Red traffic lights or a standstill in a traffic jam are particularly popular opportunities to calmly pull your lips or to wash your eyelashes. Or plucking the whiskers, since vanity is evenly distributed across the sexes. But who thinks that in the special model of the Fiat 500 X with the sonorous name "Mirror" one can indulge particularly well the iniquity of constantly looking at oneself in the car is wrong. Mirror stands for nothing other than the mirroring of the smartphone content on the display in the car. Family-friendly as the Italians are, a small family of “Mirror” special models of the 500s was founded in Turin with the not so new technology, which is included on board there for the price advantage, but also ordered as an extra for the normal versions can. The common exterior hallmark of the Fiat 500 Mirror, the 500 X Mirror and the 500 L Mirror are chrome-plated cover plates on the exterior mirror, chrome accents on the bumper and 16-inch alloy wheels. All of this is not really noticeable, which is why the “Mirror” lettering decorates the B-pillar on a round emblem.
Using a USB cable, your own smartphone can be docked - both via Android Auto and Apple CarPlay - on the 18-centimeter monitor of the “Uconnect” multimedia system, which is standard in the mirror version. Our test car, a 500X in "Blue Jeans Metallic" drives up with a radio but without a built-in navigation system. But with Bluetooth. A cost-saving solution to allow the familiar content of your own smartphone to be mirrored on the display even without wiring. Many of the apps stored on it can be called up in the usual way with a finger tip on the easy-to-read touchscreen and operated by swiping. So Google Maps directs us quickly and reliably through the Westerwald. If necessary, you can make phone calls, send and receive messages or stream your own music via the vehicle's sound system using voice control. The community on Twitter and Facebook can of course also be kept happy.
If you also invest in “Mopar Connect” - the name Mopar stands for the connection between “Motor” and “Parts” and the service partner for all Fiat Chrysler brands - you benefit from additional services. In the event of a severe collision recognized as an accident, the vehicle sends its GPS position to the operations center. A Mopar customer service employee will contact you by phone and, if necessary, send support directly to the scene of the accident, even if none of the passengers report. The breakdown service, available around the clock and daily, helps quickly and without further ado in the event of an incident. In the event of theft or in the not so rare case that you can no longer remember the location of the vehicle in the street jungle or in the overcrowded parking garage or it is unclear whether it has been properly locked, the location and status can be checked using the "Mopar Connect" app determine and correct if necessary. The mileage, battery charge, tire pressure and fuel level can also be read via the app. If the vehicle exceeds a preset speed or if it leaves a previously defined range of motion, you can be alerted. If you want.
At the end of the journey, Fiat's specially developed, free software eco: Drive especially rewards fuel-saving driving style with a maximum of many small green leaves on a tree symbol in the display. Under the bonnet of our test car, the smooth-running, 1,6 MultiJet turbo diesel with 88 kW (120 PS) power works in combination with the Fiat DCT mentioned dual-clutch transmission, whose six gears alternate quickly and without much interruption of traction. 4,3 liters on 100 km promises Fiat as consumption. This can be set up with a moderate gas foot, we were after a brisk highway drive in the mix at something about 5 liters. Better less you should be on the road with the 500 X not flat. On the cobblestones around the state stud Dillenburg, the Turin crossover was quite gruff. So get your hands off the Coke can.
The starting price for the Fiat 500X Mirror is 19.490 Euro. Mopar will be on board for free in the first year, after which the service will be charged 79 Euro per year.
Text and photos: Solveig Grewe
