Compatibility

We recently bought a new Swift Elegance (2016 model) and are pleased with it although there have been some minor problems (we had none on our last two Bailey Unicorns). The fridge door alarm keeps insisting it is not closed and the only way to stop it is to leave the transit lock engaged. Of course it did work when we took it to the dealer only to play up again since. The Control Panel has frozen on 3 occasions and the only way to sort it is to switch the isolator switch under the bed off and then back on. The temperature gauges on the control panel, both internal and external can be miles under or over and are of no practical value  One internal light did not work so missed in the PDI.  I had the dealer fit a reversing camera onto the rear of the caravan (now standard on the 2017 models. It only shows the ground immediately behind the caravan which may help when backing onto a pitch but is too low to see any following traffic. The same applies to the factory fitted 2017 models.  It is hardly worth the effort of setting it up each trip. Also none of the aerial sockets worked but fixed now. Just a pain having to do a 120 mile round trip and waist a day. One thing I had to fit myself was a Sargent VLM box. My tow car is a Discovery Sport and the Elegance has led road lights. The car did not register the caravan being plugged in due to their low wattage although the lights, fridge and ATC worked. The only thing which did not was the additional trailer indicator on the car dashboard. Discoveries have their own trailer stability system so I fitted the Sargent box and the car now recognises the caravan when plugged in. The first time it is connected you are asked to put the dimensions of the caravan in which then helps the cars reversing camera line you up when backing onto a pitch. I  If you wish to buy the box go onto Sargents web site and put in your caravan chris number and you will get a discount, courtesy of Swift of £10 bringing the cost down to £36.

We like the Elegance but for a caravan significantly more expensive than the competition it has had too many niggling faults. At least however no major damp problems so one should be grateful. I do wonder if there is too much sophistication just waiting to go wrong.

I have the new XC90 Momentum with the factory fit semi electric Towbar, and plugged it into my 2016 Swift 580 Challenger and everything worked fine. It immediately recognised the Van on the back and I was able to do a light check from the dash board in the car. All the lights work and the fridge and the car also has a trailer stability programme. I think that because the XC90 has an all LED lighting system it has not trouble with the same system on the Caravan but then again neither did my previous XC70 which was not LED. Maybe Volvo have no problem wiring the towbars up for the UK vans as some of the German makes do. What I did like about hooking the Volvo up is that in reverse it has all round cameras but I can switch it to 1 specifically for the towball and it has a yellow line which you can aim for the towball. I can reverse right over the towball and wind the hitch straight onto it.