I just came across a review of the new Fiat 500c (petrol) and looked up the specs for the diesel version. It uses 3.3 l/100 km (71 mpg) in highway driving with a 1.3-liter 95 hp motor that develops 200 Nm (147 pound-feet) of torque. Unfortunately, it probably wouldn't meet emissions requirements in the U.S. but getting 71 mpg would be pretty awesome.
I assume that the 71mpg figure comes from the Euro drive cycle which returns dramatically higher results than the US EPA cycle. The Prius pulls big numbers on it too but I agree that it's a shame we can't get these kinds of vehicles.
Knowing which scale that is, is essential. Prius already gets 71 mpg, combined, on U.S. CAFE scale. On gasoline even, not diesel.
In the last 7 days or so, I have seen 6 different 500c's on the LA freeways. It would appear they are selling in LA. I will look closer to see if gas or the D word! Strangely they are so small and Dalik like, they are easy to spot!
They'll be petrols. I believe you only get a 1.4 litre petrol engine which will be regarded as tiny over your side of the pond. Shame as the 875cc twin air engine is revvy and economical. You'd have great fun thrashing it through a manual box round bends and city streets. It'd put a smile back on your face when driving.
I would choose an iQ over the 500. But I saw a new Fiat on the road yesterday, and the iQ won't be available until Nov of next year here at the earliest. The Smart reportedly returns better fuel economy than the EPA numbers. It will be interesting to see if the Fiat's real world reports.
Fuelly doesn't break down by transmission type? I'm sure some of those UK iQs are manuals which we can't get here.
You can get them with CVT, but I don't see why anyone would mate a 1.0 liter petrol engine with a CVT... They would no longer be eligible for the free entry to emission zones like most of London.
I was commenting on the Fuelly links. UK owners are getting some great numbers with their iQs. People on this side of the pond can't use that info to compare to US driven Fiat 500s, or even to make a judgement of what they could expect from an iQ, because Fuelly doesn't break down the numbers between transmission types. I'm sure the higher numbers are mostly manuals. Making those results nearly unatainable in the North American iQ.
Let's all remember a UK gallon is also 20% larger than a US one. Something that is almost universally ignored when incredible claims are first made about the superb mileage of some European vehicle.
The Prius achieves 3.9 L/100km on the European cycle, when equipped with the 15" wheels. For the UK market this figure is presented as 72.4mpg (imperial gallon), although it is computed and rounded in metric before conversion. I assume that the Fiat 500 number was therefore converted from imperial to US gallons, but with no account taken of the different driving cycles. The UK government fuel economy website shows that 3.3 L/100km is the result of the extra-urban part of the test. The combined economy is the same as the Prius combined figure, 3.9 L/100km.
lol we have a 1.0 litre engine with the cvt auto. It's not as economical as the Prius but can get mid 50's mpg UK on a run with ease. Sometimes you can get 60+ mpg UK, but would get 75 mpg UK in the Prius on the same route. It is a tad slow on the take up but will happily sit at 80 mph on the motorway. There are other benefits in the UK for cars like the IQ other than free entry to the London CCZ, and being able to park it in spaces that would otherwise be impossible more than pays for iteself.
Not too many weeks ago, I got an invite to do a survey on a 100% EV version. It was pretty slick. It had a few issues, and I'm certain Fiat/Nissan techs are working out the kinks. But yea, one of our south O.C. neighbors has one of the 500c's already.
