All generations and engines together · 334,105 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 41k
Worse than most city cars, by age and by mileage. Watch suspension and corrosion. A used buy worth some caution. Check the MOT history for repeating suspension advisories before you go.
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press, with how well each report stands up. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
Owners and forums report clonking or knocking from the front end over bumps, usually traced to worn lower arm bushes or tired strut top mounts, and Honest John lists the same complaint. It is fiddly to fix properly because the front bumper often has to come off to get at the bushes, so some garages patch it rather than replace it. This lines up with the measured MOT data for the city segment, where suspension is the standout fault; the folklore and the numbers point the same way here.
The 0.9 TwinAir's MultiAir valve system (owners call the actuator unit the "brick") relies completely on clean, correct-spec engine oil. Miss a service or use the wrong oil and the solenoids inside can clog or seize, bringing a rough misfire, a loss of power and a check engine light, sometimes as early as 60-80k miles if servicing has been skipped. A full actuator replacement runs to around £1,000-1,200, and Fiat's own service literature is explicit about the oil spec for this reason, which is as close to an acknowledgement as you get.
On cars with the Dualogic semi-auto gearbox, owners report jerky or hesitant pull-away, harsh changes, and occasional warning lights as the electro-hydraulic clutch actuator wears. It is usually the actuator's internal seals, the accumulator, or a clutch needing renewal rather than anything in the gearbox itself, and a rebuild or replacement actuator typically costs £400-800 on top of any clutch. Manual-gearbox 500s are not affected.
Clutch wear, slip and lost bite point are among the most commonly reported failures on petrol manuals, sometimes surprisingly early. In 2016 Fiat recalled around 39,000 US-market 2012-2016 manual 500s over a clutch pressure plate that could fracture under excess pedal travel, fitting an upgraded release system with a travel limiter; UK cars from the same build years share the part. A clutch replacement typically runs £500-800.
Diesel 500s driven mostly on short town journeys can struggle to get the DPF hot enough to regenerate, leading to a lit DPF warning light, sluggish response and rising fuel use. It shows up more on cars that have spent their life doing exactly the school run and shopping trips this car is built for, and a run at motorway speed for 30-40 minutes will often clear an early warning. Left too long, forced regeneration or filter replacement can run into several hundred pounds.
On the current electric 500, a weak or failing 12V battery has been linked to no-start faults and knock-on warning lights, separate from the main traction battery. Owners also report software niggles on the touchscreen, frozen maps and dropped Bluetooth, generally fixed with a dealer software update rather than new hardware. Fiat has also issued a recall covering a possible faulty half-shaft and a missing nut on the high-voltage battery's negative terminal on some cars.
Ranked from this model’s own MOT record, then from what owners report.
Saveable checklistThe physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
Drawn from the reports above rather than the MOT data. These are the model-specific ones.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 111,238 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Same segment (City cars), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.
Head to head with the other popular cars in its class on reliability and common faults.