The new Weekends sport the Palio&46;s frontal treatment and are instantly recognisable with those exquisite clear lens headlights and slot grille which carries the new Fiat centenary logo. Like the Palio, the Weekends were given a fresh set of clothes by Guigiaro of ItalDesign fame, who has some of the most exquisite designs of the century to his credit. Other changes from the Siena Weekend to Palio Weekend are more subtle but have made the overall design more balanced. Emphasis was laid on the lower part of the car where a very subtle side skirt merges into a much stronger rear bumper. The tail-lights too are new as in the location of the rear numberplate up from the tail-gate. This breaks up the mass at the rear and makes the tailgate look less heavy.

The Adventure looks like a Weekend on steroids. It is wrapped up in non-scratch, matt-black plastic that extends from the heavy bumpers to the wheel arch cladding and a tough-looking running board. Double ski racks, a bull bar, a pair of ellipsoidal auxiliary lights and much taller and chunky high-profile tyres give the Adventure attitude that gets you all those looks and glances.

Hi-pro Pirellis transform dynamics; Adventure name is handles neat touch; luggage space design clever.

Built on Fiat&46;s famous 178 &45;World Car&46; platform that has been overengineered for harsh driving conditions, the Weekend and Adventure have an extremely tough and rigid chassis that makes them feel like a battle tank. They are excessively heavy and each tip the scales at more than 1200kg, the Adventure being slightly heavier due to the extra cladding. Long travel suspensions too make these cars well suited to our roads, with the Adventure having even taller and harder springs.

Unlike Opel and Maruti, Fiat just didn&46;t build an estate from a hatch or saloon car. The Weekend is re-engineered with the wheelbase stretched by 63mm more than the Palio and the rear suspension too was changed to a compact independent set-up with short springs that do not intrude into the all-important luggage area.

The Adventure&46;s significantly taller 175/80 R14 tyres give it more ground clearance than the Weekend by 20mm, a useful benefit especially since the Weekend&46;s clearance has been one of its weak points.

Solid and well-engineered but fit and finish could be better.