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The Lunar Venus 490/4 caravan has caught my eye, mainley as it has an all up fully loaded weight MTPLM of just 1199kg, I have never owned a caravan, but for a 4 berth fixed bed with all the trimmings, and decent size for a small van, it's seems to be a very low weight indeed, is there a catch?.

Would think it could be the ideal van for a couple like us, with a small car, like the VW Golf.

The Venus range seems to not be arriving into dealers untill next month, but I was wondering if any of the range has been on display at recent shows, and if anyone has had a mooch, what were your thoughts.

Well there was a saying "Leaky Lunars" so I would have thought as a manufacturer that they have learned from that.

I think all brands of caravan may have suffered leaks, the built on Friday syndrome, so the past reputation of Lunar does not phase me.

Having said that, maybe it's best to view a Lunar during a heavy downpour!.

Our Lunar is dry and ok, and we did have a sneaky look around the Venus range at Robinsons a couple of weeks ago. sorry, but not my Idea of a sturdy lightweight caravan, Things like shallower seat cushions, and some evidence of flimsy fittings to save weight rather put us off, we much prefared our Zenith which was built with the nice little extras like a front set of draws, and a slide out table that was sadly lacking in the Venus model on display. I would also question the thickness of the Venus lightweight outer skin, and how this may be prone to denting/penetration by flying stones from passing traffic whilst out on the road. We have already noticed with our Lunar how much more prone it is to this problem, than our old Coachman was, and the Venus side panels are suposed to be thinner than those of any previous Lunar. 

Julia

Thanks ldpdmp, just checked and bed size is 6ft 4" x 4"7" which is ideal for us, as niether of us are over 6ft.

Although I was looking at a used "Eldiss Mayfair Explore" 470-4 (2009 £9.5k) yesterday at a dealer and the fixed bed did look a tad on the short side, but I never jumped on to try it out but maybe I should have measured it just in case.

Hi Simon.

             You are a mind reader, I was at Stewart Longton caravans today at Chorley, and had a good look inside the 2012 Sprite Alpine 4 fixed bed, very impressed indeed. Going of the layout, the bathrooom is smaller in the Sprite, which I prefer as that gives a little more room in the rest of the van.

Overall finish was fine, from what I could tell, they ran my car details through the pukka TOWSAFE match program and it came out at 86% based on the van being fully loaded, they said it dosn't get much better than that, when it comes to a perfect match, they even gave me the print out which I thought was a nice touch.

Andy.

Hi Simon.

             Any reason why you are moving on from the Eriba, they look brilliant, and the design makes them last for ever.

I have looked at the Eriba's at the shows, and that pop up roof, must make them very easy to tow, I would have thought, and just about all models can be pulled with my VW Golf.

Although the Eriba's did seem a little more compact inside, than the van's that I am currently looking at, or maybe that is just my imagination playing tricks. 

Yep, the Eriba Troll 554GT is on my radar, one of 6 Troll's that come with a fixed bed, I know that Hymer aquired the brand, but are they still making the Eriba's.

Just an update, but as luck would have it Lunar have the Venus range n display at Reads Caravans at Blackburn this weekend, so it seemed rude not to go and have a look this morning.

Well I was quite impressed, but not as much as I was with the Sprite Alpine 4 fixed bed.

Then this afternoon, I was at Castlecroft Camping (JR Leisure) in Radcliffe and got to se the Bailey Orion 430-4 fixed bed.

So that's 3 vans now, all pretty much the same layout and price.

But the Bailey is favourite at the moment, but I need to do more homework on this Alu-Tech design that Bailey use.

I like the idea of GRP outer walls, and shorter van length due to no front locker which seem to be a couple of unique Bailey features.