Which caravan
Hi
We own a gobur carousel folding caravan and have decided to return to a caravan due to our age late 60s. We don't want to return to storage sites so we are restricted to a max shipping length of 6m for parking at home. We seem to have come down to 2 choices either an Xplore 304 or swift sprite compact both within size. The Xplore is 4 berth has 2 seating areas which will help as we've got 2 dogs but I've read about rear panel cracking issues.
Any comments or advice welcome.
Comments
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One of the problems we face as caravan owners is getting good quality and reliability data on any of the caravans we would like to purchase. It is also very difficult, as I am sure you have found, to analyse any particular responses generated by sites such as these. Is there a tendency to report things more when they are poor or when they are good?
If you don't get many responses here, you might consider joining an Elddis owners Facebook page. I have done this for my caravan and for other things of interest. I have been lucky enough to find some good community members.
The advantage is that there is a stronger possibility that someone has experience of the van that you are interested in. It is still not an exact science, but more responses may give you more opportunity to make an informed decision.
It goes without saying that you should try to get the best warranty for the van from the dealer that you can. Good luck with your new purchase whatever brand you decide upon.
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Can't really recommend a particular make depends on which layout you want. However, you might be wise to get one a few years old from a reputable dealer with a good warranty. For example; in 2012 I bought my 2009 Bailey from a local reputable dealer I still have it and despite being well used and towed all over Europe it has been trouble free. Whilst I have had it all I have replaced are break pads (this year on service), tyres (when they were 6 yrs old), breakaway cable, jockey wheel (just wheel not whole thing), 1 x light bulb and 13 pin connector (my fault!). I have it serviced every year by an excellent local mobile engineer. That's the caravan in the pic left taken last year near Chesil Beach. Let the first owner sort out the niggles in a new caravan.
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I would strongly consider the choice of dealership. It makes no difference what brand you chose, if the dealer is useless, you are bushwhacked. Find a local dealer or two from recommendations, and then chose the caravan you really like. Good luck.
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Thinking outside the box, what about Eriba or Freedom. Not sure if they still make the latter. There are a few niche mini-caravans these days.
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