General Evo Sporting Multijet 1.6 reliability

[Toomanytoys]

Hi.. I was considering a Panda MJ but an Evo sporting has popped up.. but I know nothing about the 1.6 MJ.. what are the key things that need to be done over regular oil and filter changes etc.. are they belt or timing chain?
Primarily it's going to be used for commuting some distances (currently 65m each way) mostly motorway, so I guess it ought to be pretty economical.. it's also got to be a bit better comfort wise than the panda...
I have had a search and troll down the lists, but not much pops up, so I hope this is a good sign that they are gen pretty good..
Cheers.
Si

 

[Les38]

I have owned a 1.6 MJ Grande Punto [virtually the same as the Evo mechanicaly] for 12yrs.It has proved to be a very reliable car giving excellent fuel consumption in the region of 53mpg.I rarely do long trips meaning short journeys are the norm.I have spent little on maintenence except for filter and regular oil changes it probably needs a timing belt change although I have done only 34000 mls.I can not seriously fault the car,being a sports diesel its fun to drive with an excellent turn of speed and a very torquey power curve.I would put it way above the panda.But thats my opinion you pays yer money and takes your choice .Best of luck.

 

[Toomanytoys]

Thank you Les38..

 

[h0sep1pe]

Proud owner of a 1.6 MJ. All in all, I'd recommend. You won't find much on them, as they didn't sell many! Believe there are only 100 running examples in the UK.
Nice power delivery, albeit with turbo lag, and can't fault reliability except for the DPF filter and Start/Stop doesn't work except if you stall.

Comfort could be better, after all it's 'Sporting' and has quite a low ride height at the front. Loud diesel engine, it's daddy is a Doblo!

 

[varesecrazy]

I appreciate this thread is 1 week old..

But @AndyRKett had good reliable service from his one I believe

 

[AndyRKett]

I had mine for 4 years and the only issue I had with it was a dodgy problem with a brake callipers.

The engine it’s self is straight out of a van so designed to carry medium sized vans up and down the country for thousands of miles. They have a diesel particulate filter which means they are much better doing longer commutes as the OP intends to do. Cam belt, and also there is the global issues of dual mass flywheel failure.

My old car had 175,000 miles when it picked a fight with a deer and convinced the insurance co to write it off rather than have it fixed and then have to sell it myself (I had another car and we have a baby on the way)

What I would say is for 120hp engine it isn’t very sprightly I’d say my old 1.3mjt actually felt more responsive (but that could be the high mileage) they do suffer from turbo lag quite badly (I also had an older mk2b HGT which was only 100hp but still faster/more responsive)

The economy is probably quite good certainly in comparison to something like a petrol version of the same car, but I found it to be quite thirsty at around 50-55mpg compared to my old multijet 1.3punto which would do more like 60mph
I also have a 2.0L golf which is a very heavy cabriolet version which on paper because of the weight supposedly should perform the same as the Punto in almost every way, however the Punto was definitely slower off the mark, so the engine is much louder than a lot of other diesels (it’s a van engine so very unrefined) and the golf would get about 58mpg sometimes 60mpg despite being much bigger heavier and with a bigger 150hp engine.

It’s a fairly good all rounder I’d never say someone shouldn’t consider it, just make sure it’s a good example, they are rare and can have very over inflated prices, I’ve seen them with dealers for £5k+