FIAT offers what is arguably the prettiest small car around – and it isn’t at all bad to sit inside or drive either. The Ritmo is a promising premium hatch that scores well for packaging and driveability. But steep pricing against ever-improving European and Asian rivals means that you might not even give this impressive runabout – tested here in high-spec Emotion 1.9 JTD turbo-diesel guise – the consideration it deserves. Ritmo derives from the Italian word for rhythm, but in this case it is not the car that is out of step with the market.
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Fiat Regata 100S
Released: 1985
Ended: 1989
Family Tree: RitmoUnbelievably, the Ritmo is Fiat’s first C-segment five-door hatchback ever to be sold in Australia. But we did get a terminally dull four-door sedan (and later the rare but versatile Weekender wagon) version of the 1978 Ritmo/Strada, sold in much-facelifted form from 1985 as the Regata, with some success too, in 61kW 1.5-litre 85S and 74kW 1.6-litre 100S five-speed manual-only guises. A model revamp arrived in October 1987, featuring smoother styling and fuel-injection to help the petrol units run better on premium unleaded, but the front-wheel drive Regata was certainly no driver’s car.
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