Considering Trigano Silver Mini Freestyle 290
Having done a lot of research recently, we have been thinking about getting a Trigano SIlver Mini Freestyle 290 from Highbridge Caravans in Somerset. It would actually fit in our garage if we cleared it out and is not much bigger than a Go Pod or Freedom Discovery, but the Trigano actually has a little toilet room with shower and hot water, an important factor for us. Even though the shower room is little, we are both quite small and I think we would manage to use it when necessary.
I am yet to fully convince my partner of the joys of caravan ownership, but he is committed to the garage clear out as a start. We would also need to change our garage door to a roll up type, but now our house is 10 years old we are permitted to make that change. The caravan would be 200cm wide and 200cm high and the garage openings with a new door would be 225cm wide and 210cm high, but there is a 6m paved drive which goes straight to the garage so I think we would be able to push a light caravan (MIRO 688, MTPLM 1000) in from the road as we could park temporarily to do that in front of our drive. It is a terraced house with an integral garage and we realise we would need to store the gas bottles in the garden, but that is manageable, but other than that we hope it would be OK to have a caravan in there. Once through the garage door there would be more space to move it into place.
We are taking a long term view as we are hoping to retire in a few years, by which time my teens should be independent and hopefully at university, so it is something for us when we have more freedom, but we are wondering about getting one sooner so we could start using it for some holidays before that.
I used to have an Eriba Troll when I was married to my ex-husband and the kids were little and we loved it, but it went along with the divorce and for the past 10 years holidays have been different. In fact for the past 2 years they have been non-existent due to Covid. Even the smallest Eriba is too high for our garage so that is not an option this time. We really want to be able to store it at home and don't want to move, which we realise limits our options, but that is OK with us.
If money and space were no object, we would probably prefer a campervan and love the look of the Wildax Pulsar, but there are restrictive covenants in our area and as our house is terraced, sharing a drive with next door, we wouldn't want to spend that much money and find we couldn't park it there, despite it not being much bigger than some cars. We also don't really want to get a diesel and would prefer the next vehicle to be hybrid or electric.
We've been looking at Hyundai Kona hybrid, Kia Niro or Ford Kuga PHEV, or Skoda Enyaq Electric as possible tow cars for the Mini Silver, but a new car is a big investment and we have to be careful not to spend too much or the impending retirement won't be possible. At the moment the 10 year old Hyundai i20 is still going fine, but at some point in the next few years it will need replacing and that would definitely be the case if we end up with the Mini SIlver to tow.
So at the moment we are exploring options and any advice, particularly if anyone has experience of the French Trigano Mini Silvers. Additionally, any advice about getting a small caravan into the garage and storing it there, alongside the pros and cons of motor movers, would be really welcome.
Comments
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As I read it, your garage doorway would only be 5cm/2" wider than the caravan, ie only 1” each side. In my view, that is not enough space and I defy anyone pushing a caravan to be able to keep it on course within that tolerance because it will inevitably wander side to side even with a motor mover fitted.
How you work around that, I don’t know but I think it’s a non starter - sorry. Have you considered storing the van elsewhere?
Also, ensure the stated height of the caravan includes any gear mounted on top such as a TV aerial because you’ve not a lot of room to spare.
I say go for the Pulsar but I’m biased because I have one😀. Yes, it’s the footprint of a Landrover but built like a brick outhouse😂
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I think you've misread the dimensions .... netcam says the caravan is 2000mm wide & the door is 2250mm wide .... difference of 250mm = around 10" But as you say, the height difference of 4" might not be enough if there's a aerial/other on top.
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Thanks. Yes, I did misread. It is a width difference of 25cm/10” or 5” each side. Doable I guess with care.
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Storage considerations aside, I'm guessing that with a pop-top you probably wouldn't have gear mounted on the roof to cause such problems ?
We have the predecessor to Trigano pop-tops, a Rapido pop-top, where the whole "lid" of the roof lifts, rather than the restricted area you have with this, or come to that, with Eribas.
If it's any help, having long declared we'd never have a caravan, ours has converted us completely.0 -
No comment on the Triango itself, but on motor movers. We brought our Elddis 302 and it came with motor movers. As it is small and light we can manoeuvre it around easily on the drive or any hard surface. However, when it goes onto grass it is near impossible to handle ourselves. We store the van at the side of the house (corner plot) and the lawn there, to the motor movers are a bonus. Technically I could reverse the van into the space, but that would the technically challenging due to the tight gap.
If you store in your garage from a drive then you won't have that issue, however not all sites you visit will have hard standing. Most sites with grass pitches you should be able to manoeuvre the van with the car, but there may be occasions where this is not possible.That all the help I can give, something to consider bearing in mind the cost of fitting them!
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We have a Fluerette Tamaris and kept it the garage at our old house. We had motor movers fitted to make getting it in and out easier and changed the garage door from an up and over door to side hung doors to give us the room needed to get it in. Make sure that you've allowed for the mechanism inside the garage as we nearly caught ourselves out.
The motor movers allowed us to be able to maneuver the van so we had maximum width down one side and because of a handy door in the side wall of the garage we could get into the van without getting out of the garage, though we had to lift the door off it's hinges to be be able to get in and out. However as they were easy to refit this wasn't a problem. Make sure you get motor movers that you can engage and disengage from the remote handset so that you can take the movers off when it's in the garage.
Hope you get sorted, we love our little poptop.
Julian
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Thanks very much for all of your replies. As it is so light I think we should be OK with no motor mover, even on grass sites. I know I was 10 years younger, but with 2 of us it was possible to move the much heavier Eriba Troll by hand, even on grass. I have spoken to the dealer and apparently it is not possible to fit motor movers onto these little pop tops as there is not enough space.
We are going to have to get a new garage door, we have had a couple of people come and look at it for a quote and the first person has recommended a remote control roller door for maximum space in the gap. We could have a bit of extra height as there is a Fascia board at the top which could go if necessary.
So now need to figure out the tow car. Earlier we were thinking about electric or hybrid but have changed our minds due to the undeveloped charging infrastructure at the moment. So that will probably be the next car. So we are now considering a Citroen C4 Spacetourer 1.2 petrol 130 bhp EAT8 Auto or a Skoda Karoq 1.5 Petrol TSi 150bhp Manual. We have been offered a really good deal on the new Citroen, but they only have that spec, although from my limited research a torque converter auto looks OK. The Skoda would be more expensive, I like the look of the Varioflex seats, but think we would go for manual rather than the VW DCT clutch. We tend to buy a new or nearly new car and then keep it for years and would prefer to do that again, so we want to make the right choice.
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and in our area for one, £749 per annum to store and part of most storage. agreements the vehicle must also to be insured, it is over £1000 before the costs of pitches
