Fiat 500X Review

The family-size Fiat 500X brings retro design to the small crossover market

Strengths & weaknesses

  • Retro styling stands out from the family car crowd
  • Wide engine range
  • Comfortable and fun to drive
  • Owners report poor quality and reliability
  • Some interior plastics feel cheap
  • Crashes over bumps if fitted with big wheels

Used Fiat 500X prices from £6,995   Finance from £165.55 per month

If you want the cute looks and carefree air of the Fiat 500 city car but need a vehicle that's more family-friendly, then the Fiat 500X is meant to be right up your street.

Its bulging headlights and curved roof make it look like a super-sized version of the mini Fiat, injecting fun and character into a type of car that's often fairly soulless. The theme continues inside, with colourful panels, chrome door handles and a dashboard that feels well made. A 2018 styling update sharpened up the looks, with LED daytime running lights, new LED rear light clusters and LED headlights on top-spec models.

As a small crossover, the 500X is designed to mix the comfort, low running costs and steadiness of the Fiat 500, with the higher driving position and versatility of an off-roader.

Getting the balance right is tough but the Fiat manages to be comfortable and quiet, as well as stable in corners - without leaning too much. It responds quickly when you steer, darting into corners, which helps make it feel fun to drive.

Where it’s less impressive is in the ownership experience it offers. In the 2018 Driver Power new car ownership satisfaction survey, respondents rated the 500X worst for reliability and also for quality out of 75 models.

Those criticisms aside, the 500X is a similar package to the Mazda CX-3 and more expensive, but slightly larger Honda HR-V. You'll get a little more comfort from the Renault Captur and Vauxhall Mokka X but these are less enjoyable to drive.

A cheaper option would be to buy a supermini such as the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa or VW Polo. Family hatchbacks like the Renault Megane, VW Golf and Seat Leon offer more interior space for the price of a small crossover but don't have a high driving position.

Although early versions did offer four-wheel drive, these are no longer available for sale in the UK. If you're likely to get yourself onto really rugged ground, then you'll probably be better off with a four-wheel drive Jeep Renegade, which shares the Fiat 500X's mechanical parts. It's also comfortable and composed on the road, and carries its own appeal.

There are plenty of other examples of why it pays to choose your Fiat 500X carefully: opting for larger 18-inch wheels will make the ride bumpier and more uncomfortable, the automatic gearbox is slow to change gear, making the car feel sluggish, and diesel engines offer the best fuel economy but are more expensive and heavier, making the car feel less responsive.

The Fiat’s boot is smaller than competitors like the Renault Captur and Nissan Juke but it is versatile: the opening is wide and the rear seats fold down to expand the space. It is a small crossover, so doesn’t feel roomy, but it does have space for adults in the back - as long as they aren’t much taller than 6ft. If you like the design but need more space, then the Fiat 500L people carrier is worth looking at.

The 500X received four stars when independently tested by Euro NCAP, offering good protection for adults and children (there are two Isofix points to securely attach child seats). An automatic emergency braking system that can help avoid crashes is available as an option.

 

Key facts

Warranty Three years/unlimited mileage
Boot size 350 litres
Width 1,796mm
Length 4,248mm
Height 1,600mm -1,620mm
Road tax From B (Free for the first year, £20 thereafter) to F (£145 per year)

Best Fiat 500X for...

Best for Economy – Fiat 500X City Cross 1.0 FireFly Turbo 120hp

You’ll get almost 50mpg from this zippy new petrol-powered turbo motor, along with good response at low revs.

Best for Families – Fiat 500X City Cross 1.0 FireFly Turbo 120hp

The smaller three-cylinder turbo engine coupled with City Cross trim is the best bet for families, as it balances peppy-enough performance, economy and a good level of equipment for the price.

Best for Performance – Fiat 500X City Cross 1.3 FireFly Turbo 150hp

It’s hampered a little by an auto gearbox that doesn’t really suit it, but this is the peppiest of the engine options in the 500X. If you want maximum punch from your Fiat SUV, this is your only choice

One to Avoid – Fiat 500X Urban 1.6 E-Torq

It might be the cheapest option in the range, but the non-turbo 1.6-litre petrol is both the slowest and the thirstiest. It also only gets a five-speed manual gearbox, and is available solely in the most basic Urban specification.

History

  • 2015 The Fiat 500X goes on sale
  • October 2018 Update brings mild design tweaks. Range trim levels simplified. New FireFly petrol engines replace old MultiAir units; diesel versions no longer available

Understanding Fiat 500X names

Trim City Cross

There are two routes to take with the 500X, the stylish City (later, Urban) models or the more rugged Cross versions. Each have been sold in a couple of levels. There's also a Sport model.

Engine FireFly Turbo 1.3 150hp

Petrol models are generally labelled FireFly, apart from the cheapest version called E-Torq. Their power is given in horsepower.

Gearbox 6-speed manual

6-speed shows that the car has six gears. Two types of automatic gearboxes are available depending on the engine you choose: either a slick nine-speed auto or an older six-speed dual-clutch version (DCT).

Fiat 500X Engines

Petrol: 1.6 E-Torq 110hp, 1.0 Turbo 120hp, 1.3 Turbo 150hp

The 500X’s engine range consists of a simple choice of three petrol engines.The cheapest option is the petrol-powered 1.6-litre E-torq, which is cheap but feels slow and is less efficient than the smaller and lighter turbocharged options. The two turbo petrol engines are a 1.0-litre three-cylinder with 120hp and a larger, more powerful four-cylinder 1.3 with 150hp. All engines feature stop-start technology.

The 1.6 petrol is the cheapest in the range by some margin, but is only offered on the base-model 500X Urban. It is also the least economical, offering only 42mpg; it’s hard to argue a case for it unless cost is absolutely a key factor in your buying decision.

Moving up the range, the 120hp 1.0-litre three-cylinder model is much more efficient, and Fiat claims an official fuel consumption figure of 48.9mpg. It’s not all that fast, but it will keep up comfortably with everyday traffic with relatively little effort – even on motorways.

The most powerful engine is the 150hp 1.3-litre FireFly Turbo. This delivers plenty of punch, but it’s only available with a slightly unresponsive-feeling six-speed auto, and fuel consumption is slightly less impressive, at 46mpg.

1.6-litre E-Torq

Petrol

42.2mpg

110hp

0-62mph: 11.5s

112mph

1.0-litre FireFly

Petrol

48.7mpg

120hp

0-62mph: 10.9s

117mph

1.3-litre FireFly

Petrol

46.3mpg

150hp

0-62mph: 9.1s

124mph

Fiat 500X Trims

Urban Pop, Urban Connect, Urban Hey Google, Cross, Sport

The latest models are available in Urban, Sport and Cross styles.

Urban is split into entry-level Pop, which is reasonably well specified with 16-inch alloy wheels, air-conditioning, rear parking sensors, cruise control and a seven-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and Connect, with larger 17-inch alloys, automatic lights and front fog lights.

There's also a limited edition Hey Google trim, which includes a Google Nest Hub smart speaker as a welcome gift.

The Cross model includes everything from the Connect trim as well as 19-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone air-conditioning, and more rugged styling with roof rails.

Sport models come with striking alloy wheel designs, suede-like, aluminium and titanium interior details, and tinted rear windows.

 

 

Fiat 500X Reliability and warranty

On the one hand, Fiat was only ranked 24 out of 32 manufacturers for reliability in the 2016 Auto Express Driver Power satisfaction survey. But on the other, it did no worse than Audi, Hyundai, Ford or Nissan. Certainly, the experience of our sister publication, Auto Express, which tested a Fiat 500X for eight months, suggests that there are no great areas of concern when it comes to the car’s reliability

From new, the car comes with a three-year warranty. You can cover an unlimited number of miles in that time, which is good news for high-mileage drivers.

Used Fiat 500X

Buy a new model for over £20,000 and you can expect to lose a lot of that value in the first few years. This is good news for used buyers, though, because the cheapest example on BuyaCar is just  £6,995. There aren't many four-wheel-drive models - they used the 2.0-litre diesel engine which has been axed from the latest lineup. Expect to pay an average of  £11,650. If you do lots of motorway miles, the 1.6-litre diesel engine might be more appealing; it's much cheaper too, starting at  £6,995.