General New Ulysse - 2.0 16v petrol economy

[growla666]

Hi All,

Have just put a deposit down on a 2.0 petrol Eleganza, pre reg, 9 miles on clock 05 plate from Betts in Hemel for 12995. I spent most of the afternoon deliberating over the new petrol, a 53 plate/2.0 JTD Eleganza (26000 miler)same price or an 04 plate/2.2 JTD Eleganza (10k but £500 more). The new model swung it for me but I'm still unsure about economy and general living with it. Betts offered me 10.5k for my 05 Nissan Primera 2.2 Dci SVE (3700 miles), which was about the right book price.

Reason for changing my Nissan - am expecting triplets in Jan!!! And the Nissan just isn't big enough - so had to be an MPV....did usual research - Ulysse seemed great VFM, and having driven both the petrol and diesel the newness won over (At the time).

Question for all you Ulysse buyers, what economy can I expect from the petrol or should I go back and buy a diesel? Your advice would be much appreciated whilst I scour Ebay for many baby seats etc....

PS Am looking forward to the Ulysse ownership...........

 

[apis]

The petrol should consume 25%-30% more. In addition the Diesel, especially the 2.2, has far higher torque which results in much better everyday performance. Don't be impressed by 0-60 and max speed data, they are not reflecting actual performance.

 

[growla666]

Apis,

So you think a second hand diesel is a better bet than a un-used, new petrol then?

 

[apis]

What I say is that a Diesel is much better, but of course new car is much better than a used one...
Make your own considerations

 

[poggy]

Congratulations, sounds like you need a MPV with triplets on the way.

I have a petrol automatic and it is fine, with a manual you should get at least 28mpg as we get 27mpg round town. From what others have experienced with the Ulysse, the diesel doesn't offer more than a 15% difference in fuel consumption. The fuel burning heaters in the diesels add about 10% consumption in the winter which goes some way to explain why the difference isn't as great.

If it is the economy of the diesel your worried about, then the additional cost of the car, diesel fuel and servicing costs (12K diesel and 18K petrol), probably don't add up to much if any saving for the average family mileage. A lot of diesel cars simply don't make sense due to the additional running and purchase costs unless you are doing a lot of mileage.

I haven't driven the 2.2 diesel, but the petrol was much better than the 2,0 diesel I drove. I think the diesel would only show an advantage up hill if the car was fully loaded.

Check out www.eurovan2.com as this has loads of info specific to the cars.

 

[Stu DemonD]

Our long term average, as per the Ulysse trip, is about 33mpg - this is on a 2.2JTD - not sure how accurate this is, though, but makes sense with the 15% comment above.

It would be interesting for me to experience a 2.0 diesel - the pull in our 2.2 is immense BUT there is a very good reason for that! REMAP

Having left south coast earlier [after seeing poggy and his family ], we travelled 120 miles north, mainly on dual carriageways and motorways - the car has immense pull, and is left in 5th gear ALL the time on long stretches - no need to change down for overtaking, and makes the driving so much more relaxing. I don't think many cars actually overtook us

 

[poggy]

Now if I could have a remapped 2.2 diesel automatic, I would probably take that for the torque alone.

Don't know how much you can add with a 2.0 remap, we drove a standard one.

I am waiting to be able to remap our petrol engine to get more torque. Out of interest I reset the computer today when I met Stu and got 28.6mpg, which was town and country lane driving.

 

[Stu DemonD]

The remap, for any noobs out there, not only took the 2.2 from 122bhp to about 165bhp, but also increased the torque immensely.

 

[AppleSei]

i suppose if fuel economy isnt as good as hoped maybe LPG could be something you would consider at a later date perhaps

 

[apis]

@ poggy!

The JTD is a little lazy at the first 1-2 seconds after standing and at extreme engine speeds. Maybe that gave you the impression that the petrol is stronger. In all other situations the Diesel is much faster.

Regarding the additional heater, It is significant in short journies at cold weather (<50 degrees).
If it is not that cold or the engine have reached operating temprature, it will not work.

 

[poggy]

The petrol seems to out accelerate the 2,0 diesel easily from a stand still and when overtaking, I think the difference may come when it is fully loaded with 7 people and luggage.

There is almost 2.5 seconds between the 0-60 times of the two cars and you can feel it from a standing start, I found the petrol to be a lot more responsive when trying to pull out of junctions etc which is when you need the acceleration.

As we normally only have 4 in the car, it seemed to be the best option.

 

[Lou]

Hi All,

Question for all you Ulysse buyers, what economy can I expect from the petrol or should I go back and buy a diesel? Your advice would be much appreciated whilst I scour Ebay for many baby seats etc....

PS Am looking forward to the Ulysse ownership...........

I have a JTD 2.2 and on long journeys I have had as high as 37 MPG (Polish fuel: has always given the best in all my cars) to 27 MPG (quite heavily loaded). The average on out of town driving is about 32-33 MPG which ties in with the 15% difference quoted by Poggy this is with it being pushed. In London driving it is not good with an average of around 28 MPG. I'm sure I test drove a Peugeot 807 diesel 2.0 and found the 2.2 diesel to be more powerful. Having said that the equivalent Fiat feels more powerful and is definitely more responsive then the Peugeot.

Lou

 

[kevjey]

The remap, for any noobs out there, not only took the 2.2 from 122bhp to about 165bhp, but also increased the torque immensely.

Hi all,

Stuart, what is this remap thingy and where can i get it done, i am driving 2.0JTD on an 04 plate.

I have had the beast for 3 weeks now and to be honest i love it.

Kev...

 

[Stu DemonD]

Hi Kev

I would recommend you get in touch with alfanige at www.angeltuning.com - they also advertise on this forum [see top banner]

 

[kevjey]

Hi Kev

I would recommend you get in touch with alfanige at www.angeltuning.com - they also advertise on this forum [see top banner]

Thanks Stuart.

Have called them and got the tech bits.

Can anyone who has had this done please PM me with there comments etc.

Thanks

Kev..

 

[Stu DemonD]

Ok, this was posted last year by an old member [who is now in the States] - he had his 2.0JTD done, and his comments were as follows:

Hi,

After getting mentions elsewhere on this board, I decided to bite the bullet and throw some money at Angel Tuning to get my 2.0JTD Ulysse remapped.

I'd previously set aside some cash to get a tow-bar fitted to the car, but as my dealer did this for free (as a result of my order getting massively delayed last year), the money set aside was burning a hole, and this seemed like a good way to use some of it.

For tax reasons (my car is a company car and I have a funded company fuel card also, and do a lot of private mileage), I chose the lowest of the low engine-wise on my Ulysse, and although initial performance of the 2.0JTD isn't particularly bad, it does lack some 'get up and go', particularly at motorway cruising speeds. It's also a bit sluggish to respond in city traffic.

So, given that Angel Tuning offer a 7-day no quibble money-back guarantee, I decided to give them a go.

After some re-scheduling of the work (the guy who does it got hit by chicken-pox at the time we were to have done this), I finally popped in to see them yesterday.

They do other cars also, and as I arrived, they were just finishing off on an Alfa 2.4 litre saloon. I had a sit in the back as they took this for a post-upgrade test, and it was like being in a race-car (I went very green, and not just because I was jealous!).

Anyway - they took a reading from my car (takes 5-10 minutes max), sent it off to the people who do the analysis and ECU remap programming, and within a few minutes we had back a 'standard' upgrade map to put on my car (total about 20 minutes).

We then took it for a test-drive. At this stage, they kept quiet about exactly what had been done, as they wanted to see what I thought first (I was the first 2.0JTD Ulysse that they had done)!

My humble 2.0 Ulysse had been transformed. It had power to pull away quickly on demand at all 'legal' speeds. Initial impressions were it was like a different car.

I drove it home (about 70 miles), and had a little fun testing it out with some motorway driving and also some non-motorway driving, however it was the tale-end of the evening rush-hour, so apart from noting that the car was now a lot more responsive, I really didn't have much of a chance to form an initial view. Having said that, at one point, I was driving along a dual-carriageway, slightly up-hill, away from a set of lights; in front of me was someone in a little Lotus Elise. He was showing off and roared away from the lights. I floored the Ulysse and he was unable to leave me behind! He gave up after about a mile!

Today was the first real test with the new map - I had a trip from Dudley to Central London and back - motorway and city driving. The journey started early (too early), but meant that the roads were clear! I decided to risk it and try a top-speed test! I was able to get an extra 15mph over my previous best (I won't say more about that just in case), and more importantly, at 80-90, there was still a reasonable level of acceleration when needed (whereas previously it would have been slow to pick up any further speed).

As for town/city driving, having that extra power on tap immediately when needed (rather than waiting for the car to get going a bit) made reacting so sudden changes in the traffic so much easier.

Also, I noticed no notable change in fuel economy for the journey (one I make a lot)!

In a nutshell, I'm impressed. My 2.0JTD now behaves much more like a 2.4!

I asked them what they did do, and they basically took the 2.0JTD (rated at 109bhp) up to about 140bhp, although there is potential for more out of this engine.

As a company, Angel Tuning are small, but have some impressive credentials and technical backing, and they know what they are doing. They also seem genuinely interested in the results of their work, and as for their approach to customer service, I can't fault them!

Watch this space for an update as I put the car through its paces over the next week!

J

 

[kevjey]

Cheers stuart,

i think that's sorted it for me.

Kev...

 

[Stu DemonD]

Just think what the 2.2JTD can do