New Creative 21ft - Grant Family Tourer - Our 1st New Van

I love hearing of other families doing the same thing. I just think that in particular the kids will gain so much from the experience. Hope to see you and your family out on the road somewhere.
Happy travels Loz

Hey John & Loz
Our decision was also based around being away for awhile and we also have all the goodies in the van and it`s totally self sufficient as well (solar/12v,etc)
We have planned to travel for at least 12 months although not ruling out travelling longer as we now have no base with which to return as we have sold our POR and all our belongings are stored in container which we`ll forward to wherever/whenever we pull the handbrake on.
So really who know`s?
Our departure date is 2 weeks away and can`t wait, maybe share a cold one
out there somewhere on the paddock.
Cheers
Craig ,Lexi and boys.

Thanks for the comments guys .....

We are at this stage committed with work and only get away for maxium breaks of around 2 weeks at this stage. We are planning a 3 to 4 week break next year just doing the coast from the Sunshine Coast back down to Lakes Entrance .... we live in Sale ... Its great to hear both of your positive experiences with Ian Grants and Creative.

Our 30 year old Frankiln Van was a great introduction to caravaning and we have managed to use it 5 to 6 weeks per year hense our commitment to upgrading to something much more comfortable and with no leaks ! The old Franklin Only used to leak on my side of the bed much to the amusement of our 2 kids (3 and 6) and my wife.

We have had ensite sites at most of our regular holiday spots so hense we went the slightly smaller option and are towing our 21" with a 2006 TD Prado which i think will do the job fine.

We are looking at HR tow pack when we pick it up anti sway/leveling etc ... I have read a few things on the web and looked at the web sites and this seems to be the way to go.

I think its great that you guys are both setting off on a 2 year adventure .... You never know one of our express escapes might just cross paths .....

Cheers Trent and Michelle

Off to Ian Grants tomorrow at 1pm to pick up our van !

To date we are very happy with all the communication with Creative and Grants.

Just need to plan some time off now to use it !

Cheers

Thanks Graham for the link to that thread.

Just to update anyone who reads this post in the future we now have our new van at home packed and ready for our 1st trip. We have stayed in it at home for a few test nights all everything checks out well.

While i can agree with some of the comments made regarding creatives finish and attention to detail and a lack of a little bit of design polish. I must say that we are very happy with the build quality, finish and the extensive list of extras that are included as standard for the price.

I guess when comparing it to our old van we are are now 35 years better off and are naturally going to feel like our new pad is 10/10 im also enjoying the fact that for a 43K spend total we are 5 to 10K better off than some of the other brands.

As for Ian Grants well yes things are a little all over the shop as happens when family family and more family run business over multi generations. Also when a business is as busy as Grants is it makes it very hard to dot all of i's and cross all of the tee's. Going forward we would definitely consider buying another van off them for four reasons.

1. Location to us only 1/2 and hour from home.
2. Price was competitive and it could cost us $1000's in travel time and extras we found with other makes.
3. The layout of our van was at the time unique and suits us with a small room next to the bunks and not having them right next to the door. Also a van that's big enough that the family of four are comfortable and i am comfortable towing it with our Prado(2006).
4. Have heard horror stories about other dealers and ours wasn't that bad at all. They hooked up the van checked all of the levels and tested everything worked.

We find that people in caravan parks are always talking about what isn't quite right with there vans, what they would do different next time, what they would get if they had an unlimited budget.

If your happy to drive a SV6 Commodore and don't care about the bloke next door who has a SSV8 then you can feel happy buying the creative grant family tourer product ! If your gunna be jealous then go buy the SSV8 more expensive van and remember you can probably having just as good time as the guy next door with the SV6.

We did have to wait 11 months for our van to be delivered which was a long time however we only plan on buying one more new van once we don't need the bunks in about 10 years so considering its custom built in out colors fabrics etc and with the upgraded windows from dometic it was well worth the wait for something we have the next 10 years to plan our next purchase.

Happy Caravanning all who read our post see you on the road .....

Cheers Trent and Michelle