Dide46
Free Member
Well after waiting six long weeks our brand new 75-2 arrived this Friday, so I thought I would share our initial thoughts on our experience so far after spending the last three days in it on three different campsites.
Firstly I would say overall we are absolutely delighted with it and it is by far the best van we have ever had and the layout for us is near perfect. This is our first new van and we were aware of some people's negative feedback with new vans but from our experience so far this has not materialised. The van feels very solid and well built and I am very particular in this department (I have worked in the construction all of my adult life so I understand about fitting kitchens/bathrooms etc).
The van is big it is so spacious internally and is just fantastic in both terms or size, style, layout and quality. On the road the size is apparent however nothing that concerns us overall or would put us off owning one, you must drive it a little slower on tight roads and be aware that space is tight between you the on coming traffic/stone walls/trees we tested this over two of the three days away. It drives very well and the 160 bhp is ample to cruise along with the engine untroubled, we are averaging 25mpg which seems to be rising slowly as the engine is bedding in.
Storage is ample for us it's swallows all of our kit with easy and space to spare. The pay load is totally fine it has some fab touches like the locker on the floor take all your shoes etc and the lockers under the bench seat are massive and so easy to access through the doors or just lift the seats up. All your windbreaks, BBQ, chairs etc just slide straight in through the outside locker under the bed.
Water filling systems is excellent, clip it in watch the digital gauge and fill it up, couldn't be any simpler especially if you are doing it by yourself which is sometimes the case as the wife can comes directly from work. You can also access both tanks from inside the van which is a very good idea.
A few negatives or teething troubles I prefer to call them, the Remis blind in front of the kitchen is stuck and has a small hole in it, there was a slight leak from the bathroom sink trap (fixed that in about 10 seconds the washer was slightly kinked). We also went for the media plus pack which includes sat nav and 24" tv for the bedroom etc however the tv bracket was missing so we weren't able to mount the tv to the wall. The van needs to go back for blind and to collect the tv bracket which to be honest is not a big issue. When ever you do building work you have a snagging period and even the most consiencious trades people can have things to go back to to tweak, so a motorhome is no different (a house on wheels with fixtures and fittings that may need adjusting).
Obviously it's early days and we need to see how the long term realibilty stands up but to sum it up:- we are so far delighted with our choice and for us the van is everything we had hoped for and more and there is very little we would change. We had considered Hymer and other foreign manufacturers however there layout just didn't work for us as they felt a little cramped where as immediately when we saw the Bailey 75-2 we were blown away by what it had to offer.
We can not wait for our next trip away and our tour around Europe later on in the year.
Firstly I would say overall we are absolutely delighted with it and it is by far the best van we have ever had and the layout for us is near perfect. This is our first new van and we were aware of some people's negative feedback with new vans but from our experience so far this has not materialised. The van feels very solid and well built and I am very particular in this department (I have worked in the construction all of my adult life so I understand about fitting kitchens/bathrooms etc).
The van is big it is so spacious internally and is just fantastic in both terms or size, style, layout and quality. On the road the size is apparent however nothing that concerns us overall or would put us off owning one, you must drive it a little slower on tight roads and be aware that space is tight between you the on coming traffic/stone walls/trees we tested this over two of the three days away. It drives very well and the 160 bhp is ample to cruise along with the engine untroubled, we are averaging 25mpg which seems to be rising slowly as the engine is bedding in.
Storage is ample for us it's swallows all of our kit with easy and space to spare. The pay load is totally fine it has some fab touches like the locker on the floor take all your shoes etc and the lockers under the bench seat are massive and so easy to access through the doors or just lift the seats up. All your windbreaks, BBQ, chairs etc just slide straight in through the outside locker under the bed.
Water filling systems is excellent, clip it in watch the digital gauge and fill it up, couldn't be any simpler especially if you are doing it by yourself which is sometimes the case as the wife can comes directly from work. You can also access both tanks from inside the van which is a very good idea.
A few negatives or teething troubles I prefer to call them, the Remis blind in front of the kitchen is stuck and has a small hole in it, there was a slight leak from the bathroom sink trap (fixed that in about 10 seconds the washer was slightly kinked). We also went for the media plus pack which includes sat nav and 24" tv for the bedroom etc however the tv bracket was missing so we weren't able to mount the tv to the wall. The van needs to go back for blind and to collect the tv bracket which to be honest is not a big issue. When ever you do building work you have a snagging period and even the most consiencious trades people can have things to go back to to tweak, so a motorhome is no different (a house on wheels with fixtures and fittings that may need adjusting).
Obviously it's early days and we need to see how the long term realibilty stands up but to sum it up:- we are so far delighted with our choice and for us the van is everything we had hoped for and more and there is very little we would change. We had considered Hymer and other foreign manufacturers however there layout just didn't work for us as they felt a little cramped where as immediately when we saw the Bailey 75-2 we were blown away by what it had to offer.
We can not wait for our next trip away and our tour around Europe later on in the year.