Fiat 500 auto test drive

Raymond Lin · 29 May 2011 at 18:43

No VW Polo? If a 1.2 500 is enough power then surely a 1.4 Polo would do as well, it has plenty of room inside, it's in your budget.

Or just flip the corn between a 207 and Yaris.

richolmes72 · 29 May 2011 at 18:57

Raymond Lin said:
No VW Polo? If a 1.2 500 is enough power then surely a 1.4 Polo would do as well, it has plenty of room inside, it's in your budget.

Or just flip the corn between a 207 and Yaris.

Problem is the 2006-on Yaris also uses an automated manual (MMT) and it ranks up there with the worst autobox I've ever used. The Peugeot ESG (I think) system isn't great but better than the Yaris. VW's DSG system is pretty good so maybe a polo is a good shout.

Decent Autobox, small car, economical and premium with lots of options is a hard trick to find.

Jonny69 · 29 May 2011 at 20:57

Considwered the Polo but it's got the same problem as the latest Golf. The car is quite big on the outside and the interior is quite big, but the seats are pushed right into the middle of the car so it feels really cramped. The Peugeots, all of them, are a lot more spread out inside and feel a lot more spacious.

Rich, have you driven a 207 auto? I thought it was ok and through town it shifted just when I wanted it to. Tugged a bit in first but I think it was more the gearing to suit the 1.6, when I'm used to a more lazy longer 1st for the 2.0 in the Scenic.

jamoor · 29 May 2011 at 21:06

[TW]Fox;19249796 said:
You are buying an appliance to take you from A to B with a tiny engine, some seats and some doors though, so I don't really see why not. You say you don't like the 500, a Mini has no 1.2 litre engine, so you are now back to looking at non-quirky, non-interesting, utterly tedious supermini's as the two vaguely cool ones are out of the equation.

If you fancy something decent instead - totally understandable - then... buy something decent rather than sifting around for drossy 1.2 litre rubbish. Because a 1.2 litre engine and autobox is just.. no.

I mean whats left on your shortlist?

Its not a proper auto, so that won't be an issue...

Dogbreath · 30 May 2011 at 04:56

Raymond Lin said:
And it knows what gear is best by itself? Or do you use some paddles ?

The Smart car uses exactly this system, a conventional gearbox and clutch but driven by motors and an ECU. You get the low losses of a manual system (and hence better mpg) but they tend to be quite slow in operation (ridiculously slow in the case of the Smart). The Smart has the option of paddles to change gear, but there is a fully automatic mode and I think you have a semi-manual mode in the Fiat (up or down gears, but no clutch).

Raymond Lin · 30 May 2011 at 11:53

I don't think I would ever get a Start Stop car...it seems more hassle than its worth.

Either get a full Auto with a nice Auto box like Audi, BMW or VW or full Manual box. These inbetweeners seems rubbish from what you guys are saying.

[TW]Fox · 30 May 2011 at 11:54

Raymond Lin said:
I don't think I would ever get a Start Stop car...it seems more hassle than its worth.

How so?

Lashout_UK · 30 May 2011 at 11:54

Most of those come with Stop/Start now Raymond

I assume you mean semi-automatic?

Raymond Lin · 30 May 2011 at 11:58

Lashout_UK said:
Most of those come with Stop/Start now Raymond I assume you mean semi-automatic?

erm, yes, i mean those robotic auto lol

my bad!

Minstadave · 30 May 2011 at 12:26

Raymond Lin said:
I don't think I would ever get a Start Stop car...it seems more hassle than its worth.

Either get a full Auto with a nice Auto box like Audi, BMW or VW or full Manual box. These inbetweeners seems rubbish from what you guys are saying.

The Audi/VW auto box is a robotic auto. Just has dual clutches to make the changes quick.

[TW]Fox · 30 May 2011 at 12:28

Minstadave said:
The Audi/VW auto box is a robotic auto. Just has dual clutches to make the changes quick.

No it's not, its a robotic manual. An auto doesn't have a clutch.

Hxc · 30 May 2011 at 12:28

I don't know if it's the way my mother drives it but the robotic auto in the smart makes it horrible to be a passanger in. It is just horrific.

Minstadave · 30 May 2011 at 12:51

[TW]Fox;19255784 said:
No it's not, its a robotic manual. An auto doesn't have a clutch.

Are you saying there is a difference between a robotic auto and a robotic manual? Or we're just using the wrong term?

To be clear then the VAG DSG box is a manual gearbox with dual clutches and a robotic unit that changes gear so it appears to be an auto box to the user, there we go.

Pinkribbonscars · 30 May 2011 at 13:28

[TW]Fox;19255784 said:
No it's not, its a robotic manual. An auto doesn't have a clutch.

It doesn't have a clutch pedal, but does have clutches, surely?

wiki

The Direct-Shift Gearbox (German: Direkt-Schalt-Getriebe[1]), commonly abbreviated to DSG,[2][3] is an electronically controlled dual clutch[2] multiple-shaft manual gearbox

Edit: NM I think I see what you are saying now

[TW]Fox · 30 May 2011 at 13:33

Yes, it has two clutches because, as your quote says, it is a manual gearbox

Pinkribbonscars · 30 May 2011 at 13:46

Yeah I just read 'robotic' in both quotes and didn't see you said manual and he said auto, my bad!

Shoei · 30 May 2011 at 17:47

Be interesting how you get on with the auto box.
My mum has a yaris but with the dire auto box. Only way to drive was in manual or it'd try and get into 5th as quick as possible.
My MiTo has an auto but it's Dual Clutch and much fun in manual.

1.8 in a car the size/weight of the Yais must be fun.

Usher · 30 May 2011 at 18:05

Fiat semi auto's use hydraulics to operate the clutch & shift the gears which are sequential & not arranged as per a normal manual gearbox so in effect it's not a normal gearbox, when you first open the drivers door you hear a whining noise which is the hydraulics powering up.

Some cars( inc Smart ? ) use solenoids instead which tend to fail frequently.

Jonny69 · 30 May 2011 at 18:35

Shoei said:
My MiTo has an auto but it's Dual Clutch and much fun in manual.

It does? Last time I looked I swear they weren't making auto Mito's hence it was off our list.

*scurries off for another look*

Edit: Way out of budget. But I like.

Alibaba99 · 30 May 2011 at 18:39

Minstadave said:
The Audi/VW auto box is a robotic auto. Just has dual clutches to make the changes quick.

Some of the Audi boxes are CVTs but programmed to behave as if they have 7 gears.

Jonny69 said:
Yep, used the normal starter motor. Same as the Golf that has it. Seems to be a super efficient quiet starter motor because it fires up almost instantly and quietly.

The engine stops just before the next cylinder is due to fire, so the starter only has to tweak the engine round slightly before it catches.

Minstadave said:
It's basically a manual box mechanically that is shifted by a robotic system rather than doing it yourself. It's different to the traditional automatic gearbox which uses a torque converter rather than a clutch.

A traditional auto gearbox doesn't use the torque converter to change gear either, that is just there to allow the engine to idle and to provide creep in traffic (and to confuse matter Mercedes produce a 'normal' auto which uses a clutch). The big difference is that normal autos use epicyclic gears which are selected by clutch bands, as opposed to gears selected by moving shafts within the box.

Fiat 500 auto test drive

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