Fiat Punto Speedgear review
by Ross Finlay (10 May 2000)
The transmission in the new Speedgear version of the Punto may have as contrived a name as others of its kind, but it operates very smoothly, and there's a full array of variables.
In another of those mazy international joint ventures, the system was developed by Fiat and Fuji/Subaru. It's away ahead, not only of Fiat's old Selecta CVT, but also of many current designs.
Basically, there's an all-automatic Continuously Variable Transmission controlled from the right-hand side of the selector gate, which includes the familiar low gear "hold" to give some engine braking on hills, plus an E button for economy change-up. When the lever is in D, a snick to the left puts it into manual mode, with six hold points in the ELX and seven in the Sporting.
Of course, these holds aren't actually "gears", but it's quite something to watch the Sporting's fascia indicator flick up from 5 to 6 to 7 as you blip the selector forward to control the sequential upward changes.
Electronic control has made a big difference to the smoothness of CVT transmissions, which are now several generations ahead of the pioneering DAF system. For example, there are no great clonks as they disengage when you pull up to a halt.
Both Speedgear models - the ELX at £10,995 and the Sporting at £11,994 - have the 1242 engine in 80bhp tune, and the twin-mode power steering as described in our original Punto launch report.
Thanks to its slightly different transmission set-up, the seven-speed Sporting is reckoned to be marginally quicker to 60mph than the ELX, but with so much depending on exactly how the driver operates the system, who's to say?
Despite what their admirers claim, there's always a certain performance drag with any automatic transmission, and CVTs are no exception. But you can play some games with them.
In the Speedgear, it was quite entertaining - although, admittedly, it did the economy no favours - to start off from rest with about 3500rpm on the clock, listen to a completely steady engine note and watch an unwavering revcounter needle, all the while the road speed is catching up with the engine speed and the speedo needle battles round its dial.
This is an effect which takes some getting used to, of course. To begin with, your brain may refuse to accept the evidence of your eyes that the car is accelerating, because your ears don't hear a rising engine note. First-time CVT drivers sometimes pull back from an overtaking manoeuvre which is actually going all right.
The present Punto is a better car on sporting roads than its predecessor, and that applies to the Speedgear too. But it's as well to be aware that a CVT car may not want to barrel round corners on the absolute limit, when you need a bit of throttle adjustability, quite the same way as a conventional design.
Another idea to keep hold of is that, although you may think sixth or seventh "gear" is pretty high, the non-manual side of the transmission, with an infinite number of ratios between its high and low limits, plays a quite different game.
You can see that from what happens when, cruising along at 70mph in manual sixth or seventh, according to model, you slip the selector back to the fully automatic side of the gate. As soon as the lever gets into D, you're in what might be the equivalent of a manual tenth or twelfth gear, and the revs drop by their hundreds. Economy improves right away.
Altogether, the Speedgear transmission offers pretty much the best of both worlds: fully automatic for pottering in town traffic or bowling along a motorway, and a sporting enough approach when you want to play back-road rally driver.
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