citigo asg

[tim1949]

Hi all travelling to Basingstoke Thurs to pick up 2012 car. Wife a little worried cos she can only drive an auto but negative reviews about gearbox have dented her confidence. We have had to give up our ghia Mondeo used to tow caravan for health reasons and are hoping this car will see us ok for a short commute and the odd motorway trip. We have gone for top spec 75 bhp model and would appreciate your thoughts because this sort of forum provides great info. Over to you-all info gratefully received. Thanks Tim

[Toxicvrs]

Hi all travelling to Basingstoke Thurs to pick up 2012 car. Wife a little worried cos she can only drive an auto but negative reviews about gearbox have dented her confidence. We have had to give up our ghia Mondeo used to tow caravan for health reasons and are hoping this car will see us ok for a short commute and the odd motorway trip. We have gone for top spec 75 bhp model and would appreciate your thoughts because this sort of forum provides great info. Over to you-all info gratefully received. Thanks Tim

Welcome to Briskoda! I hear the Citigo is a great little car but I've never had any experience of one or the ASG system however I'm sure someone knowledgable will be along to advise in a minute!

[tim1949]

Thanks for coming back so quickly-i'll wait and see if anyone comes along,it's nice to join a community. Best Wishes Tim

[Damo]

Welcome to Briskoda

The Intro section is just for saying hi though...

The Citigo section is the place to ask specific questions

Will move this thread there for you

See you there

[tim1949]

Thanks i'm not used to forums-how do I go there? Tim

[Damo]

Lol, your already there as Ive moved it for you

[M12MKD]

Honestly my best advice is to test drive it. Simple as that. My aunt has one and it's the most vile box I've driven for a long time, only being beaten by the Smart box.

 

Saying that my aunt gets on ok with it.

[tim1949]

Thanks so much-so replies will be shown on "messages", as you can see the internet is wonderful but not easy to manage for an old git like me-i'm learning though!

[Toxicvrs]

Honestly my best advice is to test drive it. Simple as that. My aunt has one and it's the most vile box I've driven for a long time, only being beaten by the Smart box.

Saying that my aunt gets on ok with it.

I challenge you to,drive an easytronic box from VX shudder

[M12MKD]

trust me the citigo box was enough! How the hell VAG thought it's acceptable in 2012 is beyond me!!! I've actually driven the easytronic......easytronic means easy to stall, easy to hate?

 

Yes there is nothing "wrong" with it, its a working gear box, acceptable in the 80's yes, but not in the 10's (or whatever we call them nowdays).

 

This is of course my view as I'm used to the DSG in the octavia.

[nbramwel]

Had a test drive in an ASG Citigo about a year ago.  I thought it was fine.  Nothing to worry about in my view.

[Owens]

You either love it or hate it So make sure you have tried it again before parting with the cash.

[sharkrider]

its fine. its just not a DSG! driven gently they are not a problem at all.You get used to the delay when changing gears.

[M12MKD]

its fine. its just not a DSG! driven gently they are not a problem at all.You get used to the delay when changing gears.

 

Quite correct, you can help the lag/lurch on quick changes by lifting off the power just before it changes, thereby bypassing the cars need to.

 

It does work but is annoying and requires a lot more input.

 

Like I said it's fine but not sure its upto today's standard, but maybe I'm being overly picky. Other than that the citigo is IMHO the best little city car on the market.

[leckman]

What Car? have just done a road test between the Hyundai i10 Auto and the Citigo ASG,the i10 won hands down and the verdict on the Citigo was "Gearbox feels like tech from a bygone age.Outclassed.".

Edited 10 July, 2014 by leckman

[Owens]

I bet a Citigo/Up/Mii with ASG will drop its resell value quicker than a manual version.

[M12MKD]

What Car? have just done a road test between the Hyundai i10 Auto and the Citigo ASG,the i10 won hands down and the verdict on the Citigo was "Gearbox feels like tech from a bygone age.Outclassed.".

 

which is exactly my point. There is nothing wrong with the box, it works, but that comment hits the nail on the head.

[stooz]

the citigo is very much a car built to a price and fit in a sector where price is the deciding factor. It some respects it does very well for the price, but It seems the auto box is basic and beaten by competitors.

[philhoward]

It's built to a price and emissions stand point - using a proper geared gearbox (controlled by the box of tricks) reduces losses, hence lower emissions figures.  We've had ours over 18 months and find it fine.  Certainly better than other Automated Manual gearboxes I've driven previously (like a Toyota one).  It's not as good as most "normal" auto boxes, but certainly up to the job.  We found getting used to the gap between changes took a little while and it can be caught out but at the end of the day, it's reactive, not active in its changing habits.  Good news is if you want to interact with the gearbox, you don't have to move the lever to a different position to gain temporary control like a DSG (or the 5-speed Auto in my Saab 9-5); just flick the lever forwards or backwards and it will (within reason) do what you want for those few seconds at islands and awkward junctions.

[Big Steve]

This response may be a little late for the OP but may be useful for others

 

We have the ASG in our 75 Elegance.

 

You need to think a little more about what is going on than you would with a normal Auto but driving sedately, around town for example, it pops up and down through the gears very well, it seems to change down as you slow down and is usually ready to pull out of junctions or on to roundabouts etc.

 

Where it does not excel is if you need to accelerate more briskly, you will find the changes seem to take forever.  There are two techniques which I have found useful:-

 

The first is to use much more throttle than you would expect to, this stops the gearbox from changing up, then a (slight) lift on the throttle when you are ready  and it will change up quite quickly then back to excessive throttle until the next change.

 

The second is to use it as a clutchless manual.  The gear lever is so light to operate, select manual, off throttle nudge for up shift back on throttle, this works really well and when you down shift manually the gearbox blips the throttle and changes seamlessly, this is a very smooth way to get good progress.

 

The other thing I have found (and this is probably true of all Citigos) is don't be shy of using the available rev range.

 

As already mentioned Do Not buy an ASG version without trying it, I think it is OK but many can not tolerate it.

 

Hope this helps

[Stormchaser]

That sounds the perfect description of one and thanks for the tips. I'd actually like to have a drive of one for the experience

Sent from my IPhone 5 using Tapatalk.

[philhoward]

That sounds the perfect description of one and thanks for the tips. I'd actually like to have a drive of one for the experience

Sent from my IPhone 5 using Tapatalk.

That's probably the best way of forming a judgement...

 

Go to one with an open mind - you can't compare it to a conventional auto in terms of response.  It is a manual without a clutch pedal - and a mind of its own that's reactive, not pro-active so you have to do some of the thinking for it.  Biggest "gripe" (if you can call it that) is one scenario near our house - a gradually rising incline that always catches it out.  It's in D4 as the climb increases and by the time it decides it should have changed down a gear, it has to down to 2nd.  I manually either keep it in 3rd (which it will pull up in if you have enough speed), or drop it down to 2nd if needed.  By the time it kicks back into Auto (20-30 seconds or so after the last manual change, I think), the incline is tailing off, and it can pull D4 itself with no issue.

That's quite a specific instance, but hopefully gives you an idea.

[purplefreddy]

My wife has the asg gearbox in her 75 Elegance and she hates it !! It is constantly in the wrong gear and has become quite dangerous when you need to make swift progress, such as joining a major roundabout. There have been occasions where the car has almost stopped while it decides what gear to be in. It drives much better in manual, but she refuses to do this , as she says whats the point of an automatic gearbox that you have to change yourself !!

Other than that she loves the car and I love my SE 60 with it's manual gearbox.

[mrdillan]

well i just took ownership  of a citigo elegance 5 door asg on tuesday 2-12 2014 and after about 10 minutes of driving as a normal automatic found it just as good if not better looking forward to saving on fuel as my vauxhall corsa was only giving me 30 MPG.

[tweenster]

well i just took ownership  of a citigo elegance 5 door asg on tuesday 2-12 2014 and after about 10 minutes of driving as a normal automatic found it just as good if not better looking forward to saving on fuel as my vauxhall corsa was only giving me 30 MPG.

 

I drive mine like The Stig and its giving me over 50mpg; drive it carefully and you should be closer to 60.