Makes compared to cars!

[Huw_374369140]

We are just about to buy our first caravan and are looking at a Coachman in our local dealer. We have looked around at quite a few but not knowing the makes it is quite difficult to compare.

For example we were told that a Coachman might compare to a Mercedes car - which to us sounded like it was a quality make.

The other one we have seen in another dealer is an Avondale which is much cheaper. Can anyone shed any light on makes and perhaps compare it to a car brand. If this is useful to others maybe we could make a list.

Eg Coachman - Mercedes

Avondale - x

etc all help appreciated.

 

[ValA.]

But that's 'salesman speak' - and sometimes needs to be taken with a pinch of salt anyway!! Most caravan manufacturers make several ranges - budget, middle, and 'executive' - each range with more frills than the previous one, and increasing in price!

I don't think comparing with car manufacturers is a valid comparison myself.

Personally I think the best way to buy a caravan is to look at as many different manufacturers as you can, and make a decision based on what you want from a van, whether this be price, layout, quality of fittings, etc., etc.

Whichever manufacturer you choose to buy from you'll always find satisfied, and dissatisfied customers - and at the end of the day you 'pays your money and takes your choice'.

 

[rob_jax]

Huw,

If you want the equivalent of a Mercedes - then that means buying a German caravan

And I totally agree with Val - it's sales speak - and a much better comparison between the different "brands" that are made in the same factory would be to think of a Ford Mondeo - and then equate those brands to the different trim levels...

The underlying build quality will be the same, but hidden from you, and it's just the bits you can see - the trim and fittings that differ...

Robert

 

[Robert_374242026]

As an owner of Cochman Pastiche i find that i am carrying more weight than a comparable other size caravan and some furniture is not neccesary as it can only be used when on site.

 

[Jimbob1]

Hi Huw,

For absolutely excellent value and build Bailey caravans take one hell of a lot of beating plus of course design.

Another pointer we find is that that they very stable caravans on the road(loaded correctly of course).Coschman and Avondales are very nice,but Baileys for us everytime(on our 3rd one)God Luck in your search but most of all take your time, you will find the right caravan for your needs,but do look at Baileys.Jimbob

 

[RayS]

If you are a Caravan Club member you can probably look at back numbers of their quality and reliability surveys. These are stats. from members, not impartial research, but may give you some clues. from memory the last survey had Coachman pretty near the top in among the German vans.

You can, of course (and do) get "Friday vans" and the dealer quality is another large variable - the PDI which you pay for in the on-the road charge is done with different degrees of thoroughness - some are done to a high standard and some merely tick the boxes. Unfortunately there is very little published on this.

If you could take along an experience caravanning friend, they may well be able to point out the snags of a particular van for your particular requirements - something a salesman is less likely to do. Very few of us find the "perfect" van - some shortcomings can be rectified by DIY, but some are inherent, and the trick is to know how to work out the compromise.

Good luck !

 

[Janbo25]

We have just purchased a Sterling Europa so what are people's thoughts on them?/

 

[Dave_374330759]

There is also Badge envy to worry about. How many people do you know who wouldn't touch a Ford, Vauxhall, Skoda etc, not because that there is anything wrong with them but they don't feel upmarket enough (posers). The same goes for the caravanning fraternity, there are those who spit at Bailey,Sterling, Avondale etc and wouldn't consider anything unless it was German - dunno why, you get a lot more for your money with a cheaper marque and generally the quality is as good and you get more choice.

Another couple of grand for a badge?, I don't think so

 

[allen1]

Hi Huw,

I think the following vans can be compared to the following cars ie,Lunar = Trabant

avondale = Polski fiat

sprite = lada

coachman = austin allegro

fleetwood = Yugo

Bailey = morris marina

Carlight = Bentley

has anyone else any thoughts on the subject??

 

[Gumbo]

Bessacarr 645 GL = Rolls Royce

Land Cruiser = Excellence

 

[KnL]

Dave,

I'm so pleased you cleared that up for me. The past year or so I've been getting overwhelming feelings of grandure and superiority, closely followed by bouts of depression and inferiority.

It's obvious after reading your post that it's due to towing a Bailey with a Volkswagen.

Question is, do I now get a German van and live a life of spitting on lesser marques or go back to my Nissan and get myself a supply of dusters to wipe the spit off the van ? ;- )

 

[Hamer_5041128]

Huw,

The true Rolls Royce of caravans is a Vanmaster. You go along to the factory, sit down with an employee and discuss exactly what you want in your caravan be it layout, furnishings or accessories. If i could afford one i would be off to Standish tomorrow!! A truly Coachbuilt caravan.I can only dream!!

They do have some factory warranted second hand Vanmasters on their web site.

I am not sure about the present position of Carlight.

All other caravans are mass produced and ones from the same stable come off the same production lines. E.G. Swift, Sterling, Abbey and Swift Bessacar when they were in production.

Hamer

 

[spj]

I requested a brochure from Vanmaster about 2 years ago, they sent me some poorly photocopied sheets which most of could not be read, I binned them as they were useless.

To get Mercedes quality I aggree that you would have to buy German, I have had a new Avondale which I would compare to a Fiat or something French, the two new Fleetwoods I have had I would compare to a Ford or Vauxhall as I would the rest of the mass produced British vans.

As for a car badge the good ones I have had have been a VW, Subaru,3x Audi's and now a Mercedes and a VW, I would have any of them again, I have also seriously considered a Seat and a Skoda Superb and a Kia Sorento in the past but decided against them for other reasons than the badge.

 

[Lutz]

A comparison between British and Continetal car manufacturers is a bit meaningless. Firstly, the Mercedes brand has recently suffered seriously from poor reliability and only rates in 11th place overall in the JD Powers Customer Satisgaction Index. All top three are actually Japanese. Secondly, whether a brand is German or British rarely has anything to do with where the model was designed or built. Just as an example, all the popular Vauxhall models are badged Opels and the 5 door hatchback Astra is the only model built in the UK.

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Lutz,

I have severe doubts over the reliability of the J. D. Power annual reports. The majority of the questions are subjective asking the owner to rank their experience against what they perceive the car (or the brand) should offer.

If you were the lucky owner of a Trabant (I'm thinking of a car with a perceived reliability problem), and it both started and got you to your destination - then most people would tick the "Much better than expected" box in the questionnaire.

Whereas the owner of a Honda NSX when asked to rank it's performance would probably tick the "as expected" box - it's blisteringly fast, but it didn't achieve light-speed - which would make me tick the "better than expected" box.

Likewise I don't believe the reliability scores too highly either - if you review peoples responses on here about their caravans, many people happily report that they've had perfect caravans where they've only needed to fix a few things themselves - and that's not perfect... So again brand loyalty, previous experience and expectations heavily skew the information.

Robert

 

[Lutz]

I agree with you that one needs to treat ratings like J.D. Power with some reservation, but the fact remains that Mercedes doesn't stand out as being a significantly higher quality product than a number of 'run-of-the-mill' brands.

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Lutz,

I'd certainly agree with that statement about MB quality from maybe 1995 through to 2004 - even little things like the paint finish and durability weren't any better or worse than a VAG group product.

I believe that this has been addressed - and most MB owners aren't afraid to complain, and know how to make a complaint effective.

Robert

 

[cabbie42]

This has turned from "What caravan HUW should buy to the quality of cars"

The point is yes a car must be considered but only in respect of the one that is going to tow the caravan to decide then the limits HUW can go to.Then other matters can be discussed.