New Ducato Euro 6 Engine Performance

Hi, we have an Autotrail v Line 635, new Dec 2018. Were now in Portugal and it’s done nearly 4K and seems to be going extremely well now, returning on Ave 32mpg. It’s a 130bhp manual, Based on Fiat Ducato. I was a bit concerned after reading these Euro 6 engines use a lot of oil, but we haven’t used a drop so far. I check the level on the dipstick as well as keeping an eye on the oil level gauge on the instrument panel. We shall be on the Algarve for another month, before heading back to Cherbourg. We’re at A site in Oahu right now near Faro. Weather very hot!
 
JonP said:
We have the 180 euro 6 comfortauto with 4500kg chassis, it runs OK other than hunting between 5 & 6 on hills, but that’s improving with mileage now 6k. At the end of the day it’s a house on wheels, if you want a driving experience buy a hot hatch and book hotels.
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I have found the hill climb button, brilliant for gradual inclined to quite hairy switch backs. Engine only done
2 1/2k miles and so far compared to my Fiat 3L I am not disappointed.
 
Haven’t tried the Hill Descent button yet, managed everywhere dropping into 3rd so far. Might try it through Andorra and over the Pyrenees next month.
 
We’ve just changed our euro 4, 2.3 130 manual Rapido A class. 3850kg, 2011 year having done 36,000 miles and I always thought it was fine...Ok, you had to be on the ball with the gear changing, and have no mechanical sympathy at certain times, it did more mpg than the wife... so that was ok too.
Now we have a Euro 5, 3 litre, 180 auto, on a 4400kg alko chassis, and well, it’s great. I have the “up button” on all the time, the gear change is, shall we say, sedated, but it’s fine. Up hills, no hunting for gears, returning about 28 mpg. I didn’t know it had that hill assist thing until the other day. Oh, I not heard the howl at whatever revs, maybe that’s because I have the music on too loud.
Overall, impressed with it all. :)

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Ours is Euro6 2.3 180 and covered nearly 6000 miles in the first 11 months it pulls really well and getting better all the time we tow a car trailer which takes us pretty much up to the 6000 kg GTW have put in a litre of oil put that down to towing all the time. Really pleased with it and the comformatic box is great.(y)(y)(y) Returning just over 25mpg brim to brim.:D
 
Our Euro 6 2.3 130 has covered almost 9k miles now since last October. Up to about 4K I put in about half a litre of oil, none since and the oil level on the dipstick hasn’t moved. The engine seems to have got smoother and quieter, certainly over 2000 rpm and pulls better. Still not heard any howling though. We have shot up long steep inclines in 6th when I would have been down to 5th, and mpg remains a steady 28 mpg, pulling a well loaded van rated at 3850.
No problems getting up to the legal limit, but we don’t race about. Too much to see!

We just had a recall notice though, apparently there is a fix for the throttle body ( or pipework ) coming loose with the risk of going into limp mode.
I’ll book it into our local Fiat Pro next week.
 
Allanm said:
We just had a recall notice though, apparently there is a fix for the throttle body ( or pipework ) coming loose with the risk of going into limp mode.
I’ll book it into our local Fiat Pro next week.
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Just checked for ours with Fiat and no recalls? Does not affect the 180 version then.(y)(y)(y)
 
I hate to be the most unpopular person on the whole forum but we test drove two 130bhp FIAT engine motorhomes a couple of years ago and were absolutely appalled by the TERRIBLE performance.

It literally put us off having a camping car. When we heard about the 170bhp Ford we bought a Chausson with that engine and are very pleased with it (although we wish we had gone for an automatic and may change it this year, the 6th gear is a little high).

Sorry but that FIAT engine is an absolute dog. If you don't mind holding up enormous lines of other road users by driving at 40mph it is the ideal vehicle but otherwise it is truly a dreadful package in every way.

Sorry to be controversial but you cannot expect a silk purse out of a sows ear and that FIAT engine is an absolute pig in every way. Unrefined, rough, noisy, very thirsty and absolutely gutless. Avoid at all costs.
 
Paul and Val said:
I hate to be the most unpopular person on the whole forum but we test drove two 130bhp FIAT engine motorhomes a couple of years ago and were absolutely appalled by the TERRIBLE performance.
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Totally agree with you, our last a class had the 130, and I always found it dangerously underpowered and coarse, I put a tuning box on it which helped, but it still had to be revved hard, and the economy was poor, it did improve at about 10,000 miles but still not good.
We now have a 180 and despite carting a 5t tag axle it is completely different, so much smoother, pulls low down, and similar economy, so I think it is just down to the vehicle, in a pvc it would probably be ok, but an aerodynamically poor a class, a more powerful engine is required.
 
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Paul and Val said:
I hate to be the most unpopular person on the whole forum but we test drove two 130bhp FIAT engine motorhomes a couple of years ago and were absolutely appalled by the TERRIBLE performance.

It literally put us off having a camping car. When we heard about the 170bhp Ford we bought a Chausson with that engine and are very pleased with it (although we wish we had gone for an automatic and may change it this year, the 6th gear is a little high).

Sorry but that FIAT engine is an absolute dog. If you don't mind holding up enormous lines of other road users by driving at 40mph it is the ideal vehicle but otherwise it is truly a dreadful package in every way.

Sorry to be controversial but you cannot expect a silk purse out of a sows ear and that FIAT engine is an absolute pig in every way. Unrefined, rough, noisy, very thirsty and absolutely gutless. Avoid at all costs.
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I had an Autosleeper which had the 3 litre motor, that was lovely. Got a 2.3 150 Fiat A class and it was gutless until I got it remapped then it was OK. Now happy with then big Merc lump in current van.

I think the 2.3 litre Iveco engines have fallen behind the pack, even in Euro 6 form. Compared with the Ford motors they sound like old van engines ;)
 
Hi get yourselves a bottle of stanadyne performance plus fuel treatment it raises the cetane level of our diesel
Two capsules to the tank in our transit and you notice the differance in both performance and economy
Was actually given a bottle by dealer at out outlanders first service .
We had to use it in the tractors when I was still active in farming DPS engines egr valves kept sticking this stuff cured it stanadyne produce most of the injections systems on modern diesel engines.
 
Our Europe 6 180 2.3 on a 4.5 ton Hymer just crossed the Plöckenpass from Austria to Italy. Very steep switchbacks but it coped well - was in Hill climb mode up and hill decent mode down the other side most of the way. A fantastic pass but blimey quite challenging.
 
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pandas said:
Our Europe 6 180 2.3 on a 4.5 ton Hymer just crossed the Plöckenpass from Austria to Italy. Very steep switchbacks but it coped well - was in Hill climb mode up and hill decent mode down the other side most of the way. A fantastic pass but blimey quite challenging.
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We have done the Plockenpass both ways on the way to & from Croatia a couple of years ago, never found any challenging bits. I thought it was an easy drive.
 
Lenny HB said:
We have done the Plockenpass both ways on the way to & from Croatia a couple of years ago, never found any challenging bits. I thought it was an easy drive.
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But you are much more of a professional driver than we will ever be.
 
pandas said:
But you are much more of a professional driver than we will ever be.
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You must be joking, you don't want to here what the boss says about my driving.:)

how about this one from my dash cam. From our trip to Greece.

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Running a 2018 Peugeot (FIAT) 2.0 160bhp BlueHDi on 3500kg, just back from Scotland and found it pulled great, never had an issue, even stuck behind a cycling tour going up a steep switch back road near Aberfoyle (although not sure how they felt about me just behind them).

Happy in cruise at 70 on motorways, no need to drop a cog overtaking either, picked up with no problem. New engine, only done 1000 miles, but already registering over 29mpg. Across Europe later this year, so adding another few thousand miles, will see how/if engine improves, but no complaints so far. Maybe was a bit lumpy for the first few miles, but that was probably just me getting used to it. Previous was 2006 2.2 HDi with a whole 104bhp! Loved it to bits, but always needed a decent run up to any incline!
 
Podney said:
I was talking to a mechanic mate about this a while ago,and he suggested three important things to do:
1. Thrash it.

2.Thrash it.








3. Thrash it.


He said you have to remember it’s country of origin!
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Absolutely spot on, think white van man they go like stink and get to 300k+
They are not designed to slope along certainly with the emissions restrictions it’s the thrashing that makes the system work efficiently.
 
Always find with my car, unless I put decent diesel in it, clogs up the DPF quicker than a coke oven, but nothing that a good motorway blast in third won't cure. The emission friendlier engines get, the better the quality of diesel is required, they just don't function as well on the less detergent heavy supermarket fuels. I know people will say that they always use supermarket diesel and it's fine, but with all the cleaners needed in the exhaust systems for Euro 6 (DPF, AdBlue etc), the cleaner the fuel, the more efficient these work and the better it is for the engine. The reason WVM's van runs fine is probably because they rarely get out of 3rd gear so everything gets burnt off!
 
Lenny HB said:
You must be joking, you don't want to here what the boss says about my driving.:)

how about this one from my dash cam. From our trip to Greece.

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Well you certainly have bigger attributes than I have - well done you
 
We had a 3litre fiat at 4 tons great performance 22 to 24 mpg on a aclass. Now have new delaware 4.5 ton running at 4.3 ton 2.3 150 euro 6 26 to 27mpg very smooth but you have to change down a lot even on motorways its getting better but will never be as good power wise as the 3litre 160bhp.

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PepnKook said:
Always find with my car, unless I put decent diesel in it, clogs up the DPF quicker than a coke oven, but nothing that a good motorway blast in third won't cure. The emission friendlier engines get, the better the quality of diesel is required, they just don't function as well on the less detergent heavy supermarket fuels. I know people will say that they always use supermarket diesel and it's fine, but with all the cleaners needed in the exhaust systems for Euro 6 (DPF, AdBlue etc), the cleaner the fuel, the more efficient these work and the better it is for the engine. The reason WVM's van runs fine is probably because they rarely get out of 3rd gear so everything gets burnt off!
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Yes,supermarket fuel is rubbish.
 
My current van is a Euro 5 130 at about 3900kgs
I’ll be honest, it flies and it’s more that quick enough.
I’ve driven a lot of underpowered vehicles in my life and this isn’t one of them.

My new van which I collect on Thursday is also a 130 so we’ll see.
I think it’s how you run them in.
 
My Adria is a 130 Manual (PVC) and we are running at just under 3380kg loaded up
Done 1000 miles now
I have to say before I bought it I wrestled with the notion of upgrading to 150
But for my style, 130 has shown to be ample
My recreation starts the second I leave the drive
 
Rob Turner said:
My current van is a Euro 5 130 at about 3900kgs
I’ll be honest, it flies and it’s more that quick enough.
I’ve driven a lot of underpowered vehicles in my life and this isn’t one of them.

My new van which I collect on Thursday is also a 130 so we’ll see.
I think it’s how you run them in.
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I am glad to hear it, how did you run it in ? as it sounds like you have done it the right way..
There are two schools of thought out there,one says take it easy and the other says thrash it ,I am at a loss to be honest.
Picking my new MH up next week.
 
Question related to the comfort-magic gearbox. Common comment is the performance relationship between the engine and the gearbox gets so much better after a period of use which varies between 4K to 10k miles.
Is this because you, the driver, are getting used to the gearbox or is it, as we are told, the gearbox learning from your driving style? Ever the sceptic I thought it was a sales pitch but actually with only 3k miles it does seem to be better!

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