Compass Corona 576 - looking to buy - any good?

[trickysummeruk]

Hi All,

I'm looking to buy my first caravan, it will be for 2 adults & 2 young kids (2 & 4). We've narrowed down our search to a layout with a good sized shower / toilet (with separate shower cubicle) at the rear & fixed bunks for the kids, side dinette, single axle.

The Compass Corona 576 looks ideal & with the wet heating seems a better option to the newer Compass Casita 586.

I'm looking for any owners feedback on either of these models; having searched caravantalk & this forum I can't seem to find much chat at all. Also if anyone is looking to sell theirs this year please let me know - I'm looking for something 2014 or newer. Also any other models that you'd recommend fitting the spec above please feel free to offer any views you have!

Thanks!

 

[Anseo]

Not like for like exactly, but the Bailey Pegasus GT65 Ancona 2013 has a very similar layout, blown air heating though.

I can only say that I like and enjoy the Ancona very much; problems - well none really, niggles - yes, but all were relatively easily fixed by me, (after having asked for advice on here and some googling).

Guess you just have to shop around for as long as it takes to find a 'good un' whatever the brand or model.

Good luck with your purchase, be interesting to know what you finally decide to buy.

Anseo

 

[Martin24]

As with any second hand van it's all about damp and condition. If there's no damp and it's in good condition with a full service history then it's usually a good van. Unless of course it's plagued by outstanding credit and the like.

As far as the wet heating goes that depends on what you want from the van. Many people over the years have said they prefer the blown air heating for the quicker warm up times. May be worth considering in the winter with a couple of toddlers on board.

Layout. We found an end washroom when the three girls were the age to still need help in the bathroom invaluable. Now that they don't need help the layout we now have with the washbasin separate works better. One doing teeth while another has a shower etc. A side dinette has always been very useful for game playing and eating. The girls used to sit around it and we'd just have it at the front without the need to get the big table out. We still usually do this now.

Some people will find with just two youngsters that a side dinette end washroom gives good versatility and good day/night use of available space in a caravan.

Depending on how long you intend to keep the same van we found that by the age of ten the girls in the fixed bunks were complaining of feeling hemmed in and not being able to sit up and read. We solved this by changing to a van with the ability of giving them all a single bed. To do this with just two children of course is really easy with a two lounge layout.

Why do you only want a van newer than 2014? A caravan could still be neglected and troublesome at this age. Considering there have been no real non cosmetic changes to caravans since the advent of the cassette toilet, I say this because new construction methods don't seem to have completely dealt with water ingress, you could be missing out on some cracking good vans by setting a newer than hurdle in your way.

As always the above is just my opinion after years of practice.

 

[Tukums]

Are you on Facebook? there is a Compass Owners Club, you may get some feedback from there.

Compass Owners Club

 

[trickysummeruk]

Thanks for all the advise & shared experiences - it's really helpful. I'm now scouring the various second hand web sites to see what comes on this next couple of months. If anyone has other recommended sites I should look at please reply - I'm using:- Caravanfinder, Autotrader, and eBay at the moment.

Chris