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Clio 52 plate - semi auto



  182
Afternoon all..

Just looking for some advice regarding the semi auto box fitted to the clio (2002)

Nan is after an automatic and has seen this clio but I've no experience of the semi auto's?

Thanks
 

Bluebeard

ClioSport Moderator
  Whichever has fuel
Clio quick shift... AVOID!

They are dangerous. Go to pull out at a roundabout and it gets confused, you panic.... They're f**king horse s**t.

Buy a Clio 1.4 or 1.6 with a normal auto box
 
  182
Clio quick shift... AVOID!

They are dangerous. Go to pull out at a roundabout and it gets confused, you panic.... They're f**king horse s**t.

Buy a Clio 1.4 or 1.6 with a normal auto box

I said this to her. Gone against my advice of course and now a proud owner of it. 1k for a 33k mile example. Dan, how do they get confused? What happens exactly
 

Bluebeard

ClioSport Moderator
  Whichever has fuel
I said this to her. Gone against my advice of course and now a proud owner of it. 1k for a 33k mile example. Dan, how do they get confused? What happens exactly
She'll be sat at a junction and it will be in neutral.
She'll try to pull away quick to get in a gap and the car will wonder wtf is going on. By this time she'll have shat her pants and took her foot off the throttle not wanting to pull out.
But the car will suddenly wake up and try to drive off. But she'll have her foot on the brake....

Then there's the 44 second interval between gear changes.

Honestly, they're f**king s**t. I couldn't discuss reliability as I only dealt with new ones when I worked for Renault.

But even brand new ones were utterly hateful.
 
  182
She'll be sat at a junction and it will be in neutral.
She'll try to pull away quick to get in a gap and the car will wonder wtf is going on. By this time she'll have shat her pants and took her foot off the throttle not wanting to pull out.
But the car will suddenly wake up and try to drive off. But she'll have her foot on the brake....

Then there's the 44 second interval between gear changes.

Honestly, they're f**king s**t. I couldn't discuss reliability as I only dealt with new ones when I worked for Renault.

But even brand new ones were utterly hateful.

Thanks Dan. Forwarded to her all of that. She wouldn't of believed me otherwise. It's too late anyway dosy old cow.
 
  182
avoid! very expensive to fix most of the time.
Get a normal Auto

What are the known issues, Mike?

And how often do they f**k up. Stab in the dark I know. Does mileage play a part? It being on 33k hoping it'll last her a bit. She's a complete bellend though. Hasn't even passed her test and been driving 15 yrs. Christ knows how she gets away with it.
 
  Volvo S60 T5
My local breakers yard tried to sell me a low mileage one , was immaculate with around 48000 miles on it. Had a quick try with the clip diagnostic system to reset was ok for about 5 mins when driving and the fucker wouldn't change gear. He only wanted 200 for it. The main parts that fail are rather expensive something like 300 for a slave cylinder and 1200 for the rest of it.
I say dealer only with them no way I'm offering a 12 month warranty on anything on the semi-auto.
 
  182
My local breakers yard tried to sell me a low mileage one , was immaculate with around 48000 miles on it. Had a quick try with the clip diagnostic system to reset was ok for about 5 mins when driving and the fucker wouldn't change gear. He only wanted 200 for it. The main parts that fail are rather expensive something like 300 for a slave cylinder and 1200 for the rest of it.
I say dealer only with them no way I'm offering a 12 month warranty on anything on the semi-auto.

Thanks mate. Appreciate the information.
 

McGherkin

Macca fan boiiiii
ClioSport Club Member
I'd never heard of these semi auto gearboxes in the clio before I just opened this thread. So I decided to go and google it to see what the gearstick looked like. This is how far I got.

clioauto.png


Sorry.
 
  182
Lol, dear god. Looks like something out of a fisher price car.

I know..doesn't hold out much hope bless her. Sincerely hope it's ok for her though, she doesn't have much luck with cars then goes out and buys a french semi automatic gearbox ...
 
  Clio 197
If I were you I would go and drive it for her first, that way you know why to expect without her having to find out the hard way (Ie at a roundabout like Daniel described)
 
  182
If I were you I would go and drive it for her first, that way you know why to expect without her having to find out the hard way (Ie at a roundabout like Daniel described)

Yeah I've done so already and to be honest I spent an hr with it and my only niggle was how underpowered and s**t compared to my 182. The gearbox itself isn't exactly smooth but couldn't see what @Daniel was trying to explain.

I never took it out of gear though and so it never struggled. Time will tell I'm sure.
 

imprezaworks

ClioSport Club Member
  Mk5 Golf GTI :)
We have a 107 semi auto in work, the clutch has failed and needed doing. It revved like a twit, like a fooked clutch on a manual box. £400 later the thing jerks like buggery setting off and in reverse. It's gone back. We have had them done before with no issues but this time they have struggled to calibrate the box etc. In a nutshell they are w**k, most semi autos are. As an example. Ford power shift have an extended 2 yr warranty on the gearbox, Flol.
 

imprezaworks

ClioSport Club Member
  Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Yeah I've done so already and to be honest I spent an hr with it and my only niggle was how underpowered and s**t compared to my 182. The gearbox itself isn't exactly smooth but couldn't see what @Daniel was trying to explain.

I never took it out of gear though and so it never struggled. Time will tell I'm sure.

The gearbox doesn't act quick enough on decisions. Just get a fully auto mate. The corsas as an example are the same 02 ish.
 
  Clio 197
My OH had an old smart and it could be driven in semi auto mode , it would get confused at a roundabout if you approached at low speed and didn't come to a complete stop, the same as what Daniel described in that you would decide you wanted to go so would be committed on the roundabout at low speed until it decided to pick up the revs, the second or so delay could easily land you in trouble, but as long as you knew to expect it you could work around it , easy to catch you out though.
 
  182
The gearbox doesn't act quick enough on decisions. Just get a fully auto mate. The corsas as an example are the same 02 ish.

Yea noticed it wad a bit hesitant but the situations I was in today were ideal. I'd imagine heavily built up traffic would be a different situation which is what Daniel was explaining I think..

I had a semi auto vauxhall company car once, easytronic i think it was called. Spent half its life on the back of the AA flat back. Ridiculous piece of s**t that was. Had to literally hit the actuator with a hammer to get it going. Was like that scene on James Bond where that agent broke down and smashed his engine with the hammer to get it going.
 

imprezaworks

ClioSport Club Member
  Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Yep easytronic. Honda did it with the auto box on the Jazz until enough said it was bad, i find it pretty good as they go and being Honda never had an issue. Tbh built up traffic will be ok, it's coming to a junction and making a quick getaway. I appreciate its your nan. See how it goes mate, hopefully it will be fine :)
 
  182
Yep easytronic. Honda did it with the auto box on the Jazz until enough said it was bad, i find it pretty good as they go and being Honda never had an issue. Tbh built up traffic will be ok, it's coming to a junction and making a quick getaway. I appreciate its your nan. See how it goes mate, hopefully it will be fine :smile:

Yea thanks Dan..she is a dozy cow tbh and no doubt someone will hit into her. Perhaps using it in manual mode might speed things up a bit taking the decision as such away from the gearbox in a sense..
 


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