigonis produced the very first with Austin and Morris labels about a quarter of a century ago. The Uno 45 is not a fast

car, for its little engine develops only 33kW at 5000 rpm. But, unlike so many small cars, it is quite gutsy, achieving its maximum torque of 80Nm at 2750 rpm. Those engine speeds are of particular significance, for the FIRE engine is one that does not need to have the life wrung out of it to cope with the varied and demanding roads in New Zealand.

Although the gearbox is a four-speed manual with a rubbery feel to it, the gear selection is faultless. It gets on with the job effectively and unobtrusively and although body insulation is perhaps rudimentary, compared with that of the pricier models in the Uno range, the noise level is insufficiently high to be irritating.

The ride qualities are impressive. Remarkably in a car with only a 236 cm wheelbase, the ride is smooth and there is very little pitch. Athough on first acquaintance the roll angle in corners tends to be a little unnerving, the car holds on extremely well on its rather skinny 133 SR 13 tyres, although it tends to understeer, as do all transverse-engined front-wheel-drive cars. But the understeer is not pronounced, probably because the Uno 45 is more equably balanced than most of the frontdrive mini-care around these days. The engine weighs a mere 69kg, so the car is not unduly heavy at the front and while that contributes to the above-average hand-

ling qualities it also helps to make the precise rack and pinion steering pleasantly light, but not unduly. Suspension is by MacPherson struts with lower wishbones mounted on a separate cross-member in front. At the rear there are torsion beams, trailing arms and telescopic gasfilled dampers to complete the all-independent layout. The absence of an anti-roll bar in front obviously lets the Uno hang loose in corners, but it is

nonetheless a very stable small car. The disc-drum brake layout seemingly lacks the power of retardation even with quite a heavy pedal pressure, but this is an illusion and the- car is arrested effectively and smoothly.

While one would be foolhardy to pass final judgment on the Uno 45 on. such short acquaintance and without sampling it on the regular test circuit, it is fair to say that it is the most lively small car I have encountered in years. Unlike the übiquitous Japanese small care that are generally more highly specified, this little Fiat has a personality and character all of its own.

People who have lived with all the amenities most Japanese cars provide could feel deprived in the Uno. For example, the thoughtfully laid-out instrument and control panel lacks a tachometer and, apart from a heated rear window, driver’s door pocket, day/night interior rear vision mirror, two exterior door mirrors and a soft feel steering wheel, there is not much in the way of creature comforts.

The individual front seats are adjustable for rake as well as reach, but lack head rests. They are, however, mounted on parallelogram structures which move the seats forward to provide the best access to the rear compartment of any two-door car that has come my way. There is ample room in the rear compartment for two bigger-than-aver-age people, even with two of similar stature sitting in front. The rear seat is split and can be lowered to provide additional carrying space, but the luggage compartment, accessible at bumper level by way of the deep rear hatch, would carry the well-packed week-end baggage of four people.

The Uno 45 shares the high roofline of the other models in the range but, personally, the two-door hatch appeals as a neater hatchback than the fourdoor versions.

Upholstered and trimmed in a hard-wear-ing denim fabric that displays all the hallmarks of quality, the interior will immediately appeal to the more practical among us rather than the fashionable, but more delicate, velours that are often used these days.

The interior is not fully trimmed, the metal door surrounds being finished in the exterior body colour.

The synthetic carpet extends into the luggage area and the moulded roof lining is good looking in a functional way.

Keener drivers should love the Uno 45. The pedals are just right, the ample seat affords excellent thigh and lateral support and is mounted to provide a relaxed, but efficient driving position. The extensive glass areas and narrow roof supporting pillars contribute to a much better than average all-round field of vision. These features will make the Uno 45 a popular little town car, but, as I found, it is also an admirable open road performer.

There are cheaper, more powerful and more highly specified Japanese care available and I have no doubt that with the passage of time'some of their progeny will come to be regarded as pedigree care. In the meantime, the Fiat Uno 45 is the only example in the super-mini category that is marked in my book as being worthy of that description.