About the new Fiat Idea I am quite satisfied with my Idea Essence 1.6 Dualogic, specially regarding cost / benefit. I wanted a cheap car with automatic exchange / automated it could take 4 people with some comfort and luggage space. I found no competitor that offers the benefits of Idea in the same price range (even taking into consideration the amount of insurance which is quite low). The dimensions of the car are very good, small on the outside, easy to park in tight spaces in garages buildings, but with a comfortable interior space for 4 adultos.O trunk also not lacking. The sitting position with banks higher is quite nice for drivers and passengers and large glass area lets you enjoy the scenery even in the back seat. The firm suspension gives the feeling that the car has a good stability. The car looks high “bad curve” tricks. The exchange does not Dualogic stride (as other automated) and brings great comfort in São Paulo jams, but when the traffic is clear there is no way to compare it with an automatic truth (more on the negative aspects). I think the car fairly quiet, even on the highways 120Km/ho engine noise intruding. [Main negatives] One of the things that bothers me most is the Idea of the ventilation system and air conditioning. With the AC off the ventilation system plays hot air inside the vehicle.
Especially the outputs on the right. Apparently the pipe system is very close to some hot part of the engine this side of the vehicle. With the AC on, the power outputs are poorly positioned. They even manage to cool the car well, but the driver has to choose between staying with his hand or arm frozen. There is no direct output central air so the cold air is thrown upward, cooling the environment. Even with the bars fully directed to the right, the driver still gets very cold air at hand, which is quite uncomfortable.
I think I’ll put tape on central exit on the left, leaving open only the middle right. The other thing that bothers me is the slow exchange Dualogic to switch gears when the Sport mode is not on. You can clearly see that the car disengages the gear, is almost 1 second then doing nothing to engage the next gear. The only way I found to mitigate this problem is to always leave the Sport mode on, so long as the exchange “does nothing” between a march and another falls to a level equivalent to a manual switch (driver’s urban, non-pilot competition). In my view, the Sport mode should only change the ratio of RPMs for shifting, but the Idea is not so, even in manual mode the gear change times are different modes and not Sport. When you’re in a band access, entering an avenue of high speed, this “lerdeada” exchange that gives the passage from the second to third is revolting. The way is to leave the sport, but the problem is that in this way any pisadinha the accelerator you do spend half of the course already makes the car slow down. The other negatives are minor: Quality workmanship, lack of adjustment on the steering wheel distance, lack of control on the steering wheel radio … But I understand that they are justified by the low price of this vehicle (compared to competitors).
