Hi everyone.
I have looked online and am struggling to find a definitive answer to service intervals on the “new” 500 Hybrid, some sites say 9000 miles or 12 months, some say 12000 miles or 12 months and some say 18000 or 12 months.
My car was registered in April this year so when will it need its first service?
It seems a lot clearer for the original 1.2 engine but there is a lot of conflicting information on line for the 1.0 Hybrid.
Many thanks in advance for any responses.
cheers.
Here is what's written in my Fiat Owner's Service Manual for my 2021 Fiat 500 1.0 Hybrid:
The book is in Turkish but I highlighted the "Motor Oil Change" section for you with yellow. Please notice that the intervals are in kilometres.
Apparently the recommended oil changing intervals for our 500 1.0 Hybrid's Firefly engine is every 20.000kms (approx 12,4k miles)
As you can notice, there is an additional information next to it; "(1.3 diesel and 1.4 16V petrol engines, every 10.000kms)".
Now, why would they bother giving information about other engine options in this manual, I don't know...
I usually prefer to change my engine oil more frequently than what the factory manual recommends. I changed my 500's first oil at 7.000 kms because I do believe in the "proper break-in" procedure. Poured some 0w20 Castrol synthetic oil in it even though I still think it is a very thin oil, especially for the mediterranean environment that I live in where summer ambient temps are sometimes above 40 celsius. So next time I will be using 5w30 sythetic and see how it goes.
What actually got me thinking is the difference between my service manual and the one MN500 shared above. I would expect the recommended service intervals to be the opposite since Turkish geography and road conditions are much rougher than Europe's or Britain's. Higher altitudes, mountanious topography, broader climate range from -20 to +40 celsius depending on the region.
Having withnessed the contradiction between two factory service manuals for the same model, I will insist on sticking to my own mechanical experience and instincts and will keep on changing my engine oil every 7000-14.000 depending on the driving conditions.
I've been running my 10 years old air cooled Triumph motorcycle, 56 years old Willys CJ-5 Jeep and 16 years old Mazda Miata/MX-5 with the same maintenance philosophy, always chaning the oil more frequently, not necessarily using the highest quality oil but the one with the right engine viscosity specs that suits my riding/driving conditions. All of my engines are still running smooth to this day without having any issues.