Chausson potential purchase - engines

[newbuyer]

Hi

Firstly some great posts on the forum for a newbie like me. Have to bore you all with another engine size question - have done lots of reading but still confused

Looking at three chausson 640’s

One is the fiat 2.3 ltr 130 hp from 2019, one is a 2019 ford 2.0 170 hp and the other a 2.0 ford 170 hp from 2020. All are the titanium model.

We will drive in europe and won load it fully i guess and certainly wont be towing

Any views on which is the better option all things being equal?

Thanks in advance

 

[Lenny HB]

Niether is a bad engine but with the choice of 130 or 170bhp, it's a no brainer go for one of the 170's it will be the same engine in both.

 

[Gaston aires]

I’ve always thought that torque matters more than HP in a diesel engine, but how come Ford produces 170 HP from a 2 litre engine ?
Phil

 

[Lenny HB]

I’ve always thought that torque matters more than HP in a diesel engine, but how come Ford produces 170 HP from a 2 litre engine ?
Phil

The Fiat 2.2 produces 180bhp.

 

[dash300]

I’ve always thought that torque matters more than HP in a diesel engine, but how come Ford produces 170 HP from a 2 litre engine ?
Phil

My Volvo XC90 2ltr produces 245bhp and 295bhp available as an upgrade. That was 6ltr territory not so long back!

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[Gaston aires]

The Fiat 2.2 produces 180bhp.

You live and learn.
Our 2.3 130 Fiat seems to have plenty of power at all times but I do change gear going up hills, as you should. Engines need revving occasionally to clear the DPF.
Phil

 

[bigtree]

I’ve always thought that torque matters more than HP in a diesel engine, but how come Ford produces 170 HP from a 2 litre engine ?
Phil

The wife's 2 litre VW produces 300hp.

 

[gpat]

I’ve always thought that torque matters more than HP in a diesel engine, but how come Ford produces 170 HP from a 2 litre engine ?
Phil

Turbocharger settings and configuration.

 

[Lenny HB]

The wife's 2 litre VW produces 300hp.

I bet that's not a diesel.

 

[bigtree]

I bet that's not a diesel.

The discussion is only about power.

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[Lenny HB]

The discussion is only about power.

Nope, it's about Motorhomes and you can only buy them with diesel engines.

 

[dunnah01]

Power is pretty much irrelevant in diesel moho engines as it doesn't really represent the driveability or economy. The manufacturers limit torque to suit the marketing team. The 170bhp Ford lump produce it's highest torque of 405Nm between 1500 & 2500 rpm and drops it to about 340Nm when producing 170bhp at 3500rpm. You'd need to have the pedal to the metal to see the full torque so I'd be more concerned about mechanical sympathy at that point.

 

[tonka]

My previous van was the 2.3 Fiat 130bhp, Autotrail 700 at 4250kg and we were close to that weight all the time.
Did almost 30,000 miles in first 2 years with several runs to Spain and 2 longer trips to Morocco. Cant say i could ever fault it.
Done it's job up most hills and IF you needed to go fast it certainly did that within reason.

I had my older 2.8jtd Fiat remapped as that was sluggish up hill's. It really improved the pulling power but i did find i tended to drive it harder and hence lower fuel comsumption.

 

[RetiredPope]

Just be careful with payload, the Transit base is over a 100kg heavier on our Flash 640 (IIRC). We went with the Fiat because of this. We only notice the lower power on long hills.

 

[newbuyer]

Thanks for all the comments. Certainly sounds like either will do the job so probably cones down to autonatoc vs manual preference and the two specs vs price

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[Dazzola]

The 2.0 ford engines will be wet belt, it's very expensive to change and has been a disaster for lots of people, a friend who runs a few of them for his business has gone back to the slightly older 2.2 chain engined vans as it was starting to get expensive with maintenance.

 

[The Wino]

You won't get an impartial answer on a forum where the vast majority own fiat powered vans! Why not ask on the chausson owners group Facebook page. We had a ford based chausson for almost 10 years the engine was faultless although that was a previous generation of engine. Personally id drive them both and decide based on that.

 

[Sasbo]

I've a 2019 Chausson 530 on the Fiat chassis with the 150 engine and manual gearbox. A friend has a 2019 640 on the Ford chassis with the 170 auto gearbox.

We went for the Fiat base solely due to the towing limitations of the Ford auto gearbox and if I were to choose again, I would go for the Ford chassis as it's a totally better driving proposition and this is based on real life owner experience, not conjecture.

Both the Fiat and Ford engines have known issues so it's pot luck if you get a good one or bad one.

As for the Chausson bit, mine is now 4years old and I've no intention to change as 530 layout in 6 metre van is really innovative and suits us fine.

The build quality is fine, we have had a few niggles but nothing major.

One thing to look out for if you are buying used, is to make sure you confirm that the required Chausson approved dealer annual hab service have been carried out and the Service Book confirms this with the dealer stamps. If any of the hab services have been missed, Chausson will not honour the watertightness warranty.

Hope this helps.

 

[WESTY66]

The 2.0 ford engines will be wet belt, it's very expensive to change and has been a disaster for lots of people, a friend who runs a few of them for his business has gone back to the slightly older 2.2 chain engined vans as it was starting to get expensive with maintenance

Not to mention the injectors

 

[Lenny HB]

The 2.0 ford engines will be wet belt, it's very expensive to change and has been a disaster for lots of people, a friend who runs a few of them for his business has gone back to the slightly older 2.2 chain engined vans as it was starting to get expensive with maintenance.

I thought the the problem was they failed around 100,000 miles and were supposed to last 160,000 miles and Ford have been picking up the bill.
Not many Motorhomes do much more than 10k a year so unlikely to be a problem.

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[Lenny HB]

Thanks for all the comments. Certainly sounds like either will do the job so probably cones down to autonatoc vs manual preference and the two specs vs price

Having had one manual and two auto Motorhomes would never consider a manual now.
So much easier to drive an auto when going through tight villages & places, gear changing is one less thing to think about. With an auto the more powerfull the engine the better.

 

[Jewellbags]

We have a 640 with a 150 bhp 2.3 ducato front end and just finished 6 weeks in Europe including some serious climbs - never missed a beat and were quite heavy on the way down

 

[Lenny HB]

We have a 640 with a 150 bhp 2.3 ducato front end and just finished 6 weeks in Europe including some serious climbs - never missed a beat and were quite heavy on the way down

Don't know which chassis you have but the Maxi chassis has far better brakes.

 

[Dazzola]

I thought the the problem was they failed around 100,000 miles and were supposed to last 160,000 miles and Ford have been picking up the bill.
Not many Motorhomes do much more than 10k a year so unlikely to be a problem.

The problems are that the belts degrade in the oil and start to come apart and cause the oil to start to "gel" this then blocks galleries and the sump strainer causing starvation.
This has happened to one I know of at just over 30k, ford picked up the bill but it was an 8wk wait.
Silly idea running a belt in oil.

 

[Derbyshire wanderer]

I have never had a Transit motorhome but my work van is the 130bhp automatic and has done just over 70000 miles with nothing other than servicing and brakes needed. It is one van in a lease deal of over 800 units and I know of a few failures of injectors and maybe half a dozen belt failures so percentage wise are no more likely than any other brand. These are all generally used hard including lots of idling time and at close to full weight.
My only concern with a Ford motorhome is the insurance company issues with security and theft, mechanically no more worrying than anything else.

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[The Wino]

Having had one manual and two auto Motorhomes would never consider a manual now.
So much easier to drive an auto when going through tight villages & places, gear changing is one less thing to think about. With an auto the more powerfull the engine the better.

If the op is looking at secondhand there's also the question of the fiat ones being comfortmatic

 

[Lenny HB]

If the op is looking at secondhand there's also the question of the fiat ones being comfortmatic

2019 could be Comformatic or 9 speed, I wouldn't want an auto with only 130bhp.

 

[Martatin]

I bought a Chausson 510 new in 2016.
2.2L 155HP

Really pleased with the performance.
Changed in 2020 due to numerous water ingress problems .

Changed for a Carado T132 much better build quality I think.

Downside it is on Fiat base 2.3L 120HP.

Very noticeable difference in drive performance have had to adapt to less power but OK. Other issue is the chassis is higher so not as stable in winds even light ones.

 

[newbuyer]

Brilliant response and great advice particularly Sasbo for the warranty information. Thanks everyone

Will be changing my username to chausson 640 owner very soon