130hp or 170hp with automatic box on a Ford

[gradyp]

Hi all ,,,,,, I've just ordered a Roller Team 696 on a Ford cab for delivery next year.

I've pre ordered with the automatic gearbox but left it with the standard 130hp engine. Is the 130hp enough with this gearbox or is it worth spending the extra to upgrade to 170hp engine.

Dose anyone have this set up on a coach built , is there enough power at 130hp , how does it drive , how economical is it , is a comfortable cab.

The cost of increasing the hp to 170 is £1200 so not insignificant

Any advice thanks Paul

 

[DuxDeluxe]

I would go for 170 every time. 130 will be OK but the 170 will be so much more relaxing to drive, especially on an auto box

 

[gradyp]

I would go for 170 every time. 130 will be OK but the 170 will be so much more relaxing to drive, especially on an auto box

I'm thinking the same , but I have no knowledge of how the 130 will perform.

£1200 seems a lot when you see the costs of remaps , just thinking

 

[suavecarve]

Had a 130 BHP for 5 years on the 690 but in manual.
Perfectly adequate, never struggled, after the engine was run in it got 28.2 to the gallon.
Did 28,000 miles mainly in the backlands of France up and down mountains and ran it with average of 3700 kgs with motorbike in back 2 passengers.
Just bought a rollerteam 685 130 BHP on automatic and didnt enter the thought process of getting the upgrade to 170BHP

 

[dash300]

Hi all ,,,,,, I've just ordered a Roller Team 696 on a Ford cab for delivery next year.

I've pre ordered with the automatic gearbox but left it with the standard 130hp engine. Is the 130hp enough with this gearbox or is it worth spending the extra to upgrade to 170hp engine.

Dose anyone have this set up on a coach built , is there enough power at 130hp , how does it drive , how economical is it , is a comfortable cab.

The cost of increasing the hp to 170 is £1200 so not insignificant

Any advice thanks Paul

Go for it, I think you want to! Nobody ever bought a 1300 Capri did they?

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[Wannabee]

Would be useful to know what if any mechanical differences there are between the two.

VW group cars for example differentiate some models by power and a similar increase in price to that you're describing. The only difference on some is the mapping. My 1.6 75hp, which was available as 75/90/115 powers became 142 with a remap and as you can guess went like a rocket with no issues over the 3 years I ran it. And was more economical as it flew uphill with less throttle.

So if they are the same I'd go for the lower and a remap. Insurance was the same as well although some won't cover alterations.

My 3850kg coachbuilt is fine with 130hp albeit with a manual box so I suspect won't be much different with a modern auto box.

 

[mikebeaches]

Guess it depends whether you think you can afford / justify it?

We bought a stock van with comfortmatic gearbox (semi-auto) that is 3,500kg and has a 130hp engine.

We manage absolutely fine now it's run in, but I reckon for £1200 I'd have probably upgraded to 170hp if the option had been available.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Go for it, I think you want to! Nobody ever bought a 1300 Capri did they?

Full fat 3.0 Ghia for me. Crap car but I loved it

 

[DuxDeluxe]

I'm thinking the same , but I have no knowledge of how the 130 will perform.

£1200 seems a lot when you see the costs of remaps , just thinking

Out of the box much preferable to a warranty voiding remap.

In the grand scheme of things, £1200 is not a huge amount

 

[Shaun929]

170hp on auto box every time. I drive a 67 plate Ford transit 350 with the 170hp auto for work and have the 150hp manual fiat Motorhome and I am always saying I wish I could swop the work van engine into the Motorhome. It’s a dream to drive so much torque and pulls like a train compared to the lower hp engines

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[gradyp]

Over lets say 6 years of ownership it works out at £200 a year , I feel wild I've just sent an email to put the engine upgrade onto the order.

I'am so easy to talked into spending money , only had current van 8mths and bought that new

 

[DJT]

No substitute for horses!!!!
DJT

 

[dash300]

Over lets say 6 years of ownership it works out at £200 a year , I feel wild I've just sent an email to put the engine upgrade onto the order.

I'am so easy to talked into spending money , only had current van 8mths and bought that new

You'll sleep better tonight.

 

[jako999]

The Fiat upgrade is about the same.
I don’t know about the Ford but with the Fiat it’s not just a map upgrade there are mechanical changes as well which then means you can safely map it up to 200bhp but to map the lower bhp straight up to around 200 will cause problems later down the line.

 

[dash300]

The Fiat upgrade is about the same.
I don’t know about the Ford but with the Fiat it’s not just a map upgrade there are mechanical changes as well which then means you can safely map it up to 200bhp but to map the lower bhp straight up to around 200 will cause problems later down the line.

I do believe you are right in that it is not just a chip remap and from what I can glean from European Forums there is also a turbo modification as well. Others may be able to flesh this out!

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[jako999]

We’ve ordered our new van with I think a 160 bhp which has all the hardware for remap should it need it, it’s not worth going for the the full fat version 180bhp because that is a map when you go for the middle of the road version. The map is around £350 where as the manufacturer 160 to 180 upgrade is around £1500.
You never really know how your new van will drive but better to go middle of the road, I suppose it also comes down to your budget but let’s face it when your spending the sort of money these items are £1200 is nothing in our case at close on £150k its less then 1%.

what ever you buy enjoy!!

 

[Lenny HB]

The Fiat upgrade is about the same.

Fiat upgrade from 130 to 180 is about £3½k.

Go for it £1200 is really cheap.

 

[Basildog]

170hp on auto box every time. I drive a 67 plate Ford transit 350 with the 170hp auto for work and have the 150hp manual fiat Motorhome and I am always saying I wish I could swop the work van engine into the Motorhome. It’s a dream to drive so much torque and pulls like a train compared to the lower hp engines

I had the Fiat 3,0 litre 160 bhp that was brilliant then got a Fiat 2.3 litre 180 bhp that was the biggest pile of junk I have ever had the misfortune to own ⚠
Bought an automatic Ford Tourneo thing with the 170 bhp and loved it , now just got a new MAN 180 automatic 4x4 van for work and it’s brilliant but probably around twice the price of a Fiat thing

 

[Wabs]

If it hadn’t been a new vehicle,,,I’d have gone with a remap,,but your warranty would have been void,,,I think you made the right choice

 

[Jamesh]

I've a 125bhp transit and had it upgraded to 155ish when they took off the speed limiter the engine felt like a different engine smoother, more responsive, less likely to get bogged down in to high a gear etc.

Cheers James

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[Ivory55]

If you had the money and wanted it you would of ordered it already, so probably best stick.

 

[The Wino]

If you had the money and wanted it you would of ordered it already, so probably best stick.

I think it's really a personal choice and largely would depend on how much cash you have and how long you expect to keep the MH. I think the op said that his last MH was less than a year old and bought new!. In that case if cash is no object may as well spend it but were happy 7 1/2 years on from new it took me 5 years to stump up for solar!

 

[Buzz67]

I’ve just changed from a 130 hp Fiat auto to 170 hp Ford auto.
The difference is night and day.
More power obviously but also much more torque, smoother, quieter and a much nicer driving experience.
I know that you can’t trust trip computers but brand new on the way home from the dealer it was showing 32 mpg, best I ever saw on the Fiat was 28 mpg.

 

[Jonno1103]

Hi all ,,,,,, I've just ordered a Roller Team 696 on a Ford cab for delivery next year.

I've pre ordered with the automatic gearbox but left it with the standard 130hp engine. Is the 130hp enough with this gearbox or is it worth spending the extra to upgrade to 170hp engine.

Dose anyone have this set up on a coach built , is there enough power at 130hp , how does it drive , how economical is it , is a comfortable cab.

The cost of increasing the hp to 170 is £1200 so not insignificant

Any advice thanks Paul

At 385Nm the Ford Ecoblue 130 ps has more torque than Fiats new Multijet III 160 & 180 ps with the MT. (it's around 380Nm)

The Ford Ecoblue torque remains the same whether bolted to an MT or AT transmission.

In order for the Fiat to achieve the figures they advertise it must be mated to the near £4000 9 speed AT.

We have the 130 Ecoblue & AT in our 7.5m Auto Trail F Line. It is particularly responsive, excellent acceleration which the driver needs to be wary of as you can easily wave goodbye to 70mph especially on motorway slipway entrance... cruises very comfortably at 70mph at around 2100 rpm. The cruise control is intuitive dropping down through the gears sensibly to maintain speed on the steeper gradients. The whole package is also a few decibels quieter than the new Fiat offering.

Depending on driving style you'll get around 5k miles from the 20L Adblue tank.

The Ford chassis & engine/gearbox combination is probably the best around at the moment.

 

[rob0114]

Had the 170HP ford engine with an auto box for over three years now - highly recommend it!

Noticeable that on cruise control, 130HP vans often pass me flying along the motorway/autoroute but come a steep incline they fall behind again (And yes I'm that sad I notice the bhp marker when they pass!!)

Had a 2014 Fiat van on 130BHP that was pefectly adequate but the Ford driving experience is in a different class.

At £1200 I would say good value - just jealous I don't have the facelift version....!

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[Jonno1103]

Had the 170HP ford engine with an auto box for over three years now - highly recommend it!

Noticeable that on cruise control, 130HP vans often pass me flying along the motorway/autoroute but come a steep incline they fall behind again (And yes I'm that sad I notice the bhp marker when they pass!!)

Had a 2014 Fiat van on 130BHP that was pefectly adequate but the Ford driving experience is in a different class.

At £1200 I would say good value - just jealous I don't have the facelift version....!

I noticed heading up Telegraph Hill in Devon that the cruise control and power improved markedly after the injector recall was sorted.

Ford's 170 is a beast of an engine, I'd certainly pay the £1200. We stuck with the 130ps in order to get the motorhome in time for the July 10th 2020 reopening after lockdown. I was initially concerned about power but as drivers we are both more than happy.

The 7m+ F Lines now come with the 170ps as standard.

The caveat I suppose is the mass in service. The Roller Team 696 is a fair bit heavier at 3160kg with the auto box whereas the AT F70 with the auto box and both driver & Lux packs weighs in at 2868kg.