I have a 63 plate 1.2 500s and service interval of 18000 miles or 2 years.

Just bought a 15 plate 1.2 500s and been advised the service interval is now 9000 miles or 1 year.

Really surprised and disappointed with this. Seems like simply a money making exercise.

Anyone else heard this and know why?

With the utmost of respect and having had the both the benefit and experience of owning a 1.2 POP, leaving a service until 18k or 2 years is imvho, nuts.

The plugs on a 1.2 will be just about shot after 10 or 11k miles. I know this because I changed the plugs myself at 11k and they weren't in a good state, despite the car being driven with consideration. The pollen filter will need replacing after 12 months. More importantly, the oil and filter should definitely be changed by 9 or 10k miles. I had ours done at just over 4k miles on the first service.

The thing you have to understand about extended service intervals is that they were primarily introduced to appease fleet buyers to help reduce their overall service costs. This then trickled into the private buyer market to make servicing costs look attractive. Personally, from a private owner perspective, annual servicing or no more than 12k miles per annum is my own preference, though our own mileage rarely exceeds 8k per annum and therefore servicing is done then anyway.

If you want your engine to last and the car to perform to it's best and to help with resale value later down the line, in short showing you've taken some interest and care with your car, I personally wouldn't get drawn into extended service intervals. Just my opinion.

Frupi, thanks for the reply it has somewhat made me feel a little by better with the change having someone who isn't a dealership saying they agree it should be done sooner.

I never go off the resale value generally, as I do a PCP and trade it back in and as long as the dealership sees the service stamp and look around the car and see its in a very well looked after condition, I've never known them offer me more for this.

You never heard them say "oh we're offering you a higher trade in value because the paint is superb condition because of the Supagard you had applied".

I really look after my car parking it away from others where possible in car parks etc, but I've never gone overboard other than follow manufacturers guidelines as I know I'm very unlikely to keep it long term after the PCP expiry.

However you have made me feel better that it makes sense to have it done sooner. Cheers

Dean500 said:

I have a 63 plate 1.2 500s and service interval of 18000 miles or 2 years.

Just bought a 15 plate 1.2 500s and been advised the service interval is now 9000 miles or 1 year.

Really surprised and disappointed with this. Seems like simply a money making exercise.

Anyone else heard this and know why?

Click to expand...

is it in the service manual?

ahmett said:

is it in the service manual?

Click to expand...

I've not looked yet I will check later today when I collect the car and post on here

frupi said:

With the utmost of respect and having had the both the benefit and experience of owning a 1.2 POP, leaving a service until 18k or 2 years is imvho, nuts.

The plugs on a 1.2 will be just about shot after 10 or 11k miles. I know this because I changed the plugs myself at 11k and they weren't in a good state, despite the car being driven with consideration. The pollen filter will need replacing after 12 months. More importantly, the oil and filter should definitely be changed by 9 or 10k miles. I had ours done at just over 4k miles on the first service.

The thing you have to understand about extended service intervals is that they were primarily introduced to appease fleet buyers to help reduce their overall service costs. This then trickled into the private buyer market to make servicing costs look attractive. Personally, from a private owner perspective, annual servicing or no more than 12k miles per annum is my own preference, though our own mileage rarely exceeds 8k per annum and therefore servicing is done then anyway.

If you want your engine to last and the car to perform to it's best and to help with resale value later down the line, in short showing you've taken some interest and care with your car, I personally wouldn't get drawn into extended service intervals. Just my opinion.

Click to expand...

THIS. ONE THOUSAND TIMES THIS!

Whilst I have a sneaking suspicion that this is probably not in the handbook (mostly because FIAT don't seem to know their arse from their elbows these days) it is still a very good idea and, IMHO, points towards a dealership that are "on the ball".

An extra hundred quid a year in servicing (going on the basis that the few dealership services I had at FIAT were around £200 on average) is peanuts compared to the rest of the costs of running a new car.

Dean500 said:

I've not looked yet I will check later today when I collect the car and post on here

Click to expand...

ok i downloaded the latest service manual and yes it says service every 15,000 km/1 year for petrol cars and 20,000 km/1 year for diesel cars. HOWEVER, it says if vehicle is not used on urban roads and does more than 10,000 km a year you can change the oil every 30,000 kms/2 years. i am attaching latest manual here

Yes, it appears Fiat has indeed changed the service intervals in the UK to every 9,000 miles or 1 year.

There was a thread a while back on the Panda 2012 which I posted in.

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-iii/418439-panda-twinair-cross-short-service-intervals.html

It seems the first service doesn't necessarily involve any replacement of consumables though, just an inspection (see posts 23 and 24).

Also - there is a big grey area in my opinion as to what happens to the warranty if you do relatively high mileage. My concern I pointed out was that if you do say 15,000 miles a year, does that mean you would need to get your car serviced every seven or eight months in order to keep the warranty side of things sweet?
Dean500 - I would have a word with your dealer and see what they say about it all.

Super Uwe said:

Yes, it appears Fiat has indeed changed the service intervals in the UK to every 9,000 miles or 1 year.

There was a thread a while back on the Panda 2012 which I posted in.

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-iii/418439-panda-twinair-cross-short-service-intervals.html

It seems the first service doesn't necessarily involve any replacement of consumables though, just an inspection (see posts 23 and 24).

Also - there is a big grey area in my opinion as to what happens to the warranty if you do relatively high mileage. My concern I pointed out was that if you do say 15,000 miles a year, does that mean you would need to get your car serviced every seven or eight months in order to keep the warranty side of things sweet?
Dean500 - I would have a word with your dealer and see what they say about it all.

Click to expand...

it seems so, the service book now requires a stamp once a year or every 15,000 km. Thing is though, technically they cannot get out of warranty claims that have nothing to do with regular servicing, such as a door handle breaking or a gearbox failing (since gearbox requires no routine maintenance)

OK I'm being lazy here, not looking this up in the manual

Do 500's have a service due indicator?

Thanks.

Mmmmm Think they do :chin:

Yes, they do, but the due mileage is set by the mechanic/technician. It isn't automatic.

You don't know which or what info he has used to pick that due mileage.

Personally, I'll be doing ours DIY in a month or two's time. I don't care what the car says .............. I'm doing what I think is right.

I've invested in the computer program for the car, so I can connect up and reset the due mileage, but I'll be using a paper diary and pen and ink to remind me.

Regards,
Mick.

This is my display just picked it up so guess I don't even need to check the manual. It is 9000 mile or 1 year

9,000 miles. That is a joke.

Fiat have introduced the new intervals on all Fiats & Alfas (at least in the UK) and whilst I'm glad the cars appear to say the correct intervals and the literature has been updated (not a traditional Fiat strong point) I reckon they've still made a balls up. Basically all vehicles have to go to a dealer every 9k/1yr (petrol) or 12k/1yr (diesel). However, instead of lowering the oil change intervals as well, the first service is only an inspection, and you have to pay extra to get the oil & filter changed.

To me this is an utter nonsense because:

1) Going to a dealer for an 'inspection' is a waste of money. Why the hell do I want to pay someone just to look round the car & plug it into the diagnostic machine?

2) Not replacing the oil & filter means the car's no better off mechanically for that time or money being spent on it at the dealership.

It also, as Super Uwe mentioned, means high mileage drivers are seeing the dealer far more often than they'd like, and only every 2nd visit is actually doing the car any good.

In addition, you still have the low mileage service, where Fiat recommend if your mileage is super low, you get an oil & filter change at year one, then a full service at year two. It's all just too confusing to the average car buyer. People don't need this sort of nonsense, they've enough important things to think about.

As far as I'm concerned Fiat should've just dropped the service intervals to 1 yr/12,000 on everything (rather than different mileage limits for petrol & diesel) and done away with the low mileage service nonsense, instead making the full service prices competitive enough in the first place that people don't try to scrimp & cut costs by missing out bits if they only do low mileage.

Alternatively, as much as I don't rate VW, Fiat could've took a leaf out of their book & let people choose between Time & Distance (eg yearly servicing) or Long Life (high mileage intervals) so that the cars schedule for maintenance is set up round the owners driving habits.

frupi said:

The plugs on a 1.2 will be just about shot after 10 or 11k miles. I know this because I changed the plugs myself at 11k and they weren't in a good state, despite the car being driven with consideration. The pollen filter will need replacing after 12 months. More importantly, the oil and filter should definitely be changed by 9 or 10k miles.

Click to expand...

Well, the service interval of the 1.2 has been reduced to 9k miles or 1 year, but as you can see below, the spark plugs, the oil and the oil filter of the 1.2 still need to be replaced every 18k miles or 2 years. The yearly replacement of the pollen filter is no longer mandatory; now it's only recommended.

One clearly can't argue with what Fiat publish in their own bumpf, but in the real world for those of use who have actually bothered to carry out some form of servicing on their own vehicle themselves, the owner will know from experience that the literature should be taken with a pinch of salt. As I stated in an earlier post, having actually swapped out the original plugs on our old 1.2 at 11k, the plugs were almost finished and on putting in the new plugs, the car was noticeably better on starting and fuel performance increased.

As for the pollen filter, again, personally, as someone who uses their aircon every time the car is in use, summer and winter, changing it every 12 months is a no brainer. If owners actually changed out their own pollen filters, again they'd undoubtedly see through normal use, that they don't look at all pretty after just a year. Indeed, I actually change the pollen filter on my Saab 9-3 because it can get really quite filthy, but at just £6.50 a throw and the fact it takes less than four minutes to swap out, it's hardly a chore. It's just a shame that on the 500 RHD, it's an absolute pig to change.

There is no way I would leave engine oil in for 18,000 mile these engines have to work very hard, 10,000 max for me, change it your self between services even leave the old filter in and just do the oil.

New 9000 mile interval is better.

This is pretty hilarious, basically now nothing has changed from the 1990s service intervals for Unos, Tipos, Pandas and Puntos back in the mineral oil days of OlioFiat VS+ or the first Selenia semi-synthetics.

Presumably it's because now they've gone to tiny sumps with watery-thin oils and hard working engines that are either thrashing about or stopping and starting all the damn time.

Ain't progress a wonderful thing...

bluejohn125 said:

This is pretty hilarious, basically now nothing has changed from the 1990s service intervals for Unos, Tipos, Pandas and Puntos back in the mineral oil days of OlioFiat VS+ or the first Selenia semi-synthetics.

Presumably it's because now they've gone to tiny sumps with watery-thin oils and hard working engines that are either thrashing about or stopping and starting all the damn time.

Ain't progress a wonderful thing...

Click to expand...

To be honest, fully synthetic oil is quite cheap. I just top it up when necessary every few thousand miles and change it once a year, regardless of mileage (about 15-20,000 kms), by which time the spark plugs start being miserable anyway and of course it being a good time to change the climate filter.

So life is simple, just do a full fat service once a year if you use the car daily = )