Its my only niggle with my Panda 4x4.

If it was auto I would keep it much longer.

But I will probably upgrade to a 500X 4x4 in automatic fairly soon ( its 28 months old now )

I even considered the Dacia Duster but they dont do a 4x4 automatic neither !

The 500X is a derivate of the Jeep Renegrade. Automatics are the norm in America hence the option.
Traditionally, European manufacturers rarely provide automatics in small cheap(?)cars.

It's pretty much down to space, cost and demand.

I'm almost certain the Pandas normal Dualogic isn't up to the job of transmitting power to all four wheels and probably wouldn't fit either.

There are several auto type gearbox systems that are used by various manufacturers and they all have benefits and drawbacks.

I think the 4x4 500x is available with a full 9 speed torque converter system.
I've read it'll never self select 9th unless you fancy a driving ban!
And I just can't imagine has often it'll swap around the other 8 gears.

We've just order a new Suzuki Vitara, though only a 2wd manual, I seem to think you can get a full auto with all engines in both 2 and 4 wheel drive.
The 1.4 Vitara S with the boosterjet engine has Allgrip 4x4 as standard and in Sport mode it's a bit of a flyer!

theshootist said:

Its my only niggle with my Panda 4x4.

If it was auto I would keep it much longer.

But I will probably upgrade to a 500X 4x4 in automatic fairly soon ( its 28 months old now )

I even considered the Dacia Duster but they dont do a 4x4 automatic neither !

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I think you can now get the Dacia with an auto box. I saw a review a month or two ago. I think it's only with the Diesel engine. The review mentioned that an automatic version was the most requested feature of the duster hence introducing one. Not that I'm encouraging you to leave fiat ownership.

Also, didn't someone on here post a technical explanation about our panda 4x4 not getting an auto option as the part of the engine it connects to it used up with the 4x4 system or something like that.

The Suzuki boosterjet auto does keep getting recommended but so does the Peugeot 2008 1.2 puretec with the EAT transmission.

The Duster auto is 2wd only.

From a technical standpoint, it's a packaging issue. The space available in the engine bay and between the two front wheels means there is enough space for the manumatic in the 2wd Panda, while the output shaft location on the manual transmissions used in the 4x4 that connect to the rear driveshaft and differential means an automatic transmission would simply be too long to fit between the front wheels. The output shaft would be so far out that the front axles would have to be wildly asymmetrical in length, meaning torque would always spin one of the wheels more than the other. This is disregarding for a moment the fact that the output shaft would probably get in the way of the steering connecting rods; and also disregarding the fact that the clutches they currently have in their automated manuals and DCT boxes can't handle the stress of all four wheels having grip and would probably wear too fast, overheat, or simply break. While I'm sure a solution could be engineered, it would have to be a completely new gearbox and Fiat recently simply hasn't had enough demand that would justify investing in the research and development for that. That's the economic aspect for why there are almost no small 4x4s with autos. The same goes for the Duster in that not enough people would buy the 4x4 with an auto considering how much more expensive it would have to be.

As far as the 500x is concerned, the added space allows for them to use the ZF 9 speed gearbox, which really isn't that much bigger than the 6 speed manual (which fits into the TwinAir because the engine is smaller). That being said, the ZF box is a bit of a mixed bag because while it provides plenty of ratios to keep the engine in the optimal rpm range, it uses two dog clutches (basically a clutch with gear-like teeth that prevent slipping) so every time it shifts from, say, 3rd to 4th and 6th to 7th the shift has to be slower so that the rotating input and output have time to synchronise for the dog clutch to engage. This works well with dealing with the forces of trying to send power to all four wheels, but somewhat dulls the on-road driving experience.

philboo said:

so does the Peugeot 2008 1.2 puretec with the EAT transmission.

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I also once had a Peugeot that ate its transmission.