Fiat 500 Twinair fuel economy

Fiat 500 Twinair fuel economy

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D7

Original Poster:

30 posts

184 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
I've been considering a 500 Twinair, pulled in by the idea of enough power to make the car nippy, but 68.9mpg on the combined cycle.

The problem is, Autocar have reported an average of 35.7mpg on their test. I test drove one t'other day, and (from cold, admitedly) only managed 37mpg. The car had only covered 600 miles from new.

Does anyone on here have any experience of running one of these? I know they're still very new, but has anyone found they loosen up with a few miles, and give better fuel economy?


blaineuk

2,614 posts

246 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
I have a alfa 159, should average 50 mpg, we get 32, do not believe the figures fiat claim.

D7

Original Poster:

30 posts

184 months

Thursday 16th December 2010
quotequote all
I know it's not a case of Fiat "claiming" a fuel economy figure; all new cars sold in Europe have to undergo an EU drive cycle test which determines the car's rating for Urban, Extra-Urban and Combined scenarios.

Car manufacturers calibrate engines and pick gear ratios with the intention of scoring well in these tests, as the results will have a direct impact on sales. Unfortunately a car that scores well in the EU drive cycle test may not give a good real-world fuel economy figure.

I was surprised though that the 500 Twinair differed so greatly from its official figure. I'm wondering if this is partly down to the engine having not yet been fully run-in.

Gruber

6,313 posts

213 months

Friday 17th December 2010
quotequote all
If you go onto the 5tv website, there's a Twinair roadtest on the Fifth Gear page. Presenter draws the same conclusion.

Here: http://fwd.five.tv/fifth-gear/videos/other/fifth-g...

And FWIW, my 1.4 500 achieves nowhere near the published figures. So much so that I'm seriously considering trading it in for a Golf GTI in the new year.

D7

Original Poster:

30 posts

184 months

Wednesday 29th December 2010
quotequote all
Has anyone on here bought one yet?

MOB1

49 posts

161 months

Tuesday 8th February 2011
quotequote all
Get one for the pure fun of it. I've just been out in the one at work and the reading was 38.9mpg with 500kms on it. Its a company car so everyones having a go in it to see what they think of it and they're not exactly going handy on the loud pedal so I think 38.9 is pretty good considering the milage and the way its been driven.

But seriously for anyone thinking of buying one go and test drive one, I couldn't wipe the grin off my face great fun...... I want one now

crostonian

2,427 posts

171 months

Tuesday 8th February 2011
quotequote all
My old man traded his 1.2 Sport in for a Twinair at the beginning of January, he was averaging 51 mpg from the 1.2, just called him before to get him to scroll through the computer on the Twinair - he's done just over 700 miles in it and is averaging 47.4 mpg so better than the tests. He loves the extra performance over the 1.2, I've not driven it yet but heard him setting off and it makes a distinctive characterful noise, my father's not a slow driver by any means, he has a Maser 4200 and a 159 JTD aswell, 500 just used for shopping and general knocking about so pretty good mpg I think considering he's not been on a motorway yet.

andyps

7,817 posts

281 months

Sunday 13th February 2011
quotequote all
Steve Cropley wrote about it in Autocar this week, he said the problem is that Fiat have made an engine which loves to be driven hard and when you do the economy suffers, not sure where my copy of the magazine is right now but he tried driving it for economy and got a really good figure and then drove more normally after that, using the torque of the engine rather than just the revs and it was pretty good.

CDP

7,451 posts

253 months

Sunday 13th February 2011
quotequote all
andyps said:
said the problem is that Fiat have made an engine which loves to be driven hard
Since when was that a problem? Sounds like a typical small Fiat to me.

andyps

7,817 posts

281 months

Sunday 13th February 2011
quotequote all
CDP said:
Since when was that a problem? Sounds like a typical small Fiat to me.
"Problem" producing good economy in road tests, rather than a real life problem I guess. Agree with you, sounds like a good Italian motor.

lordturpin

200 posts

177 months

Thursday 3rd March 2011
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It sounds like the criteria for the EU mpg test needs to be tweaked to take into account the new generation of much smaller engines that can deliver 60+ mpg in testing but in reality achieve a lot less.

Futse

182 posts

184 months

Wednesday 23rd March 2011
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For starters, the TwinAir is a petrol turbo engine, so if you like driving sporty, it will consume more than quoted. And given the fact that it only has two cylinders, 875 cm³ in total, it doesn't have a lot of mass and goes to the red zone very, very easily. Combined with a surprisingly sporting soundtrack, it just encourages to drive sporty, with some higher consumption as a result. Drive it carefully (maximum torque at 1.750 rpm, so doesn't need te be revved), in ECO-modus, and you will get much better results - with half the fun...


Alfahorn

7,758 posts

207 months

Wednesday 23rd March 2011
quotequote all
I'm a Fiat salesman. I love the Twinair, it's my favourite version of the 500. The Twinair has a £1200 premium over the 1.2, therefore I tend to sell more 1.2's as the justification for buying a Twinair is similar to that of a diesel.

Futse

182 posts

184 months

Friday 25th March 2011
quotequote all
It's my favourite version too. I'm a Fiat salesman here in Belgium, and with us the 1.2 and TwinAir are the same price smile SO we sell ne 1.2's anymore...

wigit

105 posts

170 months

Friday 25th March 2011
quotequote all
Plenty of people on the fiat forum getting around the 50 mark

I ordered one last week as it's a cracking engine and liked the extra performance over the 1.2 is going to be better than the 30mpg of rocco and GTI

stephen300o

15,464 posts

227 months

Saturday 26th March 2011
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The 1.4 500 used to be way off but is approaching the Fiat figures now it has loosened up.

Ash333

183 posts

163 months

Saturday 26th March 2011
quotequote all
My punto apparently does over 37 in town, and 50+ on a run

I get 30-33ish, says it all.

Alfahorn

7,758 posts

207 months

Saturday 26th March 2011
quotequote all
Futse said:
It's my favourite version too. I'm a Fiat salesman here in Belgium, and with us the 1.2 and TwinAir are the same price smile SO we sell ne 1.2's anymore...
Another example of rip off britain.

Le Man

860 posts

206 months

Wednesday 30th March 2011
quotequote all
blaineuk said:
I have a alfa 159, should average 50 mpg, we get 32, do not believe the figures fiat claim.
Is it fair to say that? Yours is chipped

SFCPetrolHead

1 posts

146 months

Wednesday 25th January 2012
quotequote all
This issue - on the TwinAir/ TwinAir Plus fuel consumption has not gone away as we begin year 2 of UK sales.
As part of a Fiat Club, we've been asked to take a detailed look, based on the experiences of our TwinAir owners.. and the lack of a formal response from Fiat.
The TwinAir is innovative, and as yet we have not done a detailed r/road test 'back to back' good v bad cars. But there's a very wide range of mpg returns. Fiat quote 68.9mpg combined and 76.3mpg extra-urban. In the real world, the worst 25% of cars are not making 45-48mpg on long runs (compared to 76.3mpg)!
Here's a suggestion list: Eco & Start/Stop switched on. Full auto box off. Use the ecodrive analysis. Cruise at max torque (1900rpm). Loosen up drive train by accelerating and decelerating up and down box for 5k miles.
Biggest driving mistake is to assume you have a turbo at high revs. The turbo works like a diesel's. It only delivers torque up to 3300rpm (max torque at 1900rpm) and it has no top end. Consequently you pay heavily in mpg and emmissions for high revving. Treat it like a diesel.

Now Fiat have been clever with their use of the plenum and other inlet tricks - I suspect that a decent, small, variable vane turbo with a mid range torque curve up to around 5000rpm could actually return better economy too.... as its more like what we expect from a petrol turbo, and the characteristics of the TwinAir engine actually invites this sort of behaviour - if you ever drive one, they are eager revving.

However, for some of the TwinAir fleet, driver changes are not enough. Some of these cars are falling too far short of the claimed mpg and all round performance. And it needs an engineering explanation. For they are spoiling the reputation of a good little car.
MT