Fiat 500 1.2 Automatic
Discussion
Hi, the dualogic box on a 500 actaully adds 1 mpg to fuel efficiency because the box changes at the optimum moment.
There is a difference to the Fiat box compared with most. The dualogic box is actually a manual gearbox with a robot attached to the side of it. Upside is, there is less to go wrong, if it does it should be cheaper to fix. The downside is because of the robot controlling the clutch, the car does not "hill hold", therfore if you only have an auto liscense, then you cannot drive the car.
There is a difference to the Fiat box compared with most. The dualogic box is actually a manual gearbox with a robot attached to the side of it. Upside is, there is less to go wrong, if it does it should be cheaper to fix. The downside is because of the robot controlling the clutch, the car does not "hill hold", therfore if you only have an auto liscense, then you cannot drive the car.
john501 said:
The downside is because of the robot controlling the clutch, the car does not "hill hold", therfore if you only have an auto liscense, then you cannot drive the car.
Where did you get this info from? My wife drives our 500 Dualogic 1.2 on an Auto licence here in France and the insurance co. had no problems with it. Semi autos have been discussed before with regards to auto licences and it has always been decided that because they only have 2 pedals they can be driven on an auto licence.As far as the car itself goes, its a cracker and fun to drive.
penryar said:
john501 said:
The downside is because of the robot controlling the clutch, the car does not "hill hold", therfore if you only have an auto liscense, then you cannot drive the car.
Where did you get this info from? My wife drives our 500 Dualogic 1.2 on an Auto licence here in France and the insurance co. had no problems with it. Semi autos have been discussed before with regards to auto licences and it has always been decided that because they only have 2 pedals they can be driven on an auto licence.As far as the car itself goes, its a cracker and fun to drive.
Because ours is the 1.2, the settings for the gearbox are Eco/Normal instead of Normal/Sport and as we do most of the driving in town its usually left in Eco. Most of the time it changes gear when you want it to. However because its adaptive sometimes it holds onto gears longer than you would like, in which case I usually just tap the gear lever to make it change up. The nice thing about the gearbox is that once it is set to 'Auto' it stays there even if you manually shift up or down.
The qualitiy of the shift is much much better than the previous semi-autos I've driven, mainly the Alfa Selespeed system, and although I have only driven a Smart for a short period, from what I remember, the Fiat Dualogic system is much smoother. It changes gear like an average driver, you can feel the changes but it doesn't jerk. As with all semi-auto systems though, you can fool it at times, namely if you creep forward then floor the throttle, you can find that the car is changing gear just as you apply the throttle leaving you feeling stranded for a fraction of a second.
The qualitiy of the shift is much much better than the previous semi-autos I've driven, mainly the Alfa Selespeed system, and although I have only driven a Smart for a short period, from what I remember, the Fiat Dualogic system is much smoother. It changes gear like an average driver, you can feel the changes but it doesn't jerk. As with all semi-auto systems though, you can fool it at times, namely if you creep forward then floor the throttle, you can find that the car is changing gear just as you apply the throttle leaving you feeling stranded for a fraction of a second.
With regards to the Auto license issue, this is lifted from the Northern Ireland Driver and vehicle testing website
1. Can a car with manual-type gearbox without a clutch be used for the practical test?
These types of cars (Renault Clio Easy, Fiat Seicento Citymatic, Saab Sensonic, Mercedes Benz A Class and others) are suitable vehicles for a test, but a test pass will restrict the holder to automatic vehicles only. A full automatic licence acts as a provisional manual licence.
Full link http://www.dvtani.gov.uk/practicaldrivingtest/carf...
No mention at all of 'Hill Hold'
1. Can a car with manual-type gearbox without a clutch be used for the practical test?
These types of cars (Renault Clio Easy, Fiat Seicento Citymatic, Saab Sensonic, Mercedes Benz A Class and others) are suitable vehicles for a test, but a test pass will restrict the holder to automatic vehicles only. A full automatic licence acts as a provisional manual licence.
Full link http://www.dvtani.gov.uk/practicaldrivingtest/carf...
No mention at all of 'Hill Hold'
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