The Fiat 500 to hunt down is a 1.2 petrol from 2010 on with cambelt receipts and a gearbox that shifts cleanly, while a 1.3 MultiJet diesel that's lived on short town trips is best left alone.
13 known faults, 4 rated high severity in our database; owners report 47.7 mpg, 85% of the official figure. Everything below is built from that data and the archived owner history, not from a press car.
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Paste the Fiat 500 advert and we read it against its 13 known faults, the MOT history and the DVLA record, then tell you what to ask the seller and what to look at on the day. Free, about a minute, no card.
Check a Fiat 500 advert (free) →A 1.2 petrol built from January 2010 is the one to aim for. That's when softer rear suspension went onto every hatchback (the 500C got it from mid 2009), sorting the choppy ride of earlier cars, and the 1.2 isn't named in the serious engine faults that hang over the 0.9 TwinAir and the 1.3 MultiJet diesel.
That doesn't make any 500 fault-free. Manual gearboxes from 2009 to 2018 have a known record of failing early, between 27,000 and 66,000 miles, and one owner's 2008 1.4 lost its electric power steering at 34,000 miles. So a 1.2 manual still needs a gearbox that's quiet, doesn't grind and selects every gear cleanly.
The Dualogic automated manual is the version to skip. Its hydraulic actuator is a known weak point, and a long run of owners have reported cars jumping into neutral on the move, refusing to select gears or losing drive altogether, including cars bought only days earlier.
There's little on record about 500s built after 2018, and most of the known faults here stop at 2018, so that's no proof a later car is clear of them; test the steering, gearbox and hatch electrics just the same. The TwinAir was dropped because it couldn't meet the real driving emissions rules that every new car had to pass from September 2019.
The 1.2 petrol is the lesser risk, as none of the high severity engine faults name it. Its cambelt is due every 72,000 miles or 60 months, and on newer Euro 5 and Euro 6 versions a snapped belt bends the valves. Euro 6 versions were reported hesitating and flaring their revs when pulling away, which Fiat admitted was a software fault, so ask whether the update's been done.
Pass on a 0.9 TwinAir unless there's proof of regular oil changes on Fiat's specified Selenia oil. Known faults include an oil cooler that can suddenly leak out the engine's oil at 30,000 to 70,000 miles and a timing chain that fails early at 20,000 to 80,000 miles when the oil's been left to run low. Its MultiAir valve module also clogs and causes misfires, and one owner paid £1,192 for a new one.
The TwinAir 105 6-speed manual adds a dual mass flywheel that fails at 25,000 to 50,000 miles, especially on cars that have towed. The 1.3 MultiJet diesel only suits long runs: short, cold trips make its filter regeneration wash diesel into the sump, raising the oil level until the engine can rev uncontrollably on its own oil. Owners have had engines destroyed this way.
Go for the ordinary manual over the Dualogic, but don't take it on trust, since early manual gearbox failures on 2009 to 2018 cars are a known fault too. The Dualogic's actuator cracks, leaks and fails at 17,000 to 55,000 miles, and one owner paid £1,800 for a new actuator alone.
Pull the dipstick before anything else. On a MultiJet diesel, oil above the maximum mark or an 'oil exhausted' warning on the dash means diesel's been getting into the sump; on a TwinAir, a low level points to a leaking oil cooler or the kind of neglect that kills the timing chain. Ask for oil change receipts, and for the cambelt receipt on a 1.2.
On the drive, the steering should stay light with no power steering warning, because electric steering failures leave it suddenly heavy, and one owner paid £1,600 for the repair. Try every gear listening for grinding, and on a Dualogic watch for a transmission warning, hesitant changes or the car dropping into neutral. Vibration through the clutch pedal or gear lever on a TwinAir 105 points to the flywheel.
Open and close the tailgate a few times, then check the rear wiper, brake lights, number plate lights and electric boot release. The wiring loom between the body and hatch chafes through as the tailgate moves. It's a known fault on 2008 to 2018 cars, and one owner paid £792 for a new harness. Check the airbag light goes out after starting, too.
Ask for proof of recall work: the fix for bolts loosening on the rear brake back plates, the fuel leak from the manifold on 2008 1.2 and 1.4 petrols, and new head gaskets on some early 1.3 MultiJet diesels. Stop/start faults have come up on several cars, so make sure the system works and its switch responds.
Paste the advert into the free check and it runs these against the listing, the MOT history and the DVLA record before you travel.
It's a sound buy as a 1.2 petrol manual from 2010 onwards with a gearbox that checks out, but not as a TwinAir with a patchy oil record (its timing chain and oil cooler are both known failures) or a diesel that's done town work, where DPF regeneration can flood the sump with fuel. Cars from 2008 and 2009 ride choppily, with a stiff rear end that can make the back skip over a bump on a roundabout.
Gearbox trouble is the thing to test for. Manual gearboxes from 2009 to 2018 have gone at 27,000 to 66,000 miles, with one owner's 2012 car losing a main shaft bearing at 27,000 miles, and the Dualogic's actuator faults show up from 17,000 to 55,000 miles. One owner's 2008 1.4 lost its power steering at 34,000 miles, so make sure it stays light.
Manual cars from 2014 to 2018 have a known fault for the clutch pressure plate failing early, at 10,000 to 20,000 miles, and one owner's 2014 car needed one at 16,000 miles. The instrument cluster can fail on 2014 to 2017 cars from 8,000 to 30,000 miles, and the airbag control unit on 2008 to 2015 cars at 28,000 to 40,000 miles.
TwinAirs with stop/start and the 1.4 petrol from 2011 to 2017 have a known alternator fault at 18,000 to 50,000 miles, where it either won't charge or overcharges and damages the battery. Look for a battery warning light, and ask whether the battery or alternator has been replaced more than once.
Real-world economy on this generation: Fiat 500 47.7 mpg.
Sellers rarely admit these faults outright
Paste any Fiat 500 advert and we check it against the faults, the MOT record and these figures in seconds.
Check an advert now (free) →Owners report 47.7 mpg across the Fiat 500 engines with data, about 85% of the official figure, from 678 submissions.
Fiat 500 Real MPG by engine →The front seats are the high point. They've got long cushions and a tilt adjustment, so you can set the angle of the seat to suit you, and that's a real help in finding a comfortable driving position in a car this small, even on a longer run.
From January 2010 every hatchback got softer rear suspension taken from the Ka (the 500C had it from mid 2009), and it takes the edge off bumps. That makes a later car more settled over rough surfaces, and a calmer thing to drive every day than its short length would suggest.
The Fiat 500 to hunt down is a 1.2 petrol from 2010 on with cambelt receipts and a gearbox that shifts cleanly, while a 1.3 MultiJet diesel that's lived on short town trips is best left alone. Our database holds 13 known Fiat 500 faults, 4 rated high severity, and the sections above say which generation and engine carry them.
Pull the dipstick before anything else. Read the MOT history for repeat advisories and ask for invoices for any work the seller mentions. Then paste the advert into the free check, which reads it against every known Fiat 500 fault before you travel.
Owners report 47.7 mpg on average, about 85% of the official figure, from 678 submissions. Chain (0.9 TWINAIR): no fixed replacement interval, so budget for it if the history does not show it done. The known faults page lists a rough repair cost against each fault. Fiat 500 Real MPG by engine.
If you used the Honest John car-by-car reviews before the site closed in 2026, this is where the Fiat 500 buying advice now lives. It is written from the archived owner reports and model notes (archived page, 118 items read for this model), our own known-faults database, the confirmed service intervals and the Real MPG figures. Every number on the page comes from that data, not from the text. The same data feeds our free advert check.
CarAdCheck is not affiliated with Honest John or Volkswagen Financial Services. What happened to Honest John, and where each feature lives now.
The Fiat 500 is one decision. Reading the advert, the history and the seller are the rest, and these cover them.
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