General Fiat 500 MPG

[PuntoSS]

Recently, I hired a '61 plate Fiat 500 Lounge to drive to the south coast for a day and back. The whole duration I had the car I was shocked by the MPG and how quickly it was drinking the petrol.

Both urban and motorways and combined, according to the trip computer it was doing 37mpg. I was driving it sensibly and doing smooth gear changes so not as if it was under any strain. I left on a full tank, and this was a 300 mile round trip and by the time I got home, just about 2 miles from my house the fuel warning light came on.

Does anyone else have this problem with their 500? I was tempted to look at buying one in a few years but after experiencing that in the rental car it's completely put me off!
Even my Renault Twingo gives more MPG than the 500!!

 

[pearce_jj]

What engine? Were the tyre pressures correct?

 

[PuntoSS]

it was a 1242cc engine, and the tyre pressures were fine, as I say it was a brand new car (not even a month old!) when I hired it

 

[RUI]

I am getting 60mpg on my 1.2 500 with 175 tyres right now, but my car has 14,000 miles on it.

 

[Funky Spike]

Did you reset the trip when you got the car? The car had probably been driven flat out by the car rental staff before you got it and if it had been for quite a distance it would take a long time for the average to recover. Also can you be sure the tank was completely full when you got it? Mine does about seventy miles before it drops down from full.

 

[blitz7287]

Im still only getting between 42-50mpg with mine and its got almost 4400 miles on it now. but coming back from squires gate the other day i saw 53mpg on the motorway.

 

[frupi]

Our 1.2 POP now has 2500 miles on it and is averaging 50 to 52 mpg. But then the wife doesn't stomp it at all. Very hard to stomp anywhere in a standard 1200cc! Drive a-ways are leisurely and we are both more than happy to sit on the M1 at 65 mph. Ours was an ex hire car, but with only 821 miles on the clock when we got it, it hadn't seen too much action. I've been keeping an eye on the oil too, and thankfully, it isn't burning a drop. I also check the tyre pressures weekly, which might seem over the top to some, but I believe it is totally worth it.

 

[PuntoSS]

Our 1.2 POP now has 2500 miles on it and is averaging 50 to 52 mpg. But then the wife doesn't stomp it at all. Very hard to stomp anywhere in a standard 1200cc! Drive a-ways are leisurely and we are both more than happy to sit on the M1 at 65 mph. Ours was an ex hire car, but with only 821 miles on the clock when we got it, it hadn't seen too much action. I've been keeping an eye on the oil too, and thankfully, it isn't burning a drop. I also check the tyre pressures weekly, which might seem over the top to some, but I believe it is totally worth it.

The oil gauge was low on initial engine start-up, but presumed that was just the engine warming up, because the levels crept up gradually.

Did you reset the trip when you got the car? The car had probably been driven flat out by the car rental staff before you got it and if it had been for quite a distance it would take a long time for the average to recover. Also can you be sure the tank was completely full when you got it? Mine does about seventy miles before it drops down from full.

I didn't but surely the fact that it had a full tank when I collected and had been on a 300mile round trip would be enough for it to know what MPG it had done/was doing? And also the fact when I arrived home the fuel warning light was on and the range was about 10 miles!!

Don't get me wrong, I loved everything about the car, it was fun, quirky, characteristic etc, just the MPG seemed to let it down. It had 2,500 miles on it so it had been about a fair bit.

 

[Harbuzi]

We've had our 1.2 lounge for a week now...has about 300 miles on the clock and
Mpg is at 45.5, which is good for the first tank!

 

[jrkitching]

The oil gauge was low on initial engine start-up, but presumed that was just the engine warming up, because the levels crept up gradually.

The 1.2 500 does not have an oil gauge, so I'm wondering what engine was in your hire car.

The 1.2, if driven carefully, is one of the most economical petrol cars you can buy and with 8000 miles on the clock mine will regularly show 70+mpg on the trip after a decent run. I've been getting a measured 62mpg average over the last summer & am now within a whisker of 60mpg overall since buying the car new. So in your case, I'm thinking one or more of the following:

- there was something wrong with the car (there's a myriad of possibilities but unless the breather hoses were in tatters, there are no other common faults posted on here which would cause that kind of a drop, )

- the car was delivered to you with significantly less than a full tank

- you were driving in a manner wholly inconsistent with good fuel economy

- you hired an 0.9 TwinAir, which has been the subject of numerous posts about disappointing economy.

 

[RobinPJ]

My vote goes for it being a TA!

 

[tingtang1]

The 1.2 500 does not have an oil gauge, so I'm wondering what engine was in your hire car.

The 1.2, if driven carefully, is one of the most economical petrol cars you can buy and with 8000 miles on the clock mine will regularly show 70+mpg on the trip after a decent run. I've been getting a measured 62mpg average over the last summer & am now within a whisker of 60mpg overall since buying the car new. So in your case, I'm thinking one or more of the following:

- there was something wrong with the car (there's a myriad of possibilities but unless the breather hoses were in tatters, there are no other common faults posted on here which would cause that kind of a drop, )

- the car was delivered to you with significantly less than a full tank

- you were driving in a manner wholly inconsistent with good fuel economy

- you hired an 0.9 TwinAir, which has been the subject of numerous posts about disappointing economy.

Hi jrkitching, this may not be directly related to the original post but I've read your comments several times about getting 60+ mpg. Any tips that you'd care to share on how you achieve this mpg or your general driving tips? Many thanks.

 

[Chrisilda]

My vote goes for it being a TA!

I agree with Robin... Moreover, i used to drive a friend's 1.2 500 for 2 weeks(mine still hasn't arrived) and an average consumption of 62 mpg is possible without any special tips.

 

[grimwau]

The oil gauge was low on initial engine start-up, but presumed that was just the engine warming up, because the levels crept up gradually.

The 1.2 500 does not have an oil gauge, so I'm wondering what engine was in your hire car.

My vote goes for it being a TA!

AFAIK none of the variants have an oil gauge, I am assuming that the OP was referring to the dipstick but perhaps PuntoSS will clarify.

 

[306maxi]

I didn't but surely the fact that it had a full tank when I collected and had been on a 300mile round trip would be enough for it to know what MPG it had done/was doing? And also the fact when I arrived home the fuel warning light was on and the range was about 10 miles!!

Hmmm there is some strangeness going on here. A 500 will NEVER display a range of 10 miles. It will never do this! It simply can't do this at all! The lowest range a 500 can display is 30 miles, below this it will display a range of -- to indicate that you should fuel up ASAP.

As for the tank being full, with the fuel gauge on the 500 being digital, the fuel gauge will show full right up untill it reaches the value at which the gauge shows 7/8th's full so it wasn't necessarily full.

 

[RobinPJ]

Hmmm there is some strangeness going on here. A 500 will NEVER display a range of 10 miles. It will never do this! It simply can't do this at all! The lowest range a 500 can display is 30 miles, below this it will display a range of -- to indicate that you should fuel up ASAP.

As for the tank being full, with the fuel gauge on the 500 being digital, the fuel gauge will show full right up untill it reaches the value at which the gauge shows 7/8th's full so it wasn't necessarily full.

Good points well made!

 

[Super Uwe]

Im still only getting between 42-50mpg with mine and its got almost 4400 miles on it now. but coming back from squires gate the other day i saw 53mpg on the motorway.

Hey blitz7287,

I've often looked at your MPG figures and wondered what was going on, they do seem to be very low for a 1.2.

Do you do a lot of town/city driving, or do you do a lot of short journeys?

Your figure of 53mpg is pretty much bang on when doing 70 on the motorway though, so that is good to hear I guess.

 

[Super Uwe]

The oil gauge was low on initial engine start-up, but presumed that was just the engine warming up, because the levels crept up gradually.

When you talk about the oil gauge, are you referring to the gauge to the right of the central dial? Like this one...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_L-XlgbsEZ.../s400/NewFiat500_dashboard_Paulo_Keller_1.jpg

If so then that's your temperature gauge, not the oil one.

 

[Assimilate]

I've got a 1.2 Lounge, and I can't get above 39mpg

I have only got about 400 miles on the clock, and my journey to work is 6 miles on 30 and 40 mph roads, with the last 1.5 miles generally being in stop start traffic.

Also, the bit of Derby I live in is the hilly side - and I don't think Fifi likes hills!

I'll be getting the bunting out the day I get more than 40mpg...

 

[TrevC]

Assimilate
Given your journey description, 39mpg is probably right. As Fifi is so new, taking her for a few decent runs would be a good move, to help bed everything in. A decent out of town journey should see a big improvement in your mpg figure (remember to reset the trip). You may see a small improvement in your commute figures when you've got some miles on her, but this wasn't that noticeable with my TA.