Fiat 500X, MultiAir Lounge, motoring review: Retro style may appeal, but unreliability will never be in vogue

Sean O'Grady had to pull onto the hard shoulder when the electric parking brake decided to turn itself on

Appealing if unreliable: the new Fiat 500X

Price: £19,345 (£21,495 as tested)
Engine capacity: 1.4-litre petrol
Power output (HP @ RPM): 140 @ 5,000
Top speed (MPH): 118
Fuel economy: 36.2
CO2 emissions(G/KM): 139

Proof that electric parking brakes are the very devil's work came to me the other night on the M1. These, in case you've not encountered them, are electric levers that apply the brakes as a handbrake; the old mechanical lever with its satisfying clicks has gone. Anyway, there I was, in the overtaking lane, and the parking brake decided to turn itself on. Not perhaps with the full force available to it – that would have been entertaining – but the car did become sluggish. Not only that, but the dash informed me that the Stop Start function had packed up and that "drive mode is not available". "Drive mode" being what you mostly expect from a car, of course; in this case it meant the option of switching to "sporty" or "bad weather" settings.

Without losing any of my usual sang froid, I pulled onto the hard shoulder and followed my usual practice of switching everything on and off repeatedly. That done, the parking brake stayed off, but the car was still telling me about "drive mode" and the engine warning light was still on.

I made it to the nearest services, Newport Pagnell Welcome Break, and contacted the "Ciao Fiat" helpline. When the breakdown bloke came he advised me to "try turning it on and off again". It made no difference, but we judged it safe to proceed. I got home.

It was all a terrible shame, because I am sure that Fiat has done a lot to improve reliability over the years, and it was just too wearily predictable that one of the few breakdowns I had endured in the past was indeed in a Fiat.

It's also a pity because the Fiat 500X is a very appealing car, with a little bit of off-road ability, albeit only with front-wheel drive (a full on four-wheel drive version starts at £25,000 or so). The 500X has the same chic retro styling as the much smaller 500 city car, grafted onto a five door mini-SUV. The cabin was one of the nicest I've been in years, being a masterful mix of the traditional and modern, and all in perfect taste. It has that high driving position people cherish so much these days, and is, on paper at least, a match for the Nissan Juke/Qashqai, Mini Countryman, Kia Soul, Skoda Yeti, Renault Captur, Mitsubishi ASX, Vauxhall Mokka and the rest of the compact crossover gang. Best of all is its responsive engine: I liked it very much, but not for forcing me to spend too long at Newport Pagnell. Fiat offered me another one, which I ran for a fortnight and it behaved itself impeccably. Even so, for me, for now, it's ciao, Fiat.