Technical What is a Euro 5 and 6 and what is the difference?

[FionaPanda]

Hi Tech Crew

I keep seeing Euro 5 and Euro 6 as I browse the Fiat 500s for sale.

Please can you tell me what this means, what the difference is and how does it effect the car.

Thanks so much

 

[Leatherlip]

It’s to do with emissions standards - I don’t know much more - but I’m sure someone can assist or have a google

 

[Leatherlip]

The RAC website is helpful. I just learnt you need a clean air sticker in the wind screen if you travel to certain EU countries that are participating in the scheme one for example France, Paris. If you have t got it displayed you can be hit with a fine ?

 

[MrDerv]

Easy way to tell from the year it was registered. Euro5/6 were to do with european emissions standards towards cleaner air.

Euro5 up to 2013
Euro6 from 2014 onwards.

If you are going for a 1.2 Petrol, my choice would be a Euro5, as they were better to drive. Euro6 had slightly restricted power and were the highlight of BBC Watchdog for not being able to do hillstarts or drive up steep inclines without revving the engine to near redline. There has been an update available for Euro6, which fixes this issue, but apparently still not as good to drive as a Euro5.

 

[Goudrons]

For petrol cars, there wasn't really any changes to the standards between Euro 5 and 6.

The standards for NOx, CO2 and particulate matter remained the same.

Diesels on the other hand had the NOx limit more than halved, from 0.180 to 0.080.

What this means for buyers depends on what model.

Fiat did change the way the 1.2 petrol drove at the time Euro 6 cars appeared on the market here in the UK (and I presume elsewhere)

It was around March 2014 that Fiat altered things, whether this was because of the euro spec change is hard to know or understand as the standards hadn't really changed for this engine??

It's debatable if Euro 6 1.2's don't drive as "nicely" as Euro 5's.
Having ran both, side by side for a while there are noticeable differences and I can see both perspectives.

Euro 6's seem to control the fueling more themselves setting off.
Just lifting the clutch tends to cause a self increase in rpm to prevent stalls and they also do it on gear changes to aid smoother changes.

A lot of modern cars do this these days, (as did the euro 5 engine, just it wasn't as pronounced) and driving instructors actually utilise this now in their instructions, all that biting point and setting rpm's to set off has almost disappeared, cars will almost do this for you now.

Trouble is I think the way Fiats system works, it's a bit crude.
Too much manual input tends to cause the engine to bog down, as you are controlling the throttle body (air) and it's controlling the injectors (fuel).

You really need to drive both and see what you think, if you are a fairly new driver, it doesn't seem to feel odd.
But if you're been driving for years and aren't used to these modern systems, it can catch you out until you are used to it.

 

[Dickie831]

The RAC website is helpful. I just learnt you need a clean air sticker in the wind screen if you travel to certain EU countries that are participating in the scheme one for example France, Paris. If you have t got it displayed you can be hit with a fine ?

Hi Leatherlip.. the clean air sticker process is operational in many European countries including France, Germany, Italy and registration is required in Belgium. The schemes do not prevent you from travelling to any of the countries, but there are towns/cities (and regions for France) who have implemented it. The zones are clearly defined. In France at the moment you have the cities of Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Lille, Strasbourg and Toulouse on the scheme, but as time goes by, there will be more added. Not having the certificate does not prevent you entering those cities, but there may be times when those cities declare anti-pollution restrictions. At present there are five numbers allocated (1-5) to determine the polluting effect vehicles have, whether electric/hydrogen, petrol, diesel or LPG and the higher your vehicle number, the more polluting you are classed. As an example.. on a Monday morning between 6am and 10am, Paris may declare a requirement for a 2 sticker.. if your vehicle is a 3, 4 or 5, you won't be allowed to drive in Paris during those hours.. but if no other restrictions apply that day.. you can, OUTSIDE those hours. The same process applies in Germany. If you purchase a sticker, it will apply to the vehicle for it's life (or the life of the windscreen - if you change your screen, you'll need a new sticker !) but they are not expensive.. France's sticker is less than a fiver and Germany's not much more. For more info on France's scheme, search "crit d'air" and for more on Germany's search "umweltplakette". At present, if you have no intention of going to any of the places that have implemented the clean air requirement.. you won't need a sticker... but 1. More and more places are implementing it and 2. they don't cost the earth !

 

[Dean500]

I’ve had a few fiat 500’s and both the Euro 5 and Euro 6 engines it’s to do with the emissions of the engine. If you can I’d go for the Euro 6 so it’ll be compliant for longer. I know there has been a lot of talk around diesel cars and I know the 500 will be a petrol but it’s a good example. The government have passed it to local councils to implement their own green air policies and it’s looking like diesels may below euro 6 may be charged higher rates to park etc in certain local authorities, basically they can come up with whatever charges they feel fit to discourage use or ownership of older diesels. So in time it could be that this is also implemented for petrols as well if they get away with it for diesels. As I have said I’ve driven both for many years in the euro 5’s and 2.5 years in the euro 6 I’d say when I collected the car being used to the euro5 feeling like it had a bit more power, I soon got used to the difference, I’ve never had a problem with the power of the engine and going up hills etc. Someone had said about watchdog and cars that couldn’t go up hills. Fiat as I recall tweaked the engine software and it cured the fault on ones already experiencing the problem and by the time I collected mine it was already rectified. I’ve driven it up very hilly terrain in the Welsh mountains and had no problems. If you think about it you don’t have steep roads littered with loads of fiat 500s. Hope this helps, I’m no expert but had great experience with all my 500s.