Message Forums

The bit that would drive me mad would be the lack of a front locker, my first caravan didnt have one, and it was a real pain having to nip in and out the caravan for bits and bobs when setting up or striking camp, so much easier to just lift the locker lid and have somewhere to store things like wet EHU cable, steadies winder, hitch and wheel locks, waterhog and waste container, trolley for the toilet cassette, mucky wheel chocks/levelers, corner steady pads, stabilizer gear, and anything else that belongs outside whilst on site.

I just would not want the risk of such damp things bringing mildew spores inside my caravan and creating further problems whilst they are tucked away in a underbed locker. put them in the car boot, and theres always the risk you will leave home without something essential for your set up.

Julia  

Yep, romany girl good point about having no front locker, but it does reduce the overall length of the van, without losing length inside.  I must admit I even have a front locker on my trailer which I would not be without.

Maybe the Bailey has some kind of side locker so will look into that.

Also the Bailey has a dedicated side locker for the Gas cylinder, which looks like it only holds 1 cylinder at a time so need to check that out also.

But the Alu-Tech thing is what floats my boat, about the Bailey.

I'm in the same boat as plenty here - a Honda Civic 2.2 Diesel owner - and why all these low weight offerings are hitting the dealers.

I have seen the Orion, cheap flimsey build - but the 400/2 'seems' better than the rest of the range. Lack of a front locker is a massive minus if you have any experience of camping and caravanning.

The Elddis Xplore, well just lift up that fixed bed and see the vertical piece flex - that won't last long before it snaps!

The Sprite seems a better van all round, to me anyway, although build isn't great it seems better than the rest.

The Lunar Venus, well - haven't seen them yet ... the fixed bed is 6' x 4'1" if I read the blurb right ..... come on, 4'1" wide isn't even a standard double!!

I was speaking to the Lunar Dealer about leaky Lunars ... he said it was all in the past now .... as I looked into the wardrobe of a brand new Quasar 462, to see a torrent of rain running down the Aerial - holy cow!! It seems they still leak like sieves!

I'm rather disappointed in the whole new caravan thing to be frank, they seem shoddily built on the whole ..... how can they get away with it? Cars have improved beyond all recognition from the early 80's cars .... yet Caravans seem worse now than they have ever been!!

Hi MrRee.

              This will be my first ever caravan purchase, although I have had holidays in both tourers and statics in the past, so I am doing lot's of homework, your comments and experiance have definatley given me food for thought, so I won't be rushing into my first caravan purchase, it took me 2 years to decide on which tent to buy, and that was only a spend of £699!.

Now also got Caravelair on my list, so will be making a trip down to Stafford to have a look at models on display at Freedom Caravans.

The Caravelair Antares Luxe 465 seems to tick the right box's, not worried about them not having ovens, as that can be added, not to mention I have a cracking Lidl mini-oven.

Another on my list is the Adria Altea 432 PX not sure were I can find one to look at in the NorthWest yet, so work in progress.

One addition I would like to make is Air-Con, Dometic do an under bench unit HB2500 not cheap at £1000 inc vat, but as my caravan will be used exclusivley in the South of France during summer I don't mind investing.

Actualy there is another, change the std 3 way fridge for a compressor type fridge, bound to work better imho.

One thing I do know, is that a tent is more comfortable to sleep in than a caravan, down in the South of France during July, when the nights are hot, hot, hot.

Hi Lassie.

              Thanks for that, got my Isabella awning & pole bags and awning light from Campbells, and I pass thier branch's quite often. so will have a look.

I dont see the point in buying a brand new van if you plan to leave it in France or have I got that bit wrong? The premium price you will be paying gives you a warranty that will be invalid if the van isnt serviced annually in the UK.

Every van is a compromise, LOL about taking two years to find the tent you wanted- the caravan choice is even greater!!

There is a good write up on the Venus in this months Caravan magazine.

Regarding the write-ups in Magazines .... they are never negative about much, are they? Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that they are wined and dined whilst 'testing' new products, would it?!

I take such reviews with a pinch of salt ... they are simply massaging the egos of the relavant marketing people. They are good as an added source of info. but most of the words are taken straight from the advertising blurb.

Or am I just being cynical in my old age!? :-)

I reckon I may take years to find the right Caravan ... I don't think the perfect van has been made as yet. As perfect for one is not for another!

Hi savanne1.

                  I am looking at vans now that I may purchase in a year or two's time, or even longer, I am realy just planning for the future, when putting up the tent may become too much like hard work, for now though we enjoy using the tent.

Previous to posting this thread, I had almost zero knowledge regarding caravans, and towing weighst etc, but thanks to folk on here, I am now well upto speed.

Looking at the various vans in the flesh, is definatley research worth doing, and I can see now that new vans costing £13/14k will be well under £10k when they reach 3 years old.

It's a big and fast depreciaton factor, but at the end of the day it's only money, and I havn't ruled out buying new, if and when I have money to burn.

Whatever I do I won't be getting into debt, buying a caravan, for me it will be a cash only option, same as was for my Tent and Trailer etc, although that lot was peanuts at around £2k but has made our fortnight camping holidays in the South of France, very good value indeed.

we bought our van from Preloved, it was only 20 months old and the owner lost over 4k in that time. The van also came with 2 awnings and every bit of concievable kit which we mostly already had so we sold his stuff and have raised around £800 which is our France spends fund!

With regards to air con I can understand where you are coming from, we had temps of 100c in the Dordogne last August and the van did get very hot. Sleeping wasnt too bad as we kept all the windows, vents etc open all day and the blinds down. We saw a few vans with air con, the only downside I can see (apart from the expense!) is the weight of the units. Something to bear in mind when working out your payload.

I wish you luck in your search, its lots of fun. Watching and waiting a couple of years will probably get you a nice second hand Orion or Venus and any niggles that new design vans have should come to light which may influence your decision!

That was a lucky find, and you proove my point to a tee, fact is a caravan is going to drop a grand, as soon as you have towed it out of the dealers from new.

But what amounts to taking a £4k hit, on somthing that is barley two years old, realy puts me of buying from new, I would much rather someone else take that hit and not me.

Edit = link to air-con

Seen this unit brand new on Ebay for £790 so not as expensive as I first thought, Dometic supply the fitting kits etc.

http://www.coolhen.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=120

If you have no Part Exchange then you can get the VAT off the RRP OTR Price.

That's 20% - on a £14,990 Caravan.

The discount is much larger the higher price you go, obviously.

So, the list price may be £14,990 (I refuse to pay the Delivery Charge, it's a pure rip-off!) .... but, you pay £11,992.

Now, compare that to a Dealers price for a secondhand van of 12 months old - about £12,500!! It can make great sense to buy new rather than nearly new and you are the first ones to have used the loo, or shower, or bed ....

Basically, it's a smoke and mirrors trick - some people pay the RRP ... which is good as it allows us sensible ones to grab that discount!

Yep MrRee.

                 Sorry I don't buy that argument, if we all new the van could have been had for £12,000 when new, then I don't think I would be paying £12,500 for a used 2 year old example.

Fact is, you could probably pick up the 2 year old used model for more like £9,000 me thinks, thus saving £3,000 on it's true original value, still a nice saving against new using your own example.

Cars and caravans etc, we all now the new price is inflated, so the dealer can offer an enticing trade in, the trade in vehicle is often either scrapped or sold at less then cost, depending on it's vintage, that's why you rarley see old vehicles on forcourts

Like you say, smoke and mirrors.

Hi blueexpo97.

                     Portable would be a compramise, the Dometic unit looks simple enough to plumb in, and would then be out of the way, control is via remote handset.

And at just under 25kg not to heavy either.