Aygo 2019 - Lacking power on hill start / stalling

February 19

Hi all,

I have a 2019 Aygo manual, about 40k km on the clock (GF been driving it and not very often); not been driving very long, but I agree with other posts about biting point being quite high vs other cars and in general being quite easy to stall unless you rev it up more vs other cars I have driven.

Recently I have experienced the following: Garage with a ramp at about 25-30 degrees, car at the base of the ramp (at incline already), doing a handbrake start to get out - Length of the ramp about 10-15m.

So rev the car up, it makes the usual move where the back goes down a bit, handbrake down, it starts moving and at 1 or 2m out, can already feel it does not have enough 'power' to continue, despite my foot being all the way down on the gas (foot off the clutch) and you get to the point at 3m or so, where the engine makes the same sound/judder it would do if you tried to set off in 2nd gear on a level road with not enough gas. It eventually gets to the point of almost stalling; then, handbrake back up, again more gas to make it up from the middle of the ramp to the final bit, front wheels might spin a bit due to more gas, forward 1 or 2m and again same situation, foot down and the car doesnt have enough power to get to the top of the ramp.

In general I dislike having to rev cars too much to set off, but in this case am I doing something wrong (i.e not much gas?) or is something wrong with the car? As I said i think I am using enough if it starts to get the wheels spinning on set off. The only other issue I see is the biting point being almost at the top of the clutch (and way too short) but that is versus say Opel Corsas or VWs and I have seen others in this forum making the same observation.

On another note, on motorways with the AC off, you can hear a long (but very faint) beeeeeep from somewhere in the car, repeating every 10 - 20 seconds or so, never understood what it is, apart from seemingly happening with AC and when the car is going up a cliff.

Thank you!

February 19

Hello,

A steep slope is not the ideal place to launch a car with low torque such as the Aygo. It means you have to fully engage the 1st speed (ie release the clutch) very rapidly and accelerate, which is what you do. If you do not have enough speed, the car will stall, but you cannot accelerate too much either. With adult passengers on board, you might find the limits of the car and be unable to start. Honestly, I would avoid parking there as much as possible 😄 When you launch an Aygo uphill, you have to give a lot of gas.

I consider myself an experienced driver but I already found myself reversing on a rather steep uphill road, I felt like a noob driver using its clutch awkwardly. The following day, I did the same maneuver with a big diesel engine, and it was incredibly easy.

If there is anything wrong with your clutch, you would normally feel it. For example, the revs would increase more than the speed.

February 20

it is a low power naturally aspirated engine - Its torque is made further up in the rev range. At such a steep ramp level you will need to be using the revs and 'riding' the clutch to get the car moving along, until the engine revs are at a level where it is producing enough torque to pull the car along with the clutch fully engaged. The gearing is also quite tall, which is why this technique is needed to help the car in such situations.

February 20

Not trying to be silly but a similar thread a while back found the beep that was annoying someone on their motorway driving was a speed camera warning noise from their satnav. Obviously unlikely but thought I'd mention it as it has been queried before! Average speed cameras cause regular beeping (which can be turned off)! Just throwing it out there!