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General 4x4 Multijet motorway mpg

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General 4x4 Multijet motorway mpg

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Toomanytoys

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I have searched but not really found a closer answer for the MJ..
I see most Twin Air generally average 45mpg especially if driving enthusiastically... (Maybe less at motorway speeds)
Will a MJ be much better? (50mpg? 55mpg?)
My current commute entails mainly a motorway run, but that will prob change to a cross country run in a few months..

Or, would the Twin air be more fun to drive and the fuel price difference negate the extra mpg... ??
I can spend up to 6k..
Any difference in maintenance costs would not really affect me as I do pretty much all my own maint, so either would be serviced every 6-8k, regardless.

Some quick number calcs puts the MJ about £100 better off calculated over 20k miles (assuming 45mpg/50mpg and using gov expense claim ppm) so in my opinion, not worth worrying about.. so it would come down to the realistic mpg, better/fun drive, balanced with ultimate reliability over extended miles. (It will get some miles racked up)
Any insights welcome..
Cheers Si.

Edits for extra thoughts..
 
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I get around 45 in my Twinair, and that’s with the wretched ECO mode OFF. Closer to 50 with it on. Above that on a long flat run is achievable, but it‘s not a car for anyone with a heavy right foot if MPG is the goal. The Twinair is easier to recommend on performance, rather than economy.

As far as the MJ is concerned, the diseasel era is over, hard to recommend one in this day and age.
 
Hi :)

Why do you want a 4x4 for racking up m.way miles?

I like TA's but the diesel is better for long term reliabilty (especially as a used purchase)

The reality of Diesel emission charging near Citys is real.. and a major consideration longer term

My TAs are £0 ved and cheap on insurance.. they are fwd only

I see mid 50's mpg..

Wheras the 1248 diesels get nearer 65 mpg.

Biggest issue with the Twinair panda is low gear ratios.. so 70 mph is 3,000 rpm

Diesel is@ 2,500.. it makes a difference for refinement also
 
Thanks for all the info..
So 40-45 realistic and poss a bit more on a "behaving" day... From a TwinAir...
55+ seems likely for the Multijet which possibly will feel a little more refined, but not as nippy/fun.
Reliability seems to be similar.. TA can give issues if not serviced regularly with the correct oil it seems, but similar can be said about a lot of vehicles these days.

I don't go into cities in a car.. Some diesels still have a place, but I would never buy a new one.. and agree their time is limited..
It won't get used just on a motorway and that won't last much longer, there are other reasons for 4x4 and am looking at 2wd and other options...

Just the panda 4x4 ticks a lot of boxes for the needs for where I will be working and living.. and always been a fan of Fiat's.. (owned. Original 500, Panda 1000S, Cinquecento Sporting, Marea 2.4td)

Cheers
 
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I've had a couple of 4x4 MJ's (actually, three, but one was written off after just a few weeks!).. the first, a 2013 car with the 75bhp Euro5 engine regularly returned 64mpg on a 50 mile daily round trip of motorway and urban traffic. It was a quicker car than the 2005 4x4 it replaced (with the 1.2 petrol) and never felt underpowered.

The more recent is a 2018 Euro6 MJ with 95bhp. It is definitely quicker (quoted 0-60 in 12.3 seconds, with 12.4 for the TA, according to Parkers) but has a slight irritation of being tricky to hold at 30mph as this coincides with 1500 rpm (in fourth) where the turbo is just on the edge of cutting in, meaning it can be a bit 'surge-y'. Fine at 28 or 32! It also does this at 40mph in fifth (also 1500 rpm). Its certainly a nippy car, with no sign of turbo lag. Also, its gearing is (reportedly) more favourable than the TwiAir -- the latter has a super-low first gear so you can very quickly hit the rev limiter if trying to pull away spiritedly. The MJ has masses of torque and so doesn't need that super low gear. Being a diesel it also has copious amounts of engine braking, so gear-controlled off-road descents are (again, reportedly) easier... I've not yet felt I'd need the hill descent control of the Cross.

The newer car seems to be slightly less frugal than the 2013 one, but still averages in the mid 50s mpg. It is (like most cars are) at its most economical at 55-60mph on a smooth road. On the non-motorway run to our holiday-let cottage in Norfolk it will arrive after a 100 mile journey saying the tank range is the same as it was when we set off from Hertfordshire!

Cruising at a true 70mph on the motorway is fine (speedo shows 74), and it will surge up to 90 very quickly without a gear change (if you need to blat past something). But at 70 mph its on 2800 rpm which is quite a lot for a diesel. Its not excessively noisy though - there's more noise from the tyres and wind than the engine that speed.

In a 4x4 I'd go for the MJ over the TA personally -- in E6 guise it's exempt from all ULEZ diesel charges, and it has more off-road lugging power. But note the Euro6 engine was only available in the very last few registered here (from I think, mid-2017?). Any MJ before then will be Euro5 spec and so subject to charges in some cities now. The last to be registered were in about May 2018, after which, Fiat dropped the diesel, and also the TA in most of the Panda models apart from the 4x4/Cross 4x4 as actually both engines faired badly in real-world emissions testing: the TwinAir had higher CO2 values than the diesel (TA rated 'D', MJ 'C' - see https://airindex.com/search/hatchback/Fiat/Panda/201948 and here https://airindex.com/search/hatchback/Fiat/Panda/201950 ), and the real-world NOx from the diesel was a lot higher than lab testing had predicted.
 
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I too had a 2013 MJ 4x4 for 6 years & absolutely loved it. I was getting 55-60mpg on mixed runs & like HH said, it would surge up to 90mph for overtaking on the motorway without a gear change. Best of all - it was solid. The extra weight of the MJ made it less likely to be bothered by cross-winds. I've recently changed to a 2015 TA 4x4 purely to over come ULEZ, but it is definitely harder to handle when it's windy. I've had it 4 months now & I gave the ECO button a good go but it just made the car so boring. It's much "nippier" with it off & my average mpg for the last 3,000 miles is 41mpg. This is my 3rd Panda 4x4 & hopefully not my last, they are seriously "good fun" to drive plus I think they look great too - get a Green one with the winter pack would be my recommendation!
 
Thank you.. just the kind of info I was looking for..
Don't think I can stretch my budget to a E6 one tho.. if I could find one... looking at a 2013/14 car with sensible miles on in my 6k budget..
 
Marcus Daly said:
Good 4x4s don’t hang around, there are always buyers for them.
Click to expand...
And diesels especially so. According to the ‘How many left’ website, only around 2500 were registered in the UK since being introduced (that’s regular 4x4, Cross 4x4 and the odd ‘special edition’ like the Antarctica - and may include the Cross version of the older 169 Panda). That’s a pretty small pool to satisfy a second hand market.

Mine, a ‘regular’ 4x4 is actually shown as Mulitjet [note the wrong spelling] Cross 4x4 on the v5…. I’ve not bothered to have it changed - it’s not a Cross but that (with the spelling mistake) must have been the option on a drop-down list at the DVLA. There are several others listed identically (with ‘mulitjet’ engines)… https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/fiat_panda_cross_mulitjet_4x4
 
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What a fascinating link.

It reports that Fiat UK is still selling as many new TA 4x4s as they ever have, which surprises me, 12000 a year (that’s just standard 4x4, not Cross). That’s not a big number in overall industry terms, but I bet few other cars have been such steady sellers for nearly a decade.
 
Marcus Daly said:
What a fascinating link.

It reports that Fiat UK is still selling as many new TA 4x4s as they ever have, which surprises me, 12000 a year (that’s just standard 4x4, not Cross). That’s not a big number in overall industry terms, but I bet few other cars have been such steady sellers for nearly a decade.
Click to expand...
It shows the total number on the road in each quarter, not sales. It shows new registrations a couple of tabs along.
 
Mmm..
I am led to believe my main car only sold 184 in the time it was available.. and no, it isn't some exotica, a bit left field tho... Subaru Outback 3.6R...
 
Marcus Daly said:
What a fascinating link.

It reports that Fiat UK is still selling as many new TA 4x4s as they ever have, which surprises me, 12000 a year (that’s just standard 4x4, not Cross). That’s not a big number in overall industry terms, but I bet few other cars have been such steady sellers for nearly a decade.
Click to expand...
Others have commented too, but the main data it shows is the *cumulative* total... the number being registered each year is rather smaller and shown in the 'registrations' tab at the top of each graph (which is why the total doesn't really change much). Here's the diesel registrations (since that was still open on my screen). My 4x4 was registered on 31 May 2018, and I suspect one of the last diesel Pandas in the U.K.. I bought it in August 2018 as a 'pre reg' with just four miles on the clock. With metallic paint, winter pack and space saver spare for just £13000 (list with those options was over £17000). At three years old, when being MOT'd by the dealer (as still under warranty - just), they offered me about the same sum to buy it back from me, at 30-odd thousand miles. Apparently the Euro 6 4x4 is a highly sought after second hand purchase. (Its not for sale...)

1646750357334.png
 
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I know it's not quite the right forum, but what about an earlier panda cross?? (Seeming how there seems to be some historical P4x4 owners here)
 
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