General Is a 500 Diesel the right car for me?

[austenw90]

Thanks all for the comments folks - appreciate it. Given me food for thought

Diesel Punto? Gives you the option of 5 doors and cheaper to pick up 2nd hand than 500.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Thanks for the replies so far

I should have added - because my annual mileage will be quite high with the regular trips I'll be making, how much mileage could I expect to get out of both a petrol and diesel engine before they pack up? I know diesels can last for a good 150,000 miles if serviced regularly and so I thought they would be a better buy than a petrol.

I want to keep the car for as long as possible, for as cheaply as possible.

1.2 500 about 300k out of the engine gearbox (not sure how the rest of the car would fair), probably about the same for the 1.3 DERV engine, although most DERVs you should be looking at 500k.

 

[Bigredbus4468]

Just a thought but Vospers Plymouth are doing panda 1.2 pop for £6995. I bought one. Average 48mpg. PCP no deposits and £99 pcm over 4 years or £110 over 3.

 

[rossocorsa]

I think whilst engines will do huge mile ages these days unfortunately the electronics, ancillary bits n bobs, suspension and the like don't and will cause head and wallet ache when you get over 100k. In any case I think that a bigger car than a 500 would make more sense for this kind of use, a medium size diesel will probably prove to be nearly as economical and not that much more expensive to buy second hand.

 

[306maxi]

I think whilst engines will do huge mile ages these days unfortunately the electronics, ancillary bits n bobs, suspension and the like don't and will cause head and wallet ache when you get over 100k. In any case I think that a bigger car than a 500 would make more sense for this kind of use, a medium size diesel will probably prove to be nearly as economical and not that much more expensive to buy second hand.

I don't agree. Suspension bits for the 500 are cheap, so they're not going to write off a 500 for a good few years yet. My 500 has done 55k miles and still feels more or less new to drive, I wouldn't be surprised if it makes it to well over 200k miles

 

[rossocorsa]

I don't agree. Suspension bits for the 500 are cheap, so they're not going to write off a 500 for a good few years yet. My 500 has done 55k miles and still feels more or less new to drive, I wouldn't be surprised if it makes it to well over 200k miles

Sorry should have been clearer I was really referring to any car not 500 specifically although having said that my daughters panda which I guess has similar suspension parts has already had a pair of front suspension arms at less than 50k. Can't say I think the parts are all that cheap unless they are pattern parts. TBH I was thinking more about electronic parts, egr, dpf and so on as being serious potential impacts as age sets in.

 

[306maxi]

DPF's are costly, but of course a 1.2 won't have one.

Suspension arms can be had quite cheaply anyway With the amount of 500's around now, there'll be no shortage of spare engines and boxes to go around in the future

 

[Bigredbus4468]

Sorry should have been clearer I was really referring to any car not 500 specifically although having said that my daughters panda which I guess has similar suspension parts has already had a pair of front suspension arms at less than 50k. Can't say I think the parts are all that cheap unless they are pattern parts. TBH I was thinking more about electronic parts, egr, dpf and so on as being serious potential impacts as age sets in.

My daughter had to have front suspension sorted on her 57 page panda. A fault on that particular model but other than that, very good.

 

[rossocorsa]

It's just my opinion but I think any car starts to have niggles and constant expenses when the mileage and age gets past a certain point that's all I meant really. Sold my last car (not a fiat group car) because whilst it was fine it was needing attention every other month due to age/miles

 

[306maxi]

In that sort of situation it's worth refurbing the whole of the front suspension or the brakes on the front axle or whatever at the same time rather than doing expensive bandaid work which ends up costing more in the long run

 

[rossocorsa]

In that sort of situation it's worth refurbing the whole of the front suspension or the brakes on the front axle or whatever at the same time rather than doing expensive bandaid work which ends up costing more in the long run

Great believer in trying to forward think maintenance actually but as this is getting rather off topic in fairness to the original poster I will shut up now

 

[austenw90]

There was a thread a few weeks ago (can't find it now) where a 500 owner had just clocked 150,000 miles with few issues, if I remember correctly. Who was that?

Hopefully the new Punto if one is released in 2014 has updated Multijet engines with a little bit of power to go with the mpg figures to pick up speed quicker than a bus!