Skip advert
Advertisement

Fiat 500L review - Reliability and Safety

The 500L gets five stars for safety, but our Driver Power reliability rating throws up warning lights

Reliability and Safety rating

4.0

How we review cars

The Fiat 500L has a five-star Euro NCAP crash test rating and comes with a decent tally of safety features as standard. They include driver, passenger, side and window airbags, plus tyre pressure monitoring and hill-hold. You can also add Fiat’s City brake control low-speed collision mitigation system for £250 if it’s not fitted as standard equipment at your trim level.

Advertisement - Article continues below

The engines and many of the other mechanicals in the 500L are widely used in other Fiat models (such as the standard 500, Panda and Punto), so should prove reliable.

However, while the 500L didn’t feature in our Driver Power 2015 survey, the regular 500 just failed to finish in the top 100 of the survey’s 200 cars – which gives some cause for concern. It was ranked a few places further down the rankings for build quality too.

Fiat’s dealers ranked 24th out of 32 manufacturers, so if you do need to visit one unexpectedly you may find it a little harder to attain satisfaction compared to better performing brands.

Warranty

Like other Fiats, the 500L comes with a three-year/100,000-mile warranty. In the first two years cover is provided regardless of mileage, but the cap comes into play in year three. This is similar to cover provided by most rivals, although VW caps mileage at 60,000 and Kia provides 7 years of warranty cover.

Servicing

There’s no network-wide fixed price servicing scheme advertised for the Fiat 500L, but you should expect to pay around £135 for a minor service and £250 for the full service. This appears to be a little less competitive than some of the plans available from rival manufacturers but Fiat does allow 18,000 miles between services (or annual checks).

Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

Kia is returning to its 'Keeping It Affordable' roots
Opinion - Kia

Kia is returning to its 'Keeping It Affordable' roots

Mike Rutherford thinks new cars are simply too expensive, but some manufacturers are starting to do something about it
Opinion
19 May 2025
Car Deal of the Day: Sacre bleu! The Renault 5 keeps getting cheaper
Renault 5 - front full width

Car Deal of the Day: Sacre bleu! The Renault 5 keeps getting cheaper

The modern-day Super Cinq comes with a super price. It’s our Deal of the Day for 14 May
News
14 May 2025
Best electric cars 2025: the top 10 best EVs you can buy
Best electric cars header

Best electric cars 2025: the top 10 best EVs you can buy

Thinking about making the switch to an electric vehicle? Here are the EVs that should be on your shortlist, and why…
Best cars & vans
14 May 2025