General New 500x S

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General New 500x S

Has anyone driven the new S yet? I’m contemplating getting a new one but fancy an auto.



No, but I was looking at a 2019 500X in the showroom while waiting for the aircon to be done. Where has the Mode Selector gone? Just a naff black plastic disc filling the hole where it should be.
 
No, but I was looking at a 2019 500X in the showroom while waiting for the aircon to be done. Where has the Mode Selector gone? Just a naff black plastic disc filling the hole where it should be.

I asked the same question at our local dealership and they said that only the 4x4 models have the mode selector, all the others come with that dummy placeholder. I found that really weird.
 
I asked the same question at our local dealership and they said that only the 4x4 models have the mode selector, all the others come with that dummy placeholder. I found that really weird.



And no 4x4 version available in the UK now. I won't be getting rid of mine any time soon then
 
I can't wrap my mind around it. OK, let's say the car has no AWD, but it still has to have the turbo, right? So how do you switch between the normal and the sports mode if there is no goddamn knob??
 
Simple. You don't. It'll be like ye olde world cars where you decided how fast you go by using the peddles. Chances are, they've redesigned the throttle response, the map, etc to strike a balance between performance and economy. Probably also incorporated a balanced steering weight too, along with the other bits sports mode changed.
 
Simple. You don't. It'll be like ye olde world cars where you decided how fast you go by using the peddles. Chances are, they've redesigned the throttle response, the map, etc to strike a balance between performance and economy. Probably also incorporated a balanced steering weight too, along with the other bits sports mode changed.

So what if I don't want the balance? What if I want maximum economy most of the time and maximum performance occasionally? Why dumb down a modern Sport Utility Vehicle into a goddamn mommymobile?

Anyway, they could have come up with a better idea for the mode selector, used it for something else in the non-AWD versions. This dummy flat plastic cover looks stupid and it's a waste of valuable space, in my opinion.
 
So what if I don't want the balance? What if I want maximum economy most of the time and maximum performance occasionally? Why dumb down a modern Sport Utility Vehicle into a goddamn mommymobile?

Anyway, they could have come up with a better idea for the mode selector, used it for something else in the non-AWD versions. This dummy flat plastic cover looks stupid and it's a waste of valuable space, in my opinion.

To be fair, your original post wasn't complaining about the ugliness of the plug on the centre console That's a fair enough point.

You said you could work out how it'd work without one. But the car will function perfectly fine without a 'mood selector'. It's a toy, not an integral part of the car...

I can't wrap my mind around it. OK, let's say the car has no AWD, but it still has to have the turbo, right? So how do you switch between the normal and the sports mode if there is no goddamn knob??

There are other penny pinching car brands available if you don't like the deletion of a knob.
 
There are other penny pinching car brands available if you don't like the deletion of a knob.

Not a problem for me, personally, because I have an AWD now and the next one will also be definitely an AWD, so the knob will be there if I decide to stay with this brand. It's just that the deletion could have been done more gracefully, in my opinion. I generally dislike the very concept of a cheap plastic placeholder, because it serves as a constant reminder that your version is lacking something. I understand the economics behind it, I just don't like it.
 
The 124 Spider they gave me as a courtesy car a couple of years ago had the same 1.4 engine as my 500X but no "mood" selector. It drove very nicely with whatever the manufacturer's setup was. I used to leave my 500X in the "All Weather" mood as that gave the best feeling throttle response, and used no more fuel than either of the other settings.
I have to agree that the large blanking disc is a carbuncle, Fiat should really fit a revised centre console moulding in the UK if they don't sell 4x4 versions here. I think their attitude is that if you want 4wd, buy a Jeep Renegade!
 
No idea. Perhaps our market is a bit different to some others in some way. FCA are a pretty small player here. The Fiat brand have sold less than 13000 cars here so far this year, slightly less than Dacia. FCA brands total less than 20000 sales so far. By comparison Citroen have sold over 20000, and their parent group PSA well over 100000. I guess with a small number of sales you have to rationalise your model range.
 
Its exactly what they did with the Sedici although that car was originally a full 4x4 from the start across the range. They then tried to cheapen the car by offering as - what they called it a '4x2' ?! As per earlier posts my wife changed her Sedici for her 500X - the Sedici was superb in the slippy stuff.............
 
Its exactly what they did with the Sedici although that car was originally a full 4x4 from the start across the range. They then tried to cheapen the car by offering as - what they called it a '4x2' ?! As per earlier posts my wife changed her Sedici for her 500X - the Sedici was superb in the slippy stuff.............



It undoubtedly explains the constant calls from my dealer trying to buy my car back. When I point out that the new range does not have a 4x4 diesel that I could buy it all goes quiet. I suspect the 'previously owned' examples are quite popular
 
Probably our is one of the very few right hand drive markets and by not making a 4wd version they can cut a few parts out of production and save on the costs of testing registering the rhd version

Yeah, I also think that it's not about the size but rather the peculiarity of the UK market being RHD and all, because even smaller markets than the UK seem to be getting the AWD versions of the new 500X.
 
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