We're considering changing the van (a VW Auto, really excellent to drive) and was wondering about peoples' experiences with the new Fiat Auto. Does it live up to the hype?
Fiat Auto
- Thread starter GoldenVision
- Start date
Yes
First 2 gears feel a bit low, but otherwise incredibly smooth. Thus allowing you to focus on driving safety. The VW box is very good, but in my view the 9 speed Fiat is better.
OP
OP
Wow! It must be good then!
It's not hype, it's truly a great transmission.
Colin
Colin
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We took delivery of our new motorhome on 2nd August, this year.
I knew exactly which motorhome I wanted, (almost 40 years experience helps).
However, I could only source it with the new 9 speed gearbox at £4K above the manual gearbox price. Some careful haggling by myself, followed by the killer comment from my wife, “the dealer down the road has the same model. We’ll go there and see what they are prepared to offer. We may be back”.
Suddenly the deal was possible!
I now love the automatic gearbox. Travelling in the Scottish highlands it was a delight to approach a hairpin bend on a very steep hill and not have to think whether 3rd, 2nd or 1st gear was best. Result!
Equally, crawling in traffic is now a relaxed affair.
I do agree with Rollercoaster that 1st and 2nd are low but, unless you floor the accelerator on take off, it is hardly noticeable.
You might have realised by now that I am a total convert to the auto.
I knew exactly which motorhome I wanted, (almost 40 years experience helps).
However, I could only source it with the new 9 speed gearbox at £4K above the manual gearbox price. Some careful haggling by myself, followed by the killer comment from my wife, “the dealer down the road has the same model. We’ll go there and see what they are prepared to offer. We may be back”.
Suddenly the deal was possible!
I now love the automatic gearbox. Travelling in the Scottish highlands it was a delight to approach a hairpin bend on a very steep hill and not have to think whether 3rd, 2nd or 1st gear was best. Result!
Equally, crawling in traffic is now a relaxed affair.
I do agree with Rollercoaster that 1st and 2nd are low but, unless you floor the accelerator on take off, it is hardly noticeable.
You might have realised by now that I am a total convert to the auto.
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OP
OP
Incredibly positive comments!
Do you think the 140 would be powerful enough for a 5.4m van?
Do you think the 140 would be powerful enough for a 5.4m van?
Ours is a 6.5m metre with the 140 engine. Absolutely no problems on 1in5 hills.
On the motorway 60mph, (our usual speed), is about 2000rpm. We have only covered about 3k miles so far, (a mix of motorway and minor roads, including mountain terrain),but are averaging 31.8mpg which will improve as the engine is run in.
It's fine for my 610 SE so should be even better in a 540 SE. I've only used mine in normal mode, maybe someone else can comment on the eco mode and the power mode as I've not used them yet.
Cheers
Colin
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Ber090
LIFE MEMBER
Coming up to 3000 miles since June and very impressed so far. Getting just over 30 mpg and not hanging about. Eco is very relaxed and tend to use normal. 2.4 in a 6.4 metre is more than adequate running at just under 3500kg. A very relaxed drive especially inFrance avoiding toll roads and getting loads of roundabouts!
Mine's only done about 2k miles, so it's far from optimal performance but here's a copy of my post to the AT VLine page on a similar theme. It's a VLine 610 SE 140 Auto '21, 5.99m.
"Averaging 31 mpg but on a short 50 mph average run from Chertsey down to S'oton (56 miles) managed 40.1 mpg a couple of weeks ago. The traffic was very quiet, probably couldn't achieve that on a busy road. Over the whole trip (900 miles) I found that 60 mph seems to mean 32 mpg and 70 mph drops it to 30 mpg, not surprising as it has the aerodynamics of a house brick. Much better than 1999 when I was tugging with a 2.3L Saab turbo, 20 mpg, yikes!"
Cheers
Colin
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Great news - our new Dethleffs - provisional collection 25 Oct has the 140 9 speed so looking forward to it!
- Jul 28, 2021
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Autoboxes are just so good these days. I have the Aisin 8 speed auto on my Volvo and it is an absolute peach and the anti rollback is just superb. Drove a demo Ducato PVC with the ZF 9 speed and it was equally as good. Ordered the Auto on my Rapido Dreamer with the 160 upgrade as well. A hefty price but the new generation of Auto's are worth every penny in my opinion. Wouldn't accept a manual at any price now they just make driving so much simpler and enjoyable.
I tried Eco a couple of times and found it very flat, I now use Normal normally(!) or sometimes Power. On motorways you're more likely to see 9 on the indicator in Normal. whereas in Power it's more likely to be 8. On the motorway at 60mph I show 1600rpm. As it's still very new I'm expecting the 31mpg to improve with the miles. Roller Team 590.
Cheers, David.
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- Oct 21, 2019
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- Begun travelling the road in our first van in 2013
We've got a 160ps Euro6D with the new 9 speed ZF auto and it's every bit as good as I had dared hope for. Having had the 8 speed ZF auto in our Jeep Grand Cherokee for the last 6 years, this new variant on the FIAT is a real hit with us. Yep, 1st and 2nd are a bit low, but it makes for a smooth pull away. The rest of the box is a dream and the mappings appear spot on. We tend to travel at about 50-55mph tops, and our rev counter sits at just over 1500rpm when cruising, so all in all, pretty happy with that. Hills haven't presented us with any issues either. We're shuffling round in a 4250 heavy chassis Carthago, and probably sitting at about 3900Kg loaded to give you a feel for weight loading. Current averaged consumption is 29 mpg.
We changed vans in July, went from Comformatic to Full Auto. It makes driving much more comfortable, no more lumpy take offs between 1st and second and no more refusing the change down on hills.
Indicator, what indicator? I don’t have that feature, unless I’ve just not found it.
Ah! You can see which gear you're in when you move the shifter left from the D position ie go to Manual from Drive. You'll see then how seamless the shifts are. Brilliant!
Ok, Thought you’d found a way to display continuously when in full auto.
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