Proper use of the Aygo 2016 MMT

[Pytheas]

Hi to all,

This is my first post in the forum and I hope that I am doing everything right (please be gentle with me if I don't!) :-)

I am about to get a brand new Aygo 2016 MMT in a couple of weeks and based on the posts I've read so far, it seems that I need to be extra careful with the MMT system. In order to avoid any misuse (which would cause expensive damages) I wanted to ask the following:

1. When idle in city traffic, do I need to move the shift to N or just keep it in E with brake pedal depressed? I have read both opinions online.

2. I understand that while in automatic mode (E), I can still change gears manually with the pedal flaps on the steering wheel. However, can I change from manual to automatic while driving or will it stress / cause issues to the clutch and the rest of the system?

I have gone through the online user's manual (PDF) but I did not find any answers to these questions. Thank you in advance for your responses.

[alan333]

I'm pretty sure the manual for our (previously owned) Auris MMT said to select N if you were sitting for any length of time, but it was ok to leave in E for short periods.

There's two ways you can use Manual mode - 

moving the gear lever to one side lets you shift gears by moving the gear lever forward/back

using the paddles puts it in manaul mode for a period (can't remember how long, maybe 20 secs?)

you can swap between modes while driving.

[Unklian]

With regards to number 2......

Swapping modes does no harm.

I have had my 9 year old Aygo MMT from new and have changed modes whilst driving on every trip.

When I see a hill approaching, rather than let the gearbox change up just as the slope begins, (which then requires an instant down change),

I will pop it into Manual, climb the hill, then as I reach the brow, push across back into Easy.
 

The gearstick on these cars is just a switch, use it freely.

If possible, as has been suggested to you......don't let it ride the clutch.

This is poor driving in a manual or MMT.

Ian.

[Justhandguns]

3 hours ago, Unklian said:

With regards to number 2......

Swapping modes does no harm.

I have had my 9 year old Aygo MMT from new and have changed modes whilst driving on every trip.

When I see a hill approaching, rather than let the gearbox change up just as the slope begins, (which then requires an instant down change),

I will pop it into Manual, climb the hill, then as I reach the brow, push across back into Easy.
 

The gearstick on these cars is just a switch, use it freely.

If possible, as has been suggested to you......don't let it ride the clutch.

This is poor driving in a manual or MMT.

 

Agree, when I am stuck at a long traffic light or traffic, I usually put the gear into N to completely dis-engage the clutch. You can easily see the RPM jumps slightly when clutch is engaged by the MMT gearbox, the logic is, you do not want it to be in that position when you are stationary for too long.  I am not sure if they have improved the actuator and clutch design in the newer Aygos though. I also think there is no problem switching between M and E during drive.

[Pytheas]

Thank you all for your helpful responses; it seems that everything's clearer now. I will follow your advice in terms of using the MMT both in traffic and when approaching uphills etc. I will also ask the dealer as soon as I get the car; I've read so many bad experiences from the Toyota MMT in the meantime (most of them seem to be several years old though, so things must have been improved in the meantime) that I am really skeptical about my selection...

23 hours ago, Unklian said:

If possible, as has been suggested to you......don't let it ride the clutch.

This is poor driving in a manual or MMT.

Ian.

What do you mean by that? What should I be aware of?

[Unklian]

Riding the clutch......

Imagine you are driving along very, very slowly, less than walking pace.

You can't do this with your foot off the clutch, even at tickover, the car will want to drive at about 5mph.

You will have to hold the clutch about half-way down and let the clutch slip a bit to achieve the slow crawl.

What this means is, the two parts of the clutch are slipping against each other at different speeds.

They are designed to do this for short periods of time bit it generates a lot of heat & wear.

If you had to drive up a very long hill in a traffic queue slipping the clutch all the time, it will heat to the 

stage it is burning and you can smell it. At this point, it is being killed. This is called riding the clutch and is very bad practice and will cost you money.

The MMT gearbox / clutch can also do this. (But costs about £800 to replace at Toyota instead of £250 at......anywhere). (Cheats are available)  ;-)

To avoid this with MMT.

Sit in traffic in Neutral. When a decent gap appears, pop it in "E". You will set off, the clutch will engage fully so it is not slipping.

Move forward in the queue then come to a stop and back into neutral.......repeat.

Hope this helps.

Ian.

A bit extreme, but you can destroy a clutch in less than a minute acting like a nobber.

This bloke attempted a burnout. Instead, the clutch was slipping, not the tyres.

Probably a couple of thousands of dollars worth of smoke here.

Just re-read your post.

Don't worry about your choice.

Mine is now 9 years old and treated nicely, should last just fine.

Munual or MMT, you can ruin it with abuse......see above......notice use of "F-word" at the end when 

he realises what he has done and the cost implications.

 

Ian.

[Pytheas]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain this to me Ian; I really appreciate that. Even though I've been driving for more than 20 years, I was not aware of that and I am glad that I didn't follow this practice (clutch riding) when driving. I'll keep all your tips in mind when driving :-)

[Wiz201]

I have a 2014 old model MMT and most of the time I drive it in easy mode. I've found that with the 1 litre engine it doesn't like me trying to change it up manually and just wouldn't do it basically until it decides its ready. The previous MMT Yaris I had with its 1.3 engine was happier to change up. 

Would be nice if eventually they would put a CVT transmission in the Aygo but for next time when I swap this Aygo, I'll be going for another Yaris with CVT transmission.

[Justhandguns]

12 hours ago, Wiz201 said:

Would be nice if eventually they would put a CVT transmission in the Aygo but for next time when I swap this Aygo, I'll be going for another Yaris with CVT transmission.

This is exactly what I did. Now I am very happy with my new CVT Yaris. Although, with years on the wheels of the Aygo/107, I feel that the larger Yaris is less agile. The Aygo drives more like a go-kart with very good feedback from the road while the Yaris feels like a bit numb (but more comfortable).

[Wiz201]

On 23/05/2016 at 10:06 AM, Justhandguns said:

This is exactly what I did. Now I am very happy with my new CVT Yaris. Although, with years on the wheels of the Aygo/107, I feel that the larger Yaris is less agile. The Aygo drives more like a go-kart with very good feedback from the road while the Yaris feels like a bit numb (but more comfortable).

the Aygo seats just don't do anything for me, I have to have an extra support seat cushion attached. The Yaris will be more comfortable for motorway driving as I can see my mileage to work increasing in the next few years.