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Rewind to 1996: Fiat Bravo/Brava

10th Jun 2013

It's that time again where we take a trip down memory lane to look back at a former European car of the year winner. This week we look go back to 1996, but before we go into the car review, let's just highlight some of the other news from the period. Firstly, many people were left broken hearted when the popular boy band Take That announced they were splitting up. However, the British music scene also welcomed a band which was to become one of the biggest girl bands of all time in the Spice Girls who released the first single, Wannabe. The year was also an eventful one in the world of sport as Damon Hill won the Formula one world championship and Germany won the football European championship after they beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in the final.

Now for the car review and in 1996 there was a unique outcome to the European car of the year awards as two cars won. Both the Fiat Bravo and the Fiat Brava claimed the award, however they are practically the same car apart from the fact one is a 3-door and one is a 5. Despite being judged as having 'reasonable' performance, they scored highly with their slick design, good safety, and the technical improvements made from other Fiat models. After been deemed as 'good value for money' the Italian hatchbacks scooped the award ahead of the Peugeot 406 and the Audi A4.