Vivaro - Who makes the engines for the IKEA cars?

Sometimes you need to go to IKEA - quite impulsively.

Sometimes you are overly impulsive and buy things you cannot take home without borrowing a trailer or van. At IKEA, there is no problem. You can borrow a trailer for the rest of the evening - or an Opel Vivaro. Hertz Car pool have placed Opel Vivaro's at all the IKEAs around the country.

The Opel Vivaro was launched in 2001 alongside the Renault Trafic, Nissan Primastar and Fiat Talento and was upgraded in 2014 with a new front, new engines and new interior. The container-like appearance testifies that it is the functional that counts, - not style. I imagine these are vans people dispose of through work because they need a car like that, - not something you buy with your own money.

When we locked ourselves in a Vivaro from Hertz Bilpool on Skøyen in Oslo, it was to pick up furniture at IKEA for my son and his girlfriend. I am impressed. Not just about how easy it is to pick up a car at Hertz Bilpool, - or how efficient it has become to shop at IKEA, - but how well the engine ran.

As a new generation of diesel engines.

1,6 liter turbodiesel with 120 HP and maximum torque of 300 Nm at 1750 rpm. A fantastic bottom line right from idle. No turbo lag. I was also impressed by the sound from the engine. At 80 km/h in sixth gear, the engine runs at 1400 revs with a faint, low-frequency hum. The Vivaro I rented was from 2016. How could such a good engine have escaped my attention? And, by the way, - who made it?

Collaboration with Renault

It might be wrong to give the credit for this engine to a single car manufacturer, all the while it is a joint venture between four manufacturers. Nevertheless, there are many things that point towards Renault. The key, for example, belongs to Renault. The instruments too, with a digital speedometer in the middle.

There is a lot of Renault in the Opel Vivaro and the other sister models. The engine's internal designation R9M-450 belongs to Renault. I think this engine must be ideal for passenger cars as well. However, the exact configurations that are supplied in the Vivaro and its sister models are not installed in any other models. Then I think of the 120 HP and 140 HP variants, as well as the brand new 125 HP and 145 HP, - both with biturbo diesel based on engine code R9M. The closest I can find in the search is the 1,6 biturbo diesel with 160 HP which can be ordered in the Opel Astra, Renault Talisman and Espace. I am sure that those who choose this drivetrain will be pleasantly surprised.

Opel has previously collaborated with Fiat regarding the development of diesel engines. Today, Opel's new diesel engines originate from Renault. It will surprise me if in the future Opel is not forced to switch to the diesel program of its new owners, PSA Peugeot-Citroën.

- But hardly the Opel Vivaro.

Opel produces its own Vivaro's at the old Bedford factory in Luton. When Opel/Vauxhall started talks with Renault, probably sometime in the 90s, it was with a view to rebuilding the production of their own vans, a new generation Bedford. The name was unfortunately cut. They chose instead to use the usual brand names Opel and Vauxhall. Sin. It would have been really cool to see the Bedford name brought back into use.

While the plant in Luton produces Vivaros, the other models – Renault Trafic, Nissan NV300 (formerly Primastar) and Fiat Talento are produced at the Renault plant, Sandouville, France. Vivaros with a high roof are also produced there.

So the next time you've done a lot of shopping at IKEA, but still have a couple of hundred bucks left, I recommend: