2004 Fiat Doblo Family 1.3 Multijet from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Great drive, great fun - great price

Faults:

The remote control fuse blew after delivery (easy to fix)

General Comments:

Exceptional value for money drew me to the car. I needed the 7 seats and there is nothing else remotely as good value.

Initially I was disappointed that I couldn't get the 7 seat option with the 1.9JTD engine. However the 1.3 Multi-jet, despite its small size, is a sparkler. It is no sluggard at all.

The front seats are superb, very comfortable and far better than the Renault Laguna I had before. The rear seats are more ordinary, but adequate.

The styling outside is a bit brutal, but you get to like its distinctiveness. It looks best in metallics or in bright red.

All in all, for the price (I managed to get it new order for just under £8900 on the road) it is hard to beat.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 15th July, 2004

7th Aug 2004, 11:20

The car I wanted, but couldn't get in time (12 week wait). Discounts now much smaller (down from 15% to 5% at leading internet broker).

14th Feb 2005, 05:52

JTD 1.9 now available in 7 seat family version. 12 week waiting list :-(

But I have saved £2k by using drivethedeal.com. With all mod cons; side airbags, ABS, air con, metallic paint, CD player, alloys (yes, on a van), it cost £11.2K.

Having driven one now, I can't see point of spending 5K more on Scenic or Touran. Note also the Doblo is Fiat's 'world car'; robust mechanicals, simple to fix etc. In Brazil Fiat sell a 4wd version; now that would be worth waiting for...

30th Mar 2005, 00:40

Thanks for your review. I'm currently considering the purchase of a Doblo 1.3 MultiJet because of its reasonable price and enormous capacity (I'm going to build a house and will need a lot of space to carry materials and tools). My current car is an Alfa 147 1.9 JTD (3 years, 100 000 km and a perfect reliability), so I will lose a lot in speed and overall performance, but a recent test drive of the Doblo with the smallest diesel engine has shown me that it was not ridiculous at all. I live in Belgium, where the costs for using a car are high (especially taxes) and with the Doblo, I can expect a dramatic reduction of my automobile expenses. For sure it will balance the loss of driving fun. And with so many radars on our roads, the notion of driving fun isn't very relevant nowadays... Thanks Fiat for making vehicles which are cheap, reliable and friendly-looking.