Caravan Design Awards Buyers Guide 2021
If you're considering buying a new caravan next year then have a look at our Caravan Design Awards Buyers Guide 2021. Our independent panel carried out full technical specification, design, use of space and usability reviews of 74 new-to-market caravans. Click for our 5 star picks (with more of the entrants and their details to follow):
Comments
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Nor for me but the LHS is OK👍🏻
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I get the Tow Car of the Year Awards when I click on the RHS list, but as TW says the LHS ones work....very strange.
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At least one of the links for a selected van comes up with a totally different manufacturer. I can't be bothered to check them all!!! 😟Doesn't anyone at HO check these things before posting them on here?
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Just checked again and what I get is the Home Page.
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In 30+ years of buying and using caravans nobody has ever asked me to contribute my thoughts about caravan design so not surprised that I find myself bemused at some "improvements" that find their way in.
I remember speaking to a Service Engineer at Swift and he said they never asked the people responsible for rectifying the designers mistakes for their input.
Anyway I noticed that the Coachman 460 VIP was in this list. Now, we picked our, then, 3 year old version up at the dealer last September and there was a brand new model on display so we had a "butchers". We wouldn't buy it now. The "improvements" they've made, basically aren't! The wonderful wardrobe we currently have is reduced to a matchbox, a bit of an exaggeration but not much of one. There are quite a few things changed that seem to have been done just for the sake of it.
What happened to "If it ain't bust don't fix it?"
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A couple of years ago when at Ferry Meadows there was a latest Bailey Unicorn Seville on "test? for the cc magazine ,we had a look when it first arrived ,and could not believe just how they had "upgraded" interior design ,we had with us some friends who had the previous years model,
When the "tester" and photographer came the following day we aproached them and asked what they thought compared to the previous model as we had just by looking said between us it was a really bad "upgrade" and they seemd to accept what our friends advised that was now so wrong
When the review was published ,we wondered if it was the same caravan?as it was given a good review,
The upgraded caravan must have bombed, as a new model to the range was introduced in the same year under the name Unicorn Merida which was the original Seville under a different name (the Seville is now not made)
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Most upgrades usually constitute 'exciting new graphics' and a different pattern upholstery.
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We nearly bought a van with two doors years ago AD. A Carlight, built like a tank. When we got to look at it, it had been used by New Age Travellers, sound inside, but every cupboard, flat surface etc... had been painted in rainbow colours😱 Too much work we thought, even for us. I do remember the second door involved some jiggery pokery with panels in the bathroom to get in and out. Useful though.
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My experience of new model is that they change fixed carpets to removable carpets only to switch them back again the following year.
Of course, the other problem is that you do the research, choose a van, then find that the nearest dealer is 150 miles away. There WILL be warranty items which entail a 300 mile round trip.
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I agree with Lornalou regarding the Tow car competition in the latest magazine. Looking at a limited set of technical specifications is pointless to say the least. I don't suppose the judges were provided with engine power/torque curves, suspension spring and damping rates, wheelbase, steering geometry data and a whole host of other data to help them. There again, even if they had it, I don't suppose anyone had any sophisticated modelling software to run it. The whole point of test driving a car is to understand if all those technical specifications add up to how the car feels and reacts under different driving conditions. Most importantly though, does it suit the customer requirements.
It's that blasted Covid thing again and we have to fill the magazine pages somehow. Perhaps the magazine editor should hold up his hands and say 'any members out there with an idea or two we can use - after all, we're all in it together'.
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