General Ulysee or Galaxy?

[tboneman]

Car ordered!
Went for Ford Galaxy in the end!!!........only joking!!

Ordered 2.0JTD Manual, metallic paint, visibility pack, rear sunblinds and Connect Nav+ upgrade.

And now we wait.....

Tim

 

[Stu DemonD]

Welcome to the club, tboneman!

Lets hope you don't regret it. Really glad you went for Nav+ instead of DVD option; as a driver, it is awesome. Tell the kids the DVD can wait.

How come no 2.2JTD six speed - too much BIK?

Did your dealer give you anticipated delivery date. As that gets closer, we will give you a checklist of what to do and ask i.e. Connect forms, SIM cards, Diag2000 options, etc. You will be the most informed Fiat purchaser in their history

Stu

 

[tboneman]

Didn't see that the 2.2JTD made that much of difference from all that I've read here. Obviously a bit more power but mpg seems the same. It's a bit of a worry that I've made the right decision here!

No delivery date yet as order has to go through lease company admin first, but will let you know as soon as I do!

I hope I don't regret it too!
Tim

 

[poggy]

Hi,

I have driven the 2.0JTD and it does have enough power bearing in mind the type of car, so I don't think you'll regret it.

The only thing I liked about the 2.2JTD and my 2.0 petrol auto is that you get the ESP stability feature.

Personally I think it would be better to go for the 2.2 and drop the Connect + which is a bit over priced I think. On other Fiats the difference between buying a Connect and a Connect+ as options is only about £100-150 so there is a lot of marketing pricing going on for the Ulysse.

Glad you bought a Ulysse though, the drive is much better than the Galaxy and it looks a lot better too.

Andy

 

[Stu DemonD]

Hi,

I am actually with Andy on this - er - I think if I had the choice, would go for the 2.2JTD and six speed. BUT then again, to give up the Nav + ... choices, choices. Aargh............I forget that ESP wasn't standard across the range.

Luckily I was in a position to spec everything I wanted, with a suitable discount to match! Fiat are naughty, mind. Didn't realise the differential on other Fiats for the + was that low - I can't understand that policy really!

Stu

 

[tboneman]

This isn't helping..........
I've been in a friends Peug 807 2.0JTD version and his seems to be ok. As I mentioned there doesn't seem to be that much difference in mpg between the 2 engines. I also forgot about the ESP feature.
Still time to change my mind if I want to, but will stick with what I've got until, well until I change my mind I suppose!.

 

[Stu DemonD]

Lol - sorry if we are all putting doubts into your mind.

I think you are the first person on here who has actually taken advice from us before ordering a car - I know for certain that I just specced things up in the showroom!

Again, only driven the 2.2JTD, so I am biased.

 

[tboneman]

Is it worth adding ESP as an option (£450), this is still cheaper than having the 2.2JTD engine upgrade.

I've got the latest price cat. here. Can't find another car with Connect standard fitted to compare the difference. Most seem to come with no satnav as standard and the option list just gives the choice of adding ConnectNav+ at a cost of £1400 inc VAT.
Tim

 

[Stu DemonD]

Hi,

Doesn't the Eleganza come with Connect as standard; the Prestigio is Connect + and the Dynamique, er, a radio! Or has that all changed.

Why don't you try out the Ulysse minisite on www.fiat.co.uk . That why you can spec up a car using the latest prices, plus it tells you what options become invalid depending on other choices.

One mistake I made was paying for pivoting front seats. If I had paid extra for the electric pack, like Poggy did, then I would have got them as part of the electric pack. BUT the brochure doesn't tell you that.

Stu

 

[tboneman]

Sorry, misled you there. I was referring back to Poggy's comment about Connect+ only being a £100-150 price difference between standard and + on other Fiats. It seems as though this Standard version only exists on the Ulysse at the moment, so all you can add to others is the + version at £1400.

Good call on the car configurator though, think I tried that early on but haven't looked at it lately.
Tim

 

[Stu DemonD]

Hi again,

I think the Stilo comes with both versions. Check out the technical forum on here.

Stu

 

[poggy]

Hi,

On the Stilo it is an option as either Connect or Connect +, I had a quick look and the difference is £200.00 between the two.

Not sure if I have actually used the ESP feature, but it does add a feeling of security should it be necessary.

Andy

 

[Stu DemonD]

I think I am with you [again!]

ESP is one of those background things that you are never sure what it is doing - but even though I sometimes play with the switch to turn it off whilst sitting in traffic, I always switch it back on once moving. I suppose it is psychological!

Those stilo guys got it cushy! Also, they are doing a thread on the general forum about copying Nav disks - however, the consensus is that our RT3 system won't read their Connect system disks! Looks like it is up to tboneman to provide the next update

Stu

 

[tboneman]

Oh bu@@er, now I'm going to fret over if I should have ordered ESP or not...I think I should have had ESP (as in Extra Sensory Perception) when I started looking for a car!!

As far as I can see from the Stilo info on the web, you can only get ConnectNav+ now and that comes as an option on all but one model I think. They must have changed the specs recently. Andy - where did you find that info?

Will happily provide updates when I've got it!

Tim

 

[Stu DemonD]

Hi tboneman,

I wouldn't worry about the ESP - only 2.2JTD and autos come with it as standard; I reckon very few people who have the 2.0JTD and manual have ordered it is an option - no doubt I will be proved wrong!

With the Nav disks, I reckon you should get Autumn/Winter 2003 [which most of us have] or hopefully the Spring/Summer 2004 update if one gets issued. In any case, once you register with Navteq, you are allowed one FREE update. As long as we all make sure we use our free updates wisely and timely!

Stu

 

[poggy]

Hi,

I got a new printed price list the other day from the dealer and it was on there under Stilo options.

Seems pretty silly as who is going to buy a Connect system when you can have Connect + for £200 more. Perhaps nobody took the Connect option so they have stopped offering it. I would hope that the internet is the most up to date.

Having watched a repeat of 5th Gear, I was wondering how the height of the Ulysse affects it's performance in an emergency situation. They showed a Range Rover swerving at 45mph to avoid another car and it rolled over. Apparently ESP and systems like it will prevent this, but of course not in all situations. If you clip a kerb or hit another car you could still roll. It was basically all down the where the centre of gravity is, from looking at the Ulysse I would say it is a lot lower than a 4x4 of any type so hopefully more like a car.

What do you think. It's a tough decision to pay £450.00 for something you can't see and hope never to use. I wouldn't want to influence you, but if I had the money I would pay for it. don't the lease prices work on residuals though, if you add options to a lower model they normally don't hold as much of the value as buying the next model up with the features as standard. Not sure if this is the case with a lease now though, it may just be based on total price and nothing to do with the model residuals.

By the way we ordered a Volvo XC90 4x4 a year ago and it is due for delivery in September. Now that the Fiat is all working so well, my wife wants to keep it as she prefers the Fiat. Anyway the XC90's are selling at £2-3K above list at the moment and the dealer told me to keep the car as I could sell it for more than I paid. They said they would even buy it from me at list plus. As I now have a build slot I thought I would sell it on e-bay, but somebody e-mailed me and told this was not legal. I am 99.99% sure it is and some people make a lot of money reserving cars and then selling the production slots. A good example was the BMW Z4, X5 etc. Does anybody know if this is true or not. I thought this was exactly what brokers do.

Andy

 

[tboneman]

Does the NavTech disk cover Europe, esp. France?

 

[Stu DemonD]

Not really, the UK disk only covers major roads of Europe - even the coverage of Eire is poor.

Look on their website www.navteq.com for more info and prices! Or ebay!

 

[tboneman]

Finally got an estimated delivery date of 9th June.
Will start a new thread as it gets closer and is confirmed.

 

[Stu DemonD]

Ah, not long now, tboneman - been a bit quiet, but hopefully you still about watching and learning - you should be the most informed buyer yet

Fiat Ulysse 2.2JTD Eleganza, 53 plate, with options Angel Tuning [see ad] tuned Photos and a 'better' avatar still to be sorted - there is always tomorrow