Off Topic who says the 1.2 is no good

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Off Topic who says the 1.2 is no good

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Hi everyone

A few days ago i went on a camping trip and was unable to borrow my parents Mondeo, so i was forced to use the 500 and I was very very surprised how the 500 coped with the journey (for those of you who dont know i have a 1.2 street)

Anyway despite the car having 3 people onboard and the boot full of luggage and the spare seat also used for luggage i managed the 260 mile rounpd trip on just under 3/4 of a tank whilst averaging 46.6 mpg and an average speed of 42 mph (all according to the trip computer) also i should point out i had the A/C on for part of the journey. and not once did i find the car lacking in power on any of the hills.

So as far as I'm concerned. the 1.2 litre engine is more than capable for the little 500 even for holliday with a few mates on some A and B roads as well as motorway's

Thanks, Alex
 
The 1.2 has always been a great little motor for the 500, so you're quite right not to be surprised too much:)

But the problem of course is all related to the Euro6 thread, as there are obviously a significant number of people who have suffered from this throttle/hill start issue (which we still don't know the full information about, nor will we ever find out I expect).

It's tainted the 1.2s reputation, that's for sure. But that's primarily with existing customers and general Fiat fans; anyone newly experiencing the brand without any knowledge of the "Watchdog" cars will be completely unaware in all likelihood.
 
Amen to this!

And I can confirm the 1.2 is definitely enough for B roads. Oh yes.

Absolutely agree, as long as you keep the momentum going (which is part of the appeal of small engined cars) they are really fun.

Only downside is overtaking on rural A and B roads.

Although my 500S feels quicker than my wife's Lounge (probably because it's loosened up more) the Lounge feels better. I think this is down to the adverse affect the larger wheels and tyres have on the damping on the 500S. I'm pretty sure they are exactly the same spring and dampers on the 500S and the Lounge.

A bit disappointing given the sporting pretentious of the S.

Although I'm really happy with the 1.2 I'm sorry I didn't push the boat out and go for an Abarth. Not going to happen for a while I guess given all the tedious c**p about 1.2's and the depreciation mine has suffered.
 
I want to save up and get an Abarth. To be honest if I'm lucky I can get a few grande for my 500 and maybe get a second hand Abarth. Who knows!
 
I've done a lot of long trips in Australia in my little 500 pop. It's amazing little engine especially with a 5 speed manual.

Honestly out of 35,000kms it done. Almost half of that were long trips and adventures. Other half was just commute to work and back and some short trips to shops/friends etc.

Love this car more than my 2015 Golf R. Lol!!
 
Absolutely agree, as long as you keep the momentum going (which is part of the appeal of small engined cars) they are really fun.

Only downside is overtaking on rural A and B roads.

Although my 500S feels quicker than my wife's Lounge (probably because it's loosened up more) the Lounge feels better. I think this is down to the adverse affect the larger wheels and tyres have on the damping on the 500S. I'm pretty sure they are exactly the same spring and dampers on the 500S and the Lounge.

A bit disappointing given the sporting pretentious of the S.

Although I'm really happy with the 1.2 I'm sorry I didn't push the boat out and go for an Abarth. Not going to happen for a while I guess given all the tedious c**p about 1.2's and the depreciation mine has suffered.

You could always go half way and get a 105 TA, Chris Rees from Auto Italia who is a big Fiat fan rates them ahead of Abarths and reckons they're the best all round 500 to date. I think this is more to do with what they're like to live with day to day rather then purely performance. I havent driven either sadly so can't comment!
 
The 1.2 is great little engine, I've had several Punto's and Panda's with them
and currently have a 500 (08) and a euro 6 Panda. (14)
It not just the Press that have dissed the 1.2 however, I get fed up on this forum over how many TA owners slag it off as well telling people that its no good for long distance or motorway work.:mad: (I'm sure the last laugh will be on the 1.2 though. I suspect the TA will be a rather delicate engine in later life, it doesn't suffer bad driving and cheap servicing well).
Still it was the same when the 500 first came out only then it was the Diesel and 1.4 owners doing the calling.
We're actually taking our 1.2 Panda on holiday to Scotland this year as its a far better motorway cruiser than our 1.4 Punto Evo.
 
The 1.2 is great little engine, I've had several Punto's and Panda's with them
and currently have a 500 (08) and a euro 6 Panda. (14)
It not just the Press that have dissed the 1.2 however, I get fed up on this forum over how many TA owners slag it off as well telling people that its no good for long distance or motorway work.:mad: (I'm sure the last laugh will be on the 1.2 though. I suspect the TA will be a rather delicate engine in later life, it doesn't suffer bad driving and cheap servicing well).
Still it was the same when the 500 first came out only then it was the Diesel and 1.4 owners doing the calling.
We're actually taking our 1.2 Panda on holiday to Scotland this year as its a far better motorway cruiser than our 1.4 Punto Evo.

yep, I had a lend of 1.2 Pop a few years back and the engine was really sweet and suited the car well. In the end I bought a TA which was in early 2014 and I sometimes regretted not going for the 1.2 however now with all the Euro6 stuff going on I'm really glad I dident as I probably would have got a duff one. More then happy with the TA though and wouldent swop back but I've lots of respect for the 1.2 :worship:
 
The 1.2 is great little engine, I've had several Punto's and Panda's with them
and currently have a 500 (08) and a euro 6 Panda. (14)
It not just the Press that have dissed the 1.2 however, I get fed up on this forum over how many TA owners slag it off as well telling people that its no good for long distance or motorway work.:mad: (I'm sure the last laugh will be on the 1.2 though. I suspect the TA will be a rather delicate engine in later life, it doesn't suffer bad driving and cheap servicing well).
Still it was the same when the 500 first came out only then it was the Diesel and 1.4 owners doing the calling.
We're actually taking our 1.2 Panda on holiday to Scotland this year as its a far better motorway cruiser than our 1.4 Punto Evo.

I think we may possibly have discussed this before - the 1.4 in our Punto has a really short fifth gear, so it's already revving quite hard when you hit 60mph, let alone 70mph.

Almost like it needs a sixth gear, is that what you think? Other than that though, funnily enough I do seem to achieve better indicated mpg figures in our Punto than in my wife's 1.2 500 when driving day to day journeys on A/B roads; the 500s comparatively long fifth gear is no real use when it gets hilly around here, so you have to change down to third or fourth.

The Punto on the other hand can pretty much stay in fifth as long as you are doing more than 35mph, regardless of the incline:eek:
 
I think we may possibly have discussed this before - the 1.4 in our Punto has a really short fifth gear, so it's already revving quite hard when you hit 60mph, let alone 70mph.

Almost like it needs a sixth gear, is that what you think? Other than that though, funnily enough I do seem to achieve better indicated mpg figures in our Punto than in my wife's 1.2 500 when driving day to day journeys on A/B roads; the 500s comparatively long fifth gear is no real use when it gets hilly around here, so you have to change down to third or fourth.

The Punto on the other hand can pretty much stay in fifth as long as you are doing more than 35mph, regardless of the incline:eek:

Yes that's right I think we have talked on this briefly.
It drives me mad on long journeys. last time we took it to Scotland, although the car handled the 6 hour journey faultlessly, It starts to grate after a while, mile after mile with the engine screaming.
The panda and the 500 are quite refined by comparison.
 
Well my wife has a 14 plate 1.2 and I think its great, she used to have a 52 plate 1.2 Punto MK2.
She's always wanted a 500 but was worried about the "watchdog" report, but we came across the 500 in chillout purple with only 2300 miles on the clock at a great price and bought it.
It has had to go back to the dealer as it became very sluggish, but 1 hour later and it was back to being its fast little self again. The software had a glitch and needed to be redone, and I must say Alexanders of Teeside were fantastic about this. The mechanic test drove it, reapplied the software and test drove it again, then let it cool down and test drove it again. Its been fine ever since, but I guess the last owner only doing 2300 miles in 1 year didn't do the car any favours. The wife has done that mileage in 7 weeks !!
As for me I'm coming up to week 3 in my wait for a 500 S 105hp twin air, which I'm trading a 57 plate Jaguar X Type 2.0D in for. So hopefully by the middle of September I'll be a 500 owner too, and well placed to give a verdict on both the twin air and 1.2 500's.
My initial verdict on the 1.2 is that its a cracking little car that does go well, we have surprised a few bigger cars off the mark, and its very capable on the motorway. One thing I have noticed though is that you have to be very aware of gear selection, 2500-3000 revs will give a decent pick up of speed but below this and speed comes rather slower.
 
I have a GP and the 1.2 is a cracking little engine. It loves to rev even with just 8 valves, and seems happiest between 3-4k. But it is equally happy poodling along in 3-5thgear at 2000 revs.

Even in that much heavier GP, it never feals underpowered to me once you are on the go . It's just that the 1st gear is short to get away. I love it on motorways at 4000 revs and doing 80mph; the car is very quiet anyhow apart from some road and tyre noise.

It's cheap and easy to service, and it seems almost indestructable as I never read about blown-up or early retired 1.2 engines, even though many must be badly serviced or even not at all with oil. An others get only 1 mile trips to the shops or work down the road.

In fact it's so good that FORD has put it in its latest Ka ( made in the Panda factory) from 2009 onwards.
 
Having had a few loan 500's and Panda 1.2's I found the engine to be absolutely fine in these cars and perfectly capable on the motorway.

It's not though in the Grande Punto - it's terrible, very sluggish, the 1.4 8v is also woeful in performance. I remember on an a road dual carriageway once moving into the second lane to over take a car leaving what I though was plenty of time, foot to the floor and nothing but a long drawn slow acceleration drag that a car came speeding up behind me flashing it's head lights to move out the way!

I under estimated its performance having just dropped off my 1.9 m-jet 120 at the garage.
 
I have a GP and the 1.2 is a cracking little engine. It loves to rev even with just 8 valves, and seems happiest between 3-4k. But it is equally happy poodling along in 3-5thgear at 2000 revs.

I've never really got the "loves to rev" thing about the 1.2, but it's mentioned so often that I wonder a) whether my 1.2 was a little odd or b) people saying it haven't driven especially peaky engines.

I mean, it'd rev up OK but it's indicated redline (IIRC) was 6k and TBH there wasn't really any more performance available once you were much above 4k. Much happier between 2500-4000RPM where you could make reasonable progress..

My Swift is totally different in character (as you would expect)- I'd describe that as free revving and peaky. I'd suspect most 1.2 500 drivers wouldn't actually like its characteristics.

And yes, the (EU5) 1.2 is perfectly adequate for the 500. Nothing to write home about though, but as above seems very reliable providing basic maintenance is provided. 18k oil change intervals probably won't do it much good though.
 
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Having had a few loan 500's and Panda 1.2's I found the engine to be absolutely fine in these cars and perfectly capable on the motorway.

It's not though in the Grande Punto - it's terrible, very sluggish, the 1.4 8v is also woeful in performance. I remember on an a road dual carriageway once moving into the second lane to over take a car leaving what I though was plenty of time, foot to the floor and nothing but a long drawn slow acceleration drag that a car came speeding up behind me flashing it's head lights to move out the way!

I under estimated its performance having just dropped off my 1.9 m-jet 120 at the garage.

with the 1.4 you need to change down gears. don't even think of trying to overtake unless at max torque at 4,250 rpm.
Must be hard for you diesel owners to switch to NA's. haha
 
with the 1.4 you need to change down gears. don't even think of trying to overtake unless at max torque at 4,250 rpm.
Must be hard for you diesel owners to switch to NA's. haha

Bear in mind that's the 8 valve 1.4 in the Punto- 77bhp rather than the 16 valve 100bhp unit in the 500.
 
Bear in mind that's the 8 valve 1.4 in the Punto- 77bhp rather than the 16 valve 100bhp unit in the 500.


Still I doubt the 1.4 8v has enough low down torque to pull a barge as heavy as the punto it's what 200 kgs heavier than the 500?
 
the 1.2 8v is a solid and nice engine

Its DIY mechanic friendly with realtively easy Headgaskets and Timing belts (Earlier mk2 punto wise) - dont know how easy the Grande's is

But the engine is very happy on a motorway, sitting at 3 - 4k cruising in the outside lane :)

I drove from ye olde skeggy to the midlands - all the way my little engine worked fine up and down hills and on the dual carriageways

I kept seeing figures like 50mpg + on the good long straights

Ziggy
 
I think that the FIRE engine has always been a good engine even the 1108cc unit in my Seicento Sporting (still miss that car) was good cost me £10 a week in fuel even if i thrashed it

my mk2b punto had the 1.2 8v engine that was good too, made the trip from falkirk to home on just over a quater of a tank and was easy to work on

all theese engines need is a bit of planning for overtaking and keeping momentum on hills. In the 500 ive only once thought it needed more power, turns out i was in 4th doing 25 trying to go up a hill, changed down a gear it was fine

Really strong engines but as someone pointed out the euro 6 issue has gave it a bad rep which is hopefully getting resolved.
 
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