Small caravan - Making the right choice
Hello,
I am new to caravanning.
My requirements are a small caravan for fitting on the driveway, and also wanting to keep my current car. I have a 170HP Alfa, so while powerful it is a lightweight car.
I have dome some researching and the following models seem to suit:
Freedom Microlite
Go-Pod
Teardrop Caravan
Elddis Explore
Teardrop is a cracking price - around £5K. Microlite has deals for around £8K. However Go-Pod seem rather fixed about their £10K price-tag (which is about to go up to £11K).
My main worry is a van that will tow well - I plan to take it around France / Europe.
I am leaning towards the Go-Pod on grounds of not being too small and looking a lot more towable than the other options.
Firstly, are there any other caravans I should be considering?
Secondly, if anyone has any ideas about getting the besty price, either in the UK or ordering and collecting from Europe, I would be very interested.
Regards,
Wilmslow.
Comments
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I think most vans nowadays tow well providing the weights are right. when we bought first - 1970s - we'd hired for our main holiday on 3 occasions & 3 different vans and knew by then which layout/weight we wanted. (Such matters weren't as advanced then as today - 1ft van = 100cc engine was the rule of thumb!)Would always recommend 'try before you buy' as some things - caravans included, can prove to be an expensive mistake. Nowadays, you can also hire a motorhome - they offer a different style of holidaymaking - wouldn't suit us, but that's just us and what we prefer. The Club can check for you which weight van is best suited to your car. Happy caravanning in the future!
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Hi Wilmslow.
we started off caravanning with a little Eldiss Explore 302. They stopped making them in 2013, but you'd get a secondhand one for around £8000, I think. The l-shaped lounge and huge front window gives great feeling of space. As you're solo (I see from another thread), then you wouldn't need to make up the bed every night, as the longer couch will sleep a six-foot tall person. A proper little wet-room gives you an acceptable shower. We towed with a Golf, and it was a breeze. The key things here are kerbweight and nose weight. Check those for your car before you consider a purchase. The Club do give great advice to members on matching. Might be worth investing in Membership (some good savings on M6 toll and ferry crossings could recoup cost). We toured Scotland, and stayed in it for 6 weeks at a time, plus border collie, so can testify to its suitability. Also did France. It was a great little van. Good luck and lots of fun.
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"Such matters weren't as advanced then as today - 1ft van = 100cc engine was the rule of thumb!"
Not to be relied upon as today I was looking in the Ford showroom in Marlow that had a Model A Ford. 1700cc = 8BHP. I would suggest that in the power output stakes you want to think in the range of 100BHP per 1000Kg MPTLM. Heavier van= more powerful engine for a comfortable tow.
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I think you need to consider when, where and how you are going to use the van. If it is the summer, in France, then all you need basically is somewhere to sleep. If you want to use it all year round in the uk then I would suggest that a more substantial caravan would make sense. An Eriba and Arriva might well fit the bill
What you need to do is to make sure that how you want to use it dictates the caravan you buy. Rather than the caravan you have bought dictating how (and where) you use it.
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Hi, we've toured around Europe for last 6 years in an Ariva 380/2. It was towed with a 1.6 Kia without any difficulty. Has a 4 ring job and a full cooker and microwave. Total laden weight was 1000 kgs. Doddle. Even has a shower. Would recommend it.
We've just changed vans but may live to regret it!
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Whereas I have the same reservations about Swift and would hesitate to suggest that any maker is reliably good.
Our present Lunar is 5 years and 8 months old from new. We have been away in it about 720 nights visiting over 120 sites and the problems have been minimal and not related to construction.
We pick up a new model of current caravan in about 2 weeks
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That seems very poor David. We have had the same use only probably towed 20k miles though but that includes some pretty crap UK roads, which seem to get worse and especially in Scotland (not much motorway stuff)
No idea what tyres on our 2012 clubman but they are fine and original. Only 'structural' problems, if they can be called that, was a top locker door hinge fixing on the first site. (I wonder if wrong sized screws fitted? No idea.) Also tall door under kitchen top where screws loosened. I blame OH! She had stored a small 'ironing board' in there, it slipped in travelling and got behind a timber baton carrying the door and acted like a jemmy levering away during some rough roads. To fix it properly I had to take off and refit batten, All other problems were related to components such as fridge element, toilet flush pump, and burner coming loose on grill.
I paid for the replacement flush pump and the fridge element replacement. To repair the door under the sink cost me £66 to replace my original warn out electric screwdriver with a fancy Bosche one with right angle and offset drive heads.
My horror caravan was the previous Swift. Water ingress at year 2, year 4 and 90% damp across the back at PX in year 7. I spoke to our central heating man yesterday. His swift has had two leaking windows, shower leaking as not properly sealed, sink waste fell apart leading to knife draw full of water. He said he had a list more than enough to fill an A4 sheet of faults needing rectification on a caravan under 1 year old.
I don't believe that there is any one UK caravan that I would have confidence in. I bought the Lunar because of layout and comfort and it is being replaced for the same. OH was saying that the few equipment failures were a poor show ...... until I reminded her of the Swift. No equipment failures there but seating no where near as good and showing wear to seat cushions and backs by end of year 3 and probably only 160 nights usage whilst the seats in the Clubman look fine after nearly 4 times that usage. Truly David I believe that it is a total lottery and that, for when things go wrong a good dealership and workshop staff is critical.
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Actually Alan it sounds as though you have had more niggles than me,
I soon discounted the initial overhead locker door hinge fitting on first site as a one off. The damage to the other door fitting was really our stupidity albeit also a bad design. A bit like the design that allowed me to trap an oil feed pipe on a two stroke motorbike when refitting a two stroke oil cover.
I am able to console myself that the other faults have been down to appliances used in many caravans and presume that we all have such faults from time to time - first for me though.
Non of the problems have been a cause of disruption to holidays though. With the grill I could manage without. With the fridge I used gas, with the flush pump a bottle of water and site facilities of a morning.
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What about the Swift Base Camp with its MIRO 891Kg?
They are well put together and quite practical.
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Here's more information about the Swift Basecamp. You won't find details on the Swift website. Friends of ours are considering one.
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We love our Rapido poptop. It's necessary to find one first, of course... ours is 17 yrs old and they don't come much newer. 5m long overall and only 2m high with the top down, making towing a dream both in terms of economy and stability.
Equipment is basic, but that's also less to go wrong. We've used it for 2 of us, I've used it solo quite happily too.Silver have now taken over the idea, though I have heard they're less well made.
Enjoy whatever you get!
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I have the Turtle teardrop, have had it around 9 or so years now. Would I change it for anything else ? I often ask myself this each year at the NEC show; then decide, no. I love it. My advice if going down the teardrop route, get a reasonable awning. I currently have a vango air hub, for the longer stays. As for towing, well with having a dickey hand, I can only use one hand effectively, it’s like pulling or pushing a sack of potatoes, Been around Europe, loved that. The only problem you encounter is sometimes folks don’t respect your privacy.
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We had an Ariva for a while and the build quality was disappointing. On the other hand it was a very convenient for towing. Subsequently we had a Venus made by Lunar and again the build quality was very poor.
Our most recent van was a Coachman but age related challenges mean we are switching to motorhome and are opting for quality build this time as we hope it will be passed down the family.
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