Fiat Comfortmatic Gearbox

[Deleted member 1728]

Fiat Comfortmatic Gearbox

I'm thinking of getting this option, anyone have any experience of these?

 

[bb70225]

Hi. Pick up our new van last week & it has the Comfortmatic auto gearbox. I drive an auto car anyway so used it. If you are not used to auto gearbox, you may find it a little strange but, I'm sure anybody would get used to it. Really comes into its own when stuck in traffic.

 

[Deleted member 155]

Hi. Pick up our new van last week & it has the Comfortmatic auto gearbox. I drive an auto car anyway so used it. If you are not used to auto gearbox, you may find it a little strange but, I'm sure anybody would get used to it. Really comes into its own when stuck in traffic.

I don't mind them but it is not an automatic in the true sense and can occasionally catch you out !
They also don't hold on hills which takes some getting used too , I used to use left foot on the brake , they also overheat the clutch very easily if doing tight manoeuvring or stop start on hills !

 

[mark61]

I don't mind them but it is not an automatic in the true sense and can occasionally catch you out !
They also don't hold on hills which takes some getting used too , I used to use left foot on the brake , they also overheat the clutch very easily if doing tight manoeuvring or stop start on hills !

I've no experience with the Fiat box but have with similar on a Crafter and years ago on a Sprinter, they all work the same. Perfect for normal driving, but if you regularly have to manoeuvre in tight place they can be a pain, and if you regularly tow and manoeuvre in tight spots, forget them. Outside of those situations they are fine.

 

[Glass man]

I bought a new Fiat Ducati with a 'Comformatic ' gear box in June. They take 4,000 miles to 'run in ' becoming MUCH smoother.
Very pleased now.

 

[MarkJ]

Don’t know whether this is too much information but I wrote this last year. It might sound a bit negative, but I was pointing out quirks. It’s still better and easier than having a manual box, in my opinion.

“It is a ‘robotised manual’ gearbox. There is a conventional gearbox and clutch but the clutch pedal and gear lever are replaced by electronics and simple hydraulics. Driving it is a strange experience because it sounds and feels exactly like a manual except that you don’t need to use hands or feet.

Fiat have complicated it by introducing a gear selector which they describe as ‘a floating multistable lever, i.e. it can take up three stable positions and three unstable positions.’ This largely means that for the first few hours of driving you have absolutely no idea either of the position you are in nor of the position you ought to be in.

So, does it all work ok? Well, yes and no.

It does work like an auto box most of the time, so that’s the ‘yes’ bit. Around town it’s great. It’s maybe a tad pedestrian to get moving, so pulling onto a roundabout or out of a junction can take longer than you might think, but we are talking about a van that weighs just under 4 tonnes so getting it to move too quickly is going to result in significant stress and wear and tear.

The ‘no’ bit is when you are doing 65-70 mph on a motorway with cruise control on and a hill appears – not even necessarily a steep hill, but just a noticeable gradient. The cruise control doesn’t seem to apply enough throttle soon enough, so you slow down. The auto box then refuses to change down, so you go slower and slower and slower… There is a feature whereby you can prompt the box to change down but generally speaking it decides it knows best and changes back up after a few seconds.

You have to take action yourself to get round this; either apply a bootfull of accelerator when the hill starts (the van has plenty of power and torque so this will often solve it) or move the much vaunted multistable lever to manual mode and drive it that way.

The other frustrating habit is that when it is in, say 5th gear, and one is overtaking an HGV up a hill then as you get near the top of the hill the box observes that your speed is increasing as the gradient falls off and so decides you don’t need 5th anymore and dumps you into 6th. Which usually means that embarrassingly the truck is now going faster than you.

Quirky? Well, it takes some getting used to, that’s for sure. But even with these oddities it’s still very much easier to drive than the Hobby was.”

 

[Admin]

I agree with Markj. The only issues that I have are up hills. The box just does not seem to react to it and you end up slowing down. I would expect the cruise control to add more power until the box changes down, but it doesn't. Also if you force it down a gear, it just changes back up which is very frustrating. Now after doing 3700 miles in the van I have learned just to put it into manual in these situations and then return to auto afterwards. It is such a shame that a software upgrade could most likely fix this.

Downhills it is great and brakes the van with the engine.

 

[Wully]

Easy peesy just try and preempt the loss in power and speed on hills by using manually that way you get to feel weight of van and capability of engine my van weighs nearly six ton loaded on a 2.3. 180bhp doesn’t make sense in old money but it works and I average about 23 to 25 to gallon some times a little bit more when not driven too hard.my last van was samesize without auto and grip was terrible lots of front wheel spin but that was a 3.0. But much prefer the comfort matic

 

[Deleted member 155]

Easy peesy just try and preempt the loss in power and speed on hills by using manually that way you get to feel weight of van and capability of engine my van weighs nearly six ton loaded on a 2.3. 180bhp doesn’t make sense in old money but it works and I average about 23 to 25 to gallon some times a little bit more when not driven too hard.my last van was samesize without auto and grip was terrible lots of front wheel spin but that was a 3.0. But much prefer the comfort matic

Have they done anything about the rolling back or do you still have to keep your foot on the brake if you stop on a hill ?
I had forgotten about the hills and yes I did the same just banged it down a gear in manual as otherwise it changed up !
As I said it is great but does have a few problems and I don't think I would want to own one over 5 years old as there seems to be a lot to go wrong.
Having said that we had the same gearbox in the 07 Iveco and the commercial main dealer was open 24 hours, ours had to have a new clutch actuator and clutch which they diagnosed and sorted for less than they quoted in 36 hours including ordering the parts .

 

[MarkJ]

“It is such a shame that a software upgrade could most likely fix this.”



I was told by Fiat that everything is programmed to minimise emissions, so it uses as little throttle as it can and would rather you slowed down....I know cruise control in a car can cost you a few percent in mileage over driving carefully yourself if it does maintain speed at all times, but I’m not sure I entirely understand what I was told.

 

[b20pjg]

I usually drive a Dethleffs Esprit with a manual 3.0L engine and regularly drive the A34 between Winchester and Oxford over the downs. The van copes easily in sixth gear on cruise control. For a friend I picked up a new Swift KonTiki 669 from Portsmouth with a Conformatic Gear box to deliver to the Midlands. It was the first time I had driven one but it seemed a bit sluggish compared to the manual. Over the Hampshire Downs on the A34 I thought I would give it a bit of a test, setting it in cruise control at about fifty mph. What surprised me was how quickly it changed down up the hills and lost speed very quickly. Other posts have commented that the truck you have just overtaken suddenly starts undertaking you as your speed falls. Overall a bit embarassing.

 

[Phillybarbour]

Having been in commercial vehicles all my life I have to say I don’t like this box. Slow out of junctions often changing up to quickly, very poor on hills and not smooth enough. These are all compared to other vehicles who now tend to use true autos. We are all different but I’d take the manual in a Ducato every time. Give me a Merc, VW or Iveco and I’d take the auto.

 

[Chasn]

I am just about to take deliver of a Carthago with Comfortmatic gearbox and, having had clutch problems in the past with the Audi Multitronic system (don't go there), I was interested to check the hill start ability during a test drive. Like many cars now (my manual VW Golf included) the new Carthago's (and presumably all other MH's with the Comfortmatic gearbox) have the hill hold facility so the hill start I did during the test drive was no problem. For those who are not familiar with this, hill hold is where the vehicle senses that you are stationary on a slope and keeps the brakes applied for a few seconds after brake pedal release or until you apply accelerator. Although this feature is nothing to do with the Comfortmatic gearbox it makes hill starts that much easier.

 

[terry4156]

Hi everyone having recently had permanent injury and not been able to drive a manual (left leg and back isues) i chaned my car for a Fiat 500l trekking automatic same system as vans an AUTOMATED MANUAl gearbox and find it brilliant having owned my Autotrail from new for 6 years that is a manual we have been looking at an auto but it took us a very long time to find a setup that we liked when we changed to this van so decided to have an auto clutch fitted to own van alot cheaper than changing van for more info you tube autoclutch to see in operation works brilliantly when you get use to it

 

[Wully]

That hill start thing is a godsend the driver seat in my van sits so high I find it awkward to use handbrake and the auto is a wee bit sluggish from a standing start on a hill but once you get used to it it works a treat.. There’s a couple of wide boys on here with wide cracks about new vans they like to knock them but don’t know what there talking about there used to 80s 90s technology so how would they know what a nice new van drives like lol. ?

 

[Kito]

Hi I have just bought a new van with this type of gearbox so it was good to read other peoples opinion of this gearbox I have a Peugeot boxer with the 2-2lt 130hp engine which is the same as in the Ford transit I wonted a auto box Peugeot don't have a van with a auto so it had to be a Fiat so ended up buying a Auto Trail V line 635se its the threads about the cruse control thats a bit worrying that the van loses speed on hills I drive a Auto Mercedes car and on cruse it holds the set speed on any hill and my Peugeot manual van will hold set speed if its a long pull it drop raves + speed but as soon as the raves go just below 1800rpm which is where the engines peek torque is drop it down a gear and re engage the cruse it climes to set speed the Mercedes was the same when I towed the caravan My new van I opted for the 150hp engine which has 380nm of torque 60nm more than the 130hp. So I am crossing every thing that I have made the right decision.

 

[jo662]

I have a comformatic with a 3 litre engine and love it.Yes it has a few quirks,but you have to realise how heavy your Motorhome is.
You soon get used to it and once you have its great to drive!

 

[Pudsey Bear]

I've driven a couple now when trying vans out and I'd leave em alone, they seem to be a cheaper option when buying used, must be for a reason, so in effect devaluing them, possibly harder to sell or even PX, I like auto boxes, but it has to be a proper slush box for me, and while I still have a functioning left leg, I don't really see the point in a van, or the extra cost and extra complexity.

 

[Jezport]

Easy peesy just try and preempt the loss in power and speed on hills by using manually that way you get to feel weight of van and capability of engine my van weighs nearly six ton loaded on a 2.3. 180bhp doesn’t make sense in old money but it works and I average about 23 to 25 to gallon some times a little bit more when not driven too hard.my last van was samesize without auto and grip was terrible lots of front wheel spin but that was a 3.0. But much prefer the comfort matic

If you are having to "preempt" you may as well have a manual.
I can put my manual van in cruise over the Pennines and not touch it so cant see any benefit to a robotized manual. On the other hand a good 8 or 9 speed proper auto is a whole different thing.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Do Mercedes do a proper manual? or anyone else for that matter.

Hi Jez