The 500X is Fiat's sole crossover, sized similarly to the Buick Encore, Hyundai Kona, and Jeep Renegade. It hasn’t had many meaningful updates since its 2016 launch, but 2020 marks some important changes and additions.

The Pop, Trekking, and Trekking Plus trims carry over from last year. Slotting above the Trekking trim is a new Sport trim. The Sport trim stands out with unique front and rear fascias, special badging, dark-finish exterior chrome, and standard 18-inch wheels, with 19-inch ones available. There’s also a new color in the paint palette: Rovente Red.

Inside, all 500X trims get a new steering wheel, modified instrument interface graphics, and a redesigned instrument cluster. The Sport trim gets touches of Alcantara, red stitching, aluminum pedals, paddle shifters, and exclusive fabric-and-vinyl Sport seats with “500” stitching.

No matter which trim you choose, the 500X packs a turbocharged 1.3-liter inline 4-cylinder engine with 177 horsepower and 210 pound-feet of torque. You also get standard all-wheel drive (AWD) with a rear-axle disconnect mode, a 9-speed automatic transmission, and three driving modes (Auto, Sport, and Traction+). Automatic start-stop contributes to an impressive fuel-economy rating of 24 mpg city, 30 highway, and 26 combined.

As far as features go, the 500X comes standard with 17-inch alloy wheels, projector-beam headlights, LED daytime-running lights (DRLs), heated mirrors, a leatherette steering wheel, a 7-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and remote start. You can add heated seats, LED headlights, LED fog lights, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, premium audio, dual-zone automatic climate control, a dual-pane panoramic moonroof, a windshield de-icer, and navigation.

Fiat also gives the 500X a pleasing mix of standard and optional safety features. A reversing camera comes standard while reversing sensors, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic detection, hill-start assist, full-speed forward-collision warning, and lane-departure warning are all optional. The 500X achieved mostly Good scores when tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in 2018.