It will depend a lot on what you've been used to driving before. I found the 1.4 95bhp engine decent for it's size when I had one for a couple of days as a courtesy car, but coming from a run of turbo diesels it needed too much effort on the long journeys I do regularly.
I went for the 1.4 T-Jet, which is plenty quick enough in the Tipo and has been around for ages as it started life in the Grande Punto Sporting around 2008, going on to be used in the Alfa MiTo (TB 120) and Fiat Bravo, amongst others. Not to be confused for the MultiAir engines fitted to other Fiat Group vehicles, the T-Jet is thoroughly reliable. I'd echo what @
twobigdogs says about thirst though - mine was only doing 30mpg when I first got it brand new & it needed a drop of oil for the first 3000 miles too. Now just shy of 10,000 miles the oil thirst has stopped and the MPG is up to 36, which is about acceptable for the driving I do i think.
Not driven the 1.3 diesel in the Tipo but I had an Alfa MiTo with an 85bhp version of the same engine. 100% reliable and I imagine if you stuck to annual / 12k oil changes you'd have to be incredibly unlucky to have any major bother under 100,000 miles. Not great for turbo lag, but probably more pleasant on a run than the 95bhp petrol and much more economical. I've heard of timing chain problems but not cracked pistons. At one point Fiat advised 2 year / 21k service intervals on them though (they've now reduced them), which I doubt would help. I stuck to annual / 12k oil changes even though mine had 2 year / 21k intervals. Many of the 1.3's are also fitted to Fiat and Vauxhall vans (Fiorino/Corsa & Doblo/Combo) so probably do big miles on little maintenance.
The 1.6 diesel, which I had for a day when mine was having its first service, is a beast. The torque is crazy and I had to really adjust my use of the accelerator after driving the T-Jet, to avoid charging into the back of the vehicle in front. It's quite a noisy beast though, much more so than my 1.3 Alfa.
See how you get on with test drives I guess - the 1.4 95bhp petrol and 1.3 diesel are both in decent supply, with many coming off the rental fleets. Very little in the way of problems reported for the Tipo, probably helped by it being on a tried and tested platform, using engines that've been around for years. I had a squeaky passenger window for a couple of months and a bit of oil use for the first 3k miles, plus once got a warning of 'Sound System Unavailable' and 'Parking Assist Unavailable', but all these things have fixed themselves. Only an occasionally vibration-prone drivers door card blot an otherwise perfect scorecard, so I'm certainly happy with the little Tipo
