General Considering another Ulysse, need advice first

[gazzak2]

Hi all,

We owned a 53 plate 2.0 litre petrol auto Ulysse, but sold it a couple of years back as I couldn't handle the awful fuel consumption, (25mpg at the very best). Everything else about the car we loved. We purchased a Citroen Picasso diesel and now get over 50mpg around town.

Problem now is the wife is about to get back into childminding so we need the 7 seats again. Before we bought the last Ulysse we looked at every 7 seater on the market and the Ulysse won hands down, (just didn't research mpg ). This time it's going to be our first choice IF I can find out what sort of figures the manual diesel versions give.

So my question is: What is the most economic Ulysse and what MPG does it give? I'm guessing manual diesel but I don't know if it's available in less than 2.0 litre.

 

[Lou]

I have a 2.2 JTd and in town (London) I get about 30MPG. On long motorway runs 80MPH+ I get about 32-33 MPG. I have had as high as 37 MPG with a mixture of motorway/country road driving. The new shape Ulysse only comes in 2.0 or 2.2 litre versions. Have you considered the 2.0 litre manual petrol? I know it's a bit underpowered according to some people but these days unleaded appears to be cheaper and you won't run the risk of the damn Anti Pollution error messages with management light fault which can cripple the car depending on what the problem is. Most people who have an Ulysse diesel have had this problem in some form or another. If you are looking at a diesel definitely ask for a longish test drive and see if you can take it on a motorway. On mine (eventual turbo change) I could get the fault to appear in town by going into fourth while doing about 30 to 40 mph and then flooring the pedal or making it surge by lifting and pressing the accelerator pedal continuously. Check the threads on here regarding this. Some of them are very long.

Lou

 

[poggy]

You won't be able to get a new one as Fiat don't sell the Ulysse in the UK anymore.

I would take a look at the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 7S, they look really good and get excellent reviews. The only thing is you don't get sliding doors I think.

Or buy a used petrol Ulysse and get it converted to LPG.

 

[T14086]

You won't be able to get a new one as Fiat don't sell the Ulysse in the UK anymore.

:woot:

 

[ulysse2.016v]

I get 29 mpg overall average in my 04 petrol manual ulysse, and its as fast as you need in a car this size, you can't fly around everywhere anyway with the wife and kids on board. you do have to use the revs if you want to get shifting but on the other hand i can be in 5th at 30mph and it picks up nicely, or am i just lazy!!
Be aware also that the petrol ones still have thier little gremlins.

 

[gazzak2]

Oh dear. Your replies are the end of the idea of us owning another Ulysse
Those fuel figures you all quoted are truly horrific. Only the LPG option mentioned could save the deal, how much is a conversion?

Have looked very closely at a Citroen C4 as mentioned by Poggy, if only they weren't so new and expensive i think we'd have one tomorrow

 

[poggy]

The conversion is about £1600 and the fuel is 50% of unleaded, you will probably get around 25mpg, so equivalent to 50mpg on petrol.

Had our's for 4 years and the LPG was never a problem and plenty of petrol stations do it now. You still have the petrol tank if you run out of LPG.

 

[Paulo542]

The new Ulysse has a growing reputation for being very costly to repair - see thread on new head v replacement engine. My cam belt went for no apparant reason after 23k from change, warranty company wont touch it, and when we decided to change injectors while engine in bits, we discovered they cost £150 each compared to £30 for previous Ulysse model, as well as needing engine to come out. Be warned!

 

[T14086]

I think it would be fair to say all cars (infact anything) gets more expensive to maintain the older it gets.

Why change injectors if theres nothing wrong with them modern injectors are very reliable.£150 isn't actualy too bad for a injector.

 

[digger58]

Hi there, I went to Greece and back last summer with four on board plus luggage plus roof box plus air/con on most of the time and managed about 38/40 MPG in an '03 2.0jtd with 100K on the clock, great car, its a Peugeot after all, loads of power etc, I think most of the horror stories are due to mechanics/garages who don't have a clue. I bought in UK and brought it back to Ireland with full service history, I was amased at how many things were wrong with it despite all the service records, spent a good week sorting out small glitches.Good luck Tony

 

[anh167]

We have got an old 19tds p reg Ulysse and we looked around at conversions to LPG etc, and we also found details of a company in the Birmingham area I think, that can convert the vehicle to run on ...........VEGETABLE OIL.

If memory serves me right ( not always guaranteed ), it was a German company, but the claim was that it operated in a similar manner to LPG, in that you had a secondary tank fitted to the vehicle, and after initial starting and warm up, it could be switched over from running on diesel to th e cheaper veggie oil. AND......not any special oil, but you could go into you local corner shop or raid the kitchen cupboard and use veggie oil from there. The cost was around £1k but we were not going to do the mileage, and the vehicle was/is quite old to really benefit from the outlay. Anyway, ours has now developed other faults and isn't really running anywhere.
Hope you decide in the end what vehicle you are going to get, but maybe look in the Citroen market.

 

[gball]

If your considering running on bio diesel research the web, you don't need another tank.
There are loads of companies in the UK that will supply kits to clean up chip shop oil. In fact a diesel will run on vegetable oil OK without doing anything to it. Newer common rail diesels don't like it as much as DI diesels.
Just read all the web sites, there are loads now the Government has made it legal to use cooking oil.

 

[ulysseman]

Hi all,

We owned a 53 plate 2.0 litre petrol auto Ulysse, but sold it a couple of years back as I couldn't handle the awful fuel consumption, (25mpg at the very best). Everything else about the car we loved. We purchased a Citroen Picasso diesel and now get over 50mpg around town.

Problem now is the wife is about to get back into childminding so we need the 7 seats again. Before we bought the last Ulysse we looked at every 7 seater on the market and the Ulysse won hands down, (just didn't research mpg ). This time it's going to be our first choice IF I can find out what sort of figures the manual diesel versions give.

So my question is: What is the most economic Ulysse and what MPG does it give? I'm guessing manual diesel but I don't know if it's available in less than 2.0 litre.

I have had 3 diesel Ulysse's 2 prevoius model and currently an 04 on the later car I get 37 mpg overall I am a steady driver. I have decided to sell as I am now retired I can certainly reccomend one as they are a versatile motor. The only downside is relatives always ask you to pick up a fridge or whatever they have bought. Regards

 

[T14086]

I think most of the horror stories are due to mechanics/garages who don't have a clue

There is a dedicated ulysse 2 day Fiat course open to garages, well recommended

 

[digger58]

Maybe tell some of the Fiat main dealers about this course!!!!!!. I am lucky enough to be able to do all my own work, even when looking for parts at a main dealer I find the lack of knowledge amazing. I believe most decent mechanics are "out on their own" and not to be found at Main dealers, don't forget that when you take your vehicle in you don't know if its a novice or a fully qualified person working on it, mind you the charge rate is still top dollar.