General Driver's seat with memory?

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General Driver's seat with memory?

martgadget

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Hello Friends.
I'm shortly planning on ordering a 500 Lounge for my wife, but am currently being driven bonkers by the lack of info on current options, and a dealer who doesnt seem to know anything about their cars.

The web-site flash build-your-500 pages show only a small number of options, and more are listed in the brochure - where are the prices for the other options? (or are they no longer available?)

The 500c in our local showroom has 'position memory' on one or both the front seats, meaning if you lift them forward to get in the back with the lever, they click back to exactly where you left them. This is a critical feature for us, as it's really annoying to have to re-adjust the seat every time.

I cannot find any info on whether this option (or feature) is available on the standard 500 lounge cars.


So:

Questions:

- Passenger Seat with position memory is listed as an option on the lounge in the brochure - does any one know how much it is, if it's still available etc? - or if it's been made standard?

- Does the driver's seat already have this function on the lounge, or not at all?

- Blue&Me sounds a debatable option for IPod owners after reading the forum, can it be deleted from the Lounge and replaced with the standard head-unit form the Pop? - which can have a proper Ipod lead connected?

Hoping to be among you soon :cool:

Many thanks.

Mart.
 
Don't know about the option on the passenger side but it came standard on mine and its a pop so i would guess its standard across the range.

Ipod control has been improved by the introduction of an extra widget/device see this thread
https://www.fiatforum.com/blue-me/200012-automotive-5-4-firmware-upgrade-blue-me-adaptor-review.html

http://www.fiat.it/cgi-bin/pbrand.dll/FIAT_ITALIA/blueme/blueme.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0400236724.1248878813@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccciadehljijkjgcefecejgdfkhdfji.0&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes&contentOID=1074586455&categoryOID=-1073821252&Failed_Reason=Session+not+found&Failed_Page=%2fFIAT_ITALIA%2fblueme%2fblueme.jsp

I wouldnt discount it yet have a read.
Pretty certain you cant drop the B&M on lounge you would have to spec up a pop then you loose seats and the skydome.
 
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It is standard on the driver seat, but optional on the passenger side, however, if you have the memory on the passenger side, then you loose the under seat storage!!

Even without the memory, you can stop the seat where you want, so it isn't always right back or right forward. When you fold the seat forward it locks forward, you then push/pull it to your chosen location (whilst still folded) then unlock it there by lifting the handle on the back of the seat - It takes a few goes to get used to it, but it works well enough and you still keep your 'hidden' storage.

I found lots of other options on a different area of the 500 website, but I can't remember where! it wasn't part of the configurator, it may have been called 'accessories'.
 
Neither of mine go back to the same position - I have to get my son in and out every day and use passenger side in morning and driver side when I get to nursery, and they never go back to the position before. So I've got a Lounge but no seat memory on either!

I find Blue & Me invaluable .... my phone is permanently in the boot now so I can't be tempted at all to text even in a traffic jam, and if anyone wants to call it is absolutely safe to answer, and also it is useful if I'm going to be late somewhere and I can call safely and legally. I will continue to buy cars with it from now on (or a variation of) as I find it one of the best things on the 500.
 
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- Blue&Me sounds a debatable option for IPod owners after reading the forum, can it be deleted from the Lounge and replaced with the standard head-unit form the Pop? - which can have a proper Ipod lead connected?

I'm not sure what you mean by this, the head unit is exactly the same on all models, it's just the Blue & Me system that it added afterwards and contains the USB slot etc. which is very useful. This USB slot can be used to play an iPod.
 
Heidi, to use the memory on the driver side,

fold the seat forward and it 'locks' down - slide it forward so you can get into the back.

when you are finished slide the seat back, but leave it folded down in the locked position.

when it get's back to it's original spot it will stop, then you release the handle to 'unlock' the seat and put the back up/

For the passenger side

as above, but it doesn't have a return position, so stop it where you want it and then release the handle and upright the seat.

It takes a bit of getting used to, but it should work
 
Ok, We are now experts in memory seats.
booklady - you are right, all the drivers seats do it - we tried 3 new cars at the dealers today. they had a used one (57 plate) that didnt so perhaps there are some early cars that dont, or that one was broken.
The passenger seat one is an option, the dealer didnt know how much, but is finding out. It's available according to Fiat customer services on all cars (unless it's standard - like on the ByDiesel, and stop-start)

re ipod - I had done some searching and found a post on the italian forum that shows a cable that a guy got on e-bay that fits into the back of the stereo and plugs into the ipod - my bad italian also read 'doesnt work on the blue&me model' - possibly because it occupies the connector on the head-unit that the blue&me goes into behind the dash.

I mistakenly thought that the head-unit was different in the 'non blue-and-me' models - my misunderstanding.

By the sounds of it the latest firmware update, plus the £70 widget mentioned above are the answer, so thank you all for clarifying this - one more thing - does ipod + widget + blue&me mean you can play itunes copy-protected tracks now? - it wasnt clear below.

thanks again, a very friendly forum :cool:

Mart.
 
I don't know if you will be able to play protected files (mine hasn't arrived yet) but in anticipation of its arrival I went on here...

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12519_7-10096807-49.html

and downloaded the trial to convert the protected music into 'normal' MP3. I now buy my music off Amazon as its cheaper, still goes into my iTunes playlist and isn't protected so should play no matter what....

Hope that helps a little.
 
It seems surprising to base a £10,000 buying decision (the car) on a £100 music player (iPod etc) - just get a new one that works with the car!
 
I tried the memory thing today. got out of car, pushed seat back forward, slid car seat forward, put son in back, did his seat belt up, tried to push car seat back, it didn't move, pushed seat up instead, then the seat was able to slide back ............. ????? (NB obviously seat didn't therefore slide back to correct position but it just would not slide back without the seat back going to the upright position ... perhaps not got memory thingy with leather seats?)
 
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It seems surprising to base a £10,000 buying decision (the car) on a £100 music player (iPod etc) - just get a new one that works with the car!

you think I understand my wife's car buying logic? - it's not dealbreaker, but considering the dealer's lack of knowledge about the car, this was a very helpful place to ask.

M.
 
perhaps not got memory thingy with leather seats?)

I have the leather seats and the whole lots works exactly as booklady describes - very good explanation booklady (y). You have to make sure the seatback tips all the way forward and locks in the folded forward position before you slide the seat. With the leather this requires a bit of a shove - and if the seat moves forward while you're folding the backrest then the whole memory things fails to work.

It sure could work a lot better but once you've made it work it seems so simple :rolleyes:
 
I have the leather seats and the whole lots works exactly as booklady describes - very good explanation booklady (y). You have to make sure the seatback tips all the way forward and locks in the folded forward position before you slide the seat. With the leather this requires a bit of a shove - and if the seat moves forward while you're folding the backrest then the whole memory things fails to work.

It sure could work a lot better but once you've made it work it seems so simple :rolleyes:
Tried it on mine before. Very stiff!
 
the reason I know is that we showed the dealer how to do it!!! there was an instruction sheet on the back of the driver seat, yet they didn't know it even existed :D

Sounds about right for a dealer :p

I do wonder how much THEY manage to sell cars at times, and how much of it is the cars selling themselfs :rolleyes: :p
 
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