General Heating adequate?

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General Heating adequate?

southdowne

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Nov 14, 2007
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St Leonards-on-Sea
Almost decided to buy a Doblo, due to the arrival of twins and Vauxhall Agila now too small.

Road test/s seem to suggest that heating not up to the job, which is not much use with babies on board :(

Any advice or comment will be much appreciated please, on this aspect or anything else regarding ownership.

If I took road tests too seriously I would never have bought the Agila, which has been brilliant, but can't afford to get it wrong this time hence the request for help.

Thanks
 
Just after we bought Mrs O's Doblo I posted a similar comment on here, complaining that the heater took a long time to warm up. Apparently this is an un-documented feature, which is caused by the fact that modern high efficiency diesel engines warm up slowly.
Never had any reason to complain about the heat levels once it gets going.

Seriously worth another look, if this was your only reservation!!!
 
The heater in our last doblo was useless.....i was hoping it was a one off thing, but after reading these post i am not so sure now.
Ours was a 1.9 deisel.
At the moment we have a kangoo, which is fine, but miss the space of the doblo.
Was thinking about changing back to a doblo, but want to be warm!:D

Tiggs
 
We have an 05 1.9 jtd, and two kids. Never had any complaints of the cold. I suppose there is a larger space to heat, so if it was lots of short jouneys it might be perceived as cool. Ours has air con, which is handy for instant demist in winter, if that was a worry.
 
I do the 7am nursery run with our 5month old and 2 year old children and find the Doblo takes probably twice as long to heat up than our old Volvo. However in the real world even in the latter you couldn't get away with no coats etc whilst waiting and once warm its fine. I suppose there have to be some compromises on a 7 seat car that you can buy new for between £10-11k. I certainly wouldn't go back to squeezing kids into an estate car, got too used to handy sliding doors, high seating etc.
 
and i thought it was just me!

Brand new 1.3 Doblo Cargo with fully fitted bukhead leaving only a cab to warm and it takes forever to get to a reasonable heat.

So much so that I will be looking to blank off some of the rad area in the hope of getting the engine warmer sooner - I always understood that cold engines wear faster.
 
Yep, agree. My 1.9 jtd Doblo takes aaaages to warm up and when it does, it doesn't warm the feet very much at all.
Having said that, the rest of me is toasty warm when it does finally warm up and I feel lovely and cosy. :)

My '66 aircooled beetle gets warmer quicker! :rolleyes:
 
My 06 plate 1.9jtd takes an age to warm up BUT as has already been said, diesels do tend to take a long time to warm up - especially the newer ones.
On cold & frosty mornings I take a mug of coffee out with me, fire up the engine & turn on the windscreen demister then scrape the ice off the rest of the windows. I then sit in the car drinking my coffee, listening to the radio until I'm ready to set off for work.
This has many benefits, it allows the engine/car to warm up & I get to drink my coffee in peace whilst the kids argue over bathroom space.
So I have to wear a coat & gloves, but only a fool would set out unprepared on a cold morning, your car might be t-shirt toasty now but what happens when it conks out a couple of miles down the road?
Years ago when I used to be on callout for the ploughs, I couldn't garage my car so I used to run a greenhouse (parrafin) heater in the back of my estate car. Didn't cost much to run & the bit of heat helped keep the windows clear.
 
People people get a webasto heater..........(few quotes from web)

"The Fuel Burning Heater (FBH) is made by Webasto in Germany and is a small diesel fired combustion chamber with a water jacket around it and it's own fuel and water pump. The water system is plumbed into the engine coolant and hence the car heater.
Normally it fires up automatically when the outside air temperature drops below 10deg ,C (or if the engine coolant temperature drops below a certain level) and it helps warm the cabin and engine up more quickly.
Add a remote control or timer and the FBH can be fired up from a key fob plip or pre programmed on the timer to start 20 or 30 minutes before you get into the car to give you a beautifully warm cabin and pre warmed engine.Absolute heaven on a cold morning if you live in a country with cold seasons and have to leave the car outside. De-ices the windows too."

"Webasto, best piece of kit ever in the diesel. In less than 2 miles its so warm on a morning going to work I dont want to get out car! "

(from webasto) "Dear Sir
Thank you for your valued enquiry regarding the Webasto Parking Heater for your vehicle.The Webasto Thermo Top range of parking heaters is available in petrol and diesel and integrates with the vehicle's cooling and fuel systems and, because of it's compact dimensions, is normally installed easily within the vehicle's engine compartment. Once activated, Thermo Top will use the vehicle's own fuel in a combustion process to heat the coolant via a heat exchanger. The heated coolant is then circulated around the engine block and standard vehicle heater by an integrated water pump. As a result,the engine is pre-heated and, because the normal heater fan is activated, the interior is also pre-heated via the standard in-dash air vents."

"Every motorist dreads the thought of having to climb into a cold car on a freezing winter day but Webasto Thermosystems UK have a solution on display at their stand at the British International Motor Show,NEC Birmingham. By either pressing a key ring control fob which has a range of 600 metres or by using your mobile phone the heater can be switched on, as Robert Eames , Technical Service Manager at Webasto Thermosystems UK Ltd demonstrates.

A specially adapted receiver similar to a phone pager activates the £299 Webasto Telecomfort heating system, described as a "wonderful breakthrough in comfort and safety." It means drivers can return to a warm car with windows free of frost, making it safer to drive home, simply by making a mobile phone call. Roger Edwards, managing director of Webasto Thermosystems UK, said: "We all hate going back to a freezing cold car but now just making a phone call it can be an altogether more pleasant and safer experience," he added. "

Sounds good dont it;)
 
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