500 New Owner

[Robnw67]

Hi - well after much deliberation I have placed an order for a Fiat 500 Black 1.2 Lounge with black and red interior. I nearly went for the twin air engine but after reading much of the forum chat, decided against it. MPG isn't much of an issue for me because I will only do low mileage, as I tend to use my motorbike for half my commuting, so I guess I will save on the insurance and initial purchase price. I'm looking forward to it and getting quite excited. I'll post a couple of pics when I get it.

 

[Robnw67]

Apparently, I am at stage 16 in the build cycle. My dealer reckons 5 weeks but looking on the forum, I reckon twice that. We shall see.......

 

[Robnw67]

Looks like I am now at status code 20 - built and waiting for shipping. I'm starting to get excited and, after reading many posts on this forum, filled with dread at the same time. I've never before owned a car where the owners seem to accept faults because 'that's the way Fiats are!!'. Well, I'm signed up for 3 years so let's see where that takes me!

 

[Kirstie93]

Hi,

I placed an order for the same car but grey with black/white check interior with black ambiance at the weekend. I was told 8-10 weeks for delivery and that they'd ring me sometime this week with an update im wishing the weeks away because I'm so impatient! Have you got yours yet? If so, are you enjoying it?

 

[306maxi]

Looks like I am now at status code 20 - built and waiting for shipping. I'm starting to get excited and, after reading many posts on this forum, filled with dread at the same time. I've never before owned a car where the owners seem to accept faults because 'that's the way Fiats are!!'. Well, I'm signed up for 3 years so let's see where that takes me!

There are very few faults with the 500 which cause problems which would actually get in the way of your enjoyment of the car. Sure it's not nice if Start&Stop isn't working, but all that happens is the cars engine doesn't turn off, I'd wager that your current car doesn't do this either so it's hardly a big deal is it?

 

[Robnw67]

I'm not bothered about Start and Stop. On my commute, it's very rare that I stop anyways. I'll probably end up always turning that system off. I don't suppose there's a way to set it to 'off' as a default, is there?

 

[306maxi]

I'm not bothered about Start and Stop. On my commute, it's very rare that I stop anyways. I'll probably end up always turning that system off. I don't suppose there's a way to set it to 'off' as a default, is there?

Nope. The worst that Start&Stop will do is say that it's unavailable. If you're not bothered about that then there's precious little that is likely to go wrong with your car *touches wood*

 

[Robnw67]

Well let's hope so.

 

[poaform]

heyy errrbody,
new here and just lookin to find out more about what people think about owner a fiat... the brand is really coming on to me.

 

[FloJo]

I'm not bothered about Start and Stop. On my commute, it's very rare that I stop anyways. I'll probably end up always turning that system off. I don't suppose there's a way to set it to 'off' as a default, is there?

There is a button you can use to turn it off

 

[306maxi]

There is a button you can use to turn it off

not permanently though

 

[Robnw67]

Yeah I was hoping that I could set the S&S to 'off' as a default in some hidden menu somewhere, however, I'll just have to get it into my routine to turn it off before I start driving. IMO there are some things that I don't think the car should decide and when to stop the engine is one of the major ones! :nono:

 

[306maxi]

Yeah I was hoping that I could set the S&S to 'off' as a default in some hidden menu somewhere, however, I'll just have to get it into my routine to turn it off before I start driving. IMO there are some things that I don't think the car should decide and when to stop the engine is one of the major ones! :nono:

It only stops when you would want it to stop. It sounds crazy, but over the weekend I had a Punto Evo with S&S it never once did anything I wouldn't do myself.

 

[deeyup]

Stop/start is great. Like maxi said it only turns off at the right time.
If you think there's no point in the motor switching off at a junction for example
just keep the clutch down.

Mine works flawlessly but in the loan car I had for 10 days it rarely did. Not a massive problem.

With regards to delivery time all the recent ones have come through very quickly. Your dealer saying 5 weeks is probably about right.

 

[jrkitching]

Stop/start is great. Like maxi said it only turns off at the right time.

:yeahthat: I've had my car a little over two years now & it's worked faultlessly the whole time. I miss it when driving the Panda & sometimes sit at the lights wondering why the engine hasn't stopped .

 

[306maxi]

Stop/start is great. Like maxi said it only turns off at the right time.
If you think there's no point in the motor switching off at a junction for example
just keep the clutch down.

Mine works flawlessly but in the loan car I had for 10 days it rarely did. Not a massive problem.

Exactly. Thing is, if it doesn't work then what happens? You get a message on the display saying "stop&start unavailable" and the car just doesn't stop. Hardly the biggest deal in the world? I just don't get why people get so worked up over it. It's not like the ABS not working or something going wrong with the suspension, both of which are safety issues.

 

[Robnw67]

Sadly, I'm an 'old school' driver and that means that unless I am at the start of my journey or my destination, then the engine has to be running. If the air con is running then the engine has to be running. If the heater is on, heated rear windscreen is on, lights are on.......basically if the car is occupied, then the engine has to be running. Otherwise (as I was taught during my driving lessons) you are not in proper control of the car. Difficult habit to break. :shrug:

I am guessing that the S&S cars have bigger batteries to cope with high electrical demand for when the engine is off? Similarly I guess the brake servo/system must be different somehow to give full braking force even if the engine isn't supplying vacuum...? On any of my other cars, three pumps of the brake pedal and the brake force is down to virtually zero.

 

[jrkitching]

I am guessing that the S&S cars have bigger batteries to cope with high electrical demand for when the engine is off?

They do.

Similarly I guess the brake servo/system must be different somehow to give full braking force even if the engine isn't supplying vacuum...? On any of my other cars, three pumps of the brake pedal and the brake force is down to virtually zero.

There's no difference to the brake servo, but for this very reason, the S/S logic will automatically restart the car if you press the brake pedal three times - I've never had mine run out of vacuum.

 

[306maxi]

Sadly, I'm an 'old school' driver and that means that unless I am at the start of my journey or my destination, then the engine has to be running. If the air con is running then the engine has to be running. If the heater is on, heated rear windscreen is on, lights are on.......basically if the car is occupied, then the engine has to be running. Otherwise (as I was taught during my driving lessons) you are not in proper control of the car. Difficult habit to break. :shrug:

I am guessing that the S&S cars have bigger batteries to cope with high electrical demand for when the engine is off? Similarly I guess the brake servo/system must be different somehow to give full braking force even if the engine isn't supplying vacuum...? On any of my other cars, three pumps of the brake pedal and the brake force is down to virtually zero.

There's no need to have the engine running to be in control of the car when you're stopped at the lights though.

When you're stopped at the lights then the slightest touch on the brakes will keep the car stationary.

S&S also has paramaters which tell it when not to turn the engine off, so if the air con is on, the rear demisters on then it won't stop. Having the lights on is no need to have the engine running, if you're sitting for a while at the lights or at a junction and S&S detects that the charge goes below a certain level then it will restart the engine so as not to flatten the battery.

It's a clever system and I'd happily have it on my car

 

[306maxi]

There's no difference to the brake servo, but for this very reason, the S/S logic will automatically restart the car if you press the brake pedal three times - I've never had mine run out of vacuum.

I forgot about that. In the Punto Evo I actually just pumped the brake pedal when I wanted to restart it

I know to an old school driver S&S might sound a bit scary or might sound like a loss of control, but it's a really well thought out system and it's made by Bosch so you know it's been designed properly