Buying an ex-fleet Ulysse

Hello

I'm new to the forum but would like some opinions on buying an ex-fleet Ulysse. The car in question is a black 2.0JTD Eleganza Auto 2005 model.

I've done some research and I guess it's one of those ex Addison Lee cars. It's only done a reported 29k miles.

Clearly the car is cheaper than the usual dealer stock, but what i want to know is does anyone have any experience of these particular 'special' models?

It doesn't come with alloys, but has the 8 seat option - I guess a massive job lot was bought as there seem to be a few knocking around Autotrader at the moment.

I don't much care about resale as we'll be holding on to it for a few years. It's up for £8,495

Thanks in advance.

Matt

Check the equipment it has got.
I know a lot of the ex taxi Ulysse's had electric doors but other options like auto lights etc were taken off to keep the price down.
Also make sure it has a full service history with it.

I would agree, a lot of the cars are badged Eleganza, but were only done so in order to add the electric door option. They are Dynamics with 8 seats and electric doors. As long as you know the spec, it doesn't matter and it's a good price.

Last week I picked up 2004 04 (june) reg Ulysse 2.0 Auto JTD with 72K on the clock.

Serviced every 5k miles, new gearbox, cambelt changed, badged as an Eleganza with electric sliding doors, 8 seats, 7 months tax and I paid £6499.

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y3/...gAnch=imgAnch3

Very pleased with it

Many thanks for the replies.

We picked our car up last Thursday and are very pleased with it too. It is certainly a lot of car for the money.

This one too has had a new auto-gearbox (fitted in July). Does anyone know the reasons behind why so many have had this done?

It has done only 28k miles, and other than a small carpark dint on the passenger door the body work looks immaculate. I'll try and get this done by one of the dent removal companies soon.

Regards

Matt

Hi, did you purchase your car from leicester by any chance. If you did check the roof. As they have been used as taxi's there is a good chance there is a rubber grommet up there, mine leaked with rather disasterous results as the water will get behind the roof lining!, lot of car for the money agreed but they appear very expensive to run .

By strange coincidence, I am also after one of these and have come across someone in Leicester with bucketloads of them, is this the same dealer:

http://www.smiley-miley.co.uk/GetDea...14088&pageid=1

They seem to be very competitively priced, I haven't seen anything near this. Would be interested to hear any comments on the levels of service, particularly after sales service, and any issues with these cars.

Out of curiosity, who does the logbook show as the previous owners?

Thanks in advance.

I can say nothing about the reason but mine did only 25K miles and it is currently at under-warranty autogearbox repair.

Maybe this car is too heavy for this AL4 gearbox?

Look here for somehow relevant article

I purchased one from this outlet (Fleet car sales)

There is no after sales service so to speak, the cars have been regularly serviced BUT and its a BIG BIG BUT, the Ulysse is a very complex machine, Be prepared to spend money like youve won the lottery. New clutch costs £770 and can only be carried out at Fiat due to special tools required. Any electrical probs its yet again back to the main agent £55 per hour. When they run they're brilliant, when they go wrong they will drain your bank account like 30 wives.

Anyway they do look very distinctive.

Whilst I think on, if it is from the above check the roof as there are possibly one or two rubber bungs filling the aerial holes up (these WILL leak) I fitted a fake aerial to seal it up properly, also mine had a lot of surplus wiring left in situ after the radio/sat nav had been removed, bare wires that were still live!

Definately not good.

Car so far getting 6/10 rating will change tomorrow depending on the outcome.

Yes, mine was from Leicester and yes on looking at the roof I can see the rubber grommets you mention. I hadn't seen them until now!

Lancasterpete can you tell me what you have done if anything to remedy the leak? From what I can see from my cursory glance the grommets don't seem up to the job of keeping much water out... OK seen your new post - i'll check out some sealant or something I think....

The car was definitely an ex-Addison-Lee car and it has had a new auto gearbox fitted. Looking on the addision site you can actually see the Ulysses with stonking great anntenae on the roof = holes to be covered up.

The dealer in Leicester was OK in my experience - they do seem to shift these cars very regularly (I was told of the order of 15 a week) and their small site was actually full of black Uylsses - all incidentally with 'sold' in the window. I am not intending to use them for any after-sales so cannot comment on this area.

I don't think mine has led a particularly hard life - and at 28k miles it doesn't show much wear at all if any. Its great to drive and just what we need as a family car. Mine is only just 17 months old.

As with most things I guess you get what you pay for, and so long as you know what you are buying then you should match your expectations accordingly.

Matt

Hmmm...food for thought. Thanks for the posts recounting different experiences with this dealer. £8.5k for a 2005 with 28k sounds a stonking deal, I must admit that the average 70k on the clocks of the others does worry me a little.

Are there any warranties available with these cars or are they all sold as seen?

Lancasterpete - did you ask about the wires etc when you inspected the car, or did they give you an additional discount for disposing of it as it was?

Cheers.

I'm a bit hands on. There are two holes and access to them is via the internal lights.
Pull off the clear cover, these are awkward to put back.
Using a thin screwdriver you need to lever out the fittings from the rear edge, these are awkward to remove
You now need an aerial, go to scrap yard and lift off pretty new wreck.
Adapt screw clamp
Go to windscreen replacement company, get hold of some black windscreen putty (DO NOT USE SILICON SEALER IT WILL NOT WORK)
Screw up clamp, put light back

Hey presto a whole load of mither twice

Oh and you will need a long thin nut driver for the front as it is in a roof well.

Have a check on yours if there is any spurious wiring under the drivers seat and have a look at the battery terminals (under the drivers feet) are there any fuses soldered to the battery cable? if there is then there is still some electrical eqipment wired up to the battery.

Yes, looking under the drivers seat there are a couple of connectors – one looks like a power lead, the other a sat-nav or radio serial connector. There are also a couple of brackets where the thing the cables supplied probably sat. There are no bare wires that I can see – both mini-looms end in a connector. Looking at the battery I couldn’t see anything but then it was a bit dark at the time! I’ll look again during daylight.

Yep mine came from Fleet Sales and so far so good.

I'd checked the gromits before I got it and the seal seems fine. There are no wires hanging from anywhere that I can see They were very helpful, put mats in for me, made sure there was a luggage cover and replaced the worn drivers seat. You get a months warranty and they are looking at doing a 2 or 3 year warranty as well. May be worth the people who have recently purchased one giving them a ring.

I have a Fait dealer print out of all the work carried out over the past 2 years and its very comprehensive.

As for them being a money pit, well my other car is a 20VT so I know about spending a bob or 2 on maintenance and servicing

And at the moment the wife is averaging 30.1 mpg which is a darned site better than the 23mpg we got in our 2.3 galaxy.

hi , just got mine in november ,new to this site ,102k and its an 04 bought for 6995 and traded in my old addison ulysse with 172k v reg for 1600.
i think addison got rid of the whole fleet due to so many problems ,auto box and emision failure on the computer, but we still keep buying them, happy with mine so far,till something goes wrong
jay