It's having it's 2nd Fleet service but in reality it's still 1400 miles or more from it's actual first service (Most modern engines are xx,000 miles or 2 years which ever comes first - in this case it looks about 25k perhaps 26k interval which is fine ).
This time it needs a couple of bits, some new brakes, front wipers (I replaced the rear a couple of weeks ago), new pollen filter and oil filter.
I replaced the rear tyres a few months back, the front are still fine - I suspect I'll get through 2 sets of rear by the time the front need changing.
The car comes with Michelin as standard, I'm a big fan of Michelin, having had them on many cars, they seem to suit this car very well, no skipping or shuddering, the rear were replaced with Bridgestones, they seemed to be quite different, taking a couple of months to settle in, they are not too bad but given a choice I would put the Michelin energy tyres back on.
All in all over 24000 miles I have averaged 51.9 MPG which is 50% more than my previous Diesel, my tax remains low and it's put money back in my pocket on the fuel and tax I've saved.
Motorways still return 60 MPG + with ease, the best I've had has still not been beaten 72.4 MPG on a 90 mile run at 50 MPH.
Another trip to Scotland and back it advised I had saved 125 miles with my driving style and still 140 miles left in the tank and that's at the end of almost a 600 mile journey.
Steering, handling and everything are still like new, no thumps, rattles or parts falling off, no torque steer, no issues at all really.
It will be interesting to see how it fares for the next 2 years.
On the private side I used my company discount scheme to purchase a Fiat 500L for my wife, Pop star edition in Bright red - a massive discount and preferential interest rate meant it made the deal even more tempting, in fairness I offered her a choice of anything she fancied and after many weekends searching the 500L caught her eye, it's quite an unusual design, nice and funky inside with 500L trim on the red and black seats, we also opted for the 5ft SkyDome roof.
Town driving at the moment is returning 37MPG from the 1.4 petrol engine, we took it on a 100 mile run at 70MPH and returned over 55MPG so this looks a good compromise for low mileage family use - mostly it will be town driving, as much as I would have liked to get the 0.9L eco engine it was not going to pay for itself over the expected 5000 miles per year, saying that compared to Ford who wanted over £3000 for their 0.9L Eco engine Fiat only wanted £1400.
We're hoping to exchange it at the end of 3 years for another (if the scheme is still going) although we can purchase it for a nice reduction in the final price.
Service interval for this engine is 20000 miles so we won't technically hit the full service figure but we'll probably do a mini service at 12 months and a full one at 24 then a final mini service at 36 months.
It's got tons of interior room, 5 adults sit easily, headroom is vast and plenty of leg room the rear seats can even recline so it's great for tootling around in, City steering makes the electric steering even lighter and it's nice and quiet, made even better at speed with a 6 speed box. 16" alloys as standard also help ride comfort and noise levels, there was little point in going for different alloys, the standard ones are fine.
Body roll is low, almost on par with the 116, it's strange to see a car as high as our old Shogun but roll hardly at all, even in strong winds it's not moved much on the road so the drive is great on it, no bouncing along, just simple smooth driving - I've got an 08 plate Astra on loan while my 116 is being serviced and it's like sitting in a Jack in the Box, the damn thing is bouncing all over the road, pulling to the left (I don't miss the damn torque steer) and the steering rack is vague to say the least, thank God it's only for a day and I'm taking it back tomorrow, the 500L is vastly better than the Astra on its road presence, its amazing how chassis design and suspension has advanced in such a short time.
I won't even mention the noise from the Vauxhall 1.9D engine, it rattles like a box of spanners, getting in the 116 is considerably quieter (there's still a bit of diesel noise but also some nice noises then you floor the throttle), the 500L is very quiet, you notice the engine under hard acceleration but apart from that only know it's running because the rev counter tells you it is.
Boot space is great and includes an adjustable base which can be fitted in three positions, electric sun blind the whole length of the glass roof, voice controlled stereo with Bluetooth, it reads and sends text messages by voice, dials numbers and locations, changes audio source, tunes the radio, even plays particular bands such as "Play ColdPlay", along with Cruise control, speed limiter and air con as standard it's well equipped.
A nice touch is the dash being colour coded to the car body so a shiny red dash in this case - mid life crisis at a sensible level.
The Pop Star version has the 5 inch touch screen which is ample - the display colour coded to the car (I think you can switch between 2 colours)
One feature I noticed if you put a formatted USB thumb drive in the USB slot (by the 12v socket near the gear lever) you can enable Eco driving tips, it records your driving, acceleration/braking, cornering forces, gear changes and then you can view the report to improve your driving style.
It's a great idea and you just need their free app - http://www2.fiat.co.uk/ecodrive/#ecodrive/intro
