Swift build issues

1979 was the only time we bought a new van - then no probs whatsoever, other than the fridge (gas only in those days!) which used to defrost after 72 or so hours continuous operation. Took 2 years before manufacturer was persuaded to replace 'the working bits at the back'! 

Other than that have always gone for a 5 yr old second hand model - thus far any problems there may have been have been sorted!   Last one saw us through 16 years and 35K towing miles before we had to admit problems had reached their sell by date! 

Last year we bought a dealer special Swift Corniche, a Challenger 580 with added bits.

We had a few weekends away before touring Portugal, Spain and France for three weeks without any real problems.

There were a few ' build quality ' issues with bits falling off but nothing to spoil the holiday.

Both me and my wife enjoy being in our van as it is a very nice place to be.

All the problems were rectified under warranty but due to a National Express coach rear ending me and putting me in hospital, then falling downstairs and tearing my cartlidge We have not used it very much in the past 4 months.

We do plan on a few short UK breaks prior to taking it down to Switzerland and Italy in August for 3 weeks.

Would we buy another Swift caravan?

More than likely, depending on layout of the van.

Having bought a Swift Escape motor home in the last 12 months I would find it very hard to recommend their product to anyone.  Their build quality is poor and have had many faults both major and minor with it.  The product support is also poor.  For example they cannot tell you what wheel size is fitted when you want to buy a spare wheel (which does not come as standard fit by the way).

And yet we have an (about to be) eighteen year old Swift, which is still damp-free, everything still works (fridge, hob, water, heating,blown air and heater, Hekis) and we have no dropped off doors, or cracks, or external problems.  We have had a damaged shower tray (our fault), a tap damaged by icing up (our fault), and had to have a replacement vanity basin (our fault when I spilled tea-tree oil on it, and then compounded the damage with dark green eye shadow dust leaving indelible green streaks on the basin).  All these have now been sorted, and we expect to be using the caravan again in 2018 with no problems.

Most of our caravans and motorhome have all been Swift and have had a few niggles with them all.--- Nothing as bad as some of our caravanning friends who have gone down the Bailey route have experienced though. The best van we ever had was an Avondale - Great van, no leaks towed like a dream spare wheel housed and accessed under the floor. 

K

We bought a Sterling Elite 560 in2016.  We took delivery in March and part exchanged it in the following January after 43 faults.  It recorded fault 44 when we parked it next to our new Lunar to transfer everything and the locking mechanism for the Gas locker door fell apart.

Sorry to disagree with the "it was better years ago"  I`ve been reading forums and magazines on caravans/motoromes for over twenty years and nothing has changed to any great extent. The worst caravan we ever owned was our first just over twenty years ago within two months the front panel was covered in cracks and had to be replaced then the new did exactly the same, a motorhome suffered a similar fate some fourteen years ago. The number of complaints has increased simply because of forums such as this, its interesting to note that the customers keep increasing in numbers so to some extent we are all our own worst enemy!

The build quality of cars has improved over the years because of the way they are built, on a line and by machines and robotic assembly.

MHs and caravans are still, in the main, hand built by a mix of craftsmen and labourers.     I have talked to many dealers about all makes and they reckon they are all the same.

I am convinced that the most important thing in buying either is to ensure you have an excellent dealer who has an excellent workshop.

I bought a Sterling (Swift) Moonstone in year 2000 and had it 13 years and not on problem.   The next van was a Sterling Eccles in 2013 and in the first 15 months had around 12 issues.    All fixed very quickly and properly by my dealer.     I traded that van in for my current MH, a Swift. Collected MH on 2 March 2016 and returned it one week later with a leek in the roof area.    I believe that was a freak issue; it took over 2 weeks to find this pin-hole which was about 7m from where the water was coming in the inside of the van.   But the dealer did find it and fixed it.    22 months and 13,500 miles later and no other problems.   Quite happy with the MH and the move to the dark side!   

BillC

We bought a new Swift van last year following good experience with 2 used Swift vans. The new van hasn’t been perfect with some faults that simply should not have passed QC and should not have been allowed out of the factory. insufficient sealant around the shower which lead to water pouring through the bathroom instead of down the plug hole, (other buyers have experienced same problem too) being the most concerning. It does make me cautious about our next van purchase, whenever that happens. My brother bought an Elddiss van at the same time which has been totally fault free. 

I advised some years ago now, when being told by a dealer friend of mine, manufacturers do not bother about such things as QC so much because they pay the dealers to PDI and put right any niggly faults found. This more than often is not done, the PDI on most new 'vans is done by the user on his/her first couple of outings with ( their hard earned ) new caravan. Some faults will be put right on site using screwdriver and pliers, others maybe major will be " Oh pop it back Mr Joe Soap we'll take a look at it ( when we have time! ) and if it's beyond us it could have to back to the manufacturer ".

People do not spend many thousands of pounds to be dealt this way.

Happy caravanning.

We picked up our brand new Swift Vouge 580 Sb from a dealer in Swindon,after being showed how everything worked we towed it home. Our first week away in it we started to discover problems,blind over bed would not close,bathroom door would jam shut,the top fridge grill on the outside fell off,the door would`nt shut properly,the lights flashed when the taps were turned off,some of the cub board doors were loose and not lined up,trim around the table unstuck and worse of all (after a couple of days of using the caravan) water running over the floor by the cooker that turned out to be the waste pipe from the sink was not connected properly and was told by the dealer that the pipe was to short. and the carpets were ruined.

We returned the caravan to the dealer to be fixed and after 2 weeks we went to pick it up and i was not happy with the work that they had done. Under the sink in the cupboard the simply cut the lino out with a Stanley knife to dry the floor and put the bit of lino back and ran some sealant around the outside. The dealer said that that was all they could do. When i got the caravan home i checked under the cupboard   in the bedroom with my damp meter and i got a very high reading of damp so i took the caravan back to the dealer again and was told that because my damp meter was not -industry standard the would`nt accept    my readings so they checked it with there damp meter and got a reading of 17%,i then asked the dealer to use the prongs on the damp meter as i had done with mine but he said Swift would not accept reading with prongs pressed into the floor because the lino gave a false reading so i pressed the prongs from the dealers damp meter into the floor and got a reading of 29% and the dealer sill said it was within limits. This is still on going and Swift have not committed yet and i have told Swift and the dealer that i want a replacement caravan or a refund because i did`nt buy a brand new caravan so i could have damp in the floor. I would be interested to hear from other people if they have had the same problems and were do i go from here.