Option Prices

[Yorkyrunner]

Just been reading the reveiws in MMM on the new Hymer 580 and looking at the prices of the options (Big List) . Its fitted with a new 9 Speed Auto box at £2440 and upgrade to the 177BHP engine, at £1530, which looks a bargain when you look at the Fiat option of Auto (Comformatic) 6 speed at £2040 and the upgrade to 177bhp a £2820. Of course there is an initial higher price to pay for the Mercedes base vehicle. It does make one wonderf why the base vehicle is so much more than the Fiat when these option prices on the Merc engine/gearbox..However the base Hymer is priced at 65k but it takes your breath away to see this shoots up to 95k with the list of options fitted. It brings to mind what a mechanic told me years ago,. they might as well give the vehicle free they make the profit on the parts and options!

[Billggski]

It is pretty normal on German vehicles to find the base price inflating hugely when extra items are included. But better than when I bought a Morris Minor van and a passenger seat, nearside rearview mirror and heater were all listed at extras!

[flyboyprowler]

In my opinion, the Mercedes chassis is a thing of beauty. We run on an Iveco, 8 speed auto, and 205 BHP upgrade. The options list is eye watering, which makes a lot more sense to buy a vehicle second hand. However, to get what you want, you sadly have to bite the bullet and dig deep! *-)

[euroserv]

Up until 2015, if you wanted the most powerful Fiat Ducato, you paid about £2000 more than the least powerful engine and saw 130hp rise to 180hp and the engine grow from 2.3 to 3.0; it was sort of justifiable.

Now the same 2.3 engine costs over £2500 more for the higher output and you still get a 2.3!

 

It is worth mentioning that the firm that originally ordered the platform from Fiat got a discount of up to 50% on the base and any options fitted at the factory. By passing on the full list price of options they are being more than a little greedy.

[Derek Uzzell]

My understanding (from what a Fiat technical rep told me at the February 2019 NEC show) is that the Ducato 150 and 180 have a different (3-rail) gearbox to that fitted to the 130. Also, athough the 150 motor is an ‘enhancement’ of the 130’s, the 180 has "improved turbocharger aerodynamics, a special steel crankshaft, reinforced pistons and a larger capacity fuel pump”. Even if the asking-price demanded from a motorhome buyer for the powerplant upgrades is considered unjustifiable, the price will usually be unavoidable.

 

I asked the Fiat rep if any changes were made to a Ducato ‘light’s’ gear-ratios if the optional 16”-diameter wheels were fitted instead of the standard 15” wheels and was told that the gear-ratios were unaltered. I enquired if he knew when the next incarnation of Ducato would appear (as I’d seen 2020 quoted) but, if he did know, he wouldn’t say.

 

Ford and Citroen/Peugeot both reduced the size of the motor to 2.0litres for, respectively, Euro 6 Transits and Relays/Boxers and - although ‘car’ versions of the 2.0litre motor currently available for Ducatos can produce high output, it seems doubtful that a 2.0litre motor would be suitable for the big, heavy Ducato-based motorhomes currently being marketed.

 

 

[Billggski]

As engine management systems are refined every year, the capacity of engines seems to become irrelevant. The new Defender will apparently have a 2 litre engine, with better torque and economy than the previous 2.2, which had been reduced from 2.4 and before that 2.5.

The old turbo F1 engines of the 80's could produce 1,000 bhp from 1.5 litres!

[Robinhood]

Derek Uzzell - 2019-04-06 1:24 PM

 

My understanding (from what a Fiat technical rep told me at the February 2019 NEC show) is that the Ducato 150 and 180 have a different (3-rail) gearbox to that fitted to the 130.

 

 

...certainly my understanding is that the gearbox in the Euro VI 150 is different to the 130, the 150 engine's maximum torque (uprated from that available in the Euro V 150) exceeding the rating for the previous 'box (still fitted to the 130).

 

It wouldn't surprise me if the 180 shared the same 'box.

 

The gearbox in the Euro VI 150 certainly feels subtly different to that in the Euro V.

[Yorkyrunner]

Good points well made!