My wife is awaiting her new ASG 1.2 Citigo and we're worried about all the bad and negative reviews the ASG has had and feel like cancelling the order.

 

Has anyone anything good to say about the ASG from their own experiences running one for a while?

 

I don't need any negative stuff,i've read plenty about that,just some reassurance and encouragement please. :sun:

Hold up, a 1.2? I thought the Citigo was only a 1.0? Also RE: Gearbox - I think it was the early models that had a bit of a pants gearbox, think it might have been sorted now but I'll allow someone else who knows to comment

Oops sorry,meant a 1.0 my Fabia will be 1.2 DSG.

 

Just wanted some peace of mind that she'll love the car as it's her first new car and I want her to be very happy.

Edited 29 January, 201610 yr by RickW

Oops sorry,meant a 1.0 my Fabia will be 1.2 DSG.

Just wanted some peace of mind that she'll love the car as it's her first new car and I want her to be very happy

Should have bought a new motor for yourself and give the fabia to the wife

Edited 29 January, 201610 yr by aernala

No the Fabia will be 'ours'

I have an early (2012) model with the ASG...and I like it. I drive it both in central London and out in the Kent countryside, and 99% of the time it does what I want it to do. It doesn't *always* feel super smooth, but it is aimed at the more budget end of the market.

Thanks,that's encouraging .

I bought my citigo ASG for my 83 yo mother but ended up selling my own car and doing all my motoring in the citigo.

We live in a small country town in rural northern Ireland so plenty of opportunities for mixed driving conditions.

If you accept the limitations of the car and drive to those limitations the citigo is a fine tool.

Don't forget it's not a sports car.

Anyway if you want a spirited drive just drop the box into manual. .It's a hoot to whip about .

Be happy with your new purchase!

My wife is used to a 1.6 Corolla Auto so it may take a little time for her to get used to it.

Hopefully all the bells and whistles that come with it will distract her.

Test drove a Citigo with the ASG gearbox a while ago.  I liked it.  I have never had a car with an auto gearbox before and found it fine.  If you are coming from something more sophisticated, you might find it limited but wasn't a problem for me.

It's no DSG but it is perfectly fine for what it is.

My mum recently got a new car. She previously had a Toyota Rav4 2.0 auto. She now has a Smart car which has a similar automated manual gearbox to the ASG.

I was initially worried that she wouldn't get on with it as the gear changes are quite a bit slower and more noticeable than a conventional torque converter auto.

She loves it and is completely used to the box now. She has just learned to drive to the gearboxes capabilities and knows when to expect the changes etc.

I'm sure she'll be fine with it.

There was a couple of issues I seem to recall but they fixed them pretty quickly (something to do with the clutch actuator perhaps).

Thanks guys that's helped.

We own a Toyota Aygo with MMT (same as ASG) automatic gear for past 6 years and it is easy to use as long as you do not rush it. It suits my wife perfectly. It does hesitate some times on entering round abouts or when the road terrain suddenly changes, but you will get used to it. As far as the reliability is concerned, it has issues. Our MMT actuator  had to be changed last year because it started to suddenly jam on the middle of the road. Luckily we had Toyota warranty, or else we would have paid through the nose. After the new actuator the hesitancy has decreased.  I suspect all ASG/MMT gear boxes are going to play up at some time because of the actuator problem. It has something to do with lubrication of the system that is poor and there is no way to increase the lubrication during regular service (bad construction). I suspect that the VW ASG gear box controllers are made by the same company that makes for Toyota Aygo.

Edited 30 January, 201610 yr by raj55

As an ASG elegance owner for the last 2 years and its now covered over 20,000miles I can confirm it has operated for various drives 100% reliable.

 

We get average of 52mpg and have got nearly 500miles to fill up, its very capable on motorway and 4th gear is very surprisingly well geared.

 

My only advice is stick to the standard suspension and then do the wheel upgrade, ive driven the sports (greentech) suspension and its much more crashy

 

Good luck with the new citigo order

The only thing I don't like about mine is the time when it decides to change down gear when you've committed to join a roundabout, I've been advised from this site to blip the throttle to full for like 1/2 a second on the approach which does drop it down to the lowest gear for the speed, and its VERY easy to manually go down the box, just so long as you remember!!, The gearstick in drive stays in the centre so its just  a push forward or back to change gear, no messing around putting it into manual mode before you can manually change.

 

The gear change isn't smooth, but once you get used to it/normal driving I don't notice it anymore.  For overtaking its easy to knock it down a gear or two manually then overtake, and to be honest for only 60bhp it doesn't embarrass itself on A roads. 

 

If you fancy driving more spirited again in the manual mode its a lot of fun in the slower twisty roads, it still amazes me how much grip its got,

 

Fuel economy, iirc it has slightly better fuel economy than the manual, I average 50mpg (I do a mix of 20 mile work commute and short journey town driving), my last car I used to get 18mpg average, hence me buying the Citigo as it was cost neutral. On my work commute which is 30-60 limit  A roads, with not too much traffic I get between 60-70mpg on average, and down towards 50 if i'm late!!

With regards to the lubrication of the mechanism I suppose it's down to the design on each car.

I guess it can be an issue.

On the Smart car the actuator is underneath the car and is prone to getting stuck. It's very easy to lubricate though.

Personally from a DSG user I hate with a passion the ASG. My aunt has one, and I've driven it a few times. Compared to a DSG it's horrible.

As an automatic, it's no worse than some of the other small auto's.

As long as she's test drove it them I'm sure it's fine. Just don't buy based on the dsg in the fabia. You will be disappointed.

Well I drove a VW Up! with ASG yesterday for peace of mind and I found it surprisingly nice,albeit a little bit quirky,to drive.

 

It isn't seamless gear changing as previously mentioned but I'm sure my wife will get used to it and enjoy it once she's used to it.

 

All in all I don't believe it's as bad as I thought it might be and actually enjoyed the drive.

 

When all said and done we're all different.I hate large 4x4's with a passion, for example,whereas others wouldn't contemplate anything else.

 

Happy driving!

Any recent ASG owners want to say anything positive? :clap:

Not sure if I qualify as recent, but my 2014 Elegance 75 ASG has now done rather more than 4500 miles inc a round trip of some 1700 miles to Scotland from Devon & I find it perfectly OK. Perhaps I am a less discerning driver, I am certainly elderly & am not at all interested in uprating to go faster stripes & similar, nor do I use the Garmin, which I found useless other than for car readings. Trouble is, it is then distracting. Anyway the ASG is fine for me. Best wishes.

Edited 6 March, 201610 yr by snapseller

When all said and done we're all different.I hate large 4x4's with a passion, for example,whereas others wouldn't contemplate anything else.

Because they have a very small penis!

Oh dear Tweenster

Not sure if I qualify as recent, but my 2014 Elegance 75 ASG has now done rather more than 4500 miles inc a round trip of some 1700 miles to Scotland from Devon & I find it perfectly OK. Perhaps I am a less discerning driver, I am certainly elderly & am not at all interested in uprating to go faster stripes & similar, nor do I use the Garmin, which I found useless other than for car readings. Trouble is, it is then distracting. Anyway the ASG is fine for me. Best wishes.

Thanks for that,very encouraging.

the asg gearbox not have DSG problem so don't worry about the quality....

 

and the gearbox is likes child but u also can control it 

 

its a very special feeling with citigo...

My wife has been driving her new Citigo ASG for 2 weeks now and loves it.

 

Once she got over the different driving style she was ok with it,which is a great relief for me.

 

As long as she's happy,I'm happy. :sun: