They are dodgy enough at 100. noisy,difficult to keep in a straight line, no power to spare. not really what you want in an ambulance.
With the big Euro vans, at least they go WELL when they are going!
robotnik,
Feb 18, 1:46am
I don't think ambulances actually go much over 100km/h when going to an emergency as I recall following one from a distance after it overtook and keeping up with it, while not going over the limit. Not really the same as a police car in "hot pursuit" where extreme speed is needed.
rsr72,
Feb 18, 1:58am
Why have the Japanese vans not been sold in the western Europe, nor in the USA markets, I wonder?
thejazzpianoma,
Feb 18, 2:18am
ambo11, I think you need to stress more when you comment on these threads how old these Ducato's are that you have had your experience with. It's just not fair to people considering buying the last couple of models which are what 99% of people are thinking about when they come on here.
When you say "I have considerable experience with Fiats" they don't realise that this is with the old pre-common rail model (which it must be given your comments). By all means have a whinge and a moan about them, they were slow old dogs those early ones (and there is actually good reason for why if you want to know). The models of the last decade or so however are fantastic and everything the old 2.8TD wasn't.
I felt really sorry for the poor old bloke that came on the other day wanting to know about whether to order his brand new Ducato camper in automatic who then got clobbered with all sorts of unrelated doom and gloom nonsense (in fairness I don't think you participated in that thread).
I am all for free speech and sharing your experiences but PLEASE give them in fair context. When you say things like "from my long experiences with Fiats" people think you have had loads of different models including what's relevant to today and to the context of the thread. That's just not fair on those who are often trying to make expensive buying decisions.
So, if you could please state the years/engines/models you have experience with would be much more reasonable.
Likewise, if you really want to know why the Merc had so much more power, was better built and at one point in time a considerably better vehicle than pretty much anything available. I will be more than happy to tell you what I have learned on the subject. The Merc is still the king of the vans IMO, but the huge gap between it any everyone else is no longer there. The newer Ducato's have a well earned reputation for excellent value for money and are fantastic vehicles for what you pay for them. The Mercedes may still be a slightly better choice for an Ambulance or a long haul courier, but for Motorhomers, business's on a budget etc the Ducato is a fantastic piece of kit.
tgray,
Dec 19, 9:38pm
Well that's interesting news. One for you Jazz! (autofile mag)
bumfacingdown,
Dec 19, 10:05pm
I wonder what the job lot price was.
tgray,
Dec 19, 10:35pm
$2,000,000
afer_daily,
Dec 20, 12:04am
jazz will be happy / now his posts will be twice as long
countrypete,
Dec 20, 12:29am
Well normal people don't buy them, which is why they have slashed the retail price to $17500. They were clearly taking the piss with their pricing till now.
thejazzpianoma,
Dec 20, 2:28am
Will be interesting to see if they are Dualogic (auto) or manual ones. People seem to get freaked out at the different gear stick arrangement with the dualogic, absolutely fine once you have driven one a few times, but possibly not the greatest for lowest common denominator renters. Especially given how easy it is to accidentally put it in to tiptronic mode if you are not used to it.
Potentially fairly difficult to destroy a Dualogic though, and also cheap to repair (as generally it will only need a clutch, same price and procedure as a manual car.)
Not sure it would have been my choice for that sort of use, but will be interesting to see how they go, assuming we hear more about them.
Great roomy, cheap to run car of that size though. Far better for cruising the country than pretty much anything else in the price range/size. Certainly make far more relaxed work of our mountain passes and the likes, especially when loaded up.
fiatracer,
Dec 20, 2:42am
there goes jazz again, adding in damned actual first hand experience to what could have been a perfectly good heresay thread
tgray,
Dec 20, 2:52am
Google 'autofile punto'.
ambo11,
Dec 20, 2:56am
Be good for the motel industry, when they break down all the time and tourists have to use motels!
ambo11,
Dec 20, 2:58am
Maybe I shouldn't be so mean. but from my long experiences with Fiats. they are total crap. Maybe the cars are much better than the Ducatos.
gammelvind,
Dec 20, 3:11am
Whew you actually said that in a thread about fiats.
poppy62,
Dec 20, 3:56am
Yeah! the roads and motel/hotel parking lots are littered with Fiats at the moment and there wont be any more room for a fleet of them. I suspect your experience is limited to a mates or a mate of a mates vehicle type of conjecture. Much like my experience of Jap /Korean stuff.
thejazzpianoma,
Dec 20, 4:09am
LOL. thanks.
thejazzpianoma,
Dec 20, 4:11am
Early model Ducato's being flogged to death by Ambulance steerers from what I recall. But feel free to correct me.
Most of the problem with the first common rail Ducato's was just that people didn't understand the torque that was available at low revs and proceeded to destroy clutches, flywheels and the likes in exceptionally short order (like 7000km even) through poor driving habits.
That was improved both with even stronger triple mass flywheel setups and of course time as people started to learn the hard lessons.
Ambulances get about as hard a time as any vehicle can get. Even the brilliant Mercedes vans have there issues, and according to a guy who maintains Wellingtons fleet they had similar issues in the early 2000's with re-educating drivers.
sr2 seems to get on just fine doing heavy hauling/towing with his earlier Ducato. We have a current model on in the family, it's been completely fault free since new.
tgray,
Dec 20, 4:28am
Perhaps Jucy wanted to cut down on their vehicle theft rate?
poppy62,
Dec 20, 4:38am
Good point, most Euro stuff has got the average (read into it whatever you want to) punter flumoxed anyway.
countrypete,
Dec 20, 4:54am
Isn't Ambo11 the guy that got 100,000kms out the ambulance tyres? Doesn't sound like he flogs them to death, then, does it? Yet in his extensive experience, they are total crap. His is not an isolated case - Fiats are best avoided.
fordcrzy,
Dec 20, 5:22am
i would imagine that 80% of renters for jucy are from overseas and mostly europeaan , so a fiat punto may be good familiar territory for them while on tour
tgray,
Dec 20, 5:33am
Tell you what, I would rent one, having never driven one before. As long as I can give it back to it's rightful owner at the end, it's all good. Would be happy to pay for gas, as long as someone else picks up the tab for any 'unpleasant, unscheduled surprises'.
thejazzpianoma,
Dec 20, 5:36am
Yes. but a dualogic one? (assuming that's what they get and perhaps they don't) Possibly not so much.
Aside from the transmission, the indicator on the other side and the European A/C switch. the Punto Evo is really a very straight forward vehicle for anyone. Things are where you would expect them to be, and controls very straight forward for a modern car.
I agree with your sentiment in general though, not sure on the Evo sales figures but the previous MK2 Punto was the most popular vehicle in it's class in Europe for a number of years from what I remember.
stevo2,
Dec 20, 6:27am
Great. A bunch more cars driving with their REAR fog lights operating :(
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