With the demise of the Bravo, now even removed from the Fiat UK sales website, there appears to be no Multiair engines in the lineup.

The 500L MPW has only just been fitted with the 1.4 T-Jet 120BHP unit. The rest of the Fiat range now appear to have only the low powered petrol engines or the 1.3 & 1.6 Multijet turbo diesel models.

I would have thought that the 500L MPW & Trekking would have gone for the more powerful, cleaner, more fuel efficient 1.4 Multiair engine and not the older T-Jet?

Is the Multiair unit not proving to be as good and as reliable as all the marketing would suggest?

Not sure of the reasons behind it but it does seem to be only Alfa & Abarth with the MultiAir engines now. No Fiat or Chrysler models have them now the Bravo & Delta have been wound down & the Punto's range trimmed to the cheaper models.


There has been some MultiAir unit failures on the early cars, but this seems to have been amplified by the lengthy service intervals and the fact that the oil the car needs, the oil specced in the service book and the oil put in by dealers often doesn't match. On Alfa, many people are getting wise to this now & double checking the correct oil is used & if/when it isn't, some people have returned to the dealer & insisted the oil be drained & replaced FOC.

However, I think in Fiat's case the reason for no MultiAir's in the current line up is just capacity - the smallest MultiAir was a 105bhp, but appeared a bit of a stop-gap till the TwinAir 105 was introduced. This engine is now fitted to the 500L, MiTo and in other markets, the Punto, negating the need for the MultiAir 105bhp.

The MultiAir 135bhp could work in the 500L but I believe in other markets they do a dual fuel T-Jet 120bhp, so probably decided to just use that engine instead of having to make the MultiAir compatible with dual-fuel. The Punto did have the 135 but hardly any sold because of price so it got pulled along with the 1.6 Multijet diesel.

Then there's the MultiAir 170. Tbh I think nothing in Fiat's range other than the Bravo would've warranted such bhp, so that's why it's not available. The MultiAir has been uprated to 140bhp for use in the Alfa MiTo (replacing the 135) and the 170 is used in the Giulietta, along with the T-Jet 120.

There is rumour that the forthcoming 500X will have a MultiAir engine though. Some reports have said 160bhp (I assume this is the 170 de-tuned). However, given that the 500L has a maximum 120bhp, I would've thought the 140bhp MultiAir would've been sufficient. Time will tell though.

Interesting views.

I'm reliably informed by a Fiat Technician that the Twin Air 105bhp whilst it may meet the published design specs is in reality a little bit of a dog especially in the heavier vehicles. Personally I can't comment as I've never driven a twin air in any mass of vehicle.

Yes some early reliability issues existed with the 1.4 Multiair engine but if my information is correct they were not extensive and possibly nothing more than to be expected with a new engine design in "real world" use as opposed to development and proving use.

However the 1.4 16V engine (naturally aspirated or turbo) like all good Fiat engines is very robust and reliable.

This begs the question why they don't bump the 120BHP unit to 140BHP with improved mapping and lower end torque?

No doubt time will tell

Alfa stole it

I wanted the Multiair or T-jet engine when I bought my punto last month. I only went in to get a price for my car service but ended up buying another punto for some unknown reason. I though I get t-jet or sporting but it seemed I only had a choice of 3 engines 1.2, 1.4 8v and diesel plus they had no sporting model as yet. So ended up buying the 1.4 8v GBT 3 door punto and to my horror fiat released the jet black version with 17" wheels only a few weeks after picking me new car up (man I missed out on that).


Anyway, drivers in the UK love sportly, hot hatch motors and fiat; time and time again are just not delivering. Even Abarth have stopped doing the Abarth punto evo and is only doing a 500 model. Fiat need to get off their butts and start releasing a 2.0 punto sport or something like that.

Ganger said:

I wanted the Multiair or T-jet engine when I bought my punto last month. I only went in to get a price for my car service but ended up buying another punto for some unknown reason. I though I get t-jet or sporting but it seemed I only had a choice of 3 engines 1.2, 1.4 8v and diesel plus they had no sporting model as yet. So ended up buying the 1.4 8v GBT 3 door punto and to my horror fiat released the jet black version with 17" wheels only a few weeks after picking me new car up (man I missed out on that).


Anyway, drivers in the UK love sportly, hot hatch motors and fiat; time and time again are just not delivering. Even Abarth have stopped doing the Abarth punto evo and is only doing a 500 model. Fiat need to get off their butts and start releasing a 2.0 punto sport or something like that.

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We need stuff like the punto turbo or HGT back, imagine how well the 1.4multi air turbo with a bit of kit on would sell!
Kids would go mad for them.

GrandeGuy said:

We need stuff like the punto turbo or HGT back, imagine how well the 1.4multi air turbo with a bit of kit on would sell!
Kids would go mad for them.

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Fiat need something in the range along them lines. But again I don't understand fiats way of thinking, its rivals are all doing sporty hatches

There is only one multiair engine on offer - a 170bhp version for the Giulietta. The Mito has only twin air and diesels. The Punto offering is pathetic, with just 8v petrol engines with max bhp 77. They don't even offer a T Jet version. I have a Stilo 1.4 95bhp and there is now nothing in the Fiat or Alfa ranges that I can switch to. The main question is why did they spend such huge amounts on developing the mutiair concept and then drop it so quickly?

jim cooper said:

There is only one multiair engine on offer - a 170bhp version for the Giulietta. The Mito has only twin air and diesels. The Punto offering is pathetic, with just 8v petrol engines with max bhp 77. They don't even offer a T Jet version. I have a Stilo 1.4 95bhp and there is now nothing in the Fiat or Alfa ranges that I can switch to. The main question is why did they spend such huge amounts on developing the mutiair concept and then drop it so quickly?

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Exactly my thoughts, I normally change every 3years but I'm not going to because I'd lose nearly 50bhp, then thought alfa but I don't want a diesel or over powered 1.4 so gonna have to shift brands

In Italy You can get the Mito with the 140bhp MultiAir coupled with the Twin-clutch transmission.

OK, but we don't live in Italy. If Fiat has lost faith in multiair why can't we be offered a T jet to give a modicum of power. As it stands almost the whole current range is stuck with engines giving less than 100bhp when other makers are forging ahead with small capacity, powerful petrol engines. Fiat's approach is a recipe for a sales disaster.

jim cooper said:

OK, but we don't live in Italy. If Fiat has lost faith in multiair why can't we be offered a T jet to give a modicum of power. As it stands the whole current range is stuck with engines giving less than 100bhp when other makers are forging ahead with small capacity, powerful petrol engines. Fiat's approach is a recipe for a sales disaster.

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My point is that Fiat hasn't given up on multiair...the Twinair also uses multiair.
I agree that it's weird they aren't using the 140 bhp 1.4 Multiair turbo in the 500L and the Giulietta.
But let's see when the new Fiat compact hatch (and the new "Punto") arrives in 2016 (or even the 500X arriving this fall).
Fiat has also fitted multiair to the Chryslers 2.4 non-turbo petrol engine.

Punto stocks in the UK are run out models if the "while stocks last" on Fiat's website is true - and the cheaper ones at that since no one is really going to splash out much on an old soon to be replaced model.
Ideally, this car's replacement needs to offer a far broader range of engines and trim choices to be competitive, however I rather fancy Fiat are not remotely interested in the UK market.

Well, we can hope but the present line up is very unsatisfactory, especially the Punto, Mito and Giulietta. There is no incentive to buy a Punto as it is outperformed now by a Polo. Both petrol engines are ancient 8 valves - not even a Starfire 1.4 95 bhp is offered. The Mito and Giulietta are loaded with diesels - an odd arrangement for so called "sporting" cars. Not so long ago Fiat had the performance advantage over the likes of VW but they have simply given this away despite having the engines to maintain it, whether they be multiairs, T Jets or even the Star Jet. The same goes for the upper end of the M jet diesel range, which surely can't be all that problematic seeing as it powers half the campervans on the road together with the Iveco Daily. This too has been dropped (with one exception) from the Fiat car range.

Some confusion over Mito/Giulietta engine options. Looking today I found several multiair options but yesterday threw up only one (1.4 170bhp).

A lot of inaccuracies in this thread. With regards to the TwinAir 105bhp being a bit of a dog, that's not what I found when I drove it in a 500L and in the MiTo many people love the pace. It's not as economical as it's claimed to be, not by a long shot, but neither's the 85bhp TwinAir or most other tiny 2 or 3cyl petrol engines. I personally don't think the off-beat thrum suits bigger cars (or even the MiTo), but it's a matter of personal taste & I wouldn't say it was a dog purely by its design.


On the Alfa forum at least, it would seem the MultiAir failures are a little more extensive than ought to be expected with a new engine, although as per my earlier comment, some of it seems related to the wrong oil being used or oil left too long between changes. Not in all cases though I should say - some have failed at around 12,000 miles, so the oil wasn't old and it was still the factory oil in there.


There is not only one MultiAir engine available, though the Alfa configurator is hopelessly out of touch with what you can actually buy - the 170bhp is available in the Giulietta but the 140bhp is available in the MiTo. The Giulietta has 2 petrols (1.4 TB 120 and 1.4 MultiAir 170) and 3 diesels (1.6 JTDm 105, 2.0 JTDm 150 and 2.0 JTDm 175) and will gain the updated 1.7 TBi in the UK soon. The 1.7 TBi & 2.0 JTDm 175 are TCT Auto only.


MiTo has the 0.9 TwinAir 105, 1.4 MultiAir 140 and 1.4 MultiAir 170, plus 1.3 JTDm 85 and 1.6 JTDm 120. The trouble with the MiTo range is the two MultiAir's are only available as TCT Auto. This, given Renaults issues with lack of sales on the new RenaultSport Clio in Auto-only format, seems more of a mad decision than the engine choices themselves. I've driven the new MiTo 140 MultiAir TCT and it's a rapid engine and good gearbox, but do I want to be forced to have an auto in a supermini sized car? No! Especially when the only petrol manual option is the TwinAir. That'll do nothing to help the low MiTo sales. The range in the Giulietta seems fine to me though, being a mix of Auto and Manual options. A manual option for the 1.7 TBi would've done no harm though.

All cars on the Fiat Configurator say 'whilst stocks last', even newly launched models, for some daft reason. I doubt the Punto will be pulled yet, but as the Abarth Punto Evo has just gone, you never know. Perhaps they're gonna pull an Alfa 159 trick & discontinue the Punto years before a replacement is ready. It makes zero sense from what I can see, but then few of Fiats recent commercial decisions make sense to me.

The Alfa website does say multiairs are available for the Mito but when you try to configure a car you can only use the twin air for petrol versions

Fiat may not have given up with the 1.4 Multiair but what they have done is left the UK market with a void in terms of decent powerful engine options till their 2016/17 plans get delivered. Absolutely CRIMINAL IMHO. Were my beloved Croma 2005, or our Barchetta or heavan forbid our Strada Abarth 130TC to pack their bags tomorrow then Fiat have NOTHING to offer that can match any of these aforementioned and current usage vehicles. This is potential company suicide not to offer and transverse expected model demise and then ask/expect customers to wait two+ years for the modern equivalent. Now they may disagree saying well you can buy and Abarth or Alfa or Chrysler but they have missed the point. I want a Fiat. All a bit like trying to tell a modern Jaguar owner they are not driving a Ford Mondeo with a different skirt on.

I bet you all the top end executives at Fiat drive Ferraris and top end Alfas and have little time or respect for the mass market Fiat brand that has kept them in their jobs!

Meanwhile every year I go to Italy, each year for 20+ years, I see more and more Audis, Mercedes, BMWs, Citreons, Peugots etc. It is so depressing to see even the Italians are abandoning their beloved Fiat/Alfas for foreign cars.

Ain't nothing I/we can do about it as Fiat won't even give us the models and engine choices we desire in this country.

Depressing to think that at one time Fiat had the best range of affordable performance models of any maker. Quite what they are thinking at the moment beats me....pretty much their entire range at present fails to inspire - probably explains why I have a 500F, 850 Sport, Panda 4x4 (141A) and Punto 2b to play with.

Can someone not forward this thread to fiat UK or Italy, I don't want to buy German car but it's looking like it more everyday