General Is the Ulysse still for sale in the UK

[stubie]

Can anyone tell me if FIAT have stopped selling the Ullysse in the UK.

There is nothing listed on the FIAT UK site.

Also on another matter anyone had any issues with the door mirrors not auto folding when car is locked.

Stubie

 

[chr1s]

See thread below (from post #39 onwards). Looks like no more Ulysses.

https://www.fiatforum.com/showthread.php?t=49990&page=3

 

[gball]

Thought I'd ask 'Honest John' the journalist his reply was;

Haven;t heard anything. But haven't seen any new Ulysses either. The
market is covered by Citroen with the C8 and Peugeot with the 807.

Gordon

 

[Stu DemonD]

Also on another matter anyone had any issues with the door mirrors not auto folding when car is locked.

Maybe that has been deactivated accidentally - don't you need to hold back the switch when you put the keys in, or something - you should get a beep to confirm.

Or do you have an intermittent fault?

 

[stubie]

This only applied to the passenger side door mirror, the driver side folded in OK

I tried deactivating and re-activating but not luck. However I was able to move the mirrors to adjust the position in normal usage just not able to fold it in.

Howver today after moving the mirror to it's extremes but towards the windows and out again I found that the folding mechanism kicked In. Don't know if it a permanent fix but only time will tell.

Stubie

 

[poggy]

If the mirror hits soemthing or is pushed in/out manually it disengages the mechanism for the folding mirror. If you either fold in or out the mirror you will hear a loud click as it engages again. Somebody hit our mirror when my wife was driving and it did this as well as the glass flying out. Unbelievably I went back to the "scene" and found the mirror glass under a parked car on the other side of the road. It was intact and after connecting the two push spade connectors for the heating element it just slotted back in. Even the outside of the mirror casing only has a minor scuff mark on it (which polished out), so I was quite impressed. I looked on EPER out of interest and the whole mirror is over £300, but the glass is only £17.50. I am not sure if it is actually glass or a plastic mirror as glass probably wouldn't survive being thrown across the road.

 

[TheBogyman]

no more ulysse's,, fiat said they are pulling out of the seven seater race, as the market is becomming flooded,,,this info is comming from my local fiat dealers, i know on of the sales guys well, ..

 

[Lou]

This is an age old Fiat problem that has existed in all the years that I have owned/known Fiat in that They appear to be incapable of marketing their larger models effectively. I don't know why as in the past they have produced some very good adverts. Does anybody remember the advert many years ago for the Strada model showing the robots at the Torino factory moving to a rendition of the opera Figaro? This was a great advert, very long but very effective as the car was crap, but it did sell! Over the last few years the only adverts you see for Fiat are for the Punto and that's it.

Admittedly years ago Fiat did sort of rely on a form of patriotism in order to keep their sales up but this does not really exist any more. So when finally a decent large Fiat appears they decide to pull the plug because in my opinion they cannot work out how to market it. I had owned Fiats up and till 1998 when because of the lack of a decent large Fiat and hassle I had experienced in the past (mainly with London dealers) I defected to Renault. When it was time to change I decided to look at the Peugeot and did my best to avoid Fiat. In the end I decided to try the Fiat as I thought the he Peugeot was overpriced for what you got. I was pleasantly surprised to find that to me at least it drove better, it had more extras and was cheaper then the Peugeot so I bit the bullet and touch wood have not regretted it as it is the most reliable car I have ever had. My only concern was that it did not have a Fiat engine in it as one thing that Fiat were always good at were their engines, especially for long runs (1,200+ miles and only stopping for fuel). I have taken it on the same run and it is every bit as reliable as my previous Fiats were and with much more comfort.

If it really is due to their perception that the market is flooded then they are definitely chickening out. Take the Toyota Previa for example, it may be roomier inside but it has an old fashioned dashboard, hardly any extras, a very underpowered engine for it's size and costs even more then the Peugeot and yet it sells and there are plenty of them around even without TV advertising. The Ulysse is definitely a better car then the Previa.

I had my brother over recently from Australia who works for BMW. He thought the Ulysee was a great car and would sell really well in Australia and could not understand why it is not marketed there being that it seems to exist in Malaysia. He also thought that some of the technology in the Ulysse is no different to what is available in top end BMW's and I don't even have nav+ he would have been well impressed with that.

If Fiat don't want to spend money on advertising just the Ulysse then why don't they make one advert that encompasses a cross section of their models? maybe an advert that progresses from young single people driving around in a sporty Punto's/Stilo's to business/trade people driving Cromas/Doblos to the family unit needing an Ulysse.

So Fiat UK Marketing... read this forum and act. Some people may have had problems with their Ulysee's but from what I have read on this forum most of these people still thought the car was a great car, now that is some endorsement and should tell you that if marketed correctly it would do well.

Any way, enough of my ranting, i'm just p****d off that I have finally found a decent large car and now I can't even buy another one if I wanted unless it is under a different badge and more pricey.

All comments welcome on how Fiat could market this model more effectively. Maybe the forum should pressurise Fiat into thinking again.

Bye for now.

Lou

 

[Hippo]

no more ulysse's,, fiat said they are pulling out of the seven seater race, as the market is becomming flooded,,,this info is comming from my local fiat dealers, i know on of the sales guys well, ..

The truth is that they probably make no money on them. Addison Lee in London was a big customer but they started moving to the Sharan a while back. Reason is most likely resell value, which lets fact it is very poor on the Ulysse.

I have a 2000 Ulysse which I've owned for 4.5 years and if I'm honest it has been my most reliable car yet. Would I buy another? No

To me the newer model is old fashioned and isn't ageing well at all.
The Fiat dealers are a complete joke.
The interior is of poor quality.

In fact the only plus point for me is that it has sliding doors:worship: Why oh why don't the majority of MPVS have sliding doors.

Next stop for me is most likely a Voyager.

 

[AppleSei]

Next stop for me is most likely a Voyager.

Isnt that the worlds worst MPV to be in a crash??

 

[Stu DemonD]

I remember looking at all the options in the MPV market, and the Voyager was definitely something to avoid, on a lot of points.

 

[poggy]

When I was looking for a MPV I was looking for the safest one with the most technology and the 807, C8 & Ulysse came out on top by a big margin. Even now when I look at alternatives it is still the most advanced MPV.

Given the discounts you get on a Ulysse from new, when you compare it to the competition the residuals are no worse then the other main stream models. A good clue about real residuals when taking into account intial discounts is the lease costs of a car. This really tells you about the cost of a car as the leasing companies are very good at judging future values.

 

[redcatrockets]

Was in the Fiat dealer last week (well, actually it's now the local Kia/Fiat dealer) getting my knob fixed (!) and mentioned to the servicing lass that Fiat had stopped the Ulysee and she looked at me like I was bonkers and siad definately not...

If you buy a Voyager make sure you get a GPS that knows where all the petrol stations are. You'll need it.

 

[Hippo]

Isnt that the worlds worst MPV to be in a crash??

Pre 99 yes..... But that was 7 years ago

 

[Hippo]

A good clue about real residuals when taking into account intial discounts is the lease costs of a car. This really tells you about the cost of a car as the leasing companies are very good at judging future values.

Huh? If you want to know about Residuals look at how much a 3 year old one will cost you. C8/807/Ulysse will simply offer a larger new discount

 

[Hippo]

If you buy a Voyager make sure you get a GPS that knows where all the petrol stations are. You'll need it.

Well it is heavier so will drink more.

I'm not convinced about this diesel lark. We might go Petrol and get a LPG conversion. Cheaper running costs.

I'm not Uly bashing here. I've had one for 4.5 years, but IMHO the new ones don't age well, and the dealers are crap.

 

[Stu DemonD]

I'm not convinced about this diesel lark. We might go Petrol and get a LPG conversion. Cheaper running costs.

Poggy is the guy to ask about that - he converted his petrol Ulysse, and I think he is happy with the end result.

 

[poggy]

Huh? If you want to know about Residuals look at how much a 3 year old one will cost you. C8/807/Ulysse will simply offer a larger new discount

That's what I mean, if you look at car magazines the residuals are based on list price. We got around 20% off our new Ulysse so the real cost of ownership is less than the residuals show in the magazines. For example if the Ulysse is worth 35% of list price after three years, then that is in effect 44% of what you actually paid.

This is obviously calulated by lease companies very accurately, so I meant it was good to look at lease costs for cars as this reflects the actual costs.

 

[poggy]

Poggy is the guy to ask about that - he converted his petrol Ulysse, and I think he is happy with the end result.

I have had no problems with the LPG conversion, I went for the Prins Sequential injection system. I have not had any engine management warning lights or anything and because there are less particulates produced by LPG, the oil still looks like new and the exhaust is really clean.

The best bit is that I can get it for £0.37 litre locally. You never need to drive far on petrol because it seems really easy to find a garage with LPG now as they are springing up everywhere.

I would really recommend it and the insruance companies aren't concerned as long as you have a LPGA certificate.

 

[donaldmaclennan]

I reckon mt ulysse is past it to have a LPG conversion! and when it comes to replacing it - finding another one (worth converting) around here is going to be a total nightmare.

Having said that if the number of family members increase much more in this household (also a nightmare) i'll have to get a minibus



Ducato :chin: