Fiat DCT gearbox

[GB4 JEV FFS]

I had an "opportunity" to drive a brand new Fiat Tipo with a diesel engine and what seemed to me like a motorised manual but was actually a DCT. What a terribly awful gearbox it is! The way it engaged gears it really felt like a typical motorised manual and I started to lift off before each change just to make it work better.

Does anyone have any experiences with Fiat's DCT? Are they all that bad or was this car just faulty?

[Baldchap]

The Selespeed in old Alfas was shocking (and broke a lot), I assume the Fiat version was just as awful.

[GB4 JEV FFS]

"Shocking" is the right word.

[GTVOX]

I've driven one and it seemed fine to me or at least as good as any diesel auto can do. I'm always amazed by the selespeed views people have.. this is exactly the same system that was used by Aston Martin, Maserati and Ferrari at the time. Its a gearchange mechanism and not an autobox. A lot of the time people just didn't know how to drive the car.

[Mike335i]

I've driven an Alfa Guillieta with the dct box and it was fine, better than Ford's Powershift but not as good as VW's DSG

[GB4 JEV FFS]

Sorry lads, I've been driving torque converters most of the time (especially ZF8's since they came out) hence I'm not used to what's considered acceptable in DCT/DSG world. If one of my TC's behaved like this DCT I'd bring it to a main dealer the following day.

[Smiljan]

DSG type gearboxes really aren't suited to some engines, unfortunately you were unlucky enough to drive a woeful car with a poor engine as your first experience.

The Tipo is just awful and even the range topping diesel they mate to the DCT is underpowered with a large lump of torque rushing in all at once over a very narrow band of revs. No wonder you didn't enjoy the experience. Shame you didn't have the petrol as that has a torque convertor auto (still an awful car though).

The ZF is a great box, hard to beat with a great combination of DSG / engine let alone attempt to compare to one of the worse hatches on the market fitted with a diesel.

Edited by Smiljan on Monday 22 July 23:45