Fiat Doblo long-term test
Can the Fiat Doblo provide the right amount of space and enough range for a videographer spending life on the road?...
The Car Fiat Doblo L1 Multijet3 1.5 100ps manual Primo Run by Tom Goodban, Videographer
Why it’s here To prove there are compact van alternatives to the Ford Transit, and ones which you should consider alongside it
Needs to Act as a mobile office on video shoots and cover long distances to shoot locations around the country
Mileage 2188 List price £24,040 (exc. VAT) Price as tested £24,573 (exc. VAT) Official economy 54mpg Test economy 46.2mpg Options fitted Volare Blue metallic paint (£500), full size steel spare wheel (£140)
14th April 2025 – No doubt Doblo
I’m a videographer. And before recently joining the world of What Car? that meant I often spent my working life cramming too much camera equipment into a car boot that was too small, and then driving long distances in a car that wasn’t particularly comfortable. Think of my life as being like a mobile game of Tetris, and you get the idea.
So when I got the news that I’d be starting with the What Car? team and would be running a company car, my mind started racing.
Should I choose a nice sports car, perhaps? Maybe a coupe? Or a convertible to make the most of summer? Then reality dawned on me. Because of my ideal requirements for a car, I realised that maybe I shouldn’t be looking at a car at all. I should be looking at a van instead.
Yes, something flash would be nice to drive but it would be pretty useless for my day job.
You see, I need space. And I need something that will offer a massive range between fill-ups to help make my long journeys between shoots as simple as possible.
So if you need a small van you should get a Ford Transit Connect, right? I had assumed this was most people’s train of thought, but I wanted to branch out and sample something less obvious.
There’s no shortage of choice, either. In the small van world, aside from the Transit Connect there’s the Mercedes Citan, Nissan Townstar, Renault Kangoo and VW Caddy Cargo.
But there’s also the Fiat Doblo. It’s essentially the same underneath as the Citroën Berlingo Van, the Peugeot Partner and the Vauxhall Combo Cargo, all being part of the massive Stellantis group of brands – but I wanted to see if some Italian flair could spice up the van world.
After all, the Doblo was updated last year, with a new front end design that spells out the Fiat name on the bumper and, to my eyes, it looks pretty good. The general public seem to agree. I was minding my own business in the supermarket car park the other day when a stranger complimented me on my attractive choice of vehicle. A first for the van world, perhaps?
Maybe this stranger was drawn to the fetching Volare Blue metallic paint I’ve gone for; a £500 option that’s well worth the money in my opinion and helps the Doblo stand out from the countless grey and white vans it shares the road with.
Aside from the paint colour, there were a lot of other choices to decide from with the Doblo. I went for a short wheelbase (instead of a long one) because I need to carry cameras and tripods rather than stepladders and floorboards.
I could’ve had a fully electric E-Doblo, but I figured that was pretty ill-suited to my regular mega mileage journeys. That meant I could choose a petrol or diesel, and given I’m likely to become very good friends with the motorway I went for the diesel. I’ve gone for the entry-level option with a 1.5-litre 102bhp engine which, I’ll admit, has so far thrilled me more with its fuel economy than its straight-line pace.
For the trims I had the option of the nameless entry-level version or Primo. I went all-out and opted for range-topping Primo, which means I get the updated 10.0in touchscreen infotainment system which was added as part of the facelift I mentioned earlier.
The Primo version also comes with a full bulkhead and through loading, which is great for creating extra space for longer items like my camera tripods – it’s already come in handy.
However, to access the through loading you need to pull down one of the front seats, and when I yanked the fabric strap to do so it caused the plastic covering around it to pop out. It’s back in there now, like nothing ever happened, but I’m hoping this isn’t a sign of poor interior quality.
As for the seats themselves, I’ve got three in the front, which includes a double passenger bench seat. And the cargo bay? It’s vast. And I suspect I’ll be describing in great detail exactly how big and practical it is with my future updates.
It’s early days but I’m already expecting that the Doblo and I will get along very well indeed. And maybe it'll show that although the Transit Connect rightly sells in big numbers, that something brightly coloured and Italian could be worth choosing instead.
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