Iveco based Motorhome v New fiat based motorhome

ecojeep · Newbie

Iveco based Motorhome v New fiat based motorhome

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Welcome to the gang ecojeep, enjoy here and out in the playground.

Sorry but I know very little about Motorhomes so will leave it to others that might.

Keep Safe on the roads and out there.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

The Fiat is popular with builders because the chassis is quite light and can be made any length for conversion. The chassis is NOT made by Fiat. Some have very limited towing capacity, so check that if it is of interest to you.
Personally, I would not ever choose a FWD motorhome. With weight distribution biased towards the rear in driven axle, they can loose traction on flat damp grass.

Cheers,
Peter

Baggie · Senior Member

Hi ecojeep, I would definitely go for the 3l Fiat motor, it is a proven motor that is bullet proof, it is used in many military vehicles with a good success rate. We have one in our motorhome and swear by it. Rear wheel drive is the best way to go, far more stable and far better traction. I have twin rear wheels which I find gives good road holding especially in cross winds with semi's going opposite way. The Fiat has good economy even pulling five ton.

Cheers,
Baggie.

Tony Bev · Guru

Hello ecojeep

As Dougwe has already said, welcome to the forum

As I have a Fiat 2.8 litre turbo diesel motor, in a Fiat Ducato with a tare weight of 3280 Kg, and an Aggregate weight of 3850 Kg
Then I would not suggest to anyone to use a 2.3 litre engine, unless it was for a motor home which weights a lot less than mine

As I have never driven an Iveco vehicle then I have no way of comparing them

Hope this info is helpful to you

goldcoaster · Senior Member

We have the Iveco 3ltr/ 6 speed in our 28.5 foot 7ton gvm motorhome and tow a Suzuki behind. Drives like a dream plenty of power , not sure why they would add an extra 2 gears maybe better fuel consumption. We are getting 13.5 l/100 not towing and 15.5l/100 towing. Hope this helps.
Mick

Big Gorilla · Guru

I had a 2.3 liter Iveco. Difference between Iveco and Fiat as a brand...NONE. Iveco is made by Fiat. I found this out the hard way while waiting for Iveco parts to come from Italy, thru the Dealer. The Dealer actually found out the engine parts were interchangeable with Fiat. Fiat had the parts in Australia, so it saved me a lot of waiting time.

Welcome to the Forum Peter...

Bas + Eve · Senior Member

Front wheel drive can sometimes be difficult on wet surfaces.

Baggie · Senior Member

Hi folks, just a bit of my background. I was service manager for Fiat for several years back in the 80's. My scope was ALL Fiat products except cars, but did include trucks, marine, industrial, Ag tractors & construction machines. Vans came a bit later. The difference in Fiat & Iveco is, Fiat has single wheels & Iveco is the commercial side which has twin rear wheels. Most Fiat/Iveco models including cars, vans & light trucks share the same motors to suit the occasion. Parts are interchangeable in most cases. Thankfully now, they all talk to each other. When I was there, (in Adelaide) Trucks, industrial & Marine were in one place in Sydney, Fiat Agriculture was in another & Fiat Allis, the construction side was again elsewhere in Sydney & none of them world talk to each other! I worked for the State Distributor in Adelaide for them all, so I had access to them all. like upgrade & modification service sheets from each, but they would not share them with each other, so I used to copy them & send them on coz some were having a problem with a gudgeon bush seizing & the truck division had an upgrade out of Italy, I got the sheet on it with a part number & shared it. Stupid huh. anyway, I could write a book on that. Now that communication has been fixed & they all are good partners now.

You will find with engine componentry, check them both out (Fiat & Iveco) coz you may find a price difference also.

Regards, Baggie.

ecojeep · Newbie

Thank you everybody for you input buying a motorhome is a big outlay and we want to get it right.

We had narrowed it down to a Horizon Banksia or a Trakka Torino both with Fiat.But with Fiat dropping the 3lt motor for a 2.3lt in these vans I am not sure this is the wright option.

Our third option was a Sunliner and we now find that they are switching to Iveco

Are well the research goes on.

Cheers

Peter

macka17 · Guru

Baggie.

On the car market. Fiat were very unreliable.
Missus worked for Fiat Agents in Melb. 90% of her work was picking up and driving round Fiat cars.
After around 7 yrs she always said.
NEVER buy on of these heaps if you want reliability, specially with the electronics.

If Iveco have the Japanese electronics. They'll be 100% better than any Euro.

Apart from probably Merc. there's not one has any electronic reliability in them.
Not even my fav Audi.(Part of VW. probably the worst of the bunch now)

In my Marine days, I worked on a coupla Fiat 16cyl Ship engines.
Mechanically VERY good for reliability and torque turning the prop.
But forever working on other parts of them (Luckily the ships sparkys not us.)

PS.
You've just put me off that Iveco Motorhome I was going to change into when time came.
Merc or Isuzu it is now.

aussie_paul · Guru

Fiat, Fix It Again Tom biggrin biggrin biggrin

Aussie Paul. smile

Geeco · Senior Member

We run an Auto-trail Tracker FB "c" class MH built in UK with full AU compliance and Fiat AU warranty. It is built on a Fiat Ducato with the 150HP 2.3L turbo diesel motor and AMT. It is 18 months and 30,000 klms old. To date it has proved to be ultra reliable.
I understand AT build this model on the Fiat chassis rather than the alternative AL-KO unit that is common for AU built MH's.
Before we ordered the vehicle we did check out all the options including Iveco based vehicles. Due to the much wider rear track on the Fiats we felt when moving around the inside of the vehicle the front wheel drive wide chassis Fiat was considerably more stable that the rear wheel drive Iveco or MB Sprinters. On the issue of traction the latest X295 Fiat has traction control as standard on my MH so not too much of an issue for me. With regards to power I do not feel I need more and the fuel economy is 10.5 to 11.0L/100Klms depending on the wind direction.
From my reading of overseas websites the 3.l Fiat will be dropped for Euro 6 compliance and replaced by a 2.3L with more power and torque than the old 3.0L engine. Interestingly the Fiat engine is able to meet the Euro 6 emission standards without the need for Add Blue.
The transmission in the Fiat is a bit quirky in operation until you get used to it however it does offer excellent down hill engine braking
Bottom line is that I would buy another Ducato.
I cannot offer any comments on the Iveco as I have not driven one. We liked the layout and fitout on the AT and they only use Fiat Ducato. If you need a bigger payload or wish to tow then maybe the Iveco is worth considering.
Whatever you decide if it offers you as much pleasure as our "holiday home with no postcode" then you will not be disappointed.