Used Fiat 500X review and buying guide (2015 to 2024): which one to buy and what to check

Which used Fiat 500X should you buy?

Choose a 500X on its condition and history rather than by engine or year, because there are no known faults on file for it, and that's a gap in the record rather than proof it's trouble free. All of the owners' reports on record were sent between 2016 and 2019, so they describe the earlier cars, and three of them describe electronic faults, two of which the dealer couldn't cure.

There's next to nothing written about the later cars up to 2024, which doesn't make them clear, only unrecorded. Whatever the age, go for one with the rear seat latch recall from 2018 done, an unbroken run of oil changes and no pattern of return visits for warning lights or software updates. If you carry adults in the back, sit there before you buy, as legroom's tight.

Which Fiat 500X engines and gearboxes are the safe choices?

No 500X engine or gearbox has a known fault on file, and there are no service intervals to go on either, so none can be ruled in or out on the record. The diesels are easy on fuel, but the one engine failure reported is a 2015 1.6 diesel that gave up at 15,000 miles, so let the oil history decide whichever engine you're looking at.

That diesel poured smoke, revved hard and wouldn't switch off, running away on the oil in its own sump, and the oil change warning had already been showing. The dealer said the handbook allows only 500 km once that light comes on, so ask when it last appeared and whether the change followed straight away. On the manual gearbox, a hire car at 20,000 miles was hard to shift, which its driver put down to earlier hirers selecting reverse without lifting the collar on the lever.

What should you check when viewing a used Fiat 500X?

Warning lights come first. Start the car several times and watch for lights that flash up at random, as one owner's November 2015 1.4 Cross Plus kept throwing a brake control warning at start up, once alongside main beam and lane assist fault lights, and the dealer couldn't find a cause. Any light that stays on after starting needs an explanation before you go further.

Take a long test drive with plenty of turning. One owner's car, four months old with 3,200 miles on it, had its steering lock while pulling onto a roundabout, every dash light come on, the handbrake seize and the engine refuse to stop for about 20 minutes. Another owner's engine kept cutting out with the parking brake locking on, even after three dealer visits for software updates, so read what each invoice was for.

Ask for proof of the rear seat latch recall from 2018: the rear seat could come free when the back belts weren't fastened, letting whatever's in the boot into the cabin, and the fix is reshaped latch bezels. Try every gear, reverse included, and check the oil level. One owner's car wouldn't start after two weeks parked, the dealer found the engine flooded, and it then waited three months for parts.

Paste the advert into the free check and it runs these against the listing, the MOT history and the DVLA record before you travel.

What does a used Fiat 500X cost to run?