Fiat 500 - City car recommendations

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 18:26
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - JF1975

Help needed please ! My wife has a 2011 Toyota Aygo , 3 door with 70k on that has served us well for 7 years. It's been using oil excessively now for a number of months despite circa £500 worth of work done 12 months ago. We have decided it is time for a change. We have a budget of 6.5k /7k at a push for what must be a city car. My wife likes the fiat 500 and we have considered the VW UP too. Is the 1.2 engine in the fiat ok or even newer 1 litre turbo? We have never bought a fiat before and it definitely has more character but the fiat reputation is nagging. Usage would be no motorways and around 4 to 5k per annum. The other option Is to take the Aygo to another garage but don't really want to keep throwing money at it. Advice needed please!

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 18:38
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - Ethan Edwards

Have you considered a used Fiat500e? Its electric, only consider the 42kwh version. They're bigger inside than the petrol ones, go test drive one. We've owned one since 2021 and my wife loves it. Bit over your budget at the moment, but next year will fall right in.

Edited by Ethan Edwards on 13/10/2024 at 18:41

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 18:58
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - JF1975

Thanks Ethan. That might be something I would consider at change time but budget as u say might be too high if we need to change now.

I should perhaps have stressed the size issue importance too. My wife is only comfortable in the small cars so wouldn't be looking to go any bigger than Aygo, UP, fiat 500, citron c1. My honda hrv is a tank according to my wife ??

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 18:59
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - JF1975

To clarify I mean that I would consider at my change time not my wife.

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 19:18
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - Adampr

My impression is that 500s are overall pretty reliable, but prone to minor niggles. If you have a tolerance for that (which I don't), probably not a bad choice. They are tiny in the back, but it sounds like that doesn't matter.

I have had a Seat Mii, which is the same as an Up. They make an annoying slapping noise when you change gear but, other than that, are good little cars. Incredibly slow and hopeless on the motorway but good fun around town.

Our current small car is a Renault Twingo. The Renault name tends to cause the same feelings as Fiat, but we've had no issues with it at all. It's very good round town, has an absurdly small turning circle and is (in the 900cc version we have) much quicker and more capable on long journeys than the Mii.

If you want tiny, I'd suggest looking for a Toyota IQ. Think a Smart car but Toyota reliability.

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 19:23
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - Falkirk Bairn

Obvious choice

Newer Aygo - up to 10 year warranty for getting it serviced Toyota!

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 19:31
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - JF1975

Thank u. We have considered this. A stumbling block was that our service guy said that the 2nd generation aygo was nowhere near as reliable as the 1st and didn't have a Toyota engine

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 19:28
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - JF1975

Fantastic thank you for the response. We have thought about the Mii and the citigo but just don't see as many. The twingo is a great shout especially the small turning circle and we are adding that to our search now. Spot on that renault conjours up the same long held doubts as fiat but not too much to go wrong on a twingo hopefully

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 19:28
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - badbusdriver

Is the 1.2 engine in the fiat ok or even newer 1 litre turbo?

The 1.2 is fine overall reliability wise, but there is no 1.0 turbo available in the 500. The long lived 1.2 was replaced by a n/a 1.0 with mild hybrid (MHEV) around 2020/2021. This has 70bhp, about the same as the 1.2.

There is a 0.8 two cyl turbo (Twinair) with 85bhp, but this is a little fragile if not looked after properly, so maybe best avoided.

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 19:49
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - JF1975

Ah my mistake thank you, I mustn't have read that correctly about the smaller engine . Sounds like the 1.2 or the mild hybrid 1.0 is the way to go.

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 19:55
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - badbusdriver

Thank u. We have considered this. A stumbling block was that our service guy said that the 2nd generation aygo was nowhere near as reliable as the 1st and didn't have a Toyota engine

Your service guy doesn't know what he is talking about. The 2nd gen Aygo was more a thorough facelift than a new car. It may have look quite different but is the same car under the skin. The 1.0 engine used in all Aygo's (including the new Aygo X) actually comes from Daihatsu (which is effectively owned by Toyota) and is very reliable.

Edited by badbusdriver on 13/10/2024 at 19:56

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 19:58
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - badbusdriver

Also, if you like the Twingo, you might also consider the Smart Forfour. This is the same car under the skin.

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 20:08
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - JF1975

I mentioned it as I wasn't sure he was right and was hoping that someone more knowledgeable than myself would confirm. That, you have done. Thank you.

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 20:13
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - Adampr

I mentioned it as I wasn't sure he was right and was hoping that someone more knowledgeable than myself would confirm. That, you have done. Thank you.

He's probably thinking of the Citroen C1/Peugeot 107. The first generation of these had Toyota engines. The later seconds generation switched to PSA engines, but the Aygo stayed with Toyota.

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 20:21
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - badbusdriver

I mentioned it as I wasn't sure he was right and was hoping that someone more knowledgeable than myself would confirm. That, you have done. Thank you.

He's probably thinking of the Citroen C1/Peugeot 107. The first generation of these had Toyota engines. The later seconds generation switched to PSA engines, but the Aygo stayed with Toyota.

Only the 1.2's (which used the n/a Puretech engine), the 1.0's continued to use the Daihatsu engine.

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Sun 13 Oct 2024 20:36
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - JF1975

I mentioned it as I wasn't sure he was right and was hoping that someone more knowledgeable than myself would confirm. That, you have done. Thank you.

He's probably thinking of the Citroen C1/Peugeot 107. The first generation of these had Toyota engines. The later seconds generation switched to PSA engines, but the Aygo stayed with Toyota.

Only the 1.2's (which used the n/a Puretech engine), the 1.0's continued to use the Daihatsu engine.

Thank u both for your input. We are looking at the Peugeot and Citreon variants too

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Mon 14 Oct 2024 08:51
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - Falkirk Bairn

The PSA (C1,108s) -1.2s are more powerful but less reliable.

The Toyota /Daihatsu engine is tough - uncommon in most small capacity 3 cylinder engines.

You won't find a 10 year warranty thrown in for using a franchise for servicing.

A son has an Aygo as car 3 runabout. I was in it on Friday - 7 years old, pristine on the outside and and the engine just purrs along (not so good on the hills/motorway!).

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Mon 14 Oct 2024 09:02
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - paul 1963

My son also has a Aygo, couple of years old, bought from a Toyota dealer in Elgin if anyone knows the area, its quite a nice car in all honesty, not a lot of leg room in the back but appears well put together, he rather sensibly fitted all season tyres to cope with the local conditions ( far north east of Scotland).

I test drove a new 500 hybrid a few months ago and whilst there was nothing basically wrong with it the Toyota is the better car imho.

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Mon 14 Oct 2024 11:25
Fiat 500 - City car recommendations - nick62

Just a note regarding my personal take on the Aygo interior.

I had one as a rental car in Northern Ireland last week and the cabin (compared to my son's Kia Piccanto) was very low rent. Ive never been surrounded by so much hard black plastic.

Engine was rather harsh too.

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