Geeco Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 LDV vehicles are available in Australia. Interestingly KEA the NZ rental company are now offering a B class coachbuilt in their rental fleet called a KEA Breeze. Kea normally build their own bodies so I guess they are trying the LDV to check if suitable for the hire market. I suspect the Chinese are catching up fast as did Korea with Hyundai & Kia. So far Cherry & Great Wall have not made any significant inroads into the car or lite ute market here. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 All this speculation about what Peogeot are doing engine wise is way wide of the mark. They are playing their cards very close to their chest but are indeed playing a blinder. Ever more complex and expensive Diesel engines is not the only to go. Peogeot are planning to use a 273 h.p. 1.6l V6 turbo hybrid set up running on Autogas! In normal running power is taken from the combustion engine to the front wheels via an 8 speed proper auto. When more power is required two electric motors feed power to the rear wheels. In addition if the clever electronics detect that the front wheels are rotating faster than the rears I.e. slipping then power is sent by those motors to the back wheels giving four wheel drive. Gas is stored in a single tank with the liquid for the engine taken from the bottom of the tank and gas for the cooker etc. from the top. To guard against running out of fuel a separate tank holding 10l of petrol is included to which the engine can be switched. Normal van and leisure batteries are replaced by a two twelve volt take offs from the main battery. Enough power is even said to be available to back light the instrument display! Acceleration fully loaded is 5.3 seconds to 60 m.p.h. and fuel consumption is 37 m.p.g.. Taking into account the low price of Autogas this is the equivalent of around 70 for a diesel engine. Expect to see offerings with this power train from regular Peugeot users AutoSleeper, Elldis and Bailey etc at the October NEC show with other makers switching as soon as production can be ramped up to cope when Peogeot open their planned (if we are still in the EU) new factory in Wales. How good is this information? Well we were staying a the CC Broadway site only four miles from tha AutoSleeper factory and the lady in the chip van (some of the best fish and chips we've had for a long while) knows someone who,has a cousin who is married to a man who works for AutoSleeper so it must be true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 Like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 Petrol/lpg automatics?........As usual us Luddites were there first :D ........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 Colin Leake - 2016-04-28 7:23 PM Peogeot are planning to use a 273 h.p. 1.6l V6 turbo hybrid set up running on Autogas! In normal running power is taken from the combustion engine to the front wheels via an 8 speed proper auto. When more power is required two electric motors feed power to the rear wheels. In addition if the clever electronics detect that the front wheels are rotating faster than the rears I.e. slipping then power is sent by those motors to the back wheels giving four wheel drive. Funny enough this might come true, Ford already shoehorn a 275hp and 320hp turbo petrol engine in US Transits! some time or other governments will have to tackle the diesel problem and I can imagine a turbo petrol engine becoming 'tax efficient' and with more cities likely to bring in EZ's a hybrid might be favoured, having the electrics drive the second axle, well we can but dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 What do you mean it might come true? It is true! It must be the lady in the chip van told me and it runs on cheap Autogas not petrol. Funny enough a few years ago I was on a corporate track day run by Johnathan Palmer and all the various cars ran on Autogas. I had difficulty driving some of them it not being easy to drive a racing car from a heavily reclined position when wearing vary focal glasses! I must confess the bit about having a backlight readable speedo may be a bit of wishful thinking on my part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 After many years of happy diesel car driving, we switched in 2010 and have now been driving petrol electric hybrid Toyota / Lexus cars for for over 6 years and there is no way we would ever even consider buying another diesel engined car. No car has ever developed a fault - yet! As ever, the bigger and faster the car and it's petrol power the less the real world economy bears any relationship to the maker's fuel efficiency claims but in general running costs seem broadly comparable to diesel powered equivalents and I see no reason why a motorhome would be any different. Whether PSA / Fiat / Sevel - or for that matter Ford, VW or Renault et al - are capable of developing and producing a hybrid of similar reliability and durability to Toyota with similar high quality dealer backup is of course the million dollar question? We are not great lovers of bus travel but we do use park and rides and some of them use diesel / electric hybrid power that seems to work. Presumably diesel power suits heavier vehicles more than petrol but as pollution and air quality concern, added to by media paranoia, grows I wonder how much longer for? I don't see pure battery only, fuel cell or hydrogen as yet viable alternatives for real freedom of travel but in local mode I'm sure each of them can have a claim to being part of the future of transport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 When we are away on holiday in England we make great use of our bus passes. Often using them one way and walking the other. The east coast of Norfolk has a brilliant one called coast hopper that goes all the way up and down the Norfolk coast and is very popular with visitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 Colin Leake - 2016-04-30 3:15 PM The east coast of Norfolk has a brilliant one called coast hopper that goes all the way up and down the Norfolk coast and is very popular with visitors. And locals, but not as much as it deserves - but we too used to use it now and then when we lived near King's Lynn and we fancied roughing it a bit with the hoi polloi! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 Bump! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 Tracker - 2016-04-30 3:58 PM Colin Leake - 2016-04-30 3:15 PM The east coast of Norfolk has a brilliant one called coast hopper that goes all the way up and down the Norfolk coast and is very popular with visitors. And locals, but not as much as it deserves - but we too used to use it now and then when we lived near King's Lynn and we fancied roughing it a bit with the hoi polloi! In the summer the busses run very frequently and are always near full. Less so I'm told in the winter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martins Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Actually the engine we all want is already installed in the Ducato, but in the USA only. Try this link: http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/ram_promaster/capability/ V6, 280HP, 260 lb ft torque, six speed automatic.. and its petrol (no diesel emissions issues....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry McG Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 update on main page https://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/motorhomes/news/fiat-launches-euro-vi-engines-for-ducato and link to Fiat http://www.fiatprofessionalpress.co.uk/press/article/5565 no adblue! Euro6 by enhanced EGR :) my new Globecar 600l Revolution (150hp 2.3l with conformation gearbox) is due in Dec and will be a 2017 model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 The phasing out of AdBlue is good news on the Ducato. I notice in the same press release, the Doblo is to get an "intelligent alternator", i.e. one that does the absolute least it can in terms of charging. I wonder if that is a planned future Ducato Euro VI/VII option and how it will work on the Motorhome Version? Some cars, and American Vans?, already have an Alternator that does not fully charge the battery in normal use, just enough to be able to restart the engine if required, then 'shuts down'. However, when the vehicle decelerates, the engine ECU sends a message to the Alternator to go into 'full charge' mode which loads up the engine, slowing down the vehicle and at the same time charging the battery 'for free'. Great idea, but if adopted for the Ducato, it might mean a Motorhome owner has to find some very big hills to recharge the habitation batteries? It will be interesting to see if the Ducato adopts it, Fiat are under lots of pressure to adopt everything going, and what the Motorhome builders do? Will an exception be made for Motorhomes so they can charge the Habitation batteries, or, in the name of 'emissions, efficiency and lower Tax band' will this piggybacking from the Alternator be lost? If an exception is made for Motor Caravans, you can imagine how the Press might highlight 'Dirty Motorhomes escape efficiency targets......', etc. Maybe a bit like when the Press targeted 4 x 4's a few years ago? The features adopted by the Doblo to reach ultra low emissions include, "an improvement in fuel efficiency and emissions levels thanks to the use of Start&Stop; low rolling-resistance tyres; low-viscosity oil; an 'intelligent' alternator; a variable-displacement oil pump and a new aerodynamic pack. All this makes it possible to achieve a fuel economy figure of up to 61.4mpg and CO2 emissions of just 120 g/km". Some of those features, like a 'variable-displacement oil pump' might have been considered to be very extreme ways of reducing noxious gas out of the exhaust a few years ago. Especially on a Van. So is the idea of 'bureaucracy' mandating 'intelligent Alternators' that much out of the question in a few years time? If they did, what are the options? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muswell Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 aandncaravan - 2016-06-22 11:45 PM So is the idea of 'bureaucracy' mandating 'intelligent Alternators' that much out of the question in a few years time? If they did, what are the options? I don't think it's a question of the bureaucracy mandating but the manufacturers choosing technical solutions to reduce emissions and fuel consumption. If what you say about the alternators comes to pass then I suppose people will be looking for sites with ehu and reducing the amount of electrical stuff in their vans. We managed for 10years with no ehu, or solar panel.....but that was with a conventional alternator. Most likely that there will be a supplier of replacement alternators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCC Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 I'm not sure how relevant some of these clever technical sollutions to improving fuel economy and reducing emissions are for motorhomes. Is stop start really going to make a massive difference? Or is this something mainly aimed at commuters? And we now find that manufacturers switch off emissions equipment when it gets cold to preserve the life of the engine. Fair enough, but emissions are tested at 20C and some manufacturers are switching off the equipment at 18C. Not exactly cold is it? It's just a scam to get through the testing, and only slightly less dubious than VW. If you look at the Honest John website they have information about "real mpg". Sure, take it with a pinch of salt, but for example a 2001 Fiat Doblo managed 92% of the quoted numbers whilst a 2010 model only managed 81%. This is far from one of the more extreme examples. A 2006 Nissan Note manages 97% whilst the 2013 model manages only 75%. So a lot of these gains (not all) are just smoke and mirrors. The point I'm trying to make is that manufactures seem to have been putting a great deal of effort into fiddling the figures and the improved emissions and fuel consumption of new vehicles are not what they appear. Fiat have certainly been involved with this chicanery so I'm wondering whether current engineering should be seen as a stopgap, and whether phasing out AdBlue has been achieved with sleight of hand, after all I'm not aware of other manufacturers managing this at present. Good for Fiat if they have made a genuine technical advance. We shall see in the future (or maybe not). Perhaps renewed focus on real world numbers will improve things but I'm not holding my breath. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan MMM Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Our understanding is that the new Fiat Ducato engines are a stop-gap and that the next generation after it will use AdBlue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry McG Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 from a personal perspective, (as I'm getting one of the new engines) I'm pretty happy the Euro 6 ducato motor avoids the use of Adblue /SCR tech and gets the NOx reductions by EGR only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Gerry McG - 2016-06-23 11:53 AM from a personal perspective, (as I'm getting one of the new engines) I'm pretty happy the Euro 6 ducato motor avoids the use of Adblue /SCR tech and gets the NOx reductions by EGR only. Let's hope that you still feel the same way when you have had the van in the real world for a year! I truly admire your faith in this as yet unproven technology as personally I am more inclined to let other folk be Fiat's unpaid test and development programme. Bearing in mind these engines are developed more for pedal to the metal high mileage white van man than for low mileage gentle touring motorhomes it takes a braver man than I to predict how they will perform and how much support Fiat will give if things don't quite work as expected? Sincerely - I wish you every bit of good fortune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry McG Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Geez! I bet you are a real bundle of fun to be around - *-) I guess the sky is going to fall on your head as well :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Gerry McG - 2016-06-23 1:11 PM Geez! I bet you are a real bundle of fun to be around - *-) I guess the sky is going to fall on your head as well :-( Thanks Gerry - I should have expected that kind of response! Wanna buy a nice crash helmet just in case - as I suspect that your need may be greater than mine! Best of luck with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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