Hi All,

New here, was considering buying a 500 but am unsure which engine to go for, 1.2 petrol or 1.3 diesel. I like the economy of the diesel but am concerned about performance although I know Nuova shop do a good mod, has anyone out there lived with both and what would you recommend?

Thanks in Advance

Mercky

Mercky said:

Hi All,

New here, was considering buying a 500 but am unsure which engine to go for, 1.2 petrol or 1.3 diesel. I like the economy of the diesel but am concerned about performance although I know Nuova shop do a good mod, has anyone out there lived with both and what would you recommend?

Thanks in Advance

Mercky

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All depends how long you're going to keep it for. From a purely financial point of view it's going to take a long time and mileage to recover your costs from buying a diesel 500. The diesel also needs more frequent oil changes than the 1.2 petrol so that's an extra cost. Tbh unless you spend a lot of time on motorways or you just really need the power, the 1.2 is fine, we spent a week and a half in France, Italy and Germany on Autoroutes, Autostrada's and Autobahn's and it kept up with traffic just fine most of the time and not once did I get pinned in the slow lane

Concerned about performance? You must get the Abarth model then!

(disclaimer: May not be a very helpful post, not to be taken too seriously)

Interesting point is the diesel is slightly quicker than the 1.2, and will feel a fair bit quicker in gear.

Key points as Maxi says is estimated mileage and type of journey; the DPF on the diesel 500 needs regular longer journeys.

306maxi said:

All depends how long you're going to keep it for. From a purely financial point of view it's going to take a long time and mileage to recover your costs from buying a diesel 500. The diesel also needs more frequent oil changes than the 1.2 petrol so that's an extra cost. Tbh unless you spend a lot of time on motorways or you just really need the power, the 1.2 is fine, we spent a week and a half in France, Italy and Germany on Autoroutes, Autostrada's and Autobahn's and it kept up with traffic just fine most of the time and not once did I get pinned in the slow lane

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Seconded - the 1.2 is in my opinion a good solid performer and only becomes a bit ragged if you need to accelerate fast past 50mph. Also if you live somewhere that is particularly hilly then it's not a massive fan, but then again you wouldn't expect an engine of that size to be. Other than that it's a good engine.

Depending on whether you want to buy the car right away or are prepared to wait, you might want to hold fire until the new Twinair engines come out with the promise of better economy and torque. There's plenty of previous threads etc on this.

zanes said:

Interesting point is the diesel is slightly quicker than the 1.2, and will feel a fair bit quicker in gear.

Key points as Maxi says is estimated mileage and type of journey; the DPF on the diesel 500 needs regular longer journeys.

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It really does feel much quicker in the diesel - the original one- the 95hp one is going to be in a different league!

the 1.2 is a great little engine tho-

test drive both.

Thanks all

Don't forget that the new Twinair engine will give approx power of the 95bhp diesel but no DPF issues, probably better for resale as 1.2 less efficent as well

If it were me, i'd go for the diesel. I've done 12,000 miles in a Panda diesel, and driven a fair few in a 1.2 Panda as well. Although there isn't much difference in acceleration between the 2, you can feel the extra torque in the diesel, i can only imagine it would be even better with the improved 95 HP model. You notice it more on hills etc, in the 1.2 you would have to change down a few cogs and slow to 45 - 50 on steep hills, the diesel was better, it still slowed down but you could keep it in 5th and the low down torque would power you up! As a result, economy was exceptional too, my average was 65 MPG, but on slow days, i got 82 MPG!

So that's my view, if the Abarth didn't exist, i'd get the diesel