Fiat 500 - Reliability and safety
The Fiat 500 includes excellent levels of safety kit, while servicing costs should be reasonable
Fiat is not well known for good reliability, and customer feedback from our latest Driver Power survey placed the manufacturer in 31st place out of 32 brands. It’s still a little early to tell how the battery-powered 500 will perform over the longer term, but we think it has the potential to do well considering electric cars are simpler to maintain than a traditional petrol or diesel car.
Standard safety equipment is good, with all versions coming with Attention Assist (Drowsiness Detection), Lane Keeping Assist, Traffic Sign Recognition with Intelligent Speed Assistant and Autonomous Emergency Braking. The optional Fiat Co-Driver Pack includes a full suite of active safety systems, along with Level 2 semi-autonomous driving which uses a front-facing camera system to monitor the road ahead.
Euro NCAP awarded the 500 a reasonable four-star rating out of a maximum possible five when it tested the electric city car at the end of 2021. Adult and child occupant safety received scores of 76 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively, while safety assist systems were rated at 67 per cent. Euro NCAP's assessment of the 500's Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) function was that it 'performed marginally in tests of its reaction to other vehicles'.
Warranty
The Fiat 500 comes standard with a three-year/unlimited-mileage warranty, with the option to extend cover for an additional 12 or 24 months at extra cost. That’s better than most rivals who often stick to a 60,000-mile limit – although we doubt that people will go that far over such a period in a tiny city car.
Fiat also covers the 500’s battery for eight years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes sooner.
Servicing
Fiat recommends the all-electric 500 is serviced every 9,000 miles or 12 months, whichever comes soonest. That shouldn’t be an issue for anyone using the 500 as an urban runabout or for a 20-mile commute, but if you cover more miles, then the relatively short intervals may prove frustrating.
At least Fiat claims scheduled maintenance costs for the electric 500 will be up to 35 per cent less than a petrol-powered equivalent, and the company offers individual service plans to help keep your car in good shape.
