I've been to test drive a 2013 500s 1.2 dualogic today and absolutely loved the car (I need an auto as I'm disabled).

Just a few questions if I may; how reliable is the dualogic gearbox? I'm coming from a DSG box which is fantastic and I found the dualogic box notchy when changing in full auto mode but found using the paddles alleviate some, if not all of the notchiness.

Is it possible to retro fit cruise control?

How reliable is the 500 overall?

What are real world mpg figures, I'd be mainly doing A and B road driving?

Thanks for your time

Alkip said:

I've been to test drive a 2013 500s 1.2 dualogic today and absolutely loved the car (I need an auto as I'm disabled).

Just a few questions if I may; how reliable is the dualogic gearbox? I'm coming from a DSG box which is fantastic and I found the dualogic box notchy when changing in full auto mode but found using the paddles alleviate some, if not all of the notchiness.

Is it possible to retro fit cruise control?

How reliable is the 500 overall?

What are real world mpg figures, I'd be mainly doing A and B road driving?

Thanks for your time

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Cruise - yes it can be retro fitted and should cost between £200 - £500 fitted depending on the version you want. (Must be canbus compatable)

Reliability - Very, the 1.2 is a tried and tested engine

MPG - not sure, I have a twin Air which is returning high 40's early 50's on mixed driving but I believe the 1.2 does better

scout said:

Cruise - yes it can be retro fitted and should cost between £200 - £500 fitted depending on the version you want. (Must be canbus compatable)

Reliability - Very, the 1.2 is a tried and tested engine

MPG - not sure, I have a twin Air which is returning high 40's early 50's on mixed driving but I believe the 1.2 does better

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Thanks Scout, sounding good

I've read quite a few horror stories about the dualogic box which is my main reliability concern.

I have a 500 lounge with the twinair engine, and apart from a recent very minor coolant leak has been fault free after nearly 30000 miles in just under 4 years. As Scout says, the 1.2 is a reliable engine and economical too. For real world economy figures, the Honest John website has lots of info, and Warranty Direct have a reliability index based on frequency and cost of repairs under their warranty.

TrevC said:

I have a 500 lounge with the twinair engine, and apart from a recent very minor coolant leak has been fault free after nearly 30000 miles in just under 4 years. As Scout says, the 1.2 is a reliable engine and economical too. For real world economy figures, the Honest John website has lots of info, and Warranty Direct have a reliability index based on frequency and cost of repairs under their warranty.

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Thankyou I've looked at HJ and will check out warranty direct

Alkip said:

Just a few questions if I may; how reliable is the dualogic gearbox? I'm coming from a DSG box which is fantastic and I found the dualogic box notchy when changing in full auto mode but found using the paddles alleviate some, if not all of the notchiness.

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There's a few of us who have a Dualogic 500 and we love it. The gear changes can be rough sometimes but you can adapt to that by easing off the pedal and changing gears yourself with the paddles/stick. 1.5 years of ownership from new so far and no problems.

There's at least one aftermarket cruise control kit I've seen via Google search, I haven't heard of anyone fitting one on their 500 though so no idea how well it works.

Alkip said:

Thankyou I've looked at HJ and will check out warranty direct

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depends on your driving? how many miles do you drive a year and in which conditions? The dualogic is not as reliable as more sophisticated automatics, or the DSG, but if you dont drive it too much it shouldnt be too big a problem.

I have done 100,000 kms and have had 2 complete failures and a number of small quirks.

44sunsets said:

There's a few of us who have a Dualogic 500 and we love it. The gear changes can be rough sometimes but you can adapt to that by easing off the pedal and changing gears yourself with the paddles/stick. 1.5 years of ownership from new so far and no problems.

There's at least one aftermarket cruise control kit I've seen via Google search, I haven't heard of anyone fitting one on their 500 though so no idea how well it works.

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Good to hear re the dualogic and thanks for the info on cruise

ahmett said:

depends on your driving? how many miles do you drive a year and in which conditions? The dualogic is not as reliable as more sophisticated automatics, or the DSG, but if you dont drive it too much it shouldnt be too big a problem.

I have done 100,000 kms and have had 2 complete failures and a number of small quirks.

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Currently I'm doing about 10k a year in all conditions and I'd describe my driving style as middle of the road, I'm mostly happy to tootle along saving fuel but sometimes I need to make quick progress, within the law of course.

Alkip, Ahmett doesn't treat his car all that sympathetically judging by his postings. Dualogic issues are rare, but when they do happen they can be costly.

Alkip said:

Good to hear re the dualogic and thanks for the info on cruise



Currently I'm doing about 10k a year in all conditions and I'd describe my driving style as middle of the road, I'm mostly happy to tootle along saving fuel but sometimes I need to make quick progress, within the law of course.

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i think you should be ok i did 18k the first year and drive in start stop traffic with plenty of parking on hills so cant be treating the hydraulic clutch system too well. if it goes wrong, it is expensive to fix, so you are best of finding a good local independent specialist who can take care of you and have you back on the road in no time.

basically its less reliable and more complicate than the manual but if you have no choice then go for it.
For the same money, i would go for the dual clutch system available in VW cars each and every time.

ahmett said:

For the same money, i would go for the dual clutch system available in VW cars each and every time.

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But then you would have to drive something boring and with no style from the VAG stable.

scout said:

But then you would have to drive something boring and with no style from the VAG stable.

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true but fiats automatic system is too sophisticated for such a basic car. basically get the fiat 500 in manual if you can.

I know a couple of people who have had really bad experiences with the VW DSG gearbox, and their (Audi) dealers appear to have been on the Fiat customer service course!

ahmett said:

basically get the fiat 500 in manual if you can.

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I take it you didn't read the first post properly, especially the bit in brackets :bang:

scout said:

I take it you didn't read the first post properly, especially the bit in brackets :bang:

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why do you think i said if you can? if it wasnt for disability i would say GET THE MANUAL AT ALL COSTS. believe me if you keep the car 5-10 years, it will cost you a good 2,000 GBP more if you include the initial gearbox extra price and the related extra maintenance.

ahmett said:

why do you think i said if you can? if it wasnt for disability i would say GET THE MANUAL AT ALL COSTS. believe me if you keep the car 5-10 years, it will cost you a good 2,000 GBP more if you include the initial gearbox extra price and the related extra maintenance.

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But they said they need an auto so the if you can is moot....

scout said:

But then you would have to drive something boring and with no style from the VAG stable.

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I agree especially the new models WTF is the rapid all about? I was also very put out when Skoda / VAG decided to offer Race Blue metallic on any car when it was originally only for the vRS models and gave that bit of exclusivity. I was looking at getting a Golf diesel with DSG or a Mk 5 Polo petrol DSG but then there's plenty of reports of the EGR cooler going caput on the Golf and engines sludging up on the TSI petrols and, VAG will not accept it as a fault but offer to contribute 50% to the parts cost if you're lucky.

TrevC said:

I know a couple of people who have had really bad experiences with the VW DSG gearbox, and their (Audi) dealers appear to have been on the Fiat customer service course!

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I've known 3 folk that have had issues with their DSG boxes and, if you've heard that Audi are bad, don't even ponder what Skoda are like, I think they got to believing their own hype too much. The one good dealer that I found some 25 miles away has been taken over / sold to / merged with a national franchise and Skoda UK aren't worth bothering with - I raised a number of issues with them over shoddy, slapdash workmanship and treatment at my supplying dealer in the first 2 years of ownership (from new) and, other than the first issue I never even got a response.

I use an independent garage for pretty much anything mechanical, the work gets done extremely well, you get treated how a customer should be treated and the cost is cheaper than a main stealer.

I'm aware that there's chances of something going wrong with most cars these days, now, if only I could afford to go back to running Subaru's my search would be over

I've just sold my 1.2 Pop Dualogic after four and a half years of trouble free driving.

I do about 8,000 a year, mainly city driving so it's changing up and down all the time. Never a peep of trouble.

My mpg was about 40 in absolute rubbish traffic, but on longer runs it was around 50-55.

Janep1 said:

I've just sold my 1.2 Pop Dualogic after four and a half years of trouble free driving.

I do about 8,000 a year, mainly city driving so it's changing up and down all the time. Never a peep of trouble.

My mpg was about 40 in absolute rubbish traffic, but on longer runs it was around 50-55.

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Thankyou, that's good to hear