General RIP my poor dobbie...

[Dakar]

Before a week last Thursday....




RIP my poor dobbie, after being hit from behind by a HGV and pushed off the road into a ditch...














No external injuries to myself, but took a whack to the back of the head and hurt both my calf muscles. No memory of the accident, awoke the next day in hospital. Big thanks to rescue services and hospital staff.

Jon.

 

[dave]

what hit it? it looks like the bit that holds people stood up quite well, glad you are ok

 

[Dakar]

Thanks! I was hit by a DAF CF85 HGV, and yes, I was incredibly impressed that both the front and rear seating area stood up incredibly well. The back seats are folded forward in the pictures as I had done that to retrieve bits from the boot area. Incidentally a huge crow-bar was needed to release them, they were securely held upright. The drivers seat I did find had gone back and was twisted - I can only assume that happened in the accident, I have no memory what-so-ever of the hour or two before the accident, or indeed for 12 hours after.

I was going around 35mph and according to the tacho, the HGV hit me doing 57mph.

I'm now waiting on insurance and stuff to sort things out.

Jon.

 

[JTD_Liam]

Christ. Just goes to show you can't always believe Euro NCAP results - i believe the Doblo originally scored just 3 stars in their tests, but when factoring in the much higher speed you were hit at (Euro NCAP is 40mph max i believe) plus the fact it was a HGV that hit you, it looks like the Doblo is actually better than NCAP give it credit for. Admitedly they didn't test it for rear-impact, but even so the cabin held up very well indeed.

Will you be replacing it with another Doblo? A new style one maybe? Im sure Fiat will be very grateful of a sale of one of the new ones - only seen 3 on the road since launch

Anyway, glad you're not seriously hurt.

Liam

 

[Dakar]

Will you be replacing it with another Doblo? A new style one maybe? Im sure Fiat will be very grateful of a sale of one of the new ones - only seen 3 on the road since launch

Anyway, glad you're not seriously hurt.

Liam

Thanks Liam, Yes, I hope to replace it with another Dobbie, but it all depends how much the insurance cough up. I too have seen less than a handful, and those I have seen have been the vans rather than the mpv's.

Jon.

 

[JTD_Liam]

Thanks Liam, Yes, I hope to replace it with another Dobbie, but it all depends how much the insurance cough up. I too have seen less than a handful, and those I have seen have been the vans rather than the mpv's.

Jon.

Good news

I've seen a few vans as Scottish & Southern Energy have Doblo's & Fiorinos on their fleet round here, and also seen a couple of private vans too, but only seen 3 MPV versions - two white Dynamics & one ivory Eleganza.

Think it's the usual story of Fiat not promoting the whole range enough. They focus all their marketting activity on the 500 & Punto & leave the rest of the range to slump to the bottom of the sales charts. The Doblo MPV also needs a price reduction. It might be more luxurious than a Citroen Berlingo but it's still essentially a van with windows & people who buy it will expect it to be priced as such.

Hopefully the insurance give you enough ££ to consider a nearly new example.

Liam

 

[T14086]

Jon, I have only just seen this thread

Glad everyone involved was ok and yes the dobbie seemed to stand up well.

Hope you get everything sorted soon

 

[Dakar]

Thanks folks, on the road to recovery now, just a few niggling head and leg aches.

I'm still waiting to hear from the insurance, any ideas how much I should expect to get for a '57 plate Doblo 1,9 Dynamic 120? I'm stuggling to find one with no more than 30,000 miles on to get a good idea for a market value. All the ones I've seen have either astronomical miles or are the wrong engine, (petrol or the 105 diesel).

Cheers,

Jon

 

[TwyRob]

You'll probably get book price. The trade usually uses Glasses guide, I'm guessing insurance would do the same. Getting a Glasses valuation would cost money so I did a Parkers guide search. The Parkers guide (mileage = 40k) says:

Franchised Dealer
£6,330

Independent Dealer
£5,680

Private Good
£5,085

Private Poor
£3,840

Part Exchange
£4,380

I'm really glad you're ok! (and I'm really glad it wasn't a 7 seater with kids in the back)

 

[murphyv310]

Hi.
I am very glad you are OK and recovering, any accident is traumatic, I know I have been there on two occasions. One I hit a 15 year old boy at 40mph when he darted out from a parked vehicle, I didn't even have time to hit the brakes. the second was in a Yugo 45 when I skidded on ice and the car went 20ft down an embankment, I walked out without a scratch.
I must admit there is a fair old bit of damage for a 22mph shunt! Robin has a good point about a 7 seater, the versions with wheelchair access also could be a problem.

 

[duplo]

Sheesh, glad you're ok.

It's certainly made me a bit nervous bout our seven seater, that said the seat is pretty damn robust itself, but looking at the impact the catch locations would have been damaged and maybe burst open....

 

[Dakar]

Thanks folks, yes, the boot area took alot of the impact, I think as the HGV body/bumper was much higher from the ground it missed the Dobbies bumper, hitting the rear tailgate quite square on. Hence the huge amount of body distortion. The boot area is considerably shorter than before, as is evident by the kinks in the roof where it has been crushed and folded up. Equipment I was carrying in the boot was heavily damaged and wedged up behind the passenger seats, that hadn't moved! Releasing them required alot of force as their upper mounts had become locked/damaged. I fear if this was a seven seater, any back row passengers would have sustained serious, possibly fatal injuries.

Jon.

 

[Maggie]

Ouch, glad you were fine albeit minor injuries. I have the family model and seeing the damage to your Dobbie, am now really wary about using the rearmost seats.

Also at the risk of sounding like a vulture, and assuming all is ok with it. do you want to sell your rear roof bar (alreeady have the front two)?

 

[Dakar]

I don't think it's just a Dobbie thing - any MPV with folks in the rearmost seats, being hit from behind by a HGV is going to result in a bit of a mess.

Roof rack? Sorry, Maggie, it was bent, plus it's now long gone. Probably been recycled into a paper clip or something now.

Pick up my new Dobbie on Saturday

Jon

 

[TwyRob]

Pick up my new Dobbie on Saturday

Jon

How's the new Doblo?

 

[Dakar]

Loving it thanks Robin.

Got a 1.6 eleganza. Very different to the old dobbie. Doesn't appear as rigid.... Some bodywork flexing is apparent. The blue and me is a bit iffy interfacing to an iPod and I can't for the life of me get it it to record driving economy details to the iPod. I had an alpine iPod head unit in the old dobbie and really miss that.... Not sure if I should attempt to refit it in the new dobbie?

Very nice to drive once you get used to the start and stop. Extra gear takes some getting used to as well..... Seem to always be in the wrong gear if the little gear change light is anything to go by!

No side lights is an odd thing... Has day time running lights on all the time though.

No spare, just an inflation sealant kit thing :-(

Ride is much better.

Need to have a look at the drivers seat height thing..... You raise it and it slowly lowers back down.

Fuel consumption is a bit better, but nowhere near the published values. Not seen anything higher than 48.2 on the average screen.

The tom-tom thing is really neat. Interfaces with the blue and me and the hands free phone, like that a lot.

Off on our Holidays in it soon, so will see how it performs on that with a full load.

Jon

 

[TwyRob]

Great!

Is the load area much bigger? I will need to replace mine sometime in the distant future (very distant, years and years from now) and I can't get away with a shorter boot!

It's always the technology that causes most frustration on newer cars!

It'd be good to see some photos sometime, you don't see many passenger Nuevo Doblo's on the road!

 

[Dakar]

Load area is about the same to be honest - although thanks to acres of plastic trim over the wheel arches, is much squarer than the old Dobbie. I'll get some pictures over the coming week and get 'em posted.

I think the new one is definitely an improvement, although I doubt I would have changed if I wasn't 'pushed' into it

Cheers,

Jon.

 

[murphyv310]

I like the "pun". You might find the fuel consumption improves once you have done a few thousand miles.
Funny you should say about body stiffness, I have heard this quite common on the very latest cars and I wonder if it is to do with crumple zone changes?