General views on my 500 after 6 weeks

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General views on my 500 after 6 weeks

Metalguru3

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Hi there
Ive had it for 6 weeks now so thought i would share my views with anyone who wants to read them
I had to buy a dualogic as my wife is a stroke patient and cant use her left leg and it was a 500 or a mini
I like real minis so the BMW jobbie was out of the question
The dualogic does take a bit of getting used to, especially as ive been spoilt with a few nice automatics in the past.
However i am used to it now and tbh i dont mind it.
Flat out in sport mode it changes gear nice and late and surprisingly quickly given how it works inside.
Slow driving though is a different matter and gearchanges are a bit "lurchy" if that's a real word.
You can compensate for it though with careful throttle positioning, even though you shouldn't have to in a modern car - come on Fiat - sort out some software to make dualogics a bit smoother.
In non sport mode it is awful, with ridiculously early and lengthy gearchanges, i've stopped using it altogether.
Ive had the inevitable wiring glitches on the tailgate - the rear number plate lights stopped working and i had to cut the rubber boot apart as there wasn't enough slack in the loom to do a repair.
Lately though something else is really starting to annoy me.
The turning circle feels about the same as my old Volvo V70, a leviathan of cars to say the least, but the 500 must only have 60% of the Volvo's wheelbase.
Main thing is though, my wife loves it, so if she's hapy, i'm happy.
if i need fun I just take the Seicento out for a thrash, which rather surprisingly drives so much better.
 
Hi there
Ive had it for 6 weeks now so thought i would share my views with anyone who wants to read them
I had to buy a dualogic as my wife is a stroke patient and cant use her left leg and it was a 500 or a mini
I like real minis so the BMW jobbie was out of the question
The dualogic does take a bit of getting used to, especially as ive been spoilt with a few nice automatics in the past.
However i am used to it now and tbh i dont mind it.
Flat out in sport mode it changes gear nice and late and surprisingly quickly given how it works inside.
Slow driving though is a different matter and gearchanges are a bit "lurchy" if that's a real word.
You can compensate for it though with careful throttle positioning, even though you shouldn't have to in a modern car - come on Fiat - sort out some software to make dualogics a bit smoother.
In non sport mode it is awful, with ridiculously early and lengthy gearchanges, i've stopped using it altogether.
Ive had the inevitable wiring glitches on the tailgate - the rear number plate lights stopped working and i had to cut the rubber boot apart as there wasn't enough slack in the loom to do a repair.
Lately though something else is really starting to annoy me.
The turning circle feels about the same as my old Volvo V70, a leviathan of cars to say the least, but the 500 must only have 60% of the Volvo's wheelbase.
Main thing is though, my wife loves it, so if she's hapy, i'm happy.
if i need fun I just take the Seicento out for a thrash, which rather surprisingly drives so much better.
I have the same car as you do, 2010 1.4 Dualogic! The gear changes are lurchy, and yes change so early in non sport mode with no torque down low on the engine. I dont use sport mode because the gear changes are too harsh for me = )
 
The turning circle is large, I agree! My Mercedes CLS is about five metres long and yet seems to do a U-turn in less space than the 500.

The dualogic does take a bit of getting used to, especially as ive been spoilt with a few nice automatics in the past.

What's a "nice automatic"? I can't imagine such a thing :chin:

However i am used to it now and tbh i dont mind it.
Flat out in sport mode it changes gear nice and late and surprisingly quickly given how it works inside.
...
In non sport mode it is awful, with ridiculously early and lengthy gearchanges,

Since you mention late and early timing of gearchanges, it sounds like you're driving in 'Auto' mode and hoping it will behave like an automatic. It doesn't - 'Auto' mode is a novelty only - that's why it's not labelled 'D'.

Instead, you'll need to drive it as you would a manual.

The lever control is set up to make gear selection the primary task. Tell it when you want it to change gear and I think you'll discover how much of an improvement over a manual gearbox it is :) much easier to get a smooth gearchange with a Dualogic than with a regular manual. Gear lever action is light and easy, never notchy or vague.

Note that driving a Dualogic manually is not the same as overriding a conventional auto (Tiptronic) - that's generally a pointless thing to do and their lever controls, even for the VW DSG which isn't a conventional automatic either, are set up to make auto mode the primary and gear selection the secondary task.

Also, Dualogic remains in the previously-used auto or manual mode after each engine off/engine on restart - where most automatics default to automatic mode each restart.

if i need fun I just take the Seicento out for a thrash, which rather surprisingly drives so much better.

Jerky gearchanges though - you have to lift the accelerator between gearchanges - and it stalls easily :eek:

-Alex
 
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Agree on manual operation - quite enjoy using it myself, but the car is mainly for my wife who cant press a clutch so we needed something auto (even if not a true auto) so she can get anout
 
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