Design? Beauty? Or functionality?

[Dustydog]

Looking at a used Bailey Cartagena, the successor to our Wyoming an air of disappointment struck us. Smaller circular shower rather than rectangular, Small round sinks and basins to name a few. Is it me or has functionality been overtaken by aesthetics and image design?

 

[otherclive]

Looking at a used Bailey Cartagena, the successor to our Wyoming an air of disappointment struck us. Smaller circular shower rather than rectangular, Small round sinks and basins to name a few. Is it me or has functionality been overtaken by aesthetics and image design?

In short “ yes” but in many other areas too. Just look at car dashboard controls. Who wants to faff around on a multi layer touch screen for primary controls to heat and vent. Fortunately some common sense is appearing in that domain.

 

[Raywood]

In everything we buy now design and technical bits we do not need are there. The caravan industry is up there with the rest, with practicality and quality well down the list.

 

[ProfJohnL]

It does seem that across many fields of interest style and appearance and gimmick seems to be given much greater dominance rather than good functionality. This has certainly be true of caravan design, they change for teh sake of change rather than the need to improve function or reliability.

Too many cars have followed this trend, and I fully agree the plethora of touch screen operations buried in multi layer menus is a turn off for me. Why do we need electrically operated door , glove box and tail gates, even bonnets we will soon forget how to use our hands...... And it means its more equipment to go wrong.

 

[Kevin M]

We were at a local dealers over the weekend, seen a lovely looking Bailey Discovery D4-4, entry level van apparently but quite a bit different in external design, for a cheaper van it had everything you could need but different in looks. (Anyone else seen these?)
My company car is anew golf gtd, cracking car but tge controls are definitely form over function.

Kev

 

[otherclive]

We were at a local dealers over the weekend, seen a lovely looking Bailey Discovery D4-4, entry level van apparently but quite a bit different in external design, for a cheaper van it had everything you could need but different in looks. (Anyone else seen these?)
My company car is anew golf gtd, cracking car but tge controls are definitely form over function.

Kev

Yes a nearby house has a new Discovery D4-4 in a nice pale grey shade. To me it’s a very unfussy external design which I find very nice.

 

[Kevin M]

Carries on inside Clive, very unfussy but everything you could need.

Kev

 

[Mel]

I like tiny vans and still mourn the loss of our Xplore 302 ( succumbed to uneconomic damp). Simple Caravanning is great. Andrew Ditton did a positive review of the D4. I am not keen on the narrow front window though.

As far as the OP goes: can I just say Salad Bowl Sinks!!! Touted as stylish but actually only there to save carpentry. Your hands are wet and so you drip water all over the surface as you pick up the soap dispenser or soap. The muck goes all under the bowl and is a nightmare to clean. You then drip more water as you turn off the tap. If you want to see a triumph of style over functionality, ( not to mention designed by someone who has never cleaned a bathroom) you need look no further than salad bowl sinks. 😱😡😡

 

[otherclive]

I like tiny vans and still mourn the loss of our Xplore 302 ( succumbed to uneconomic damp). Simple Caravanning is great. Andrew Ditton did a positive review of the D4. I am not keen on the narrow front window though.

As far as the OP goes: can I just say Salad Bowl Sinks!!! Touted as stylish but actually only there to save carpentry. Your hands are wet and so you drip water all over the surface as you pick up the soap dispenser or soap. The muck goes all under the bowl and is a nightmare to clean. You then drip more water as you turn off the tap. If you want to see a triumph of style over functionality, ( not to mention designed by someone who has never cleaned a bathroom) you need look no further than salad bowl sinks. 😱😡😡

Agree we looked at an Adria Altea and couldn’t believe that anyone would put something as useless in a caravan, let alone a house.

 

[Beachball]

We were at a local dealers over the weekend, seen a lovely looking Bailey Discovery D4-4, entry level van apparently but quite a bit different in external design, for a cheaper van it had everything you could need but different in looks. (Anyone else seen these?)
My company car is anew golf gtd, cracking car but tge controls are definitely form over function.

Kev

Saw one at Wandahome South Cave the narrow window did nothing for me but we like the small oven but would like a microwave as well

 

[otherclive]

Saw one at Wandahome South Cave the narrow window did nothing for me but we like the small oven but would like a microwave as well

Not too difficult to fit a small microwave if required. It is the entry level caravan of Baileys range. Our Sprite did not come with microwave, but the fittings and holes and power point were all installed in a locker above the cooker.

 

[Kevin M]

On our current van we have a pv panel (never camp off grid) and a lovely microwave (never used it)
Our next van will be as light and basic as possible so long as its comfy, oh and has a fixed bed (that's me being caring and thinking of sue having to make the bed up every night - 😀)

 

[Mel]

I know I bang on about the Xplore range, which is daft really as ours died of damp, so the build quality can’t be great ( even for an Elddis) but as basic vans go, I loved it. Have to say, the Weinsberg vans look good too though, have you looked at them?
mel

 

[Buckman]

Agree we looked at an Adria Altea and couldn’t believe that anyone would put something as useless in a caravan, let alone a house.

The washbasin in the bathroom is even worse. In our of the models it folds up when you are having a shower and it is so flimsy that if you look at it hard, it will crack. However the rest of the caravan looks rock solid.

 

[Beachball]

I know I bang on about the Xplore range, which is daft really as ours died of damp, so the build quality can’t be great ( even for an Elddis) but as basic vans go, I loved it. Have to say, the Weinsberg vans look good too though, have you looked at them?
mel

Hi Mel would love to look at Weinsberg caravan they look great

 

[Raywood]

I did read the magazines report on the Weinsburg and it looks a decent buy at that price. The heating though is gas only which is a bit of a throwback to the past. Personally I would like a mixed heating system and forego the on board 35 litre tank, which seems a waste of space in a small caravan.
Not sure where you can see them though, and I would need to do that before buying.

 

[PTA]

As the architect, Le Corbusier, said;"Form should follow function."
We don't need decorative "twiddles." We. do need new technologies and innovation...which should dictate the design.
Sorry. Bit esoteric but true.

 

[Dustydog]

The primary concept should be maximising every square inch making it look like a square foot , The Tardis.
Circular sinks, showers waste space,

 

[Raywood]

Having looked at the new magazine and the Calypso 4 they tested you do wonder at what they think people will accept. This has no wardrobe but a fridge mounted at a high level and a cupboard underneath. To cap it all it has a load allowance of 70 kg on a four berth model and loses more space to an on board water tank. Sorry but the thing is not workable although Freedom actually go one better (or worse) with a 50 kg load allowance on some models.

 

[Dustydog]

Just spent two hours at Chipping Sodbury Caravans looking at used and new.
Very disappointed with the Baileys
Our Wyoming was replaced with the Unicorn Barcelona which in turn was replaced by the Unicorn Cartagena.
The later models bathrooms are smaller. Have mid transverse island beds. The B has a shaped round piece at the bed bottom which gets moved to the headboard day time!
The C is a bit better in that the top half folds up
No windows in pokey bathroom . Linen container smaller, layout tight for sitting on the throne.
No Omnivent .
No convenient shelf for Sky box nor wiring for satellite.
Kitchen areas look smaller. Pull out table smaller than the flip over.
Both have wet heating. Is that a bonus?
General storage appears less.
So I am holding my cash for now and will nurse the Wyoming through a few more years.
It was quite noticeable the door fits and materials used looked and felt very flimsy.

Are newer Swifts and Coachmans worse or better than their predecessors?

 

[Hutch]

Just spent two hours at Chipping Sodbury Caravans looking at used and new.
Very disappointed with the Baileys
Our Wyoming was replaced with the Unicorn Barcelona which in turn was replaced by the Unicorn Cartagena.
The later models bathrooms are smaller. Have mid transverse island beds. The B has a shaped round piece at the bed bottom which gets moved to the headboard day time!
The C is a bit better in that the top half folds up
No windows in pokey bathroom . Linen container smaller, layout tight for sitting on the throne.
No Omnivent .
No convenient shelf for Sky box nor wiring for satellite.
Kitchen areas look smaller. Pull out table smaller than the flip over.
Both have wet heating. Is that a bonus?
General storage appears less.
So I am holding my cash for now and will nurse the Wyoming through a few more years.
It was quite noticeable the door fits and materials used looked and felt very flimsy.

Are newer Swifts and Coachmans worse or better than their predecessors?

I haven't looked this year, but the Coachman's I have looked, seem to be not as large space wise and a lot flimsier than our 2013, 560/4 VIP. I haven't looked at the 8 foot wide ones.

 

[Raywood]

Looking at the spec sheets I have not seen any loss of space in the newer versions of caravans and do wonder if this is an illusion. The actual contents like the shower can vary and possibly reducing the size can help fit in something else. I had not noticed he shower size being a problem when looking at Baileys at the recent show in Glasgow though. I do remember before we bought the current caravan my wife looked at the shower in a Sprite and said it was too small and that was the end of that one, so a too small shower can cost sales.

 

[Dustydog]

Here’s the “shelf for the sky box and tv.10 “ deep.Too small. The valuable inches have been robbed for the massive tower fridge freezer and wider transverse bed

 

[Christhecaravanner84]

“Floating shelves” to me are the ultimate example of “style over function”.

 

[GaryB]

Some of the bathroom sinks are almost comical. We had a 2016 Swift Challenger 580 and the bathroom sink was so small that you had to almost press your forehead against the mirror while brushing your teeth to ensure that all the water went into the sink rather than run down the front. We went to the NEC show the other week and some of the small bowl-style sinks were obviously inspired by Grand-Designs style TV programs rather than being inspired by functionality.