Hi,
I would be if any sedici owners could take the time to let me know how well sedici performed in the recent bad weather, snow ice etc.
I am still undecided between panda 4x4 and sedici and really have to decide soon
cheers

Brilliantly! Never came close to getting stuck, even in several inches of Snow/Slush and thick ice. I have to add that I used Vredestein Snowtrac 2 tyres and had to use the transmission lock in deep powdery stuff on a couple of occasions, but overall I could go any where a friend of mine went in their state of the art Discovery 3. This was up in the hilly North East of England btw.

10/10 for ability on the slippy stuff. If only second gear would engage when it is freezing outside and the car is cold (a common fault/feature). Still this passes after 10 minute of so and it’s not a problem.

Thanks for your input.
I note from other posts that you have the 1.9 diesel which I believe is considered the better suit to the car and probably more capable in adverse conditions.
As my driving is mostly in town or surrounding countryside within 10 miles of town I had wondered about the 1.6 petrol being adequate . I don't do a lot of miles about 7000 a year in my own car but would like to know that occasional trips to Glenshee /Cairngorms from Aberdeen for ski ing/boarding were within the capabilities of the car.
Any opinion on how a 1.6 petrol would fair would be greatly appreciated.

Sedici seems to divide opinions to almost extreme opposites!
Which worries me a bit (though not if I end up as one of the opinions that love it)
I think (with exception of topgear) its general rating seems to be improving recently and I am finding more people who like it rather than the "dont touch with a bargepole" advice

Ah decisions decisions!!!

thanks again

To my way of thinking, if you need a 4x4, rather than just want one, then you will be very happy with the Sedici. The diesel is pretty rough and you do get a lot of vibration through the bulkhead etc and don’t forget the 2nd gear problem (I assume it affects both diesel and petrol?). but the car is very cheap for an economical, cheap to run 4x4, with real off road potential and even if it wont go everywhere a landie will go (I don’t think it has the ground clearance for serious off road work) it has great traction with the right tyres fitted.

I don't know if you would like the petrol as i don't know your driving style, but most folks think it is a little underpowered for Motorway use.

It is quite Japanese in many ways and in general I prefer Fiats interiors, but isn’t really any hardship. I would strongly advise you try before you buy as it is defiantly a bit of a ‘Marmite’ car.

Motorway? Whats a Motorway?
Unfortunately? they stopped building those at Perth.
My "offroading" is likely to be limited to forest tracks ,building sites, dodgy farm access and occassionally wet grass/mud.
But being in North of Scotland we do get our fair share of snow and ice and this can affect the above.
my job means I can get called out to collapsed buildings,fires etc in middle of night some of which are "fairly" remote.
majority of time I will be town driving and my thought was that the petrol might be better suited to town but still safe and sufficient for the callouts.
The diesel possibly being too much offroad orientated and being better suited to motorways,high annual mileage etc I suspected that my town driving would suffer a bit.
From what I have read it seems to be the diesel that suffers with 2nd gear problems although I may well be wrong (I think I have probably overdosed on reviews and it is all a bit of a blur)
The concern that the petrol sedici is underpowered seems a common complaint but I do wonder how much that would really affect me doing mostly town driving.
My wifes car is a 1.6 zafira and reviews sometimes complain that it is not perky enough but it has always pretty much met our requirements so I wonder if the "underpowered" petrol sedici would be so much of a problem
As you may well have guessed by now I am not particularly a keen(knowledgable) car enthusiast
I keep to speed limits,and use a car for safe,reliable travel ,driving being a task rather than an enjoyment (heresy I hear them murmur!)I choose to drive on tarmac when it is an available option, but I do need a car that can cope with poor conditions because I can't put off 3.00 am callouts because of the snow....Oh I wish !
I have had limited test drives of the sedici and it seemed ok, also driven Panda 4x4 which I thought was more fun .
Sedici probably the more grown up choice because it can be a substitute car for family driving whereas Panda would be a bit cramped for a day out.
Thanks for your thoughts It has been great to get feedback from a sedici owner
many thanks

erchieplum said:

Thanks for your input.
I note from other posts that you have the 1.9 diesel which I believe is considered the better suit to the car and probably more capable in adverse conditions.
As my driving is mostly in town or surrounding countryside within 10 miles of town I had wondered about the 1.6 petrol being adequate . I don't do a lot of miles about 7000 a year in my own car but would like to know that occasional trips to Glenshee /Cairngorms from Aberdeen for ski ing/boarding were within the capabilities of the car.
Any opinion on how a 1.6 petrol would fair would be greatly appreciated.

Sedici seems to divide opinions to almost extreme opposites!
Which worries me a bit (though not if I end up as one of the opinions that love it)
I think (with exception of topgear) its general rating seems to be improving recently and I am finding more people who like it rather than the "dont touch with a bargepole" advice

Ah decisions decisions!!!

thanks again

Click to expand...

we drive a 1.6 petrol on poor country roads in the south of ireland and its a good car......drinks ca7.5 liters per 100km.......don't know the mpg sorry

i tried the 4x4 ability only a few times on gravel and mud.....never on real snow covered roads.....but mus say ...it works very efficient........ it pushes a little bit over the front wheels, but never uncontrollable....and the traction goes never missing..........down hills it is quite neutral and doesen't get scary.........
all these things were done on summer tyres

the engine is always working but never surprises you with a extra notch of power.....it,s a bit booooring to be honest....but never the less it WORKS ALWAYS

Thanks for your input, "boooring" is not so big a problem for me as I don't have a huge passion for cars or driving.
That the petrol sedici is coping without being exciting is just the sort of info I was looking for so I can finally decide.
I was actually waiting at a junction today behind a sedici first time I have seen one on road except when I have been test driving.
I resisted the urge to leap out and quiz driver about his views, though it was tempting.
It actually looked bigger than I remember but as my fiesta is quite low the sedici seemed even taller
Glad sedici copes with Irish roads , I was over a couple of years ago the quality of some roads was very poor (we were about 20 miles from Dublin and it took an age to get in as there was a lot of road building to improve the infrastructure.
I used to do a lot of country driving so I'm used to that but the fact that large lorries also need to use these narrow roads was a bit of a surprise. I loved the fact that there were so many hedgerows and that the signposts were only visible when you passed the turn off, gave me a chance to see even more of Ireland.
Had a wonderful drive through mountains and failed to get anywhere near our intended destination but instead enjoyed fantastic mystery tour although after driving most of day ,on way home I still had to detour to allow kids to go over a road through large bogland " the bouncy road"
Had a brilliant time and can't wait to go back.

cheers

I think at the very least you should test drive a Sedici and see what you think. I haven't driven a Panda or a Panda 4x4 but would imagine the Sedici is more capable given its larger size. Mine coped well in the snow. I am happy with mine and find it more interesting looking than most 4x4/suv, after all just being a Fiat off roader makes it an interesting car in the first place!

I struggle to understand all this concern over the 1.6 being underpowered.
It makes more than 100bhp and does 0-60 in around 11 seconds.....okay it's not a hot hatch but it's really not that far off most regular family cars with 1600 cc. I don't drive like Jensen or Lewis but it's never been a problem for me.

sediciyorkie said:

I struggle to understand all this concern over the 1.6 being underpowered.
It makes more than 100bhp and does 0-60 in around 11 seconds.....okay it's not a hot hatch but it's really not that far off most regular family cars with 1600 cc. I don't drive like Jensen or Lewis but it's never been a problem for me.

Click to expand...

sorry but i have a meriva 1.6 with 180 bhp for only 3000€ more and it does the sprint in 8.2 sec ????:idea:

IT IS A PROBLEM

beatmeier said:

sorry but i have a meriva 1.6 with 180 bhp for only 3000€ more and it does the sprint in 8.2 sec ????:idea:

IT IS A PROBLEM

Click to expand...

I have a BMW 123D. 2.0 TDi-201bhp-148mph and 0-60 in around 6.7 seconds (not bad for a standard diesel) but I can tell you that in the recent snow there was only one winner……………and it wasn’t the car with the Blue and White propeller on it’s bonnet.



......hint....it was my Sedici

Depends how much of a rush you're in I guess.
I agree, if you're the sort of driver who knows that their car does the sprint in 8.2 seconds then the 1.6 will probably be a problem.... but then the diesel will also be much slower than that figure. I don't know the exact 0-60 times of my cars which is why I am happy with the Sedici, I knew exactly what sort of car it was going to be....if performance was a factor I would've bought something else.

sediciyorkie said:

I knew exactly what sort of car it was going to be....if performance was a factor I would've bought something else.

Click to expand...

fair enough

that's the same for mary......it is the perfect car for her




when i'm driving it ,,,,,,i always wish there was a bit MORE

sorry

The wifes now got a 1.6 Eleganza - yes it struggles under acceleration but if you want a sprinter you don't buy a Sedici. I drove it the other day for 150 miles - sat on the M'way at 80 no problem all day - not too noisy - reasonable consumption given the cars weight. She loves it zipping round town with its elevated driving position and good clear all round view - you hardly ever see another. We paid absolutley peanuts for it used - oh and the 1.6 has no cam-belt ;o)))
We really like it - anyway if we want the performance we use my LE Coupe with 300 BHP ;o)
By the way Geordie Amanda I did read up on the cars before we bought ours that the
sticky cold 2nd gear and brake discs could be an issue. The discs do go - we'll need some in the next 12 months but the 1.6 uses a different gearbox (5-speed) so we have not had any issues with ours....

Anyway as for snow......... ;o))

Hi, few months late on a reply to your original post but thought i'd let you know how mine coped in the weather back in Feb.

I've got a 1.9 Eleganza with normal all-weather tyres on and it was a lot of fun to drive over that week or so of weather! It didn't have any problem getting up roads with a few inches of new snow on (in 4x4 lock) and driving around slushy roads in 4x4 Auto it kept me on the road. You could definitely feel it working when you hit big bits of slush or ice.

I used it to ferry my Dad up one of the hills nearby so he could get some skiing practice in! Also accidentally (on purpose) put it into a massive tank slapper but the 4x4 kicked in and it turned into quite a nice powerslide!

I always carry a bungee tow rope and that came in useful to drag a transit out a car park as well! Few days after the snow there was a lot of black ice around on the roads near me and it was reassuring to have that green light on the dash as i was getting up hills that the other cars were stuck at the bottom of!

My friend works for Fiat and took a Panda 4x4 and Sedici to an off road track on Cannock Chase and apparently the Panda is better off road. It can climb 50 degree inclines (better than the Range Rover and Discovery) and has no overhangs so also has great approach and departure angles.
The Panda Cross is absolutely brilliant off road thanks to it's locking diff and traction and stability control.
There are some good videos of Sedicis off roading on You Tube and motoring reviews generally agree the Sedici is better off road than many people need.
I really like the Sedici as it's deeply underrated and great value

We've run a 1.9 Eleganza for just over a year now and frankly I love it! With the diff lock and winter tyres on the Fiat was our winter car of choice over my way more expensive Q5 (the Audi just couldn't cope with deep snow or ice).

It just went everywhere we pointed it, up hill and down dale. We initially had an issue with 2nd gear syncro but had it fixed under warranty and the gearbox is absolutely fine, cold or hot.

I think the Sedici is a pretty misunderstood car (see review comments from various "pundits") I think it's a great go anywhere cheap to run, fun little car. If you're not too fussed about power then I can't see much of an issue with the 1.6. We went deisel as we take ours to the Alps 3 or 4 times a year and the derv is better on long runs.

I'd heartilly recommend it.

Well said Robot Our 1.6 though noisey and sedate on acceleration onto the motorway kept well at an enthusiastic speed on the outside lane of the M'way on our recent hol to Devon and back....