2003 Iveco Daily LE 2.8 turbo diesel from Poland

Summary:

Perfetto

Faults:

Initially nothing went wrong. But after about 6 months of usage electrical switch broke down. Authorized service had no idea what the problem was to the degree that they even wanted to exchange entire electric installation, they put some bypasses and I had to drive with it over 4 month until they tracked the problem down.

Secondly the chassis gasket went loose and eerie rattling is heard inside of the cabin.

Tertiary due to really hard suspension partition wall also went loose rattling all the time which one can get used to.

General Comments:

Perfect delivery van, tested in all kind of road surfaces. Not very comfortable, but this is a transport truck anyway. When loaded up to 600 lbs. you cannot feel the power loose nor any dramatic traction control. This is they only car I recommend to buy for a small business where truck is necessary. Mercedes don't have the look inside and outside dashboard not mentioning.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 20th July, 2006

2004 Iveco Daily 35S13 2.6L turbo inter-diesel from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

A good buy; has served my business very well so far

Faults:

The van overall is great as an everyday work vehicle. It has never let me down once in 2.5 years of solid mileage (300 km per day, 5 days per week), and can carry a full 2 tonne payload (grudgingly).

Only negative is build quality. The model I have has the fuel tank located underneath the vehicle, but the ground clearance is far too low for the wheelbase. I've occasionly scraped the underside of the chassis coming over the crest of some driveways with short steep inclines. When the fuel tank gets disturbed from this, the fuel sender seal pops, and when you top up the tank you get an overflow through this seal (the new model has fuel tank on the other side and tucked up higher into the body - hey presto, no problems!)

I've also had the rear wheel arch seams inside the cargo area split away from the body due to fatigue from heavy loads. I've had to use body-filler to stop water leakage.

Interior is functional and comfortable enough, good layout and ergonomics. The factory fitted cargo-barrier is another bonus as with A/C you only cool the cab, and it's saved me losing my head from cargo coming forward a few times.

Servicing is quite expensive (labour price matches parts dollar for dollar these days), parts are reasonable. Though service intervals do vary up to 30k, it works out quite economically considering I am virtually operating a 2.5 tonne truck.

General Comments:

These vans are seriously reliable and apart from these issues, and the fact it is the first series of a brand new model, I would definitely buy another.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 5th July, 2006

21st Dec 2007, 23:14

Our experience with Iveco Daily is similar, although I would not call it reliable. We have owned a 50c15 for 4 years and in that time it has been off the road for literally weeks. This vehicle is rated vat 5.2 Ton gross.

The dealer always did warranty repairs and Iveco actually extended our warranty period after some pressure, but the engineering problems with the vehicle were never fixed and they reoccur.

The vehicle so far has had 3 radiators, 9 fuel tanks, centre bearing, 2 complete air con systems, numerous door locks, broken manifold studs, broken gear box mount, roof respray due to peeling paint, turbo charger, 2 sets of rotors due to cracking and warping (Dangerous!), fuel injector problems, welding of cracks in body supports and panels and on and on and on.

Many of these events happened in the warranty period, but they are still happening. Reliable? I don't think so.

25th Mar 2009, 11:40

We have had a 35S11 LWB model for 4 years. We had to keep it as the engine blew up at 90000 miles. It's only good point is its load space marred by low weight payload capacity for its size.

Problems encountered:

Rubbish build quality generally!

Back door locks broke

Side door fell off

Front engine hood release broke.

Fuel tank split

Sender unit popped out twice.

Engine failed

Rear transmission box leaked and failed

RTB stabiliser rusted and fell off

Paint peels off to a yellowish undercoat

Panel rusting all over

Window winder handles came off.

Back step fell off! structure supports snapped.

IVECO Service is awful.

They failed to replace a cam belt correctly, causing engine failure. They refused to accept blame.

Fitted new engine and omitted to fill with oil, put wrong circlips on hoses, causing hoses to blow while running.

Backed the van into a wall twice while in the shop, causing serious body damage (liability accepted).

Tried to repair brake lights (were working fine) instead of replacing brake pads because 'brake light' warning had come, on blew lamp circuits while messing with loom (beam no longer works).

Fitted new fuel tank and did not replace sender unit (charged for), causing fuel spillage and poor performance.

I hear the new models are much improved and know IVECO engines feature in many other manufacturer's products, but the one thing that would prevent me from buying another Daily is their awful service centre record, and continuous incompetence at what should be a simple procedure of maintenance. Shame.