What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
Why is our FIAT 500 TwinAir returning just 30mpg?
I badly need your help. We bought a FIAT 500 TwinAir recently because it’s a quirky car, has no road tax, is Congestion Charge-free and we were told it would do 70mpg by the FIAT dealer. We are most disappointed by the car’s fuel consumption. We have a 2004 BMW 530d auto in the family. Would you believe we get more miles to the gallon out of the BMW than we do from the FIAT?
The FIAT is giving us 30mpg. We use it as a shopping car and a general runaround. The BMW on a run, say to Bristol, where our daughter lives, gives us well over 40mpg, straight run down the M4. If we use the BMW in town we get no less than 35mpg. We drive both cars very sensibly and never thrash them. It can’t be right that a big, powerful car like the BMW gives better fuel consumption than a little 875cc FIAT. I know the BMW is diesel, but please help. Is there something wrong about this?
The FIAT is giving us 30mpg. We use it as a shopping car and a general runaround. The BMW on a run, say to Bristol, where our daughter lives, gives us well over 40mpg, straight run down the M4. If we use the BMW in town we get no less than 35mpg. We drive both cars very sensibly and never thrash them. It can’t be right that a big, powerful car like the BMW gives better fuel consumption than a little 875cc FIAT. I know the BMW is diesel, but please help. Is there something wrong about this?
Asked on 10 February 2011 by LD, Weybridge
Answered by
Honest John
Presumably this is a 500 TwinAir. Unfortunately, FIAT and the salesman are bound by EC legislation to give you only the fuel economy figure achieved in the prescribed EC certification tests, even though this figure may be wholly unrealistic. You cannot sue either FIAT or the salesman for giving you the figure they are bound by EC law to give you.
To counter this we have set up ‘The Real Life Fuel Economy Register’ where owners and users can register the real life economy they are achieving every month. Each time they register an mpg, it alters the overall average mpg, giving everyone a clear estimate of what they can really expect.
I took a TwinAir on a 610 mile journey in February, averaging 57mph, and achieved an average of 48.3mpg, mostly with the Econ button pressed: www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/green-motoring/2011-02/5...y. With the Econ button not pressed and the car driven with some gusto, 30 - 35mpg is typical. I think you are right. This issue is about to explode in the face of the EC because if the fuel economy figures are unrealistic, then the EC Certified CO2 figures must also be unrealistic (a TwinAir in London is probably emitting 190g/km), yet they are the basis of taxation for cars. Basically the EC has forced manufacturers to achieve the impossible, and the manufacturers have done so.
To counter this we have set up ‘The Real Life Fuel Economy Register’ where owners and users can register the real life economy they are achieving every month. Each time they register an mpg, it alters the overall average mpg, giving everyone a clear estimate of what they can really expect.
I took a TwinAir on a 610 mile journey in February, averaging 57mph, and achieved an average of 48.3mpg, mostly with the Econ button pressed: www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/green-motoring/2011-02/5...y. With the Econ button not pressed and the car driven with some gusto, 30 - 35mpg is typical. I think you are right. This issue is about to explode in the face of the EC because if the fuel economy figures are unrealistic, then the EC Certified CO2 figures must also be unrealistic (a TwinAir in London is probably emitting 190g/km), yet they are the basis of taxation for cars. Basically the EC has forced manufacturers to achieve the impossible, and the manufacturers have done so.
Real MPG enables you to register the fuel economy you are actually getting against your make and model of car, its engine and type of transmission.
Every time you enter an average consumption figure against your car, the overall average automatically adjusts to reflect it.
Similar questions
I thought your readers might be interested to know that when we were in Texas 2 weeks ago we saw a Fiat 500 Pop (1.4 MultiAir) as part of a promotion in a shopping mall. Interestingly the official fuel...
I agree with you that government economy figures for new cars are often deceiving, as they are here in the US. But surely anyone with a modicum of sense must realise that a fuel economy is relative to...
My Volkswagen Golf 1.6 Bluemotion estate, two months old, has done 2,500 miles. This car should do 54/67/78 to the gallon. It does 40mpg round town and maybe 50mpg on a run (A-roads at 60mph). Volkswagen...
Related models
Elsewhere on 
.jpg)
