Which engine is better for motorhome
Hi All, We are hoping to buy a motorhome in the near future, but at first we are learning about them, weight/layout/make of model, Do note that the Fiat Ducato have their fair share of problem, is the Peugeot model any better? We do like the Auto Trail and
Auto Sleeper model, Thanks Elsa
Comments
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My immediate answer to the title is -- A Merc engine.
But since the OP asked between what in effect is a Fiat engine versus a Ford engine, the old maxim --- FIAT-- ( Fix It Again Tony) might be a bit of a clue.
Cheers ............... K
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I think all makes will have some issues at some point but there must be a reason the majority of MH are based on Fiat's. They are a robust commercial engine designed to do lots of miles and the Fiats have a bit more oomph than the Ford units I believe.
Mercedes are more expensive and may or may not be better depending what forum you look at...0 -
Perhaps worth thinking about is the fact that motorhomes, of any variety, take up a tiny proportion of the van types used as the base vehicles from Fiat/Peugeot/Renault/Mercedes/VW. If any of them were that problematic delivery firms, builders would not buy them and yet they are all seen in their thousands. From my reading of forums over the years apart from a few specific problems you don't read that many posts about problem engines. More often or not its what is behind the engine that comes infor some stick!!! As a first step, if setting out to buy a motorhome, decide what you want from the motorhome and think about the engine second. Obviously if you are buying secondhand you want a full service history. If you buy new you will have the makers warranty. One think that might limit choice is if you want an automatic gearbox. If that is the case its limited to Fiat and Mercedes as far as I know. Many manufacturers only use one base engine and certainly at the less expensive end of the market that usually means a Peugeot base but not always.
David
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Do not be put off by what you hear about Fiat vehicles. The old adage "Fix it again Tomorrow" is years out of date. They are great vehicles and very robust. If you worry about the base vehicle then it will dictate your choice of motorhome. Fiat base vehicle
equals more choice. When choosing a motorhome the right layout is the most important consideration.
Fiat motorhomes handle really well but some people find them a bit harsh, the Mercedes gives a softer ride at the expense of handling and the Transit is somewhere in between.0 -
Having bought two Mercedes and two Fiat motorhomes I'd say that both have advantages. Yes, I did love the auto Mercedes but it was in truth just a white van. The Fiats for me are more like driving a car and my latest, in my opinion, is excellent being designed
specifically for the motorhome market. It's a manual too and It copes very well with little if any excessive gear changes at all being required in every day driving conditions. Very good in reverse too now!0 -
Definitely the Merc. On the Sprinter chassis it handles well, the ride is good and, to my mind, is superior to the Sevel products.
It is more car like that the Fiat/Peugeot in my opinion and the auto is a seamless drive. The Sprinter base is the original chassis without the bolt on Alko extension which gives a wider rear track which can present problems when searching for an MOT/servicing
garage. The wider track can mean ramps and pits are too narrow to accommodate the Alko chassis.Sorry, Micky. Each to their own preference
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Hi All, We are hoping to buy a motorhome in the near future, but at first we are learning about them, weight/layout/make of model, Do note that the Fiat Ducato have their fair share of problem, is the Peugeot model any better? We do like the Auto Trail and Auto Sleeper model, Thanks Elsa
Our van is on a Fiat 150bhp base and is superb to drive, with oodles of torque. I can get out after a four hour drive without an ache, which is more than can be said for the 5 Series company car that I have just parted with! We haven't owned it long enough to coment on reliability, but there are a lot of them on the front end of motorhomes. I understand that one benefit is that they do a good MH chassis, so there is no chopping and changing. They also seem to be a popular base for ambulances and small buses, which must say something about their reliability.
I had a roofer do some work on our house earlier in the year and he ran three Sprinters, which he was looking forward to replacing with Transits, but motorhomes don't tend to encounter the problems and expenses associated with 150000 plus miles.
As somebody said to me recently, there aren't really any bad vehicles now, it just down to preference!
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Fiat use their own engines ,but the Peugot is fitted with a Ford built engine,
Write your comments here...Collaboration between manufacturers concerning components, even components as large as engines is not unusual in the motor industry because it allows the high cost of design development and ultimately production to be shared/offset
by higher production runs. Although it is my understanding that the 2.2 litre Peugeot engine (Puma engine) and its Citroen sibling is indeed Ford derived I am not sure of the derivation of the new 2 litre Peugeot/Citroen Euro 6 engine. However if I have read
the limited information out there correctly this may be pure PSA not Ford.0 -
There have been quite a number of posts about Fiats spewing oil all over the place with calls for a blanket recall and VOSA involvement etc.
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There have been quite a number of posts about Fiats spewing oil all over the place with calls for a blanket recall and VOSA involvement etc.
It was diesel, seems to have been solved in later models with a modification to the filter and associated seal!
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My immediate answer to the title is -- A Merc engine.
But since the OP asked between what in effect is a Fiat engine versus a Ford engine, the old maxim --- FIAT-- ( Fix It Again Tony) might be a bit of a clue.
Cheers ............... K
The old uns are good uns
Fix Or Repair Daily, Found On Roadside Dead for the blue oval.
There is always the now PI (Politically incorrect) Poor Old N***** Thinks It's A Cadillac in the US of A
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The more numerous the vehicle...the more numerous the complaints.....FIAT is by far the most numerous MH chassis!
That could be because it's the cheapest and another school of thought says you get what you pay for.
Let's face it, there's no right or wrong answer. It's all down to personal choice and there's good and bad in all things.
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A recent article in MMM magazine said that the ford base was "significantly" cheaper than the new Fiats and Benimar for example are offering Ford versions at a reduced price.
Obviously I'm biased like everyone else but I think Fiat is now seen as semi premium!
http://www.marquisleisure.co.uk/news-and-info/news/coming-in-2017-the-all-new-benimar
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One reason why the Sevel products are so popular is because Fiat work with the motorhome industry when designing the Ducato range. They supply the industry with chassis cabs already factory prepared for conversion, ie, roof and rear panels removed and all
the necessary strengthening built in. They also supply front ends already factory fitted with the brackets to facilitate an Alko chassis. They even produce there own low rail chassis with wider rear track specifically for the motorhome industry.0 -
Well I've had Fiat Ducato based MH's for ten years and so far zero problems, fingers crossed of course.
The real answer is that they're all fine, but you can always get a rogue.
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Well I've had Fiat Ducato based MH's for ten years and so far zero problems, fingers crossed of course.
The real answer is that they're all fine, but you can always get a rogue.
There were an awful lot of 'rogue' Fiats and Peugeots around 7-10 years ago. MH forums were full of complaints about them.
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... but I think Fiat is now seen as semi premium! ...
Is it?
Mollysmummy (daddy?) - Noting your a caravanner from your avatar then in the car world I think they have some (long) way to go.....
However the motorhome constructors seem to treat it as at least semi premium ( I guess Mercedes is ahead if you look at the price of Autosleepers on the MB chassis). The comments below by Autotrail can be seen about the Ducato.......
http://www.auto-trail.co.uk/performance
However I do accept that asking on here "who makes the best chassis blah, blah...." will produce responses dependent upon what you own in the main....it's a bit like asking which is better, Tom Tom or Garmin sat nav's and most people will say what they have bought....your opinion isnt mine, nor vice versa I'm sure...
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Sorry, TT, but that's a promotional publication and AutoTrail are hardly likely to say (for instance) "We build on the Fiat Ducato because it's cheap and enhances our profit margin so why would we use anything else?".
I'm not rubbishing the Fiat but I wouldn't expect anything other than a glorious write up from a converter. That applies to any converter using any base vehicle.
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TW - I am sure you are correct, certainly to an extent anyway. I personally dont give a toss who makes the engine in my motorhome (or car for that matter) I just want it to take me where i am going without breaking down!
I will say that having having just swapped a Peugot badged M/H to a Fiat badged one the engine seems to pull more smoothly but that certainly wasnt why we bought it, it was the layout of the van we were interested in, we would have bought it if it had a
British Leyland engine in it....(OK that bit might not be true...)But I come back to my belief that asking on a forum "which is the best.....?" in the main produces biased replies or simply opinions. Unless someone comes back with hard facts like, say, the number of breakdowns per 1000 miles or something , you simply end
up with peoples opinions. As we have already established, we are unlikely to ever agree on those....!0 -
My point was that you can't take much notice of what the dealers/converters say.
You are quite right in what you say about opinions which takes me back to my post on the previous page where I said "Let's face it, there's no right or wrong answer. It's all down to personal choice and there's good and bad in
all things.". There can be no definitive conclusion.0 -
Yes, I can accept that a convertor might try and justify their choice of base vehicle by saying "we searched the world before we chose this because it's the best........" whereas in reality they simply bought a job lot of cheap vans.....
I suppose the converse of that argument is that if you make motorhomes and flog em for £40, £50, £ 60 k + you might want to choose a reasonable base vehicle in the hope that it is both reliable & pleasant to drive...
Will we ever really know why different convertors use different base vehicles and which is "better".......
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Mollysmummy (daddy?) - Noting your a caravanner from your avatar then in the car world I think they have some (long) way to go.....
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It is Daddy
Having a Fiat in the household (my daughter's) and a Citroen (MollysMummy) I can honestly say that if it was up to me, if there
was never another Italian or French car in household again it'd be too soon. OK the Fiat is old and battered, but the Citroen is just shy of 6yrs old with less than 30k on the clock & has every fault on it known to Citroen ... £800+ worth0 -
Course we won't, TT.
I suspect you might be a little off beam in your second paragraph though as I think converters are only interested in what will sell and produce the biggest profit margin. As you might have worked out, I have a very low opinion of the cvan/MH industry as a whole. That doesn't stop me buying their products mind.
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In all fairlness, Fiat offers a cheap alternative to Mercedes both on their engines and chassis. This is why the Motorhome mass market uses the Fiat option. Those manufacturers are in business to make money. Buying Fiat engines and chassis at a price and producing in huge quantity helps their profit margin -----Quality is not exactly their first consideration.
My motorhome was built on a Fiat Chassis and apart from the usual front wheel bearing premature failure,(expensive repair) it was trouble free for five years.
Cheers ........K.
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Hi All, Many Thanks for your reply, So I learn one/two thing on here, The motorhome we like at the moment is 2010 Autosleeper Nuevo 2 berth, Any one got one of those, and what to look out for, I know about damp ect as we been caravaning for 34 years, Thanks
Elsa0
