There is a footrest. And you should not ride the clutch anyways.

There is a footrest on LHD cars but here in the UK the Citigo does not have a footrest.

Let's be clear the problem I am experiencing with the clutch has nothing to do with riding the clutch due to no footrest.

I'm now having problems selecting first and reverse gears. The car also sounds very rattly at idle. The dealer has told me there isn't a problem, its the way I'm driving it!

Has the dealer been out with you to tell you what you are doing wrong

The dealer, Robert erdley, put someone else's name on my new cars log book. They took 8 months to sort it out and even left me with a car stuck on my drive for a month that I couldn't tax. They wouldn't even apoligise for that!

Far from looking at the problem Robert Erdley wouldn't even come out of the show room to look at the car. They were completely unintrested

Edited 11 November, 201312 yr by mrjmiddleton

And here was I only yesterday thinking as I was cruising down the A38, what a good gear box the Citigo has.

It's effortless changing gear, really smooth. Must admit in one of the earlier posts I made in this thread I too said about the 1st gear/reverse being a bit difficult to engage but that seems to be a thing of the past now, it's loosened up maybe?

I also owned an MX-5 that used to be a pig to get into reverse gear at times, it's a common talking point on the Mx-5 forums, changing to a different oil does help a good deal with them. In general though some suffer with difficulty in changing gear when cold, particularly 1st to 2nd and reverse as said, when warmed up they are great.

The dealer, Robert erdley, put someone else's name on my new cars log book. They took 8 months to sort it out and even left me with a car stuck on my drive for a month that I couldn't tax. They wouldn't even apoligise for that!

Far from looking at the problem Robert Erdley wouldn't even come out of the show room to look at the car. They were completely unintrested

Yep - they seem good at that.  As it happens its my name, not my wifes so not really an issue (I pay for it, but it's her car) - I hope.

IMHO anyone needing a clutch at 22k is down to their driving style. They will of course deny it but in my experience I've never met anyone who admits to being a bad driver! Can I also say there seems to be 2 issues, firstly the gear selection issue which definitely seems to be a box problem then there's the noisy pedal issue. I don't think either have anything to do with the other.

On the UP forum there's a thread about this too. One owner took it to a dealer who adjusted the cables for the gear selector and hasn't had any more trouble.

This seems to happen on 2011 & early 2012 UP,s. Don't know if this applies to Citigos too.

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk.

IMHO anyone needing a clutch at 22k is down to their driving style. They will of course deny it but in my experience I've never met anyone who admits to being a bad driver! Can I also say there seems to be 2 issues, firstly the gear selection issue which definitely seems to be a box problem then there's the noisy pedal issue. I don't think either have anything to do with the other.

 

 

IMHO anyone who says needing a clutch after 22k is down to their driving style is speaking from their ignorance of how the person drives.

I'm now having problems selecting first and reverse gears. The car also sounds very rattly at idle. The dealer has told me there isn't a problem, its the way I'm driving it!

In what situation those problems occur? Is car stationary or moving? It's pretty normal that you can't engage first gear if car is moving. Synchronising mechanism wouldn't allow it.

In what situation those problems occur? Is car stationary or moving? It's pretty normal that you can't engage first gear if car is moving. Synchronising mechanism wouldn't allow it.

I can't speak for mrjmiddleton, but my experience is reverse is often impossible when the car is stationary. Low speed or stationary selection of first gear can also be difficult.

 

I have long and diverse driving history and I think there is a problem with my gearbox/clutch and I am sure others are experiencing a similar issue.

First gear is very short so you hardly ever need it when car is already moving. But if you cannot get first gear when car is stationary, then it surely is a problem.

What comes to reverse it's very common that you need to lift clutch pedal and try again. It's normal because reverse is not synchronised.

First gear is very short so you hardly ever need it when car is already moving. But if you cannot get first gear when car is stationary, then it surely is a problem.

What comes to reverse it's very common that you need to lift clutch pedal and try again. It's normal because reverse is not synchronised.

I understand first gear should hardly be used when the car is moving, but if the car is struggling in second then first should be selected. Double declutching doesn't help.

Double declutching also doesn't help with selecting reverse.

 

For the record I've driven numerous modern cars, classics, F3, held a racing licence, combine harvesters and tractors and there is something wrong with this gearbox! :-)

My 62 plate UP has a rattle from the gearbox on startup /i idle. VW admit its is a common problem and is logged as so with VW themselves. No solution as of yet. They do say it's the gearbox.

My 62 plate UP has a rattle from the gearbox on startup /i idle. VW admit its is a common problem and is logged as so with VW themselves. No solution as of yet. They do say it's the gearbox.

 

Good to hear that at least VW acknowledge the problem. I hope you get it sorted, please keep us up to date. I hope Skoda start acknowledging there is an issue.

I have done 1000 miles, the gears have been a bit sticky (1,2 & R)  for a few weeks and now it's getting locked in reverse and gears 1 and 2 don't work...had to get the RAC out

I have done 1000 miles, the gears have been a bit sticky (1,2 & R)  for a few weeks and now it's getting locked in reverse and gears 1 and 2 don't work...had to get the RAC out

Oh dear I hope you get it sorted soon. In some respects, although I wouldn't wish this on someone, at least you've got a problem that can't be disputed. I am still been fobbed off that my issue is a characteristic of a state of the art gearbox! To compound my problems trying to contact Skoda UK by phone has been near impossible.

Hope you get it fixed soon, keep us up to date.

IMHO anyone needing a clutch at 22k is down to their driving style. They will of course deny it but in my experience I've never met anyone who admits to being a bad driver! Can I also say there seems to be 2 issues, firstly the gear selection issue which definitely seems to be a box problem then there's the noisy pedal issue. I don't think either have anything to do with the other.

 

I little off topic, but I had an Audi A6 tiptronic. a automatic with 6 plated clutch. This was not a cheap car, so no chance of saying "oh well its a cheap skoda...what do you expect"

 

The clutch failed at 27,000 miles, causing damage to the gearbox

 

Its a £6,000 clutch and gearbox and Audi had no intention of covering any of the cost or admitting fault, when in fact there is plenty of evidence that many many other a6 owners got the same fault on the net.

 

all my little tail highlights is there can be a faulty weak point on our citigo's clutch/gearbox yet to be discovered, but dont expect much help from VAG

I thought the clutch/gearbox was dodgy on my car. It's not as dodgyas Skoda Customer Services. I've emailed, I've phoned, I left messages numerous times and still got nowhere with my case.

 

It's very clear to me Skoda Customer Services couldn't give a ......

 

Very disappointed with the car, the dealer, and Skoda themselves.

Edited 29 November, 201312 yr by WipeOut

I've had a new gearbox under the warranty, they were very vague about what exactly had gone wrong, when I asked they said 'it's all logged on our computer' which I think is evasive!. Communication was lacking in most areas, though I'm happy with the RAC service I received.

I've had a new gearbox under the warranty, they were very vague about what exactly had gone wrong, when I asked they said 'it's all logged on our computer' which I think is evasive!. Communication was lacking in most areas, though I'm happy with the RAC service I received.

Happy you got your car fixed. I am stilling waiting to find out what they plan with mine.

Is the gearbox quieter and smoother than the previous one?

I little off topic, but I had an Audi A6 tiptronic. a automatic with 6 plated clutch. This was not a cheap car, so no chance of saying "oh well its a cheap skoda...what do you expect"

 

The clutch failed at 27,000 miles, causing damage to the gearbox

 

Its a £6,000 clutch and gearbox and Audi had no intention of covering any of the cost or admitting fault, when in fact there is plenty of evidence that many many other a6 owners got the same fault on the net.

 

all my little tail highlights is there can be a faulty weak point on our citigo's clutch/gearbox yet to be discovered, but dont expect much help from VAG

?

Don't forget we are talking about a MANUAL box on the Citigo with a conventional clutch. Quite a different problem to yours. No manufacturer covers manual clutches past 6 months or a very limited mileage, whichever is first. Auto boxes can be a very different can of worms. If a manual clutch wears out at low miles it's 99.9% down to owners misuse of the clutch. That just a simple fact. On the gearbox problems, most of the boxes in question seem fine. There is probably no intrinsic fault/s with the box. Much more likely is the probability of minor glitches in production of some boxes. These can be anything from,for example, poorly machined reverse idler gear, to a poor tolerance somewhere in the box. These things happen and once the manufacturer has the full picture (which may take a little time) it will be corrected. But these things are not always as straight forward and speedy to fix as one might think. I know, I've been involved in sorting out problems just like this on motorcycle production. Rest assured the problems will be fixed. No manufacturer wants unhappy customers. Good luck.

I little off topic, but I had an Audi A6 tiptronic. a automatic with 6 plated clutch. This was not a cheap car, so no chance of saying "oh well its a cheap skoda...what do you expect"

 

The clutch failed at 27,000 miles, causing damage to the gearbox

 

Its a £6,000 clutch and gearbox and Audi had no intention of covering any of the cost or admitting fault, when in fact there is plenty of evidence that many many other a6 owners got the same fault on the net.

 

all my little tail highlights is there can be a faulty weak point on our citigo's clutch/gearbox yet to be discovered, but dont expect much help from VAG

So true, our Passat TDI Sports gearbox main bearing failed. Known issue with some models. All VAG offererd was a small discount off a new gearbox costing £2000 plus labour! The car was five years old and never abused. One year out of ext warranty. I'm sure we even mentioned something was not quite right whilst in warranty...

 

Ended up taking the car to a gearbox specialist for repair. £600 + VAT and has been perfect for the last four years. Interestingly they said they fix loads on VWs like this as they had a batch of bearings made of cheese...

 

VW should man up but they really could not care less...

 

Anyway once the Citigo arrives my local garage will be doing all the maintenance bar the free services for three years [oil changes]. The job of a main dealer is to fleece you at every opportunity e.g. We were told we needed a new headlight for the MOT £250+. Err no the bulb was not fitted correctly... I could go on...

If a manual clutch wears out at low miles it's 99.9% down to owners misuse of the clutch. That just a simple fact.

 

This is such a unquantified statement. Could you tell me how you know that 99.9% of clutch issues are down to users? Have you got some imperical metric evidence to back up your claim? I suspect not. It's just your unfounded opinion and not fact. I have no doubt that some clutch issues are down to bad technique, but please stop belittling anyone who is having clutch problem with such sweeping and unfounded statements.