Hi all I'm new to the forum so excuse me if this has been gone over before.

We bought an ex demo 500X 1.4 PopStar with some 2000 miles on the clock about 3 months ago. The mpg on the trip computer seemed quite low so we did the old fashioned method of run the tank down fill up and do the sums against the mileage. We did this 4 times and got one at 47mpg after a trip to London and an average of 28mpg for the cars normal use around Northampton town.
Not very pleased with this we took the car back to where we bought it and asked them to check it out amongst a few other little probs.
So this large motor company told use that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the car and it depended on road conditions and outside temperature to what mpg we would get! Their tests brought an average of 32mpg which seemed very low too.

What are you guys getting? I would appreciate if you'd let me know your mpg against your type of journey, ie town or motorway.

Apart from this we really love the car, its such a shame that this puts a dampener on it though.

I have the same car. I’m afraid it doesn’t have a brilliant MPG. 35 mpg sounds about right to me. On a run it will be about 45 ish but round town 30 to 35. I’ve had mine for 3 years and 36000 miles from new and still think it’s a fine car.

It's a large 4x4 type vehicle with a large surface area to drag it's never going to have great fuel economy

23-24 tops on my 5.5 mile commute. On the motorway, it has never even hit 40mpg. My 'ecodrive' score is currently 67 which apparently is pretty decent in start-stop driving.

I am getting this investigated along with a plethora of other issues. Will eventually post about them when my bother with FIAT is over and done with.

Garree001, Ours went back with brakes too sharp making it uncomfortable to drive in town, DAB radio almost useless, ice warning coming on at 7c, but our main gripe was fuel economy. If we'd known it was under 30mpg town driving we'd never have bought it!

Always do your research first - http://www.fuelly.com/car/fiat/500x

Looks like around the 31mpg mark seems to be average across the model range

Feedback of real world mpg here: https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/fiat/500x-2015/14-multiair
The current breed of small turbocharged engines usually achieve far worse real-world figures than the official NEDC test cycle, which is why the morer realistic WLTP cycle was introduced for new models last September. Apparently WLTP figures will be available for all new cars on sale from this coming September - should be interesting.
I have a 1.4 petrol, and according to the "A" trip, have returned just under 35mpg over the 2000-ish miles since the last service. On a 250 mile return journey to Wales at the weekend, the "B" trip showed 42mpg. My trip computer is about 5% optimistic compared to brim-brim calculations. I don't do many short journeys in traffic, but if I do I get less than 30mpg.
Hope this helps put yours in context.

I have a 1.4 too, I never expected the fuel economy to be stunning however easy driving round town I get about 36-37, I've never had above 40 not even on a motorway on cruise control, the figures are just pure lies for the extra urban quote of 48mpg. You would have to drive at 1800rpm with a near empty car to get above 40. That said I've rarely seen low 30's, overall I think it's a great engine for the size car, although a 2 litre would be better.

I think a lot depends on where you drive it and what speed. I have the 2.0MJD 4*4 AT9.

On a motorway run i'll be low to mid 40's (thats driving fast). I think if i slowed a bit (maybe 55-70mph average speed) I could reach 50mpg quite easily, as the rev's would be circa 1,500-1,900.

In short hops from cold depending on traffic it can be anywhere between 20-35mpg.

My overall average atm is 37.3mpg.

I think low 30's from what I have seen on honestjohn seems about right for the 1.4, but I could see it equally being high 20's or high 30's, again dependent on routes and speed.

My city average is 20-22 MPG and the highway average is 30-33 MPG. 2.4 petrol monstrosity here!

It's a 140 HP sports engine! Big bulky car, large wheels, fat tyres...

Plus modern Fiat engines need a good 10 - 12k miles to loosen up and run at their best efficiency... even the tiddly little twinairs and Fire 1.2s...

That's a good point too, running in. I read years back that new Fiat engine's are "tight".

We had our old 500 1.3mjd for 7 years and 15,000 miles. The fuel economy in the beginning seemed low but definitely improved as time went on. I never really calculated it precisely but I reckon it improved close on 5mpg.

cowabunga said:

That's a good point too, running in. I read years back that new Fiat engine's are "tight".

We had our old 500 1.3mjd for 7 years and 15,000 miles. The fuel economy in the beginning seemed low but definitely improved as time went on. I never really calculated it precisely but I reckon it improved close on 5mpg.

Click to expand...

Is that a typo?
15kmiles over 7 years

chris3234 said:

Is that a typo?
15kmiles over 7 years

Click to expand...

No.

I wanted the Abarth, the missus the Fiat 500, and that was about the best compromise. I did wonder if the £2,400 excess of the 1.3mjd over the 1.2 was worth it though. I drove a 1.2 for about 4 days on hire and thought the engine suited the car, probably even more than the diesel we ultimately bought.

Our daughter came along in 2013 (the 500 was about 10,000 miles then), and we kept the 500 and rented 3 series BMW's etc at xmas and for big drives so the miles dropped off. One year I took it in for a service and it had done 600 miles in 12 months.

The sister in law's got it now, a proper bargain, almost a new car, serviced every year, cared for diligently and with about £2.5k of options.

Ironically (is that the term?), our next car was cheaper than the 500... a 500x cross 2l AT9, 11 miles on the clock, with safety pack, comfort pack and spare wheel.

All, thanks for your replies, I honestly think if we had read these before buying the car we wouldn't have. In today's society of energy saving low 30's, or in our case high 20's fuel consumption is shocking.
My GF wanted a bigger car to accommodate her invalid mother, wheelchair, ease of getting in and out of the car etc. and being Italian she really wanted a Fiat (previous car 500 Lounge).

We both like the car, lots of nice features and looks, it's such a shame about the economy.

I'm off to pick it up from the dealers after they road tested it the last 3 days to see if they get the same, but I dont expect any sympathy after what I've read here.
Again many thanks for all the replies.

I wouldn't stress too much about it unless your doing high mileage. Compared to the rest of the costs of the car the difference between 30mpg ave and 40mpg ave is less than you would think. The only difference with fuel is it is a constant reminder of cost as you fill up regularly.

The biggest cost is depreciation, a sum rarely mentioned and a calculation that nobody ever seems to do. In many cases this far outweighs fuel economy.

We live in a world where the cost base of total ownership is rarely mentioned, it seems to me to be all about running costs, people study that meticulously but ignore the rest.

Boomer57 I am near Northampton and not surprised you got no sympathy from the dealer ! I have a 1.6 etorq and the engine took a good 9k to loosen up and the mpg improved. In my experience Fiat engines are tight , so I agree with you , but my last one had no oil between services in over 100K- so thats a saving too.

I've mentioned before if we are talking about a 1.4 MultiAir 140BHP Turbo engine then the MPG will be very similar to a 130BHP 1.8 naturally aspirated engine in the Fiat range.

Round numbers 30 to 32MPG average. Long runs better but as we all know one long run using 1/2 a tank of fuel makes little real difference to overall MPG when the other half tank of fuel is local/short/...