Jul 092010
 

Yes, I received my new (lease)car yesterday. Finally! It’s a Fiat Bravo Business. With a lot of extras of course. Although the engine is about the same size as my previous car (1.6 common rail diesel, 120bhp) the Bravo feels and reacts more potent, and it’s a lot quieter, but that’s with most new diesels.

Driving in a traffic jam is a breeze with the automatic gearbox (which is not so common in the Netherlands), and I can even switch to semi-automatic so I need to change gear by moving the stick to + or to -, or by using the flippers on my steering wheel just like in a race car. When driving semi-automatic, I prefer the flippers.

The car came with Blue&Me, a voicecontrolled carkit. I’ve heard stories of voicecontrolled carkits in other carbrands and the stories were not happy stories. So I was a bit afraid I would have the same experience. But without any glitch I coupled my private and my business phone (you can register several users) and both of them work flawlessly. The voicecontrol is brilliant, and works when talking loud or soft of even when you’re mumbling a bit. Compliments to Fiat for such a good system.