Compass Rallye caravan feedback
Hi
Hope someone out there can help. I am looking to move away from my Bailey S3 Vigo due to being struck down with the well published problem with the Alko axle as fitted to the early S3 Unicorn range.
I am looking at a 2016 Compass Rallye 554 for sale at a nearby dealer. Its the same layout as the Vigo which we love. I would like to know from people who have experience of the Compass range to tell me of the good and the bad aspects about owning a Compass. I know that all manufacturers have problems. I have owned a Lunar, a Coachman and a Bailey, all have had some issues. The biggest with the Bailey with a potential outlay of over £1000 hanging over my head if they do not contribute to the repair of my Axle.
So learned folks, what is the good, the bad and the ugly about the 2016 Compass Rallye 554 and also about the SOLID construction please?
TIA
Comments
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It’s essentially the same as the Elddis. The Rallye always used to equate to the Crusader and I assume it still does.
You may find more reviews/complaints by searching for the Elddis equivalent.
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Strong-Light-Dry allegedly
No screws, all bonded together. Mine seems to be holding up at 5 years old apart from a little damp around the water pump connection found at the last service. They removed the socket and found the sealant had failed. done FOC.
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or possibly "Soggy or lets in damp"
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If you are a member of the other club they have joined with Practical Caravan in reviewing owners reports on their caravans and you should have access to them. I am afraid Eldiss have come consistently at the bottom for customer satisfaction over the five years the magazine has run these surveys with some pretty appalling figures so I would check it over carefully.
We were at Beechwood Grange last year, and I was talking to the owner of a new model who had twenty faults on his caravan. I would look over the caravan carefully before buying and check the front and rear panels for cracking as this has been a serious problem for them.
It is not all bad as the satisfaction rating is over 70% but the others got better.
The dealer we bought our caravan from says the quality has improved under the new ownership (but they would as they sell them) and when we looked a couple there was no obvious faults so there is hope. In general we have always been impressed with the design though.
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We have a Compass Omega 482 same as the Elddis Affinity, 2014 model purchase new in 2015. At first service and repaired under warranty; cracked rear panel, leaking heki rooflight and staining of roof boarding all replaced. Second service all OK and no signs of damp, it is coming up to it's 3rd service in November and have a few things to be sorted under the 3 year warranty, shower cubical cracking at one of the top screw fittings and a few other niggles to be put right, my dealer is very good. The caravan it's self is very good, comfortable with a good layout large rear washroom, shower etc. and very good when towed. In winter the Aldi heating is good, with plenty of LED lighting, however we do use our caravan most of the time off grid (solar power) so the gas system gets used a lot with no problems. Yes a very good caravan now the main issues have been sorted, hopefully it will go through the 3rd service OK.
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We have owned two Elddis Crusaders, first one no problems, the last one was SOLID construction and every skylight had to be resealed because of leaking in water, due I was told by the repairer that the roof had very Little roof cross members so the roof twisted when travelling, we also had a new front panel due to cracking
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I also have a Compass Rallye 574 with the single beds 2016, i purchased it from new my problems at first service have been damp around the front window and had to be completely stripped out, although covered by warranty. Second service damp around the front window again on the other side and also damp around both wheel arches, this time went to the caravan clinic up north to be stripped under warranty. The dealer is great and seems to be concerned this is happening but Compass just keep saying your getting it done under warranty, but in real time there van is not fit for purpose warranty or not. However its finished well inside now selling as don't trust it any more.
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Did you buy the Compass?
We have an Elddis Affinity 550, bought new in 2016. We bought this caravan because we liked the layout, but also crucially because of the SOLID construction and the 10 year water ingress and body integrity warranty. As pensioners we have limited income and as we don't want any hassle we thought we would get 10 years of good trouble-free use out of this caravan with peace of mind. I have to say that the quality of the interior units, cupboards, drawers etc. is excellent and we didn't get the minor niggly settling-in problems that you may expect, apart from a dodgy Alde pump that was quickly replaced direct from Alde whilst we were on a winter break.
The problems we've had were major (to us), involving warranty claims with all the worry and hassle of having to empty the van, take it in for repair, be without it, then chase up progress, tow the van home after repair then put all our stuff back in it. As this has happened several times during our 2 year ownership we've been left wondering what's next to go wrong? We read of CC members having cracked end panels that turn out to be NOT covered by this "comprehensive" warranty. We've not yet had a cracked end panel but if we do then we're told it'll be a £3000 fix (and what's worse may subsequently crack again! And when you're on holiday and you have to continuously mop up the damp it does take the shine of your break!
So we're now faced with a decision - whether to trade in and take the financial hit (and face this same risk with a new van), or to keep the van and continuously live with the risk of "what's next", or just throw in the towel and give up caravanning!
We've been CC members for 35 years now and had damp in every caravan we've owned, except for our first - a 1980 Piper 1400, which turned out to be better than all the subsequent newer ones!
Decisions decisions !
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Please be aware that the Alko axle problem is not exclusive to Bailey. It only shows up more quickly due to the flat top wheel arches limiting clearance. Other brands using alko also have the same issue. It seems to affect late 2014 through to early 2016 vans.
My axle was changed earlier this year FOC.
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Hi we brought a new compass Rallye 634 in 2008 .And in 2018 a few months after its ten year warranty all the windows leaked by the rear one .And the front nearside window 3 out of the four corners of the window had splits outwards !!! After contacting Eldiss caravans I was told nothing they could do as warranty out . So keep away from Eldiss caravans who make compass !!!!!
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I was discussing a warranty issue with my Coachman dealer who also deal for Elddis, I was at that time thinking of changing the van due to a problem with the dometic toilets fitted, his ad ice was stick with yours now it’s fixed, and it would be a lot worse if you’d bought an Elddis
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