New Caravan Purchase

Bluemetaldaisy

Well, thats a fairly complex question to answer. Everyone will have different ideas based on experience (or even lack there off) and preferences

All I can say is my brother inlaw bought one of the brands you mentioned 4 years ago. The brand is a supposedly respected one in Australia (big factor in his decision) yet 4 years on, the whole front of his van is rotted out. The van has been stored outside but with a caravan cover fitted when ever its not on the road.

The manufacturers response, NIL

Now to some of your other considerations.

We bought a new van 4 years ago and were asking the same questions as you.

Which suspension to go for. We were like you, we wanted to be able to go on reasonable dirt roads. Well we settled on a load sharing leaf suspension with an extra leaf fitted and have since traveled to places like Lawn Hill NP without any problems

In most cases, the shower/toilet draws its water from the same tank/s as the kitchen does

We bought a van with a full ensuite and initially thought the same as you, just use the parks amenities and only use shower/toilet when free camping. Boy, were we wrong. The shower/toilet is so handy when its late/cold/wet thats its now used all the time

Hope this helps in some way, and good luck with the decision making

Cheers,

Cruiser

Hi guys,
I see you are in NSW but I would still try contacting Ian Grants Caravans in Vic or at least check out their web site. We looked at so many brands and went to Caravan show after caravan show. They stock 3 different brands of vans and their prices where very competitive. We saved close to 10k on our van by buying from them in contrast to the other stockests of the same van elsewhere in Vic.
We have a Royal Flair and it is big 24ft with a shower and seperate toilet, triple bunks and washing machine and have never for a minute regretted adding all these things. They have a the experience and knowledge to be able to guide you, so it costs nothing to ask questions.
good luck with it all

If you are near Eastern Creek Sydney this weekend there is a 4WD and caravn show on there. First time event and entry only $10 adults under 16 free. maybe worth it??

Thanks to you all for your replies. It's now looking more like we need the toilet/shower combo. I only need to work out how to sleep our two kids, since we'll probably not be able to afford a van that has both the toilet/shower combo and double bunks for the kids. Any ideas? I already thought of a small tent for under the annexe, but it'll mean setting up a tent, and it'll be cold for the kids if we're say, at the snow. 've sent an email to Coromal and are awaiting a reply.

Hey BMD,
We have two boys, 9 and 7 and we we have progressed from tent, to Swan to a full van. We made the decision to sacrifice the shower toilet for the sake of size and space. We have bunks and love the fact we can pull up to a camp site and be ready in 10-15min! We have camped in the middle of winter and so can apprecaite the midnight toilet run and all it challenges! We also have a Prado 120 and so oyu need to be very mindful of weight and towing capacity. We do not regret not having an ensuite but I am sure once you ahve one, you would never go back. Life is about stages and you are facing a decision that can always be upgraded to in the future. Further, if the children have flown the coop, you may be able to be a good sized van with a fitout that is suitable and designed for 2, not for more and then you make do.
Hope that helps somewhat.

Hubby & I are in a similar position, we’re soon to be buying a caravan to take the kidlets (currently 4 & 6yo) around Australia in 2012. We’ve been to a few caravan shows in Perth, and have pretty much settled on a Royal Flair Family Flair with off-road upgrade. Last year this would have cost us about $50k for the 20’9 version, so it will be interesting to see what the cost is 12 months later!!

Royal Flair have also added a couple of new layouts to their brochure, one being pushing the double bed up against the wall, and including a shower/toilet combo in the space. Seeing this is in the 20’9 van, we’re again heading to Perth in November, to check out this new layout and see if it would suit.

Things that made up our mind about the Royal Flair: Cost, finish to interior, build quality (that we could see), upgradeable options, standard features (PS2, pull out bbq, drop down picnic table, large fridge, more bench space), acceptable layouts, optional customising, good reputation, off-road control rider suspension, and low profile air con.

Some of the changes/upgrades we’d like to do are leather upholstery, as it’s easier to keep clean with dust and messy kids, possible layout change with the double bed folding up into the wall to create a club lounge/dinette (put toilet & shower into space created by removing the existing dinette), have triple bunks, but bottom bunk is instead cupboards and/or pull out drawer for Engel fridge, removable bunks ladder so we can get to the cupboards, external shower for when we don’t need the internal one, off-road upgrade, 17” rims to match our Nissan Patrol.

Hope this helps, and good luck!
Regards
Kym