General What model would you recommend?

[greypanda]

Hi there! I am looking at moving on from my Fiat 500 1.2 Lounge to a Fiat 500X. I am borrowing a 1.5 Sport from the garage over the next couple of days and am really enjoying it!

I can see there are various models for the 500X. What model and/or year would you recommend?

I do motorway journeys twice a month (140 miles each way) otherwise I am just driving around town.

Thanks so much

 

[The Panda Nut]

Easy. Check insurance costs for each and then get the best combination of low insurance and best economy. I have a mate who has a 1.4 and he loves the power. Economy is only adequate though. If 140 miles is you main big trip any engine would do the job. I must say I like the 500x, and my friends one seems well made,

 

[greypanda]

Easy. Check insurance costs for each and then get the best combination of low insurance and best economy. I have a mate who has a 1.4 and he loves the power. Economy is only adequate though. If 140 miles is you main big trip any engine would do the job. I must say I like the 500x, and my friends one seems well made,

Good shout. I will do some research! Thank you for your input

 

[PuntoHowTo]

If I had to buy a 500X I would get a 2016/17 era 2.0 litre diesel with the 9 speed zf auto box, and 4 wheel drive. That was the top of the range at the time and I have never heard anyone say anything bad about the engine the gear box or the spec of that car.

Sadly fiat killed off anything good in more recent years and most of the cars they sell now are some combination of an under sized over stressed turbo petrol engine. The 1.5 I understand is a French engine ? I’ve not heard anything bad about that either. But if I were buying a newer model, I would take a look at the mini countryman which came with much better engines especially later on.

 

[s130]

I'm probably a bad person to ask as I've had a long standing policy of never advising anybody on car purchases. That said I will confirm I've always loved my Fiats (good / bad against my personal scales) and a Fiat would be my first choice. I will also honestly answer from my perspective what I think of a Fiat I have or do own.

So that said, I have a 500X Cross Plus 2015 with 1.4 Multiair engine and manual 6 speed gearbox. I've had niggles/issues fixed under warranty with the only exception being the DRL melting bulb (not LED) holder. I not that later models had issues I've not had, e.g. rear light melted connector issues.

As advised by others do your research not only on faults, insurance, etc. but have a few test drives of other 500X models. If second hand purchase check service history and barter for the best warranty you can get. Often a really decent/extended warranty can be a sale clincher but only if you ask/pressure.

If buying new then "Play The Game". Get some quotes from web sites that get dealers to offer/bid against each other.

Also personally show an interest mid month and go back towards end of month. This used to work really well as Fiat dealers had registered targets by end of month. If they met their target they got better discounts going forward. This meant that a dealer could sell a car at less than they paid Fiat for it and write the no margin loss off because next month/quarter they got better discounts from Fiat. I've purchased several Fiats at the same price or less than the invoice price from Fiat. Only exception being we had to pay the workshop PDI costs as the workshops also have their own accounting etc.

Another alternative if buying new is to joint the Fiat Motor Club (GB) at a cost of £25. The club benefits from the Fiat Affinity Scheme (or whatever it is called now, as scheme for companies/corporates/police/M&S/etc). Discounts vary by model or none at all (on popular models) in which case other offers like paid deposit etc. are on offer. NOTE! Using the scheme does require some legwork and often better deals can be found elsewhere as in dealers trying to hit sales targets.

I don't think any 500X is a lemming by today's standards.

 

[Dan at Adrian Flux]

Hi.
If you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.

 

[RDC42]

I suppose you could rule out models depending on your usage too.
For driving around towns, I would rule out the 1.0 Firefly engine ones. It's hard to creep at very low speed in them and second only really works from around 20kmh. Pick up from very low speed is terrible unless you have a lot of room to push hard on the accelerator and you could bog down a lot at junctions or roundabouts where in any other car you could creep up to them and pull away without stopping.
Motorway cruising, it's a good engine and suits my own needs, with good pick up at motorway speeds, it does just under 40 mpg for me with hard enough driving.