1.2 FIRE
Pros
- Reliable - correct
- Easy to maintain - correct
- Smooth - correct, not as good as it was though
- Quieter - only at low speed/revs
- Four cylinders - yes
- Still produced (sign of superiority?) - sure, it's a decent engine
Cons
- Old - yes
- Slower - yes, frustratingly so at times
- Has a flat spot - i hadn't noticed
- Less powerful (69hp) - yes
TwinAir Engine
Pros
- Faster - by a mile compared to the 1.2
- Newer technology - yes
- Sounds great - yes
Cons
- Always being hammered - sounds like it, but it's not bothered.
- Noisy! - only if you thrash it between traffic lights and round town.
- Worse fuel consumption - if you hammer it, but the newer 1.2 arguably needs more hammering.
- Discontinued - only in 'regular' Panda's - still available to buy new in the 4x4 and Fiat 500.
- Can't hack cruising at 70mph as well (?) - COMPLETELY wrong, it laps it up. Gets eerily quiet too, all you can hear is the road noise, unlike the 1.2 which is booming away under the bonnet.
- More complex to fix with its turbo system - true, though it seems reliable so far.
- Reduced longevity of less cylinders / more power throughput - possibly, but there's been few horror stories and it's been available since 2011 in the Fiat 500.
Am I about right or missing something here?
You need to take one for a drive on the open road. My Parents had a 500 TwinAir from new for over 3 years and 30,000 miles and it was an absolute riot. It wasn't as quiet as the 1.2 around town, but I found it much easier to drive without the annoying surging revs that the 1.2 does unless you disconnect the clutch switch, which you shouldn't have to. On the open road it showed up cars of twice or three times the size though. Would sit at 70mph happily with power in reserve and because you don't have to keep changing down on an incline, the fuel economy never seemed worse than a 1.2 either.
You're probably (and I can't blame you) comparing the TwinAir to the 1.2 fitted to your current Panda. They were a gem of an engine. Unfortunately along the years of tightening emissions etc, Fiat has fiddled with the 1.2, added VVT and no doubt other bits and pieces and as such the 1.2 feels somewhat strained compared to what it once did. I loved the 1.2 I had in a Mk1 Punto and would buy a car with that engine in a heartbeat, but given the choice between todays 1.2 or a TwinAir, it'd be the TwinAir without any hesitation.