Hello everyone,
I am rather new to driving. I'm 32 and passed my test in December. I'm an Automatic driver.
I unfortunately bought a dying Mini from a 'dealership' (not actually a mini registered dealership) and subsequently paid the price, with it back at the dealership for about 6 weeks to be "fixed". When I picked it up the other day, it broke down on my way home. So I said goodbye to the mini.
And I'm saying hello to a Fiat 500 lounge 1.2 2016.
When I test drove the car, the salesman pointed out that the gearbox was different, that there's no drift, and no P. But the implications of that I think are much more.
1) Stopping at traffic lights/heavy traffic:
In my mini, I just put my foot on the break. Because of how clapped out it was, if I put the handbrake on it would start to rattle away loudly if I then took my foot off the break. So I simply sat with my foot on the break.
In the Fiat.. so, I stop with the break, I put the handbrake on. I assume I'm not meant to do anything with the gearbox at this point. But on leaving, with the lack of drift, am I meant to gently apply pressure to the gas, and then release the handbrake?
Parking:
So, I noticed a few posts on here about parking with your nose down, putting the car into reverse before putting the handbreak on? Is that right?

Is there anything else drastically different that I should keep in mind?
My test drives were a little manic. I wasn't used to peddles responding so well so slammed the breaks on a bit too hard more than once!
I also wasn't used to the car going backwards if I was on a slight slope.

I'm going to open up and say that I'm terrified of driving this car home from the dealership. I broke down in the mini twice. Once on an 8 exit roundabout, and the second time was trying to exit the M3. For a new driver, this was terrifying. So I think my confidence has been shaken. I know I did love driving.

Hi and Welcome.

Sorry you have had such a mixed start to your driving experience.

I have looked after a few of the fiats.

Basic memory tells me it is basically
'Freewheeling' unless your foot is on the accelerator.. so YES brake pedal.. ( or handbrake) if you are stationary.

M3.. lot the quietist place to have issues

..

Feel free to ask more..

Charlie

varesecrazy said:

Hi and Welcome.

Sorry you have had such a mixed start to your driving experience.

I have looked after a few of the fiats.

Basic memory tells me it is basically
'Freewheeling' unless your foot is on the accelerator.. so YES brake pedal.. ( or handbrake) if you are stationary.

M3.. lot the quietist place to have issues

..

Feel free to ask more..

Charlie

Click to expand...

Thank you Charlie!
I do have another question.
What's the best set up for slow moving traffic?
I know my commute home will be sitting in traffic a lot at times. I'm used to just gently drifting forwards by taking my foot off the break.
Should I be disengaging the Stop/Start?
I feel like there's probably an optimal way of treating the car in those sorts of conditions.

My Duologic Experience is before stop start
(But I have S-S on my manual twinair)

Personally.. if it is just 'shunting..' stop start traffic. then leave it in gear (d)
Using the handbrake if necessary.

Personally I would disable Stop: Start mode.. but that is personal preference

For traffic lights.. longer delays.. go back to neutral. Stop:Start may be more relevant in these conditions.

I'm sure there are people on here with identical cars.. who can advise further.

Charlie

I’m going to be slagged off for this, but it really sounds like you could do with some driving lessons in the car if you're that lacking in confidence.

D isn’t drift btw, it’s drive.

Good suggestion from 306, worth asking your driving instructor from when you took your test, they may be happy to take you out for a lesson in your car to advise and help you get used to it. Or find an instructor with the same auto fiat 500 and tell them what you’re after.

I'd suggest disengaging Stop/Start at least until you're familiar with the quirks of the Dualogic, you probably don't need anything else going on at the moment.

Does that model have the hill-hold feature? It's not effective on gentle slopes but is a great help in stopping the car rolling backwards (or forwards) on taking off.

I found the tendency to roll rather disconcerting at first in an 'automatic' car but one quickly adapts, especially after a horn-blast from the car behind!

Yeah getting a lesson in it is a good shout, I drive a manual 500 so I'm not really familiar with the duologic transmission, but I think it would be similar to my dads old citroen semi-auto transmission.
Also, I was always taught to not put the handbrake on in traffic, maybe extreme cases where you are stopped for an extended period. but every time you stop for a little bit handbraking would be tedious, foot on the brake just seems so much easier, plus id prefer to be able to move quickly in case I need to move to avoid something or any other emergency like that, just my two cents.
But yeah, get a lesson from an instructor if you are unsure, or even ask your mechanic or anyone mechanically minded in your family or friends.

The Fiat Dualogic is not strictly an automatic, its a robotised manual.

Once you head is round that fact, its slightly easier to deal with.

If you haven't picked the car up yet I would be very close to suggesting to the dealership that they find you a car with a 'proper' automatic.

D

Thanks everyone. My confidence issues came from the issues I had with the mini. Breaking down whilst having cars either side going at 70mph isn't the best.
2 days after passing my test I drove all the way up to Scotland and back, so I know I love driving and I know I'm good at it.
I've spoken to a colleague and pootled around the work carpark in his Fiat, so I'm feeling much better about things.
Definitely not wanting a different car, no point running away from something slightly challenging, and I happen to have haggled down to a pretty good deal.
Thanks for all the advise.

ImaginaryFriend said:

Thanks everyone. My confidence issues came from the issues I had with the mini. Breaking down whilst having cars either side going at 70mph isn't the best.
2 days after passing my test I drove all the way up to Scotland and back, so I know I love driving and I know I'm good at it.
I've spoken to a colleague and pootled around the work carpark in his Fiat, so I'm feeling much better about things.
Definitely not wanting a different car, no point running away from something slightly challenging, and I happen to have haggled down to a pretty good deal.
Thanks for all the advise.

Click to expand...

Don’t take this the wrong way, but as a new driver you aren’t “good at it”

I’ve been driving for 18 years now and still have stuff to learn. I started a new job 2 years ago next week and as part of the job I occasionally get to drive cars with 600+ bhp, some of which are prototype vehicles. I had to do 3 tests with an ex-Police driving instructor , he was generally happy with my driving, but gave me some things to work on inbetween the tests.

If you’re having issues controlling what is a pretty underpowered automatic car then I think getting some lessons in that car might not be the worst thing, overconfidence is one of the leading causes of accidents, I know, I’ve had a couple!

Just be careful out there, its a wild jungle. Scotland and the North of England(once past Preston) are very quiet on the roads compared to Dahn Saaf.

D