General Best 500 for mileage?

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General Best 500 for mileage?

LinLin

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Hi --
Which Fiat 500 has the best mileage? Wondering what you have and the actual mileage that you get (if that's different from Fiat's estimate).

Assuming that that best-mileage vehicle would be diesel...is that right?

I'm looking at getting either a 500 or a Panda (new), so would love to hear pros and cons of owning a 500. How is it for reliability?

LinLin
 
Hi --
Which Fiat 500 has the best mileage? Wondering what you have and the actual mileage that you get (if that's different from Fiat's estimate).

Assuming that that best-mileage vehicle would be diesel...is that right?

I'm looking at getting either a 500 or a Panda (new), so would love to hear pros and cons of owning a 500. How is it for reliability?

LinLin

It goes like this in terms of mpg

Best
1.3 multijet
1.2
1.4
Abarth 1.4
Worst

Now of course you've got to consider purchase price as well. If you're going to do high mileage each year and keep the car for a long time then definitely get the 1.3 mj. If you're going to get rid in a few years the 1.2 will probably be the cheaper option. The 500 is a fundamentally good car, it shares most of its mechanical parts with the Panda which is also a good car. Occasionally little faults do develop but no moreso than with any other car.

The 500 looks better and you can get Blue&Me. With its skinny tyres a Panda will get much better mpg figures than any 500 ever will.
 
If you're looking for the lowest possible cost then the cheapest Panda would appear to be buyable for around £3000 less than the cheapest 500.
 
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Thanks, this is really helpful info.

Officially the 500 get better mileage than the Panda, and it appears to hold more of its value. And it's got that "blue & me" package, which I read somewhere on this forum gets rid of a plastic-feel steering wheel.

But the Panda has those 5 doors!

They both look like great cars. It's a tough choice.
 
Thanks, this is really helpful info.

Officially the 500 get better mileage than the Panda, and it appears to hold more of its value. And it's got that "blue & me" package, which I read somewhere on this forum gets rid of a plastic-feel steering wheel.

But the Panda has those 5 doors!

They both look like great cars. It's a tough choice.
Well the official figures are set on a rolling road

See here and you'll see that the Panda generally does better. A lot of the Panda's are 1..4's so you'll have to ignore them :)
http://www.fuelly.com/car/fiat/panda
http://www.fuelly.com/car/fiat/500

Remember to set the units to UK mpg in the top left corner
 
Hi --
Which Fiat 500 has the best mileage? Wondering what you have and the actual mileage that you get (if that's different from Fiat's estimate).

Assuming that that best-mileage vehicle would be diesel...is that right?

I'm looking at getting either a 500 or a Panda (new), so would love to hear pros and cons of owning a 500. How is it for reliability?

LinLin

I recently achieved over 73mpg in my 500 Multijet on a late-night motorway run, without really trying. I'm sure I could have got a bit more too - It helps a lot if you can keep a steady-ish speed, as you can on deserted motorways.
I had a loan of a Panda 1.2 recently, while my 500 was in for a service, and I found the performance in anything other than urban areas to be limp in the extreme. In my opinion I'd avoid the 1.2 if you've a need to carry out regular motorway or dual-carriageway runs
 
I recently achieved over 73mpg in my 500 Multijet on a late-night motorway run, without really trying. I'm sure I could have got a bit more too - It helps a lot if you can keep a steady-ish speed, as you can on deserted motorways.
I had a loan of a Panda 1.2 recently, while my 500 was in for a service, and I found the performance in anything other than urban areas to be limp in the extreme. In my opinion I'd avoid the 1.2 if you've a need to carry out regular motorway or dual-carriageway runs

The Panda 1.2 is about 9bhp down on the one in the 500. That's a lot of power to be missing when you've not got much to start off with......

Sure the 1.2 is no bahnstormer but it's not as bad as some try to make out :) But Zakt is kind of right, if you're going to be on the motorways day in day out I would perhaps pay the extra for a diseasel.
 
OK; here comes the spanner :p

The most economical 500 is probably the new Diesel 95, but the price :eek:

And...the 500 gets a new two cylinder engine, probably in July, which will offer zero tax and 85hp, so it should be a bit more economical than the current 1.2, and offer better performance. There will be a 64hp version later, probably when the 500 gets its new, lighter, chassis in 2012?

However - there's always a however - the launch date may be delayed ;)

Oh; and there is an all new Panda next year too. Decisions decisions...
 
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This is something i've been wondering about, did the fuel economy tests change from 2001 onwards ?

As my Brava 1.2 is rated at 41mpg average but it returns 43mpg usually
Our old stilo was rated at just under 40mpg but struggled to get 37mpg
Panda 1.2 seems to manage 46mpg (50 rated) and im getting about 42mpg (45 rated) from the 1.4 500

So it does make me wonder, did they change something in the way the figures are obtained?
 
In the real world my Sport multijet gets high 50s mpg on super sticky 17s, and well into the sixties on Eco 15 inch rubber.

Go for a pop and you get skinnier tyres for even better economy.

the downside is the diesel has a huge price premium. Doesn't bother me, mines already done 33K in just over two years so the extra economy helps. I reckon I have already saved over £800 on fuel during that 33K miles.

Cheers

SPD
 
I have a 1.2 Pop and do 80 miles a day on a combination of motorway, a-road and traffic and I've yet to dip below 50mpg overall. Highest was 55, lowest 49.7 per trip. Hope this helps...
 
Hi --
Which Fiat 500 has the best mileage? Wondering what you have and the actual mileage that you get (if that's different from Fiat's estimate).

Assuming that that best-mileage vehicle would be diesel...is that right?

If you're doing mainly urban stop-start driving, AVOID the diesel as the DPF will keeping clogging & cause you endless problems
 
If you're doing mainly urban stop-start driving, AVOID the diesel as the DPF will keeping clogging & cause you endless problems

Some people on this site keep saying this, but I've yet to see any real evidence. There's one person who used to post about this, but there was clearly another underlying problem with his car as it would clog up within a very short time after a forced regeneration.
As long as your engine gets fully up to temperature it won't happen - the regeneration works even if you leave the car ticking over
 
Some people on this site keep saying this, but I've yet to see any real evidence. There's one person who used to post about this, but there was clearly another underlying problem with his car as it would clog up within a very short time after a forced regeneration.
As long as your engine gets fully up to temperature it won't happen - the regeneration works even if you leave the car ticking over
To be fair there have been a couple. But it's certainly not every MJ :)
 
You'd still have to do a massive mileage before the diesel would pay for itself over and above the 1.2 though!

The diesel is an alternative to the 1.4, not the 1.2, so that doesn't really hold true
 
Why do you say that?:confused:

When I bought my diesel the price difference between it and the 1.4 was negligible, and while the 0-60 time lags behind a little its a pretty good match performance-wise in real world driving. The performance difference between the diesel and 1.2 is far greater, particularly on dual carriageways and motorways.
The newer higher power diesel is even further from the 1.2. You just cannot compare the two
 
I think there are arguments for the diesel to be compared with the 1.2 on economy grounds as well. But anyhoo it's up to the individual of course :)
 
As long as your engine gets fully up to temperature it won't happen - the regeneration works even if you leave the car ticking over

Not quite true! My engine always reaches the "normal" temperature, it is the type/style of driving that affects the DPF more than anything else. You are correct that the engine will regenerate even on tickover however you cannot choose when the ECU will decide to begin the regeneration cycle and not many people will want to leave their engines running in a car park if the "DPF filter clogged" light comes on just as they arrive for work or have to catch a train.

In an ideal world I would like to see a visible indicator on the dash when the car is regenerating, a readout either in the menu system or in the speedo of the DPF status and the option to push a button to over-ride the ECU and start a regeneration manually.

I have twice driven 50 mile plus trips only to have the engine start to regenerate just as I am approaching my destination. If I had been able to choose to start the process manually I would have let the engine warm up and as soon as I hit an open stretch of road "hit the button" knowing that the conditions were ideal.

The most annoying aspect to me is that the diesel engine is capable of fantastic economy if driven correctly but the gains made from the "eco" style of driving are more than offset by the additional regeneration cycles performed due to the fact that this style of driving will clog the filter more quickly.
 
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