Technical MPG nowhere near book on 58plate Diesel? Help!!!

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Technical MPG nowhere near book on 58plate Diesel? Help!!!

Katymoss

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Jan 29, 2009
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Retford
Hi there

In a desperate attempt to discover what is wrong with my lovely pearl and after being told what can be described as "a load of crap" by a dealer I am looking to all you Fiat 500 experts for a little help.

I bought my little chic number on the 3rd November 2008. The dealer said "you'll love this car, they NEVER have any problems".

Tempted fate didn't he!!!

I was so looking forward to the mega high mpg figures and having had diesels in the past (VW & Land Rovers) I have made a game out of getting the most out of our vehicles (hence I should have been able to at least get mid to high 60's combined, or so I thought).

Now I know some cars need running in so for the first 1000 miles I cut it some slack. But now I have done 6000 and its no better. I dont go off the computer I work it out full to full. I am getting about 350 miles out of a tank and only averaging 53mpg which is stupidly low. The computer varies but usually says the combined figure to be around 57-60 but it is wrong.

It has had a couple of other problems which have now been sorted one was a bracket on the exhaust rattling at 2.5k revs and the drivers window squeaked going up and down.

I spoke with the dealer the other day and he reckons what I get is ok and reaslistic but my argument is that if it was going to get those figures i'd of gone for the petrol. I DO NOT drive this car harsh, in fact in an attempt to get the most out of her sometimes we've even tried granny style or tailgaiting lorries to slipstream resistance but even that only brings it up to 55-56mpg (shows 62-63 on computer)

Just to give you an idea of my driving day to day I do about 17 miles one way over country roads avg speed is about 45-55 mph and then back again twice a day. The occasional motorway journey where I stick at 65-70 to maximise mpg.

I am trying to get this eco drive thing set up to see how the computer thinks I drive.

I need help as I paid more for this engine and if it doesn't get any better I will be going to trading standards with this. Any suggestions would be welcome.

:confused:
 
The truth that dare not speak its name is that the Fiat 1.3 Diesel isn't particularly economical.

Everywhere you look you see people wondering why their car isn't delivering the same figures that other, much larger engines, give.

For example; the new Citroen C3 Picasso has a 1.6 Diesel giving 92bhp and 0-60mph in more than four seconds less than the similar, and similarly priced, Fiat Qubo with the Fiat 1.3 and only 75 bhp. And the Citroen has a far higher top speed and better consumption and emissions too - and costs only minimally more :eek:. The Fiat 1.6 Diesel is as economical as the Citroen/BMW engine, so why, one wonders does Fiat persist with the little 1.3?

Fiat has a problem here. My expectation, and hope, is that the deficit will be addressed by the new cylinder head technology being launched later this year, but this won't help present owners. Just be happy that the engine is very strong and has a chain cam, so it'll go on for ever given decent treatment.

The Panda/500 is the optimum size for the Fiat 1.3 engine and the 1.6 won't fit, but I can see why people wonder why the real consumption isn't near the advertised one.

Just appreciate the torque, the revvability, and the really no too bad consumption - once it is run in (y)

Drive it a bit harder!
 
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I own a 500 1.2 Lounge & regularly get between 55 & 62 mpg.
The lowest I've recorded so far in 48 mpg. My car is just over
8 months old & I've covered almost 11,000 miles.
I too was going to purchase the Multijet diesel but I figured
the additional £1,400 would buy a lot of petrol, hence my
decision to go for the 1.2. I don't have the low down torque
that I'm sure the diesel has but the 1.2 is quite refined.

I hope your economy will start to improve, especially as
you have now covered 6,000 miles.
 
Thanks for your replies, its just others on the forum seem to be doing brilliant on the mpg on the diesel.

One of the main reasons I went for the diesel was so it could go on the company books, it has the really low co2 emissions 110g so the total value of the car can be offset against profits for the year which saves corporation tax so there wasn't really much in it for me between the petrol and the diesel.

I had hoped for much better performance though with the mpg, it is a nice nippy engine though.
 
I'm sure it's still a great car & it should hold its value really well.
I personally love the Funk White colour, it looks very stylish. :)
 
i too was hoping for better fuel consumption
but mine is now remapped and flys ,with no affect on the fuel useage .
out runs my mates gti td golf 5 so happy , well till about 65-70 then he blasts by but round town no chance so happy as pig in s**t with it (y)
and with such low tax and insurance i can live with the little niggles
 
Congrats first of all on choosing the Funk White - a very good choice lol.

Secondly, I had a Ford Cmax diesel before this car and was only averaging about 38mpg and I was getting about 300 miles to a tank! So whenI bought the 500 I went for petrol, and I have been getting on average 48mpg over a tank. I would definitely not be happy with a diesel almost doing the same - what is the point then in having the diesel, always thought they were supposed to be better MPG??? Although the cmax does back up the fact that they aren't always better MPG.

EDIT : see post below about revving, it is making a big difference to my MPG already
 
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Drive it a bit harder!

I agree. I have noticed my MPG getting BETTER when I've been revving it a bit more (noticed that Lloyd on his video revved it so I've now been doing the same) ..... usually on the first quarter of a tank I'm getting about 46.5mpg, this tank (after the new revving idea) when I got home tonight it was 49.5mpg :confused:
 
I agree. I have noticed my MPG getting BETTER when I've been revving it a bit more (noticed that Lloyd on his video revved it so I've now been doing the same) ..... usually on the first quarter of a tank I'm getting about 46.5mpg, this tank (after the new revving idea) when I got home tonight it was 49.5mpg :confused:

Lloyd does rev the sucker dont he? :ROFLMAO:
 
Well i have a round trip of 33 miles to work and back,in the warmer weather i was averaging around 66-68mpg in this colder weater about 61-63mpg, that`s mainly A roads with about 4 miles of b roads.:)
 
1.4 Sport, 8000 miles, on a mix of single, dual carriageway A roads and motorways driven with a light foot i get 37mpg. If I go a bit faster it drops to 34mpg.

So petrol isnt much better.
 
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Katy, just been out to check the computer mpg readout on the 500 and over the last 700 miles the average mpg is reading 49.7. Most of the driving is to and from work although, saying that my wife leaves at 6.30am and has a clear 5 mile run but in the afternoon does get caught up in traffic on the way home.

Usually, with the odd little trip thrown in the average is about 53mpg. I am wondering if the consumption increasing could be down to the orange warning light coming on a couple of times indicating that there might be a problem with the fuel delivery.

The last time I did a proper trip I reset the odometer and after about 70miles the average consumption indicated 73mpg so it seems good on a trip but not so good as a city car.


By the way, I wouldn't bother with the ecodrive, it's a bit of a gimmick. I can tell you now what it will say; you are accellerating too hard (it must really hate Lloyd), you need to change up at lower revs and you need to improve your deceleration/engine braking. We have all had our little dalliance with ecodrive but I think that the majority of us have now turned it off.


It also tells me that I have a six speed gearbox. :confused:
 
It also tells me that I have a six speed gearbox. :confused:

You do have one Grimmy, maybe thats why your fuel economy is so poor! Its the one next to five, dear. I know these big numbers are so difficult, arent they? :devil:

I agree some of the suggestions on ecodrive are barmy, on the bit where it shows on the speedo dial at what point you changed up and then shows you where you should, it said I should be changing up at about 1500 revs. Have you actually tried doing this? The air pressure between my foot coming down and the pedal makes the engine rev more highly than this! Its mental. I know, lets design a funky little fun car and then suck all the fun out of driving it. They should bring out a George Romero Dawn of the Dead special edition where ecodrive actually does the driving for you.
 
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You do have one Grimmy, maybe thats why your fuel economy is so poor! Its the one next to five, dear. I know these big numbers are so difficult, arent they? :devil:

And to think that I've been telling the missus off for not using fifth gear and me not even knowing about sixth. Ha! Ha! I blame the Fiat guys in Poland as they must have fitted the wrong leather gear knob kit at the factory. lol. Still they managed to fit the smaller turning circle so I have the best of both worlds. :D
 
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Hi, I've done nearly 6,000 miles in my diesel. Here's what I've discovered.

1. Low revs. To get the economy, you need to be in fifth, end-of. At 30mph you will get about 85mpg in 5th. At 50mph about 70mpg. At 70mph it maybe 60mpg, and it drops off quickly after that.

2. Cold. The car hates freezing temperatures. If it's ~2*C or below, when first started the engine sounds like a transit diesel as you first pull away at about 2000rpm, it will give between 10 and 20% less distance than when above this temperature.

3. Idling in traffic - makes bearly any difference when the engine is warm.

4. DPF Regeneration. This absolutely hammers the consumption. In warm weather will happen about once every 500 to 1000 miles. When cold it will be considerably less. If in traffic this can run for 30 mins+. At 80mph on the motorway it takes about 4 or 5 mins. Unfortunately the computer isn't intelligent enough to wait for a fast run.

5. Tyre pressures - as always, 10% down will increase consumption quite noticably.

6. Air con - makes no discernable difference.

7. Heated rear window - use only as needed, it should affect consumption.

Other than that read the road ahead and avoid the brakes as much as possible. Approach junctions in 3rd to get as much free braking (and coasting) as you can.

HTH
 
Not that it helps you at the moment, but Top Gear didnt rate the diesal version as the petrol is so good on fuel - maybe next time stick to the petrol version and pay less for it :rolleyes:

I used to have a diesal 206 and have to say that was brilliant on fuel - it was only because I hated the damn thing that I got rid of it lol :ROFLMAO:
 
Not that it helps you at the moment, but Top Gear didnt rate the diesal version as the petrol is so good on fuel - maybe next time stick to the petrol version and pay less for it :rolleyes:

Saz the 1.4 and the diesel are both the same price. You are obviously making the price comparison based on the 1.2 which in all honesty I never tried but agree with you that financially it makes more sense.

The beauty of the ways in which you can specify options also means that you can have all the extras on the 1.2, something that other most other manufacturers only allow you on their top spec engine models.
 
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