I was in driving my 1.2 from Bakewell to Matlock on Friday and was a bit worried going up those hills in 3rd gear would hurt my mpg but after filling up today, my mpg worked out at around my usual 55mpg.
General Fiat 500 MPG
- Thread starter PuntoSS
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General Fiat 500 MPG
Are you sure it was actually a 500? Not a Micra or something.. ? 
Ralf S.
Ralf S.
They do look similar
almost the same from a distance
Only a subtle difference, one is British (on that reg number, though now I believe the new Micras' are made in India) and the other is Polish! And there was me thinking the one on the left was Japanese and the one on the right was Italian. Silly me!
Caravadossi
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Climate control
What kind of weather makes petrol or diesel engines more efficient? I imagine an all-electric car might be affected by excessive humidity or extreme cold. PW, Colne
In winter, my FIAT 500 1.2 petrol returns 48-49 mpg, but in summer this improves to 55-56 mpg. This sort of difference has been experienced by readers with diesels, too. Cold will affect the battery range of an electric car and using the heater reduces its range by about 50 per cent (because there’s no warmth to divert from the engine). HJ
Telegraph Motoring (p.M5) 2011/11/19
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What kind of weather makes petrol or diesel engines more efficient? I imagine an all-electric car might be affected by excessive humidity or extreme cold. PW, Colne
In winter, my FIAT 500 1.2 petrol returns 48-49 mpg, but in summer this improves to 55-56 mpg. This sort of difference has been experienced by readers with diesels, too. Cold will affect the battery range of an electric car and using the heater reduces its range by about 50 per cent (because there’s no warmth to divert from the engine). HJ
Telegraph Motoring (p.M5) 2011/11/19
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TrevC
Established member
Hmmmm - let's assume the electric car needs about 20bhp to trundle around. From memory, there are about 700W in a horsepower, so 20bhp=14kW. For the range to halve, the heater must be consuming the same power as the motor. You'll keep mighty warm in your Leaf with a 14kW heater! Or have I got something wrong?
It won't be averaging 20bhp 'trundling around' in urban driving.
Total battery capacity of the LEAF is 24kW/h, which equates to a shade over 32bhp/h. Range is claimed to be 100 miles around town; assuming an average speed of 25mph, that's only 6kw or 8bhp/hr. On those numbers, a 3kw Fan heater would reduce the range by 1/3. Even turning the lights & HRW on might make the difference between getting home or not.
At motorway speeds, everything changes of course - but even with the heater off, I'd expect the LEAF to be on its last legs after 50 miles at a steady 70mph. Present-day technology electric vehicles only really work in urban driving, when aerodynamic drag is low & regenerative braking significantly reduces the total power required. Cold wintry conditions will also reduce battery performance & I can just imagine what LadyKitching would say if offered the choice of freezing or pushing!
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TrevC
Established member
I still think even 3kW is excessive to heat a car cabin - if a thermostatically controlled system is used I doubt that 1kW would be used once it was up to temperature. I agree with everything else LordKitching says, though. The lithium batteries that power my R/C model aircraft deliver noticably lower voltage in cold weather, which means you use more throttle to compensate, therefore more current and less duration.
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:yeahthat:
On the Leaf that I got to test drive the 'driver' of it had to go home on the back roads (around 45-50mph) to complete a round trip after coming in on the motorway. That was during the summer. I wonder what he'll be getting in a another couple of weeks.:chin:
Looking at the promise of Electric & hybrid it looks like the Electric 500 'offering' has been withdrawn despite the 'promise' of one in the making.
The re-circulation button on the Climate control is good for 'keeping' a lot of the heat generated although the 'button' goes off when you need to de-mist which is understandable. Although every so often I would knock off the re-circulation button for some fresh air. So maybe LadyKitching would like to have a fragance dispenser for the lack of fresh air so that we can keep the fuel consumption to a minimum.:idea:
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The re-circulation button on the Climate control is going for 'keeping' a lot of the heat generated although the 'button' goes off when you need to de-mist which is understandable. Although every so often I would knock off the re-circulation button for some fresh air. So maybe LadyKitching would like to have a fragance dispenser for the lack of fresh air so that we can keep the fuel consumption to a minimum.:idea:
You saying JR's missus stinks?
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You saying JR's missus stinks?
Got the impression that there was only one driver. The fragance dispenser was for the benefit of the passenger.
Found the bills for this in a drawer today when having a tidy up! It reminded me of writing this thread. I can't remember what marque it was but just the fuel consumption being very poor indeed!
I was driving sensibly with smooth gear changes and only using air con when the heat became wholly unbearable. I wouldn't abuse a car that wasn't my own, in fact I wouldn't abuse a car that was my own lol.
It was amazing to drive though, I loved its smooth handling.
I was driving sensibly with smooth gear changes and only using air con when the heat became wholly unbearable. I wouldn't abuse a car that wasn't my own, in fact I wouldn't abuse a car that was my own lol.
It was amazing to drive though, I loved its smooth handling.
Hey all, new forum member but I have lurked for years...onto my 3rd Fiat...had an Uno, then a Stilo Diesel and now a 500 Twinair Plus. (The other half also drives a 1.2 Panda).
35MPG!!! Argh. If I drive like a loon I get 32mpg and if I roll around in neutral where possible I get 38mpg.
So annoying, guess I just have to live with it and revel in the £0 car tax. My insurance was actually more expensive than the Stilo.
Still, love the car. Lots of fun.
35MPG!!! Argh. If I drive like a loon I get 32mpg and if I roll around in neutral where possible I get 38mpg.
So annoying, guess I just have to live with it and revel in the £0 car tax. My insurance was actually more expensive than the Stilo.
Still, love the car. Lots of fun.
Robnw67
New member
I would be interested if the OP was calculating the fuel consuption figures or just reading the readout from the trip computer. The reason I ask is that I checked mine (which I have had from new) on the computer and in the initial few miles, the calculation seems to be affected by having a small number of miles to base the figure on.
When mine had covered 9 miles the readout said 11mpg average. After 35 miles the readout said 25mpg average . Now that I have done 125 miles, the readout seems to be settling around the 45 to 47 mpg mark .
I filled the tank to the brim a couple of weeks ago so I should be able to carry out a brim to brim calculation soon to see how that compares which I will post on fuelly.
When mine had covered 9 miles the readout said 11mpg average
. After 35 miles the readout said 25mpg average . Now that I have done 125 miles, the readout seems to be settling around the 45 to 47 mpg mark . I filled the tank to the brim a couple of weeks ago so I should be able to carry out a brim to brim calculation soon to see how that compares which I will post on fuelly.
Hi & welcome :wave:.
The Year-by-Year fuelly figures for the 500 have been getting steadily worse & the introduction of the TA hasn't helped.
(if the figures look really bad, you may need to change the fuelly page to display UK mpg
).
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It should be pointed out that rolling around in neutral will LOWER your mpg rather than increase it.
When in gear and you're slowing down, the engine uses virtually no fuel as the momentum of the car keeps it going, if you're in neutral then the engine has to inject fuel in to keep the engine ticking over.
ahmett
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are you losing 3mpg using the A/C ?
ahmett
Prominent member
To be honest with the AC i probably lose about 0.5 l/100 km but thats when stuck in traffic. I must say the AC system of Fiat seem to be quite efficient as it doesnt seem to be a large compressor. Sometimes, given the scortching med. heat in the summer, i wish it was larger!
