Our long-term Fiat 500X has been a trusty sidekick for road trips, errands, and all the other tasks you normally throw at a baby crossover. But our exhaustive testing does not stop there. On a recent trip to GingerMan Raceway (where we tracked the BMW M2, Ford Focus RS, and our long-term Mazda Miata) the little green Fiat came along on camera-lugging duty. And then Mike and I got in and took it for a hot lap.
Though this may seem crazy on the surface, let me try and defend myself. The mode switch on the 500X's center console has a little graphic of the crossover next to a waving checkered flag to signify Sport mode. That was really all the indication I needed to confirm the vehicle's true intentions. So we switched it to track attack, did a brake-torqued launch, and went hunting for apexes.
As you'll see in the video above, the baby Fiat ute was actually kind of entertaining on the track. Its torquey 2.4-liter engine engine is fun enough to work, and the nine-speed auto shifted relatively quickly (when I remembered to request shifts). We (okay, I) sort of forgot the last rule of hot-lap club. Wait for the end to find out what I mean.
So no, we didn't set any lap records. Except we probably set the track record for a 500X, because I can't imagine anyone else is going to take theirs to GingerMan any time soon. But please, prove me wrong.
Related Video:
Though this may seem crazy on the surface, let me try and defend myself. The mode switch on the 500X's center console has a little graphic of the crossover next to a waving checkered flag to signify Sport mode. That was really all the indication I needed to confirm the vehicle's true intentions. So we switched it to track attack, did a brake-torqued launch, and went hunting for apexes.
![2017 Fiat 500X Lounge Dynamic Selector system](https://edgecast-img.yahoo.net/mysterio/api/11D2AAF44DF1A518CE26F49A2406177A0589FB5C166016E3E78D1389C79CD4F1/autoblog/resizefill_w3000_h1684;quality_80;format_webp;cc_31536000;/http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/3000x1684 0 0/resize/716x402!/format/jpg/quality/85/http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/a2eea4f733f7db3efeb99d7b1928f41b/204981941/FT017_044FHa57gqqi0ovsb9524hp71fd982f.jpg)
As you'll see in the video above, the baby Fiat ute was actually kind of entertaining on the track. Its torquey 2.4-liter engine engine is fun enough to work, and the nine-speed auto shifted relatively quickly (when I remembered to request shifts). We (okay, I) sort of forgot the last rule of hot-lap club. Wait for the end to find out what I mean.
So no, we didn't set any lap records. Except we probably set the track record for a 500X, because I can't imagine anyone else is going to take theirs to GingerMan any time soon. But please, prove me wrong.
Related Video:
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