Its time to move on. I so very much wanted to replace my 2011 seven seater 1.6 Multijet Doblo with the facelifted one, but it just hasn’tbeen possible. I have enjoyed my Doblo and it has completely converted me to van derived MPV’s due to their extra flexibility over normal 7 seaters. Since buying it used in 2012 I have done 65k miles and have travelled the length and breadth of the mainland from the North of Scotland, to Cornwall, Wales, East Anglia etc. Not a week has passed when it hasn’t had my bicycle standing in the back or ferrying friends and family to doother things. I used it to completely move house (a three bed semi) including beds wardrobes, chests of drawers et al, and I once managed to take 3 washing machines to the dump in one hit.
Why not another Doblo? As always, it’s a combination of factors;
1/ I cannot get anything like the deals that were on offer early last year. When I seriously looked again at the end of 2017 for a cash purchase the deals had gone, with everyone blaming the Brexit exchange rate shift but which doesn’t explain the whole price rise by any means. We are talking a £6k price increase in 9 months for a cash purchase and I tried nearly twenty different sources. Current prices seem to offer poor value for what the car is.
2/ I looked at leasing, but Doblo lease deals were the wrong side of £410 a month for the spec I need, so that was also out.
3/ They never sold the Maxi long wheelbase 7 seater in the UK, and I really do need those extra few inches in the load bed.
4/ I also need a slightly higher towing limit.
5/ Something some of you may not be aware of; they never fully facelifted the UK version of the current car in 2015, which rankled with me. Left hand drive cars got a new interior including a completely new curvy dash, door cards and a new steering wheel. UK cars kept the old dash which is very much one of the cars weaknesses.
Because of the above I have decided to move up a size in vehicle. I am moving to a new 8 seat Citroen Spacetourer which is also sold as a Peugeot and Toyota. Paradoxically, despite being10 grand dearer to buy, the lease deals are much lower than a Doblo (I guess through lower projected depreciation) and it will tick all the boxes regarding space and towing.
The bad bits of owning a Doblo - very little apart from maintenance. Mine is an early 2011 car and as we know many of those had suspension problems; Four front springs, both Rear dampers (Twice), Rear damper mounts (twice) and the front top swivels all went wrong during early ownership under warranty, but it never broke down. Oh, and the aircon pump expensively packed up as well.....Ouch !! I moved away from main dealers, apart from for a basic service to keep the service book up to date. Extras were done economically at my local garage, Cam belt, water pump, aux belt, discs and pads etc. However, for a car that has done 70k miles, all this makes the Doblo maintenance heavy compared to my Skoda, which has had absolutely nothing done beyond 4 services in 5 years & 110k miles from new, not even brake pads.
The good bits – the great versatility, the ‘step-in’ and ‘step out’ driving position, the way it drives and handles like a hatchback. There is something about the cars personality that perhaps only the driver of a Morris 1000 or a Citroen 2CV might appreciate, and that is that it has always made me smile when I am behind the wheel. It also has a great 6 speed gearbox,perhaps the best I have ever used. With winter tyres I found it near impossible to stop in snow with its Traction control chattering away to itself. In five years it has gone from being a family source of derision (before it arrived) to the car of choice for local journeys and the car that other family members“just want to borrow”
Thank you for all the help, support and advice from the Fiat Forum, it has been invaluable to share experiences. :worship: You never know, I may be back in three years………..
Why not another Doblo? As always, it’s a combination of factors;
1/ I cannot get anything like the deals that were on offer early last year. When I seriously looked again at the end of 2017 for a cash purchase the deals had gone, with everyone blaming the Brexit exchange rate shift but which doesn’t explain the whole price rise by any means. We are talking a £6k price increase in 9 months for a cash purchase and I tried nearly twenty different sources. Current prices seem to offer poor value for what the car is.
2/ I looked at leasing, but Doblo lease deals were the wrong side of £410 a month for the spec I need, so that was also out.
3/ They never sold the Maxi long wheelbase 7 seater in the UK, and I really do need those extra few inches in the load bed.
4/ I also need a slightly higher towing limit.
5/ Something some of you may not be aware of; they never fully facelifted the UK version of the current car in 2015, which rankled with me. Left hand drive cars got a new interior including a completely new curvy dash, door cards and a new steering wheel. UK cars kept the old dash which is very much one of the cars weaknesses.
Because of the above I have decided to move up a size in vehicle. I am moving to a new 8 seat Citroen Spacetourer which is also sold as a Peugeot and Toyota. Paradoxically, despite being10 grand dearer to buy, the lease deals are much lower than a Doblo (I guess through lower projected depreciation) and it will tick all the boxes regarding space and towing.
The bad bits of owning a Doblo - very little apart from maintenance. Mine is an early 2011 car and as we know many of those had suspension problems; Four front springs, both Rear dampers (Twice), Rear damper mounts (twice) and the front top swivels all went wrong during early ownership under warranty, but it never broke down. Oh, and the aircon pump expensively packed up as well.....Ouch !! I moved away from main dealers, apart from for a basic service to keep the service book up to date. Extras were done economically at my local garage, Cam belt, water pump, aux belt, discs and pads etc. However, for a car that has done 70k miles, all this makes the Doblo maintenance heavy compared to my Skoda, which has had absolutely nothing done beyond 4 services in 5 years & 110k miles from new, not even brake pads.
The good bits – the great versatility, the ‘step-in’ and ‘step out’ driving position, the way it drives and handles like a hatchback. There is something about the cars personality that perhaps only the driver of a Morris 1000 or a Citroen 2CV might appreciate, and that is that it has always made me smile when I am behind the wheel. It also has a great 6 speed gearbox,perhaps the best I have ever used. With winter tyres I found it near impossible to stop in snow with its Traction control chattering away to itself. In five years it has gone from being a family source of derision (before it arrived) to the car of choice for local journeys and the car that other family members“just want to borrow”
Thank you for all the help, support and advice from the Fiat Forum, it has been invaluable to share experiences. :worship: You never know, I may be back in three years………..
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