[Derkie54]

I have noticed a few UP! owners having problems with their gearboxes.

Are all of these faults or is it the way they are used ?
There are quite a few owners buying the UP! as their first car and a few oldies like myself at the other end of motoring buying a small car as the family have flown the nest or whatever.

Are a lot of the temperamental gearboxes driven ( in the main ) by the younger drivers ?

A lot of the older drivers defending the gearbox may have got used to stiff and baulking changes over the years with many different cars and found their own ways of getting the best out of the boxes.

What you will accept is all relative and if you have had temperamental boxes over the years occasional crunching may be acceptable. If you are a new driver your perception of what an acceptable gearbox is may be different. There will of course be a few faulty boxes out there as well.

I thought I would run a poll and see if there is a trend on this.
Fill in as many boxes as you want

 

[Derkie54]

Not much data to analyse yet ............ ah well it seemed a good idea at the time .I'll get my coat then !

 

[Umiamz]

Unfortunately I can't choose "I can accommodate it" AND "I am an older driver" - there's only one choice. That's how it is though. The gearbox is fine apart from a bit of snatching on changing between certain gears. If I'm really smooth I can avoid the snatching, though. I also have a bit of the 'getting into 1st/reverse' difficulty but lifting and pressing the clutch pedal again solves it.

My main moan is about the clicking clutch pedal but it's in today to hopefully diagnose that.

 

[lumsdot]

Really like the gearbox, clutch pedal is light and gearshift throw is short and goes into gear easily.
Sometimes I have problems with first, but it rare and does not bother me.
Clutch noise is a slight problem , sounds a bit clanky at times changing gear, maybe not enough sound insulation
Also clutch plates can grind on big hills, VW designed a small light weight clutch, but at what priceEdited by: lumsdot

 

[lumsdot]

http://www.atzonline.com/Article/13777/Impeccable-Power-Delivery.html

If you click on preview you can read technical details of the up gearbox

 

[Grey Bandit]

VW High UP: Balking 3rd gear from new. Dealer has replaced 3rd gear and synchromesh but still balks occasionally when changing up to 3rd.
Anyone else had this problem?

 

[Timii]

The gearbox on our little Mii is a delight to use and is as sweet as the lovely old Ford gearboxes of 30 years ago. It is light and easy to use. When I bought the Mii in Jan 2014 when it was almost 10 months old, I did notice a couple of times that reverse would sometimes make a little grating noise, but that hasn't happened for me or my wife for ages. Verdict: nice and light.

 

[Frankjetta]

Gearbox action is fantastic, it's just the clicking which is annoying/worrying!

 

[AlanG]

Gearbox action is fantastic, it's just the clicking which is annoying/worrying!

I had a 62 reg up that never clicked and a 14 reg now which does click occasionally. I expect it's the auto clutch adjuster so it doesn't worry me. Odd though that VW couldn't create a smooth, silent action when everyone else can.

 

[Marsw]

Hi We have a real problem with our ASG gearbox on hills in the order of 17% or above.. just will not change gear, or hunts between 1st 2nd and the manual override does not work as per instructed.

We used to ASG from a SMART which is a lot better than the VW Up! ... quite ironic really the UP! will not go UP a hill .

 

[lupogtiboy]

Mine changes gear perfectly 99% of the time, sometimes its a bit stiff to get into first or reverse, but usually solved by depressing the clutch pedal a few times. Mine gets a bit noisy on start-up when its damp, but it goes after a minute or so and doesn't affect how the gearbox changes gear. I had the clicky clutch pedal issue resolved with new bushes and clutch pedal switch under warranty. I like the short throw and positive feel, the clutch pedal is perfectly weighted for me. Overall, I'm a happy bunny!

 

[Cadfael]

Hope this is not off topic ...

I have a manual 60 BHP ...
I often change my gears from 2nd to 4th gear - or if I am in 3rd gear (getting speed uphill) I change from 3rd to 5th gear.
I often see no need to go 1-2-3-4-5 ... 1-2-4-5 or 1-2-3-5 is more often ...

 

[Alanamareeo]

The Up! is the first car I've owned myself, but not the first I've driven. I've previously drove a Mini, Citroen DS3 and Fiat 500, all of which were '13 plates. After driving these all for a period of a few months each, I was quite shocked by the gears in the Up! when I first took it for a test drive. They were very stiff and not like any of the other gears I've used. I've since got used to them though. Yes they are very noisy, I've had friends comment saying it sounds like I'm trying to slaughter the gears whenever I change (yes, I am a bit violent with them, my driving instructors used to hate that)yet even if I'm as gentle as possible they're still rather loud. I've had one person comment saying they were worried for my gears as they sound unhealthy. I personally feel quite secure hearing them 'slot into place' as such.

I often struggle pushing it into 1st, but I find it's normally only a struggle if the car is rolling slightly when I do it, if the car is completely stationary it's usually fine. I also struggle with reverse, but turning off StartStop briefly (so people around me don't laugh thinking I've stalled trying to park) while I release the clutch doesn't bother me too much, it's sort of became a reflex now.

Although saying all this, I've actually had to have the car taken off my hands for a week while I had work done to the gear box.I believe they replaced first gear and a few other parts within the gearbox... But I'm not 100% sure, I'm no mechanic. I just took it in as it was making a high pitched squeaking noise going into 1st, and that's what they said was necessary.

Also if I get it in at a slight wrong angle when changing it does tend to scream at me loud enough to make me jump out of my skin. Though I've only done this a couple of times. No idea if it's normal or not but I haven't had it with any other car.

Hope this helps people... Just think, if an 18 year old girl can use the gears then they really can't be that bad!

 

[mii al]

Hope this is not off topic ...

I have a manual 60 BHP ...
I often change my gears from 2nd to 4th gear - or if I am in 3rd gear (getting speed uphill) I change from 3rd to 5th gear.
I often see no need to go 1-2-3-4-5 ... 1-2-4-5 or 1-2-3-5 is more often ...

Be careful if you also regularly drive a 6 speed car as if you try to do a 4th to 6th change then there is no gate to protect reverse in the Up!/Mii/Citigo.

 

[lupogtiboy]

Hope this is not off topic ...

I have a manual 60 BHP ...
I often change my gears from 2nd to 4th gear - or if I am in 3rd gear (getting speed uphill) I change from 3rd to 5th gear.
I often see no need to go 1-2-3-4-5 ... 1-2-4-5 or 1-2-3-5 is more often ...

Be careful if you also regularly drive a 6 speed car as if you try to do a 4th to 6th change then there is no gate to protect reverse in the Up!/Mii/Citigo.

Funny you should say this! I had trouble adjusting at first as my Lupo GTi is a 6 speed gearbox, and 6th on that is where reverse is on the Up! As I still drive both regularly, I still sometimes find myself looking for 6th in the Up, then realising that its not there and actually reverse! Oops! Then on the flip side, if I'm looking for reverse on the Lupo, I sometimes put it into 6th! I have no idea why they did this on the Up instead of what I would call conventional (certainly on 99% of cars I've driven anyway!), but it takes some thinking (on my behalf anyway!) to get it right!



By far the worst gearbox I've ever experienced was on an Iveco Turbo Daily van, where instead of 1st being upwards, that was second, 1st was where 2nd should be, it was all the wrong way around, so found myself pulling away in 2nd all the time!

 

[mii al]

Hope this is not off topic ...

I have a manual 60 BHP ...
I often change my gears from 2nd to 4th gear - or if I am in 3rd gear (getting speed uphill) I change from 3rd to 5th gear.
I often see no need to go 1-2-3-4-5 ... 1-2-4-5 or 1-2-3-5 is more often ...

Be careful if you also regularly drive a 6 speed car as if you try to do a 4th to 6th change then there is no gate to protect reverse in the Up!/Mii/Citigo.

Funny you should say this! I had trouble adjusting at first as my Lupo GTi is a 6 speed gearbox, and 6th on that is where reverse is on the Up! As I still drive both regularly, I still sometimes find myself looking for 6th in the Up, then realising that its not there and actually reverse! Oops! Then on the flip side, if I'm looking for reverse on the Lupo, I sometimes put it into 6th! I have no idea why they did this on the Up instead of what I would call conventional (certainly on 99% of cars I've driven anyway!), but it takes some thinking (on my behalf anyway!) to get it right!



By far the worst gearbox I've ever experienced was on an Iveco Turbo Daily van, where instead of 1st being upwards, that was second, 1st was where 2nd should be, it was all the wrong way around, so found myself pulling away in 2nd all the time!

I understand 15 MY Up!s have reverse where it should be!!!!

 

[TurboTomato]

The gearchange on my Mii isn't perfect but it's not any more than I'd put down to an idiosyncrasy of the car. Yes you can hear the clutch/gears engage as you bring the clutch up at lower speeds where it's not masked by road noise but I'm not expecting S-class/Lexus levels of refinement from this type of car. Occasionally I have crunched a gear from being lazy on the clutch but most often if I have a problem it will be not wanting to go into 1st, cured by either manhandling it in (it has to be *all* the way over to the left for starters) or putting it in neutral, bringing the clutch up and then re-engaging the gear. Most of the time it's fine.