Coachman caravans quality
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well we have a 2008 Coachman Amara 550/5, love it to bits, however, it is very heavy and IMO, because today they try to fit lots of bells and whistles to keep the weight down they use inferior materials to say 12 years ago, the quality of my interior lockers is far superior to what they produce today for e.g. but some makes are quite light which makes them desirable.
I have only ever had 1 damp problem and that was in the front locker caused by the seals have broken around the grab handles , fixed in 10 minutes, check out todays supposedly damp free caravans, bet you will find loads that have major problems, they didnt call them leaky Lunars for nothing. But there are some horror stories for Coachman as well. Good luck with your purchase.
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Had a Coachman Amara 380 some years ago and it was the best caravan we've ever owned. Only got rid because the windows started to delaminate and Polyplastics, the suppliers, refused to indemnify UK owners but did do so for Germans.
Currently have a 2016 Coachman 480 and, touch wood, have had no major problems with it. Some small minor issues that have been sorted.
Like most makes, there are good ones out there and there are poor ones. One dealer we spoke to said they stopped stocking them because of too much warranty work yet another said they gave them the least problems.
Doesn't really answer your question. Best to make sure you have a really reliable dealer who can sort any problems out.
Good luck.
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Can only speak from personal experience. Researched in 2015 and bought a new coachman vip. Thought this would see us right for a few years. Worst caravan I have owned in 35 years of caravanning. Numerous faults which I struggled to get rectified. Had to go back to the factory in the end. Most faults were due to poor workmanship and construction. Believe me I know that caravans gave niggles and I’m happy to put right most things but these were serious.
once it came back from the factory it was better but I’d lost faith by then. Oh and the dealer was rubbish to.
in the end bought a swift from Couplands in Louth who were a pleasure to deal with.0 -
Coachman create a massive self induced problem for themselves after fitting Dometic toilets to their VIP range a couple of years ago.Now they have gone back to Thetford the reliability should be back to normal.
If things do go wrong at least you get a posh fault, rather than a common garden fault seen on other manufacturers.
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I have had 1 Monza, 1 Eldiss, 1 Trophy, 2 Compass, 1 Abbey, 1swift that I kept for 2 years, 1 Bailey I kept for 1 year. 4 Coachman up to now. Have just ordered a new Coachman. I have to admit the quality of Coachman has gone downhill but still better than any of the others I have had.
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In an answer to fastnet , yes. So far.
I like the electrical system, much more logical to be able to isolate the 12v system on storage.
everything works as it should, including the solar panel.the onboard pump was noisy but I managed to isolate that to quieten it.
perhaps I got a bad coachman, I wouldn’t rule out another as I tend to buy on layout.
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Just ordered a new coachman 545 to replace our current 2015 coachman pastiche 575 which has never had an issue and been totally reliable. Previously bought a new bailey gt65 in 2014 and it was a total nightmare always back at the dealer with serious faults, electrical, leaks and just poor quality throughout. Only downside is we have to wait for around 4 months till new van arrives so if considering one bare this in mind.
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We were at Salop Leisure yesterday dropping our Swift off to have some warranty work done.They have just taken on Coachman as a new line . They have several different models there but they only took the brand on 3wks ago so are awaiting delivery of the rest .I have to say I was impressed with the overall build quality and a very nice modern look. We like the centre washroom twin axle but that won’t be there until the end of November,so will have a look at that when it arrives.There might be a cheeky deal to be had.😉
Brian & Jo
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Hi Fastnet
We bought our first caravan last October and took delivery just before lockdown. Its the VIP 545 . It suits us very well and other than two minor niggles , door latch in the middle needs replacing and the pipe fell off the the shower drain, everything else works . I realise I don't have the experience of other models like others in these parts but we'd certainly buy another.
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Hi
we are on our second coachman, first was a 2012 Pastiche 560; Glossop special, no issues with this other than a couple of niggles and the stainless steel sink which rusted! A lovely reliable, solid van, we wish we’d not sold it
our second one is a 2018 vip 575; it let water in after a year, through the off side rear awning rail, which due to lockdown wasn’t noticed until this summer, we’re still waiting to get it fixed by coachman. The roof get badly ripples and stressed in hot weather. the Dometic toilet waste tank fractured first time out and was unusable, it took six weeks to get a replacement, then the electrical control flush developed a fault, again another few weeks for the spare and repair. Last time out the water pressure system was acting up! Not worth the £27k price tag.
Very disappointing to the extent we’re seriously thinking of retiring from caravan life after 40 years and having cottage holidays instead
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Thanks everyone for your comments. All the dealers we have spoken to seem to have sold almost all their second hand stock in June-September and new van sales have been strong against smaller than usual supply numbers. Discounts on new RRP’s almost nonexistent. Additionally, and despite the lack of second hand stock, trade in offers have, to my mind, been disappointing.
On balance, we have decided to stick with what we have and see how the CV19 situation pans out.
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Probably a wise decision. I bought a news swift in 2011. Ok, few faults but rectified. Replaced in 2017 with a a new 2017 and it is utterly shocking quality. Had over 30 faults rectified under warranty with the brakes having to be repaired/replaced three times.
Trim inside is also rough and not even cut properly...the door isn’t even square in one cupboard!
I wouldn’t buy another swift if there was a better option..there is and it’s buy German it would appear.
stick with what you have!
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Hello Fastnet, you’ve probably bought your Coachman van by now. Have you used it yet? In May we bought our new VIP 460. On day 9 of our holiday the fridge door fell off. We were in St Andrew’s and had to return to Glossop to have it fixed temporarily.
Back in Bucks, the door is still fixed on though for security I gaffa taped the door.
The two small front blinds don’t retract properly and table is, as usual very unstable.Otherwise our ninth caravan is ok - so far….
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Hi Fastnet,
we took delivery in April of a new VIP 460 as a replacement for a Pastiche. As with others our fridge door fell off ,and the fridge door open alarm was sounding constantly, after speaking to a Dometic engineer the alarm was silenced by inserting a small amount of Bluetac under the sensor magnet in the top of the fridge door. The falling off effect has reportedly been sorted by adjustment to the door hinges, our next trip should confirm this.
The Russel Hobbs microwave kept tripping out and my dealer is awaiting a replacement from Coachman ( However long that will take), but our main problem is a creaking floor in the kitchen area which our dealer says was fixed and on inspection at the dealer was ok.But on returning home and putting the legs down evidently was not the case .
We were more than happy with our Pastiche but now have reservations regarding build quality, although two of our problems were due to other manufactures faults ,or maybe poor PDI.
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Took delivery of a new Laser Xcel 875 in the middle of May and have used it for three weeks over two trips.
General build quality is excellent with no significant issues other than front blind pleats not consistently folding smoothly when opening them but a few up and downs and they are absolutely fine. Cabinetry, soft furnishings, electrics and all gizmos are of the standard I expected and I am delighted with my purchase.
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we bought our second VIP second-hand ten years ago and have been delighted, only recently have we seen problems you'd expect from a fifteen year-old van. Looking at more recent models on the forecourts and NEC show we've been disappointed with the finish and quality. As mentioned above, Coachman tend to be on the heavy side and I fear they've compromised on the materials to make them lighter. Not sure what our next van will be, but rather taken by Bailey more than most on the value for money front.
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Hi Fastnet,
We own a 2021 Coachman Laser 575 Xcel (1800kg MTPLM) (Powertouch motor movers and air conditioning), which we collected from Golden Castle Caravans at the end of Apr. Our shortlist was between Knaus Sudwind and the Coachman. Our assessment is based on 3 trips totalling 12 nights since we collected our caravan. Overall we are delighted with our caravan. With the exception of one faulty USB socket on an over bed reading light there have been no issues with our caravan. We are impressed with the build quality particularly the cabinetry and soft furnishings. Soft furnishings are very comfortable. Veneer/laminate finshes are well done. The exterior feels solid and well constructed. The Alde heating setup is excellent and can be easily linked to the air conditioning to provide 'automatic climate control'. In terms of design niggles: we would have preferred the option of a wrap around front seat rather than the chest of drawer and the centre/rear locker under the transverse bed is partly obstructed with plumbing (to avoid items sliding into the plumbing I have added some light batten 'guards' which are held by velcro). Bathroom is superb as the kitchen area.
The caravan tows well even in fairly strong cross winds. Payload of 221 kg based on the unladen weight is excellent - and turned out to be accurate when I took the caravan to a local weigh bridge on collection (weigh bridge accuracy was +/- 20kg).
Hope you find what your looking for,
Roger
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I was talking to the Service Manager of our Knaus dealership the other day - they also sell Coachman. He was telling me that they have very few problems with Coachman and if they do - and they can't fix it, Coachman send someone out to sort it. They are also very prompt at supplying spares and taking the van back to the factory in the rare event there's a major problem. It seems that at last I am about to get the warranty items on our Knaus that have been on order for nearly a year! Hymer aren't much better either.
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Same issue with fridge door on our new Coachman 460 VIP bought new March 2021. I.E fell door off. Now fixed, but currently away and although fridge is cooling the control panel is saying fault 03 communication issue. back to dealer on Monday
The Domestic engineer l contacted was excellent and talked me through some possible fixes, sadly despite his efforts still faulty. What confidence does it give in Dometic if they can’t produce a fridge without a door falling off?
Our third new coachman and with other problems that have been “ fixed” the worst one . Caravanning 25 yrs, 7 new ‘ vans and Coachman is the only manufacturer we returned to three times, because the 2008 Pastiche and 2014 festival were problem free.
To me the quality is no longer there. The web site prides itself on “ test row “ for every caravan. I think the tester had a day off for ours.
l will again contact the manufacture when we are home to express my views, loyalty in the product needs rewarding with better customer service .
The dealer has been helpful but shouldn’t be faced with fixing manufacturing defects and a justifiably dissatisfied customer1 -
There seems to be a bit more to it than the obvious, David. Knaus's first excuse was that the parts had been sent but that they were stuck in a warehouse in the south awaiting 'customs clearance' (for nearly a year?????) However, when they were re-ordered, the Service Manager was told that they had been despatched and would be with him within a few days (we will wait and see). I get the impression - and so does the dealer - that having made a brief foray into the UK market, Knaus have lost interest post-Brexit.
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