This one's a winner
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Fiat and Peugeot have collaborated to produce an exceptionally easy to drive light van. Steve Grey has been testing it
ANY LIAISONS and marriages Ate occurred during the past ro decades among vehicle anufacturers anxious to main
n profitability by exploiting a economies of scale which n result from such links. Some these made immediate sense hile others seemed very .ange indeed.
Take, for example, the project rolving Fiat and Peugeot to lid a range of light vans at a ntly owned factory in Italy, e SEVEL plant produces idenal vans, and chassis cabs tich are then badged either it, Peugeot or — in the case of me European markets — Cilen. The companies involved e two o,f the Continent's gest and are without doubt als in almost every market t or. Why then should they int to join forces?
The answer is simple: money. build a new van range from .atch is incredibly expensive J can be justified only if the iker is confident of grabbing a ge slice of the action. Even the ghty Ford, which has long Igned supreme with the insit, has been pretty tardy ling a replacement vehicle off
drawing board. It may be rt Ford has been too slow, for results of the Fiat/Peugeot c — the Ducato and Express pectively — are potential Transit beaters, certainly if the results of CM's latest road test of the former are anything to go by.
The Ducato which Fiat Auto supplied for test (the Ducato is sold in Britain through Fiat's car division) was the smallest model, badged 10. This indicates its payload capability, that is 1016kg (1-ton). Larger models are the 13 and 16 and there are also short or long-wheelbase chassis cab variants with gross vehicle weights of 2,800 and 3,100kg (2.75 and 3.05 tons) respectively.
The Ducato's engine and gearbox layout is one which has become accepted as the norm on large number of saloon cars. but is unique on a van of this size. Transversely mounted, the engine has a light alloy gearbox tacked onto the flywheel end, in a conventional manner, and this drives the front wheels through drive-shafts of unequal length. Larger Ducato's are equipped with a five-speed, overdrive box as standard and they are fitted with the 1,971cc Peugeot fourcylinder petrol engine.
All one-tonners come with a 1,796cc unit and four-speed gearbox. Nevertheless, the smaller engine provided enough power — 51.5kW (69bhp) to propel the van round the new CM light vehicle route at a cracking pace.
And the fast journey time wasn't at the expense of fuel consumption. On the contrary, the laden Ducato brought home 12.49 lit/100km (22.61mpg) while unladen it brought in a very respectable 10.5 lit/1 0 0 km (26.83mpg).
The average speed in the laden condition worked out at 64.92km (40.35mph) while without its load the Ducato cornpleted the circuit at 68.12km (41.34mph). Although the gear box has only four forward ratios, top gear is in fact an overdrive gear with a ratio of 0.829 to 1. This probably accounted for the very relaxed way the Ducato could be kept at the motorway maximum without seeming to be stressed.
This van must rate as one of the quietest on the market, with conversation at normal volume between driver and passenger quite possible at this speed. Only in the unladen condition was there any noticeable noise intrusion, which took the form of "bobming" from the body sides. Even this was relatively minor and at no time became unpleasant.
The rake of the Fiat's steeringwheel and its general driving position give the impression that you are driving a smooth car rather than a commercial vehicle. Only the fact that you are seated fairly high up and that the Ducato has a stubby bonnet gives the game away.
The driver's seat, which is easily reached through wide opening hinged doors, is very well padded and thus extremly comfortable. My one reservation though is that its plain, shiny, vinyl convering could become very hot, sticky and unpleasant in the summer. I am surprised that a vehicle from such a hot country as Italy does not come with the brushed nylon type of seat facings which are much nicer in these conditions.
Another small area where the Ducato's cab comfort falls down is the heating and ventilation system. It is not possible to direct cool air via the face-level vents while allowing warm air onto one's feet. Other manufacturers seem able to provide this feature which, in my view is a very worthwhile one.
Apart from these minor niggles the remainder of the Fiat's appointments and driver comforts are good, even though I would disagree with the claim that there is plenty of space for odds and ends in the cab. The controls and instruments, too, are fairly well laid out and easy enough to locate.
On the road the Fiat really does not drive like a van. The steering is amazingly light, requiring very little effort even at low speeds when, say, parking with a full load. This is quite something when you realise the Ducato's front-wheel-drive layout inevitably puts more weight over the steered wheels.
Nor has the front-wheel-drive set-up adversley affected the Ducato's steering lock, which at around 11.3m (37ft) is much better than many conventional vehicles.
If the steering is light, the clutch and brakes are featherlight. I can not see many multistop delivery drivers complaining about the number of times they have to dip the clutch or apply the brakes. What they may well have cause to corn plain about though is the gearchange, which to say the least is poor. I guess the linkage, which consists of numerous rods and ball/socket joints, is necessarily too complex and thus makes the change somewhat "lumpy".
Selecting reverse, for example, invariably means that the gear lever smacks the driver on his left leg when the clutch is depressed. This is a fault which must only get worse as wear takes place in the mechanism and it is an area at which Fiat would be well advised to look before it becomes a real problem.
While the driving compartment and some of the controls may be less than perfect, it is difficult to fault the Ducato's load area or access to it. Our test van came with the optional side-, loading door — it cost £130 more + VAT — which although mounted on flimsyhinges, allowing it to hit the van's side when opened, did offer useful access to the nearside. To the rear, the large double doors open to 90° where they are retained by built-in catches. If required these can be released quickly to give 180° openings, but there is no retention mechanism in this case.
The front-wheel-drive arrangement has meant that the load area floor is extremely low indeed — just 55.8cm (22in) when unladen. And small wheelarches make for an excellent width across the van, enabling Fiat to boast 6.44cum (230cuft) of load capacity. There is a built pin load restraint cage behin the driver's seat and as only single passenger seat is fitted c the one-tonner there is a goo walkthrough facility from th driving compartment.
On the maintenance side, tt Fiat's engine and gearbox are good deal more accessible thi" they look. The bonnet lid is aut( matically retained by an ove centre arm and once the spa wheel is removed — it is locate under the bonnet — the engir and all its ancillaries are readi exposed.
The gearbox, and therefo the clutch look particularly ea: to remove and overhau However, one disadvantage the right-hand-drive conversic is that the speedometer cab has to take a particularly circi tous route to the speedo hea While the Ducat° cable did n fail in the same way as the Ti bot Express did during Tim 81 kemore's test (CM January 1983) there was a great deal noise coming from it at certa speeds. Again it is an area whit Fiat might well look at for tl future.
Day to day checks are straigl forward enough on the Duca with the battery mounted ni and high on the right-hand si( and the radiator overflow ta next to it.
Overall, Fiat and Peuge seem to have made a very got job of their joint effort. Providi the marriage is a successful a and does not end in divorc they look to have a winner their hands. It will be interestii to see which maker takes ti larger slice of the cake over ti next few years, but in any eve the entry of such a formidat vehicle into a market largely d minated by relatively old c signs must stimulate a gre deal of interest.