Technical Can't Brake and Accelerate at same time?

[auto_blanco]

If the 500 is anything like my GPS (with ESP obviously) then activating the City function does indeed alter the way the car responds when pulling away, its hard to explain but its smoother to drive at low speeds (1st and 2nd gear in traffic) its less jumpy and pulls away easier even if you are a bit quick footed.

It must be explained somewhere in some manual or other if this is applicable to the 500 too, I use it regularly when im in jams.

However turning it off does not have the 'Sport' effect lol. Remember Im talking about a 1.2 with City button not the Sport button and optional ESP.

 

[alfatastic]

Further to my original problem, I wouldn't be surprised if the initial diagnostics from the "steeler" were total rubbish, just made up by the bloke on the desk to cover for the fact they hadn't bothered even looking at my car on the first day they had it.

They charged me £46 to take the brakes apart and clean the pads and callipers and apply copper grease, I would have thought the first thing they would have checked on a brake related issue would be the brakes not the electronics:bang:

NOTE the dealer said anything to do with brakes was not covered by the warranty, and that is what "Fiat said". (The service book says only exceptions to the warranty are for wear and tear on items such as the brake pads and disks, the dealer said the pads and disks where not warn). This also turned out to be rubbish. I spoke to FIAT Customer Care who looked into this as they were surprised ( I was surprised to find out I was speaking to a representative working in the old Alfa Factory in Milan). Got a call back from a Nice Italian lady last night, apologising for not getting back to me sooner, but she had spoken to the dealer and they we supposed to be ringing her back but had not (she didn't seem too impressed by that, but having rang 5 times and being told the service operative at the dealer would ring me back last week, with out any luck, I assured her this was normal practise at that dealers. In fact having observed their usual practise for 40 minutes last Friday, they normally don't answer their own phones so that a college can always tell the customer that they are busy and will get back to them:bang.

The upshot is, Fiat are going to send me £50's worth of vouchers as they couldn't understand why they hadn't be contacted regarding a fault which was not a wear and tear problem so should be covered by the warranty. These vouchers can be redeemed against servicing or accessories etc. which I think is very decent of them. Obviously I will be avoiding Chesterfield for my next service, I should have learnt from a few run in's with same dealer 12 years ago when I had an Alfa from them with "a warranty" they sold me.

Can anyone recommend a GOOD Fiat dealer around the Sheffield area?

 

[flashyphotos]

Can anyone recommend a GOOD Fiat dealer around the Sheffield area?

Not a dealer but a specialist, so great for servicing and minor jobs you dont want a Main Dealer playing with, TBH I would rather pay this lot to get some work done than trust the Fiat dealers around here (Chesterfield/Derby!)

Well this place would be my first thought, about another 10 mins down the M1 right at Junc 28

http://www.alfatecnico.co.uk/index.html

Will not affect your warranty, and they are honest (Not bad prices either)

 

[alfatastic]

Thanks for that, I'll try them next year, unless I still have the vouchers to spend as they probably don't accept those. I'm a big fan of small independants, having run Alfas for the last 14 Years, I've built up 3 good garages. One for all the mechanical work on my classic, another for body work and a third which is most local for servicing and MOT's, I would use them for servicing if it wasn't for the stupid, service light inidicator thing which will probably need a special electronic device to reset that only Fiat dealers/specialist are likely to own. Might give Roger at Peakalfa a call near service time to see if he has one, always got 1st class service from him

 

[AdamP1991]

The sport button doesnt improve responsiveness or feel, it reduces the ratio of pedal movement to throttle applied. This would be nice if the throttle response was better but as it is it just makes it even more difficult to find the right throttle position!

 

[eki]

The sport button doesnt improve responsiveness or feel, it reduces the ratio of pedal movement to throttle applied. This would be nice if the throttle response was better but as it is it just makes it even more difficult to find the right throttle position!

when the sport button has not been pushed, the accelerator is more "spongy" in feeling. But im curious, when you say ratio of pedal movement, does this mean that you can never have 100% throttle when in non-sports mode?

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

when the sport button has not been pushed, the accelerator is more "spongy" in feeling. But im curious, when you say ratio of pedal movement, does this mean that you can never have 100% throttle when in non-sports mode?

No, means that the slightest of pedal movement with sport button pushed azadurates (sp?) the throttle possition.

 

[trackdayqueen]

My 500 is at the dealers at present, because I got a bit of juddering after coming of the brakes and then turning and accelerating. The dealers diagnostic equipment is down so they can't get to the bottom of it yet, but think the problem is with a sticking brake light which maybe stopping the car accelerating as they are all interconnected. Gone are the days of heeling and toeing then? Does this sound feasable or are they making things up to put me off while the equipment is down?

Well when you are heel and toeing you are not accelerating as such, it's just a blip of the throttle, so i'd be surprised if it wouldn't let you do that. I did have a 500 1.4 sport as a courtesy car a while back and don't remember issues with heel and toeing, though it was trickier in the 500 as it had the over the top servoed brakes. My 100hp is less of a problem in this respect.

The only time you'd want to brake and accelerate at the same time is if you were using left foot braking. Left foot braking can be handy to balance a car mid corner if you have a deft left foot.

I have used this technique in my 100hp panda (without ESP) but I wouldn't say I was the best left foot braker as it's only a technique I've been playing around with since having a FWD cars. Tbh if ESP doesn't let you do this then it's not a mega loss, not really.