New Ducato Euro 6 Engine Performance

[Rob Turner]

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.

I don’t thrash them but never take it easy. Some good hills and make it work.
I’ll be driving back from Germany on Saturday and won’t be hanging around, first time I’ve driven the Comfortmatic though so that’ll be a bit of a learning curve.

 

[Podney]

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.

See #28!

Slightly more seriously,I don’t think you have to do much running in nowadays. However if it were mine,I would treat it like a kitten for the first 250 miles,a puppy dog the next 250,a pony for the next 250 and a stubborn mule after that,so stubborn that you have to “encourage it enthusiastically”.

 

[Lenny HB]

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!

Somewhere Fiat state (can't find it now) that the box is set up for a fully run in engine which is 15K.
In practice I never noticed any difference with the box just that engine was very sluggish until it had done 4000 miles then it started to loosen up and gradually improved up to 10k, not noticed much improvement since.
Mine is just 2 years old, only done 17,500 miles I'm happy with it.

 

[Lenny HB]

Slightly more seriously,I don’t think you have to do much running in nowadays. However if it were mine,I would treat it like a kitten for the first 250 miles

Difficult to to when your are following your new van to the port with your dealer driving it and you are driving his Land Rover Sport & you can't keep up with him.
I can never make it go that fast.

 

[Millsy's]

I don’t thrash them but never take it easy. Some good hills and make it work.
I’ll be driving back from Germany on Saturday and won’t be hanging around, first time I’ve driven the Comfortmatic though so that’ll be a bit of a learning curve.

Good luck with your journey back, let us know how you get in with the Comformatic

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[Littlewheels]

Somewhere Fiat state (can't find it now) that the box is set up for a fully run in engine which is 15K.
In practice I never noticed any difference with the box just that engine was very sluggish until it had done 4000 miles then it started to loosen up and gradually improved up to 10k, not noticed much improvement since.
Mine is just 2 years old, only done 17,500 miles I'm happy with it.

I understand that the Management System is actually set up for the power of the engine to increase in mileage increments which fits in perfectly with your experience of the engine opening up.

 

[Allanm]

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.

Your experience doesn’t seem to match the vast majority of Fiat Ducato owners though does it. Our 130bhp is quiet, pulls well and returns 27mpg pulling 3.85 tonnes.
Ducatos wouldn’t be the most popular motorhome base vehicles if what you said was anywhere near true,
.

 

[Rob Turner]

Good luck with your journey back, let us know how you get in with the Comformatic

Thanks, hopefully I’ll get used to it fairly quickly.

 

[PepnKook]

See #28!

Slightly more seriously,I don’t think you have to do much running in nowadays. However if it were mine,I would treat it like a kitten for the first 250 miles,a puppy dog the next 250,a pony for the next 250 and a stubborn mule after that,so stubborn that you have to “encourage it enthusiastically”.

Agree. I also think the 1st 250 - 500 is you getting used to the engine/gearbox, especially if used to driving a different setup. Now we're over the 1000 mark, everything feels a little looser, so the upcoming hack across Europe should get everything even more loosey-goosey! Looking forward to it.

 

[Rob Turner]

Good luck with your journey back, let us know how you get in with the Comformatic

Comfortmatic is bloody brilliant if I’m honest and would never have a manual again.

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[Millsy's]

Comfortmatic is bloody brilliant if I’m honest and would never have a manual again.

Yes just yesterday I picked our 150 comformatic up and although our first trip was only 260 miles I was quite impressed myself, well worth the extra cost.

 

[Tighchris]

Fiat 130 for my PVC is fine. Just on 10000 miles and with the comfortmatic gearbox it is pulling well. Just beginning to get the 35 mpg on long journeys that I had hoped for. One top up with oil needed so far but the sensors are really sensitive to the van being even slightly tilted so dipstick on level ground the only way to be sure.