Fiat doblo 105 dynamic road test 55 model.
I was asked to drive my parents from Sheffield to Swansea last weekend. I did a round trip of about 500 miles including some pottering about Swansea. My dad is in a wheelchair and the conversion was carried out by Motorbility. I usally drive a P reg. Renault Clio 1.2 RL oasis, which I love.
I will use Whatcars criteria (sorry HJ) since I will ramble and forget items if I don?t.
1st ? performance. I have found the torque more the adequate, the pull in all gears from 1750 is good, but I miss the power Renault. Petrol and diesel engines are totally different. I would dearly love the best of both worlds the torque of the diesel, with the rev. range of the petrol. So whilst the diesel pulls well, I run out of puff early and the 0-60 stats confirm this. The car does it in about 13 seconds, the same as my clio.
2nd ? Ride and handling. I found this a little firmer that I am acustumed to, but that?s French cars for you. I just changed the tyres on my clio and from my home pressure gauge I pumped them to about 32-34 PSI. After getting the tyres changed I thought the ride changed a little. I then went to the garage and the pressure gauge read 27 PSI on all tires, so I inflated them all to 34 PSI. The ride is now much firmer on the clio, and is on par with the doblo. I would not say the ride is uncomfortable about town.
The grip offered seems reasonable. I drive my aunties 1.6 X reg. estate golf in Wales about a year back and was impressed by it?s grip. I get the same feeling with the doblo, Though I never tested either the Golfs or the Doblos limits. Even though I have not been able to detect anything other than predicated handling in either car. A point to note though is that In my Clio I recently bought the most expensive Pirelii tyres from Kwik Fit and they provide a same feeling of safty I felt in the Golf and Doblo. Before I changed the tyres in the Clio it had the cheapest I could buy from the same Kwik Fit chain and they could be scary, so I don?t know if it?s the car.
3rd ? Refinement. When reved the doblo?s engine is loud, but no louder than the clio?s. The engine note is good however, the clatter of the diesel go to be replaced by this sensus wall of power at 4000 rpm. At this speed the sound is much more masculine than my clio?s. To draw musical anologies imagine Kud or Gurag from Mudvanye doing one of their yells, it is great in it?s own right. Petrols follow more a traditional musical format and sound like Ozzy Osborn at full pelt. At an indicated 90 the engine of the doublo fades and wind noise dominates. Around town you know you are driving a diesel, but it is not intrusive (for a diesel anyway).
4th ? Behind the wheel. The plastics are a step up from the Clio. When you hit the dash it sounds like a thud, rather than the crash you hear in the Clio. I really enjoy the tachnometer of the doblo, tells you when to change gear to keep the engine running at max. power. For such a big car I feel they could do more with front storage. The front door side pocket can hold more in my clio than the doblo can hold. The driving position takes getting used to, but after a reasonable distance it feels natural. You really need to experiment with how you use the seats, since I felt uncomfortable before I found you had to sit right at the back of them. The space surrounding the front seats is phenomenal, just look at road test photos. This is good and bad, it makes it feel like a big car, whether you want a big car is another thing. Getting back into my small clio intiatally proved a shock.
Compaired with my clio, the visiblility is not good at all but most of that can be blamed on my dad. My dads conversion requires a big ramp at the back and with him in it he is in a big wheel chair, making it hard to look out the off side windows. I learnt how to use mirrors on the trip to Swansea! However tonight I pulled up beside a Range Rover in my clio and the height of their windows is lethal.
I have a friend with a mark 2 Toyota MR2 and he has made the point that he feels invisible when beside these type of cars. I can?t see the doblo as in the same league as the Range Rover though!
5th ? Space and Practicality. The space the Doblo offers is huge. Compaired with my Clio it has vastly added capablility. I can?t really comment on the rear leg room, but it seems better than the Clio. In the Doblo only one rear seat remains to make way for my dads wheelchair but space is not squashed.
6th ?The equipment you get is good, by todays standard and it is light yours ahead of the Clio. I can?t remember what items are options on my doblo though, you need to look at the spec. sheet.
7th- Buying and owning. I don?t know what the expected depreciation is, or what the month hire purchase rates are for the doblo, but it is one of the cheapest cars in its class. My father gets the disablilty mobility allowance and Motorbility offers the doblo active with zero down payment if you give them your Motorbility allowance. Best of all after 5 years they renew your contact with a new verchale. All the other makes and models such as the chrystler voyerager required a downpayment, some in exess of 10K, which could buy a doblo. The fuel consumption is about 45mpg on the inboard computer. On my trip to Wales I did an average of 85 mph on the motorway and managed to return just under 42 mpg. The mpg is very dependent on speed though and if you were trying to get good figures that should be possible. The car had about 5.5K miles on it.
8th- Quality and Reliablity. It?s a fiat what more can I say? It has not been a Friday afternoon car, but niggleing faults in the first 2000 miles have been seen to. One of the side doors would not lock with the central looking system and the fuel gauge miss behaved if you ran low on fuel, by saying that there was no fuel in the tank for a few seconds when stopped at lights.
The most serious problem we have has is the clutch failing at about 5000 miles. I don?t know if it is down to driver error or something inherent in the clutch system. The clutch failed when one of my dads carers, an driver who has just passed their test complained about a awfull smell when driving it and the engine reving, but without any increase in speed. I the clutch surprised about a month earlier me when I was giving it some revs in 2nd and I let the clutch down at about 10-15mph. instead of a bang when the friction plates caught the clutch slipped a fraction. However since the clutch has been replaced the same carer has been out in the doblo, with about 6 inch high heels on and complained of the same clutch malfunction. She has also been able to crash the car, with ?superficail? damaged (cracked bumper + light and a dent to the bonnet), with the end result a body shop now want about £800. On my journey to Wales I could not detect anything untoward with the clutch, after the carer complained the second time that the clutch was slipping, but after it being replace. To the best of my knowedge The fiat dealership has been very good at rectifying any problems. However this maybe due to the fact. 1. Motorbility still own the car (I am unsure). 2. Renting an equvilant car converted for wheelchair access costs more than renting an equvilant car that is not converted for wheelchair access and. 3. My dad being disabled is seen as an important person in terms of service. Any able bodied person can be rejected a curtisy car without too much fuss, but why should the disabled, the most vulnerable in society be rejected a vital tool when their car, bought less than a year ago has developed a fault?
9th - Safety and Security. I don?t really know what fiat has put in the doblo. The central locking fault was a minor incoveience, however some manufactuers now make cars you can?t even turn off if you forget a key card or some such and go away from the key card (as in another thread (SWMBO meets technology) confirms).
10th - The Doblo may look stupid and my have a stupid name (all though this post I have wanted to call it Doublo), but for what it set out to do, that is, to provide cheap but very practical transport with awesome room, it does very well indeed. Don?t buy this car if you are looking for executive comfort or speed and handing and refinement. If you want all this buy an E-Class estate, which costs about 4 times the price. If interested in this car a test drive is always the best option. As I have made clear I have compaired it to a 10 year old clio, try to test drive some it its competitors too, like the Citroen Berlingo, Chevrolet Tacuma, Citreon Picasso, Hyundai Matrix, Kia Carens, Peugeot Partner Combi and the Renault Kangoo, all of which are available in the same king of budget and all classed as MPVs by whatcar.
Right, after all this, no I can?t be bothered to do a spell check ? you have seen the length!
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Torque means nothing without RPM
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