The Fiat Multipla Was an Incredibly Quirky (and Ugly) Family Car
2021 ж. 19 Шіл.
1 687 458 Рет қаралды
CHECK OUT CARS & BIDS!
carsandbids.com
Fiat Multipla review! The Fiat Multipla was weird, quirky, and ugly. Today I'm reviewing the Fiat Multipla, and I'll show you all the quirks and features of one of the weirdest and ugliest vehicles you can find -- and it's a VERY quirky one. Then I'll drive the Multipla and review the driving experience of one of the only Fiat Multipla models in North America.
WEBSITE & MERCH!
www.dougdemuro.com
FOLLOW ME!
Twitter - / dougdemuro
Instagram - / dougdemuro
Facebook - / ddemuro
DOUGSCORE CHART:
www.dougdemuro.com/dougscore
if Breaking Bad was filmed in Europe, Walter would have drove one of these instead of the Aztek
Nice, human.... Nice.
Sure!
I mean, if the plot wouldn't fall trough at the fact we have affordable healthcare, I'd agree.
@@Hammer0165 also, I don't think crystal meth is widely available in Europe
@@josephkrisocki6934 in Czech republic and Slovakia it is
Ferrari, McLaren, Porsche - I sleep Multipla - real shit
*Real shit*
Multipla HGT Abarth. We needed it!
I don't even watch videos with new cars and supercars :) But this, this is a type of car review where Doug really excels :)
Hahah nice!
I unironically like this car, I'd buy it if it had a decent engine&transmission
I'm a proud owner. Bought as a joke for commuting with co-workers it soon became the family's favourite. Its look make the other cars boring and ordinary. When you go around the streets the kids love the funny design and the people in their 40/50's talks about it. Plus it's very good to drive. All the commands have the right weight and a very good feel, the brakes are strong. Having a long and large wheelbase means that's it's very stable and you can throw it around the corners without worring too much. (Look at one lap heroes lap at the 'ring) Even in the gravel, mud, snow it's a blast to drive due to the good clearance and stability. This year it will turn 20 so this means, here in Italy, that you can register it as an historical vehicle. I'm gonna keep it forever! Update: This spring (2023) i've driven it to Rome fully loaded with my family (yes, 6 people) and luggage. It's a 1200KM (745 mi) trip that the Multipla did effortlessly. Bonus content: i also own a fully tuned 2003 MX-5 Miata (previously a 1990 NA)
“Bought it as a joke” This man has a lot of money
@@DumDoger probably bought it for 500€
@@guillemlluciagris5072 lmao yeah
@@DumDoger Those sell for like 1000€ lol
@@DumDoger Here in Italy used Fiat Multiplas are dirt cheap
Only people who have owned it can understand how practical and genial this car was. Transporting 6 people comfortly in just 4 meters and something more is just incredible and you also could park it literally everywhere (we don't have that much space for cars in Italian/european cities,many of them are too old). I remember growing up on the Italian streets but I still did cheap but long and comfy travelings with my family in a 2005 Multipla. After 10 years, over 250k kms and have moved to a new house only using it, we had to sell it (for a good price actually, they're pretty easy to sell). I miss you little chunky box
How much was it sold for?
@@dna2dna275 something around 3-4k, that in 2016 for that car it wasn't bad
This is the most Dougy car Doug has ever Dougged
@Peaceful and Tranquility 👇🥰 😳BOT😳
This and the s-cargo lol
The Dougged part....... Ya. Don't wanna picture it
I'd buy this car just for the shirts and goggles
*DOUG*
This man is more exited to drive a Multipla then a McLaren Senna. That is why we love Doug
I'd much rather drive the Multipla than a McLaren. At least getting into the Multipla doesn't require the equivalent of a human shoe horn to access the vehicle.
@@mikevale3620 Come on now mike, We both know you would rather have that sweet senna standing on your driveway buddy
@@wesleyklomp8705 i think both the cars are ugly.... the McLaren wins the chicks effect though
@@kskdtr True, I dont like the senna personally but used it as a example because its exitement factor. Would prefer a 69' Dodge charger myself lhaha
I stopped watching a vette video when i saw this! lol
I remember seeing these in Europe. I thought they were so ugly but kind of cool. I love that a company had the balls to go that far with a design and wish we did more of that.
Sorry, Fiat became worse during last years.
Die Familie eines Freundes aus der Grundschule hatte damals dieses Auto. Ich kann mich noch genau daran erinnern, wie cool ich es fand, dass dieses Auto vorne 3 Sitze hat. Und ich durfte sogar in der Mitte sitzen! Der Innenraum kam mir damals riesig vor.
"Its looks like it was designed by three guys who never met"
Or maybe they met, went to the bar, and had their children draw it while they were gone.
@@TheNorseman Hahaha
It really does lol It look like 2 separate cars, like they put the top of a van on top of another car.
ahh.. story of Zoom engineers
@@Charasmatic97, they were ahead of their time.
When my brother sold his motorbike, the guy that came to collect it came in a Multipla and he put the seats down and loaded the whole bike in to the back. True story.
My Dad builds and drives large scale model steam locomotives and he says these cars are the ones to do it with. And trust me he is the harshest car critic.
I had to pick up an engine for my Alfa in the back of mine. With the independent rear and really wide track, I was able to just wheel it right in to place with the engine crane and out again at the other end. It was beyond amazing for transporting stuff.
I had one for years. Loved it. Sadly the head gasket went at just 80,000 miles so I got rid of it. It remains part of our family story.
My family got this car in 2 version one was the old version like this in the video from the 2011 to the 2017,then another multipla a new version of the 2008or low year and terminated his life just in the 2022
Do you have functioning eyes? Why would anyone drive something like this? There are literally infinite alternatives
@Average Alien 1 You can't see the car when you are driving it. 2 A car is for driving. 3 There was no other six seat car when it came out. There was not a single alternative, let alone an infinite number. Thank you for your comment.
It's probably got overheated at some point
@AverageAlien i know right, people just like to be contrarians. Like, ever heard of a Toyota Sienna? If you need a minivan that bad, just get that. Fuck this ugly ass car
There is a youtube channel (in french) called "Vilebrequin" made by two car enthusiasts who created a kind of drag race version of the "Multipla". They called it the "Milletipla" ("Mille" means thousand in french) as they've put more than thousand horse power inside (1294 hp exactly).
I once sat in a Multipla Taxi and it was really comfortable. Sidenote: I've never seen Doug so excited, it's like his head is about to explode.
I’ll attest to that, Multiplas are very comfortable cars, taxi cabs or not.
He met his kingdom come I guess
I used to work as an operations guy for power company and driving for substation to substation was part of the job. In the morning you will get any car left in the parking lot. All cars had to eventually get checked for oil, gas, and I would get the forgotten ones, like old Beetles. My favorites were Chevy C-10 pickups with gear lever on the steering wheel... manual. I was always like Doug, laughing....
hes so excited that hes getting progressively sweatier as the video goes on.
Check out his Unimog video, it's like he's literally high
This car looks like it was designed by Doug himself.
Hahaha, good one dude.
We had one of the first Multiplas to be sold in the UK. Kept it for ten years. Our two kids loved being able to sit together with dad in the front. Others have commented on the practicality, the roominess, the styling, the removable rear seats, but I particularly remember the public's reactions (good and bad!), the friendly waves between Multipla drivers, and one particular incident when the car was only a few days old (and very rare on UK roads) - a German Porsche 911 driver gave us a thumbs up and big smile.
When I was in Italy 20 years ago, I saw this thing, and I fell in love with it. As ugly as it is, I thought it was an amazing city car. Our driver had one, and it was just fun. Even my fussy wife enjoyed it. Brilliant design.
My uncle had a Multipla just like this one, being in Italy had the seat on the correct side and the handbrake was on your left. He had instead of a middle seat a literal fridge. Fiat would sell you a fridge that fits in place of the middle front seat and he had beverages and sandwiches in there for a long journey we had, I loved that car so much.
I so wish I could fit that in mine.. Being 4 in the family we never much use the front central seat.. But long journeys make the fridge absolutely luxurious.. And it's not small either, heard it's like 10 liters or more.
So they're like the Pontiac Aztek of Europe?
Had 3 multiplas, one with a centre front fridge!
@@sudmuck Not really, like everybody acknowledged this is not a car ment to be pretty just the same on how fantastic it was to be in one and own one. It sold a lot more than you would think
@@neilhudson7099 That's awesome, the long journey actual gt car
My mom owned both the Multipla models and I can confirm a joke I've heard multiple (lol) times in Italy: "A Multipla is like a brothel: you feel ashamed when you get in or out, but it feels good once inside."
My family had this car as a kid, it was really cool for its time. One feature your version didn't have, by the defrost and hazard buttons some models had a "gas change" button. These cars had a full CNG (Compressed Methane) and gasoline fuel tank, and you could basically switch the fuel source mid-drive. Italy has a network of car CNG stations and it works out to basically half the price of gasoline to drive, required a yearly inspection but I think my family saved enormous amounts of money with that. Plus, the gas tank was still big enough to drive a reasonable distance on it alone (was fine to take outside the country where you couldn't get CNG), Using methane did make less power though so I remember my dad swearing at the car sometimes as it stalled in an intersection with AC on, on a hill, and then switching to gasoline or AC off until the road flattened out. Then again I don't know if it's the car's fault or his obsession for keeping low RPM
We had the face lifted version for 10 years. Great car! Doug forgot to mention that the three back seats can be easily removed individually - very practical. Just another example how functional this car is.
Every night before I sleep, I make sure that a Fiat Multipla isn't hiding underneath my bed or in my closet.
Lol yes:)
If they ever remake the movie, Christine, they should use the Multipla.
This comment is funny and underrated definitely deserves more likes 😂😂😂😂🤣
Effing right we all do hahaha. This car is mad
🎵Hush, little baby, don't say a word. Nevermind that noise you heard. That's just the Multipla under your bed. In your closet. In your head...EXIT LIGHT!🎵
First gen multipla: "Jesus Christ what is that horribly ugly thing?" Second gen multipla: "Where did the ugly go? It lacks character!"
Can’t say I don’t agree
Fiat: -am I a joke to you?
You here? :3
The facelifted Multipla's front end is too squared.
2nd is arguably just as ugly in its own way
Hi, Italian here and yes, we used to have one of them in my family. My father bought the 2 liters diesel one in 2002. I have to say, to this day is one of the most comfortable cars I've ever sat in. Plus, we are a family of five and we used to go on vacation with this car every summer. Considering the 3 + 3 seats design, we had my father, mother and sister sitting in the front row, me and my brother on the sides of the back row with the center seat folded or removed to add space for A LOT more luggage. Not ironically one of the most practical cars we've ever had, despite the horrible looking.
I drove my mate's multipla from Sicily to Milan (with a small 5km boat section) with the backseats and boot full of cheese, wine and olive oil... That kind of experience stays with you for all your life.
Doug 2 Years Later: "I've bought a Fiat Multipla!"
2 days later
@@yungboicontigo9278 yeah I know I was joking and saying that as in doug would go to extreme lengths to get one
Yes,pretty sure it's gonna happen 🤣
Fix It Again Tony. If you are wondering why your cop car died.......
@@yungboicontigo9278 That's WRONG! There's also the show and display rule for exceptional cars. And you can import it if it follow all the regulations and everything although that can be really expensive. 🌈
The expression: "If it looks stupid but it works, then it's not stupid", really works for this car.
Nah it still stupid af
I remember seeing this car first time in the flesh among boring square and grey shapes of that era it definitely stood out.
Pretty much stupid this multipla.. Even if it works! Just a stupid, ugly, unwell born "car".
@@peterkater4292 ugly, yes, stupid, no. If you dont care about people looking at you, the car is very good. Very efficient, very practical, very small.
I was just in Florence Italy today, and I saw a blue one for the first time ever. Let me tell you I was so excited to see such a quirky cool car in person 😂😂
The best summary of this car is by Big Car: When you get people to look at it, they realize it's a very clever, practical car, but first you have to get people to _look at it_
Doug’s the type of guy to call his website “new” for years
Well his is fairly new for the type of website it is, the competition has been out for a lot longer
People: -"Duuuuh, the cars look so boooriing, they all look the saaaame." FIAT: *makes a radical and cute Multipla* People: -"Eeeewwww, it's so ugly, whyyy is it so different? FIAT: *changes the design to normal* People: -"Soooo disappointing, it looks so normal..."
Soo fucking true lol
Yeah, that's humans for you
same thing happen to citreon cactus
@@yamcha111 hey don't touch the 🌵 I have one!
You can be different without being ugly. There is a spectrum from beautiful to boring to ugly as a multipla.
I live in Ireland, my da has owned a multipla for nearly 30 years now. Its the car I grew up with and I have grown very fond of them. Yeah, they're odd and such, but spend enough time with them and ya work things out and form a routine while driving. Sadly, she had a nasty breakdown in 2018 and has been rotting in our backyard since then, but we have been slowly fixing her up and we hope to have her running again this year. It was a very useful car for us since there are six of us in the family. Still very spacious years later, we took her on holidays to Britain, France and Spain, a sound family car that you work with in terms of its odd layout (We would use the front middle seat as a table for takeaways for example and so). It'll be great to have her running again.
Growing up in the UK I can confirm that my family owned not one, but two of these cars. We were always given weird looks :'D the three seats in the front resolved many a childhood 'shotgun' debate.
Early cars in the UK had a factory sticker in rear window that said “wait until you see the front”
Aaaahahaha!!!
it's not about not being ugly, it's simply ugly on purpose. it's making a statement "im all about practicality, don't care if i'm ugly". they even advertised it as such, here in italy the billboards said "sarete belli voi", which translates to "so you think you're prettier?".
@@p_m_athe entire point is function over form. they'd have to change the fundamentals of this car to make it attractive. the use of space wouldn't be as efficient and would defeat the entire purpose of it.
I've never seen Doug so excited about any other car, ever.
This is one of the best cars I've ever owned! I remember the feel of being in a bubble, so much glass around you! Unbeatable visibility from the driver seat! Doug didn't show how easy it is to remove the 3 rear seats, creating an anourmous cargo space.
7:00 That, my friends, is the best example of Italian engineering I have ever seen. They knew that one day the taillights would fill with water and condensation but they didn't want to fix it, so they just decided to make it look like they're filled with water from the factory. Genius.
Yes just brilliant i was just about to post this comment and then u beat me to it! 👌
It definitely works, in the side profile earlier with about 20 sec I thought they were filled with water, only to find out it was an actual design element.
About the tail lights..... If you had to change one, you could do it in 5 minutes using just your hands, no tool needed. Every detail was designed for practicality
just a fact: Fiat wanted to quit Multipla production in the 2005 in order to give space to the new Croma. Well, customers were so pushing that Fiat had to keep on making it until 2010. On top of that, basically Multipla marketing costs were minimal: the car success was based on word-on-mouth. I'm from Turin, and I had a Multipla. Best car ever.
I'm sorry mate, but I can't bring myself to drive a car that looks like an american's stomach from the front with a cyst that barely passes for a centre console on the dashboard.
@@strikereureka5081 ah, yes the beloved centre console, the object of admiration by many doug followers. Why would you ever want a driver position with the possibility of contact with the person sitting next to you? Ah, yes you (not you personally, i mean Doug's fellow countrymen) have many motels for that. Just like the cup holders thing.... I just realized that having a coffee means completely different things in the US, Italy and my country which is very close to Italy. So the approach to cup holders is very different.
The thing is, its good car, its practical. It has practical things other cars don't have. It's just one downside. It's ugly. :) hahaha Though i know a family who had alot of kids, and not alot of money. This car was a gift from heaven, and cheap second hand. (With alot of kids, i mean the also cared for kids that where not their own, just from the goodness from their heart. Lovly people and just wanted to get things done. They didn't care.)
Couldn't agree more, my dad chose to have 4 of them successively over a period of 8 years as a company car, as we are a family of 5, as his only criteria back then was to fit all of us and our ski gear for holidays without a roof rack nor a trailer, without having to have a full van. He only changed to a 308 SW (with the optional 3rd row) when the Multipla went out of production.
And partway through production they restyled the front end to look more conventional. By trying to make the front look less weird but leaving the rest of the car as it was, it ended up, imo, looking even weirder out of inconsistency.
I love the Multipla. I drove one and was of the most fun trip i ve ever made. I was to buy one. The best and more clever version was methane powered instead of gas
Our taxi driver in Slovakia had one...he was really in love with this car...in EU we had 1,6l petrol or 1.9. tdi diesel engines...he had diesel and it had great consumption. And it was so wide you can put mountain bike in a back trunk in width. In Slovakia quite a common car.
Massive respect to Fiat for signing this off, it's like a design exercise that actually made it to production. I'm not saying it's beautiful or good looking in any way, but it's certainly more unusual and interesting than ugly. That's why it's a charming car even if people bash on it for not following the norm.
You are so right. And I actually dig the weird interior and the crazy centre control stack!
Bold, unconventional styling was common for Italian, French, and Spanish cars. Unlike American cars that feel they have to look fast and macho all the time.
It's uglier than anything
In regards to your first sentence, I agree that practical aspects such as the use of space, the seating layout and the somewhat higher ceiling can be seen as unconventional. However, the relatively disproportional bulge at the base of the windshield and the disconnection which it creates with the remainder of the front, in my view it remains an unnecessary design decision bordering on capriciousness.
Jeremy Clarkson said of the Multipla - “it is as if all the designers never met up”
Zoom wasn’t invented back then
He also said it was the perfect family car
Simon Cowell: "It's like....the car has a disease."
It actually won Top Gear Car of the Year 2000.
I don't agree at all, it's great design, same language throughout the car, it's form follows function. It's is butt ugly but that's because the form follows the function. It's ugly in a convincing, unapologetic way because the exterior shows it's about interior space. They decided not to hide it's proportions but emphasize them, and it still looks better than all the ugly cars that try to hide their ugliness in bland anonimity. It's place in the MoMa is just as well deserved as it's topping the list of many ugliest car of all times competitions.
Okay, hear me out.... Fiat had the Coupé with the 2.4l inline 5 and the 2.0l 20V inline 5 turbo.... So you could swap the turbo engine in. Maybe Upgrade that with the 2.4 Block and head etc. Give that thing a bit of a tune up and boom: you'd have yourself 250hp and great amounts of torque without much further issues using only Fiat parts and you'd get great inline 5 sound. Imagine the fun you'd have. Just having a multipla that goes fast. Like at least a lot faster than everyone else would expect! I want that.....
It's been done, actually.
From the front it, with a little bit of fantasy, looks like a Daimler Smart devouring an Opel Corsa in one piece
to me it looks like a spider kinda if you ignore the license plate???
Designer 1: "This Car is so ugly, Nobody will ever want to touch it!" Designer 2:"Well, let's add an additional piece to the doorhandles then!"
Those little pieces prevent the door from hitting neighbouring parked cars. Don’t want to chip the paint on your multipla. Lol
Get a NEW one to 😀😂🤣😄😄
For example the two of 😆😊😎😍
Get a job at your 😙😚🙂😎
Multipla design top exsposed from moma nyc
He forgot the part where the rear seats can be easily removed and transform the multipla into a huge cargo van.
I have one wife and one daughter (who gets travel sick in the back seat of a car) and we take a lot of gear camping. I want one for this reason.
That is correct.
The things that my Multi has carried 😃 . It'll take 2.4mtr lengths of wood no problems. Motorbikes will go in . All the furniture seems to fit . 6 People , supplies and tool for a weekends racing and two bikes on a trailer....still returned 38mpg
If you're shorter than 6 feet tall you can fit a mattress in it and SLEEP in the car! No jokes.
The Multipla is perfectly described by that scene in Ant Man: "Its so ugly!! I love it!!"
My dad has one and I drive it every time I get the chance to (I'm 24 btw) and it just puts a smile on my face every time. When my friends first saw me picking them up in it they laughed but the laughter stopped as soon as they sat in it and i showed them all the features it has. Its our favourite car for roadtrips now.
This car unironically looks like a space ship
@YourTypical Asian wow 23 seconds ago.
I see you everywhere. Tell me, oh wise one, how I can farm thousands of likes by making garbage comments
Lol
@YourTypical Asian yes
dubaba
This looks like the type of car that would be in a Jimmy Neutron universe.
Finally a good car on this channel
Will fit well for Rick and Morty
Or even in Futurama LOL
still looks better then the newest BMWs
fiat is probably the only car manufacturer (maybe citroen too) that could get away with such a design. it looks like a toy, but its insanely practical. from certain angles, it looks like they were trying to make it look like a futuristic "passenger pod" sitting on a car frame, the way it seems like its seperated under the windshield.
Citroen is much more likely to cone up with a design like this.
@@arx3516ye citroen comes up with some weird designs too.
It’s a good day when Doug post weird cars.
yeah, and finally the Multipla!
Indeed
I feel like Doug would enjoy reviewing a Scion xB
every day with a new video of Doug is a good day :) but these are especially good I agree!
I seriously want him to review all the weird cars at that museum haha
One quirk more: There was a popular option available. Instead of front middle seat you go for a large box using that space. It was divided in two parts. Refrigerator and storage compartment.
The way better choice than the seat.
@@steffenrosmus9177 if you don’t need all the seats then yeah definitely the better option
We have thousands of them on the roads in South Africa. The actual model you have with the right hand drive. Interesting, the Panda we have has the same center console layout as the Multipla.
I rented one of these in September 2000 to drive around in Rome and then to drive from Rome up to a villa we rented in Tuscany. It was a turbo diesel with a 5-speed manual. Ugly as sin but it was very practical, clever and fun to drive. Power was pretty decent and its fuel mileage was great. And now that I look at it again in this video, I think the exterior has the kind of weird, quirky looks that will endear it to people as it ages. But the interior dash - just weird. No excuse.
Doug after 1 year : *THISSSSSS….IT’S MY NEW CAR, AND YES, IT’S A MULTIPLA*
I hope so.
Yeah, and I can imagine him tracking down a left-hand drive variant too.
I don't doubt him for a second that he's really thinking about it
Actually the door handles are designed this way so the metal doesn’t bump into walls or cars while you open the doors but the plastic does
big car made a video about it and,looks aside,it's an extremely advanced design with fantastic ergonomics and practicality
Lol the way Doug makes up a random function for them.
To make the door easier to open with that 10' pole!
Yeah I was suspicious about his explanation. He always makes stuff up without researching if he's even right about it. Kind of annoying.
Doug grew up in America, he doesn´t know about tight parking spaces. ;)
I was one of the team tasked by Fiat UK to market this car. We came up with a campaign only featuring pictures of the rear of the car... the strapline for the campaign was "Wait until you see the front". Props to the client who approved it, owning the ugliness.
In Italy we also had a popular advertising campaign about this car with copy like "You think you're the pretty ones, huh?" or "I wonder what I've been drinking" (widespread urban legend that the designers of the Multipla were drunk when they worked on it)
Dude reviews divos and the most limited Hyper cars there are, and yet he seems more enthusiastic about presenting the quirks and features of a multipla :D gotta love him.
"One giant panel of cheap plastic" GM's interior design philosophy for years...
Cheap plastic everything
Hahahahhaha
*chrysler
kzhead.info/sun/id6bqJhxaaqIf5E/bejne.html
Still is…the interior of Chevy trucks is all cheap plastic.
They slaughtered my brothers and sisters to make that interior option...
😂😂😂😂
Finest teletubby leather
@@peterlustig6888 Leather....sure....
😢😢
lol goddamit
never…. ever ever EVER again say “1 point something” on your videos Dug…. NEVER !! you are famous and maybe the greatest on what you do because all the details you go thru…. we love u !! keep posting good videos for the world !
I've never seen Doug so enthusiastic about a car. Amazingly practical car. I notice it's a UK car as well.
I love how Doug didn't even acknowledge that this is a right hand drive car until 11 seconds from the end lol!
Did the GameCube get its color palette from the Multipla's interior?
I unironically want one. I'm from America but this design and interior makes me nostalgic about the late 90s/early 2000s. I can't wait until we can legally import them.
It probably did.
@@nickscapellato8248 keep in mind that nowadays Multipla's have high mileage
Rover James*
oh god, cs is going to poop another one
The growth of the handles is for protect the door from hitting other cars in parkings. Here in Europe parkings are narrower than in USA, so when you park near a car, you open the door and theres a high chance to hit the other car, they put that rubbery thing to prevent damage in both cars.
Makes more sense than his strange theory about not wanting to touch the car with your hand. I hate when he tells us something like it's a fact when really he just made it up on the spot. He does it often and he's usually very wrong. Strange that an automotive journalist doesn't know more but then again there are levels to this. He's not a Jason Camisa or a Chris Harris and he's no Jay Leno either.
Thanks for explanation! I knew it was more to the story than just "not to leave fingerprints " like Doug said lol
@@amg863 right. I was thinking the same thing. I understand the prolly not a ton of info on weird quirky cars like this but don’t just make stuff up or if you do say this is your theory, don’t explain it as a fact. And same other stuff that he overlooks. But I’m not gonna hate too much I’m a big Doug fan just on the simple fact that he shows us stuff like this that I didn’t even know existed
I feel like hes viewing this as an American minivan and not a European Fiat. It's not necessarily aimed at families
@@slawekk3163 a car with cheap plastics is afraid of finger prints 😂
I think the heat got to Doug during this review. He was delirious.
I was just at this museum recently and they mentioned you had been there to review that vehicle, so I had to watch the video lol. Pretty cool museum!
The Multipla was so quirky, Doug didn’t even notice how dirty his knee was in filming.
I didn’t notice it either 🤷🏼♂️
He was on the ground during the video
That’s what I’m sayyyyyyiiiinnngngnnngng
was probably thanking the owner
Doug "Dirty Knee" DeMuro
If he likes the Fiat Multipla then he would really like the Renault Avantime
Good idea
Yes!!!
@@simonbeck1164 awesome!!!
@@nedharris The Fiat is actually a cheap reliable and practical car. It's a no brainer.
@@dragospahontu but the 500 is common here in the USA, Dragos, not the Multipla
I rented one of these from a local garage for a camping holiday as a uni student many years ago. It was fantastic and it had plenty of room for us to sleep on a particularly rainy night.
5:03 the NSU has no pressure in its tyres and 9:33 your knee is sooo dirty 🙂anyway, an unbelievably good video again, it's nice to discover all your videos after so many years, I am new on this channel
A aunt of mine used to own one of these. Nobody in the family disputes its uglyness, and nobody that was ever inside disputes how practical and good at it's job it was.
My father has one and that about sums it up :) Also it has about 500.000 km on the clock and it just keeps on running...
Built by Fiat, styled by Fisher Price. It's weird, but I kind of love it. There were a few Multipla taxis around Dublin at the start of the millennium, and I took a few trips in them. Weird as they were, they made a lot of sense as a taxi, and you have to give the engineers huge credit for making it all work somehow.
Little tikes concept car
Love that there's still some multiplas floating about here. Seen ola few in Dromòre a while back 😁
Damn, its hard to listen to this Doug fella, like half an hour listening to a hostage explaining in what woods is she buried alive...
Fisher Price styling!! So true! Or Little Tykes!🤣🤣
The only question I have is if they ever offered a center-drive option
Just another former owner who goes around YT videos to shed a tear remembering those days... One important story about how the car came to be. (by heart, cant find the book i got it from) Fiat and other two EU builders (Renault and vW maybe?) had signed an agreement to only produce one model each on the >4m length range. different enough to cover the whole spectrum (a 6ppl family - a 9ppl van - a big working van) without competing with each other. Fiat had the big working van, so later that day went to his best designer with a brief: a spacious, 6ppl (plus luggage) comfortable and CHEAP car to fuck with the renault Scénic (the one Renault chose as per agreement)... In no more than 3,99 meters length. It took a daring and thorough rethinking of how cars are designed. It was big. on the personal note: It brought me (my girlfriend, friends and dog) around Italy so nicely for long and cheap. with the 5 mins effort of clicking the backseats out and shoving my beds mattress in it became a room with a view. I once woke up in front of a volcano overlooking Naples bay. It is ugly? well the memories it gave me are very beautiful. Bring me an actual owner who has found a better car, i'd be happiest know...
We had a Multipla and I firmly believe it was the best family car ever. Gearbox/clutch were a bit shonky, but the body/seats/interior were unbeatable. Take all the rear seats out and you had a van for taking rubbish to the recycle centre! Amazing.
"My car has a 3-across seating" "Wow, you got a McLaren Speedtail?" "No." "A McLaren F1!?!" "No, a Fiat Multipla." "..."
Lololololol
Or a Crown Vic.
Or a Honda FR-V...
Or an Oldsmobile custom cruiser
Or a Mercedes Sprinter
Italian ergonomics at it's best, and Italian design at it's worst.
It's the pinnacle of function over form.
i heard this car was made inside out so they "didnt care" about the outside design...
How they made this cars is like this, they put the passengers on the seats without car body, and then they modelled the body based on those passengers and maximum comfort and visibility. True story, I was reading this back in the day when this car showed up. It was ugly even then !
I liked these a lot more than the conventional rivals of the era like Renault Scenics etc. and all those were only 5 seaters
@@zsoltpapp3363 As opposed to today, when most of them are, realistically, just 4-seaters?
This car matches Doug perfectly. He should daily this. He's the type of guy who would think it's unironically cool.
Meanwhile in France: the KZhead channel fused it with a Corvette tuned it up and turned it into a 1300hp monster
I live in Europe. And I still think this is a great car. I'm surprised he didn't mention the rear seats can be easily removed all together. And it was designed to fit an electric power train from the start. To think this designer went on to 'save' fiat by leading the fiat 500 team.
love the Italian automotive stories. Whats that designers name?
@@styre en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Giolito
@@styre last time I heard he was head of fiat heritage.
That’s what I was thinking. So there was an electric version too?
@@roxythefoxsayfurismurderan3187 Not that I know. I read somewhere the platform (presses etc) got sold to china with this in mind. But that's still not the same as having an electric multipla.
Looks like a car Nintendo would've made during the game cube era
I think it´s like a mixture of Virtual Boy and Wii
The inside color scheme is very gamecubey
Or the Super Nintendo! Which wasn't curvy but it had the exact same colors.
It's not just ugly, it also aged terribly. It deserves all the love it can get, thanks for raising awareness.
I love how Doug is almost 5 minutes into the interior review and then he goes “and by the way, it’s purple” as if that isn’t the second most revolting thing in this interior I’ve been staring at in disbelief so far
This car is the closest we'll ever get to the Homer.
What's a Homer?
@@PrimericanIdol 🤦🏾♂️
Great comment
@@PrimericanIdol Homer Simpson designed a car in an episode. Google “The Homer car” if you’re curious.
R/technically the truth
Another weird quirk: The strange bonnet shape was inspired by dolphins, and contributes to the unusually low drag coefficient of (reportedly) 0.32 for such a tall vehicle.
Beluga whale of a car
A former colleague who used to work at the Fiat HQ, told me a fun fact about that. Apparently as many brands with this kind of car, Fiat was trying to appeal to kids. The marketing team had a "great" idea: What do kids like ? > favorite shape : cube > favorite animal : dolphin So they basically merged the two things and tried to stick to it ... Idk if this is 100% true but it makes sense and sounds like a perfect 90's marketing job.
I thought the concept was a sorts car with a people carrier merged on top
@@romus3550 - I am totally buying into that
@@romus3550 I actually convinced my mother to buy it when I was 8 or 9 so it's a totally believable story lol
My first car was a Fiat Palio GTX and it had the same exact engine -1.6L 4-cyl DOHC which made about 100HP. Back in the early 2000s when it was launched, it was the "hottest" hatch you could buy in India. Extremely well-built and had a vault-like feeling when sitting inside. Brings back a lot of good memories! Thanks Doug
I kind of want one. This thing is beautiful, it's oddities make it so cool to me.
The plastic "growth" at the end of the door handles were supposed to mitigate damages to other cars when kids slam their doors open while coming out of the car. I think that was pretty clever design feature.
I felt straight away Doug's version was a bit idiotic
Of course!
Slam open? Huh
He does this so much. He loves finding a weird-ass reason behind something and just stops questioning/thinking. It's maddening. But God love him.
@@im100percentg*Fling open, but might slam the door nonetheless :D
You know, I never really hated the Multipla, just didn't really cared much about it, but now I somehow respect it. It's got character and it is very clever.
I actually really like how this looks 😭
I’m not reading through 10k comments to see if also pointed out but the rear 3 seats seats were purposefully intended to be quickly removed turning the Multipla into a van for even more cargo/boot space. I owned one a loved it. Nice review Doug 👍.
When I was a high-schooler, I hated the looks of that car. I passed one parked every day on my way to school. But now...it's quirky, it's practical, it's outside the box! It's everything I am, or at least want to be. It's also different - and in today's world of cookie-cutter suv-crossovers it still looks fresh.
I bet Doug haven't slept for days when he knew he was gonna a review an actual Multipla. So many quirks.
And features as well.
Mr Krab from SpongeBob, in a car design! 😀💛 Oh, a NASA emblem at the back!
When this car was sold in the UK it came with a sticker in the back window that said "Wait till you see the front". Brilliant.
Multiplas are known to be extremely reliable and practical vehicles in Europe. There are many taxi drivers who still drive them to this day, even though many of them exceeded 500,000 km. After 15 years of mockery, I think world began to realize that these cars were actually pretty good.
Yeah, I miss 90s/2000s FIAT, they had a much better lineup than today. I have nothing against the 500s, Tipo and Panda, but, I mean, that's it; back then you had the 600, Panda, Punto, Idea, Croma, then the Idea, Doblò and the Multipla... Kind of sad that Alfa and Lancia were thrown into the gutter only for FIAT to follow suit a few years later.
Very nice review with much enthusiasm. Just like the Renault Twingo I or Espace, the huge glass surface makes sense once inside because it gives a pleasant viewing access to the exterior and nature during a voyage and a real feeling a space. Now the question is why 2020s car have the reverse philosophy making windows smaller and smaller giving the impression of being enclosed or constrained within the car with less visibility on the outside and less pleasure contemplating the landscape ?
twiZy beter éktrç
One of my favorite videos of yours Doug! Great to see you geek out over this bizarre contraption
I'm so glad that Doug is now reviewing all the weird European cars
He's realised Our cars have the most quirks 😏
25 year rule I guess
@@dipie197 car isn’t 25 years old yet tho. It’s part of a museum
I prefer weird cars over supercars any day.
You need to come to Europe and see what is weird car. Multipla is even normal. 😂