Fiat Base Vehicle Conundrum (1 Viewer)

[Caztur]

My argument with the Fiat/Peugeot Sevel vans is nothing to do with anything as technical as how well they handle, what clutch problems they may have, or how quickly they don't rust - it's simply the height of the drivers seat. I can only dangle my little legs from them - to drive them (or at any rate the one I owned for a year) involved practically standing up most of the time and operating the clutch gave me back problems.
And yes, I have sat in lots of different vans at Shows and the newer models seem just the same.

 

[haganap]

fiat for me every time.. except for LAYOUT first then whatever they make it on.

Sadly most of our members are from the era when things always went wrong, nowadays if you break down you are extremely dissatisfied but more so surprised.

When I was a kid my dad had a ford pop which was old then and then we had an austin 1100. Whenever we went on a long journey ie more than 50 miles there was a number of checks to be made, and we fully expected to brake down. The boot contained a number of tools and spare parts.

Those days are well and truly behind us and the only reason any manufacturer bothers to uprate nowadays is for comfort, economy and style, forcing people in to stuff they dont need just because it looks great.
providing you can reach the pedal and it feels decent to drive, worry about the layout working for you, as stagman said, exclude fiats at your peril for if you do you will be ruling yourself out of an awful lot of motorhome bargains.


as for whoever said the mercs are quality? sorry old hat is that, they are no better and no worse than anything japanese or elsewhere, they are merely living on a reputation, I have two cars and both powered by merc engines, good engines but no better than what you would find in a VW or dare I say it?????? Skoda

 

[lebesset]

this summer I posted about talking to an AA breakdown man who parked near us in london while waiting for his next call
usual start to conversation , wandered over to my hymer ...nice vehicle etc
we then got onto reliability , he commented that the fiat built vans now seemed bombproof , but that the sprinters seem to give a lot more problems ..he got called out to more of them than he did to the fiat type despite there being many less on the road ; in comparison the old mercedes never gave any problems was his experience

so maybe whoever commented about trading on their reputation knew what he was talking about ...but I thought that was a british speciality and the reason for the demise of british industry

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[calculad]

AA,RAC etc stats on motorhome callouts.
Now that would be a useful bit of reading.
Don't suppose we could get it under The freedom of Information
K

 

[hilldweller]

so maybe whoever commented about trading on their reputation knew what he was talking about ...but I thought that was a british speciality and the reason for the demise of british industry

I have a friend whose son is a Merc mechanic. He tells terrible tales of bad equipment which they charge to fix. So tarred with the same brush as the rest.

 

[scotjimland]

AA,RAC etc stats on motorhome callouts.
Now that would be a useful bit of reading.
Don't suppose we could get it under The freedom of Information
K

Since we are looking at base vehicles ...

Fleet News Information | UK and European vehicle contract hire and leasing industry information

Link Removed

"Analysis of more than 100,000 vans has revealed that the Ford Transit is the most reliable van operated by Britain's fleets, while Ford has also taken top spot in the manufacturer reliability stakes."

Fiat don't get into the top five , and the Merc Sprinter is conspicuous by it's absence..

Top five manufacturers

1. Ford

2. Mercedes-Benz

3. Vauxhall

4. Volkswagen

5. Toyota
Sample: 169,476 vans

Top five models

1. Ford Transit

2. Ford Transit Connect

3. Vauxhall Astravan

4=. Mercedes-Benz Vito

4=. Toyota Hiace
Sample: 151,695 vehicles

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[lebesset]

but these are lighter vehicles including CDV , different kettle of fish altogether

 

[Neckender]

Our local ambulance service had the pre X250 vans for a number of years and now use the X250 vans so if good enough for the ambulance service, I'm sure that my X250 motor home will show decent service.

John.

 

[calculad]

Since we are looking at base vehicles ...

Fleet News Information | UK and European vehicle contract hire and leasing industry information

Link Removed

"Analysis of more than 100,000 vans has revealed that the Ford Transit is the most reliable van operated by Britain's fleets, while Ford has also taken top spot in the manufacturer reliability stakes."

Fiat don't get into the top five , and the Merc Sprinter is conspicuous by it's absence..

Top five manufacturers

1. Ford

2. Mercedes-Benz

3. Vauxhall

4. Volkswagen

5. Toyota
Sample: 169,476 vans

Top five models

1. Ford Transit

2. Ford Transit Connect

3. Vauxhall Astravan

4=. Mercedes-Benz Vito

4=. Toyota Hiace
Sample: 151,695 vehicles

Priceless info thanks.
Your links take me to a slightly different pair of top five listings, which is confusing me a bit. IT gives:

"
Most reliable van

1. Ford Transit
2. Vauxhall Astravan
3. Ford Connect
4. Benz Sprinter
5. Volkswagen Transporter

Most reliable van manufacturer

1. Ford
2. Mercedes-Benz
3. Volkswagen
4. Vauxhall
5. Peugeot "

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[lebesset]

unfortunately this list is mostly based on car derived vehicles ; won't be much of a motorhome

 

[The Wallace]

unfortunately this list is mostly based on car derived vehicles ; won't be much of a motorhome

If you take out the Transit, Sprinter and Transporter that is!

 

[lebesset]

if you notice I did say mostly
but the majority of vehicles in this parc are car derived , exactly as I stated
unfortunately the one thing that churchill was correct about was statistics

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[scotjimland]

if you notice I did say mostly
but the majority of vehicles in this parc are car derived , exactly as I stated
unfortunately the one thing that churchill was correct about was statistics

the OP asked if there were any stats van reliability .. he seemed happy with the link, indeed he commented , Priceless info thanks,..

but because the stats don't fit with your belief then they are not representative, accurate or relevant.. ?

There are three base vehicles in the top five model group that are widely used as motorhomes, the others, notably Fiat don't rank.

In the Manufactures group.. Ford and Merc rank 1st and 2nd , Fiat are 'also rans'

PS..
Churchill also said .....

This is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put.

lies, damn lies and statistics .. yes , I agree, but after all, 1,000,000 French camping car owners cant be wrong .. can they ?

 

[calculad]

A few more terms that I don't understand if someone could oblige.

"mostly based on car derived vehicles"
Are they vans used as base vehicles or not?
No doubt it is obvious to some, but I'm not sure what this (car derived vehicles) means.
Is it for example Citroen Berlingo, car shaped at the front types?



"majority of vehicles in this parc"
Parc?
Thanks
K

 

[buttons]

At the risk of making enemies I love my Fiat it drives better than any Ford Merc or Renault in my honest opinion, drive some rather than read about them then you will know yourself:thumb:

True it's good to have an opinion

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[lebesset]

sorry calculad , I spent my career in this business , got these statistics in quarterly and had production planned on what I learned from them ...it's been a while though so the exact weight brackets might have changed , it used to be done on unladen weight [ does kerb weight ring a bell ?] but maybe not now ; though looking at some of the vehicle regs from the ministry I suspect it is ; this summer in england I came across some car parks restricting parking to vehicles weighing under 1500 Kg unladen so that just might be the cut off

parc is an industry term meaning the number of vehicles currently registered and in use in the category ..taken from the ministry figures

car derived vehicles [ or vans] means a commercial vehicle developed from a car chassis , whether or not that car is still in production ; as I stated previously these statistics are not exclusively that , but they predominately refer to that sort of vehicle

the reason I pointed that out , is that you seemed to have the impression that this statistics related to the sort of vehicle chassis on which motorhomes are constructed , and clearly the reliability of astra vans , peugeot jumpies , mercedes vito's , toyota hi-ace etc is not something which should influence a decision on what motorhome chassis you should wish to buy , citroen berlingo that you mention is in this category and is typical of a car derived vehicle

if explaining the basis of these statistics is pendantry , then I am guilty as charged
but statistics quoted out of context seem to me to need explanation ; as far as I know there are no statistics available on the reliability of chassis used for the construction of motorhomes , which is , I presume , what you really want to know .. mostly motorhome purchases are made on the basis of what conversion suits , and you rarely get a choice of what chassis it is on .... they are all pretty good chassis now in my opinion

 

[wp1234]

It's the 2006+ juddergate FIATs that are causing heartaches.

As a new owner of a 2008 3.0l fiat how do I confirm that I have the dreaded reverse judder ?