Looking for advice on Swift Kon-Tiki build quality

[Just us on Tour]

Hello All …
I guess this is a question to all Kon-Tiki owners or past owners . We are considering ordering a new Kon-Tiki , however we are worried about the reported bad build quality , especially the noises on line about them being known as Con - Leakys . Has anyone ever experienced a swift with “Smart Construction“ that’s suffered with water ingress please ? Any advice regarding your experience with build quality and warranty back up would be greatly appreciated.
thank you

 

[Mzracer]

Just watch these videos, then make your mine up. Just look at the build quality not the size of the vehicle.

I have toured the N&B factory and they are open about their production processes and funny enough very open about some of their better processes like the side panel production.

N&B are playing to a different customer to the likes of Swift, Autotrail and Bailey. The cheapest N&B's are at the top end of the aforementioned UK manufacturers.

I know that motorhomes of the N&B standard could be made in the UK (maybe RS are at that quality?) but the mainstream UK manufacturers have set their stall out in a different market and it does manifest itself in areas such as water ingression, panel quality and furniture. When I have gone to buy my Hymers and N&B I don't even bother asking about hab checks and damp, because over 3 vehicles and 12 years of ownership, the 3 motorhomes have been bone dry and the N&B is very likely to remain that way. There is very little wood in the structure of an N&B apart from the furniture and internal panelling, in fact on the Arto I only know of one area of wood that is not in the areas I mentioned and that are two small supports under the extended dashboard.

For reference, N&B manufacture an absolute maximum of 1000 motorhomes per annum but the reality is that the production is more like 800-900, I am not sure how that compares with Swift.

I know what MH's I would buy if I needed to change !!

 

[Gunnster]

It must be in plywood floor I guess with the sides being fibreglass/polyurethane and not water absorbant i did purchase a damp meter for my 1st motorhome (an elddis autoquest) after reading bad reports on funsters! It stayed dry for the two years we owned it though

 

[Fatboy]

Hello All …
I guess this is a question to all Kon-Tiki owners or past owners . We are considering ordering a new Kon-Tiki , however we are worried about the reported bad build quality , especially the noises on line about them being known as Con - Leakys . Has anyone ever experienced a swift with “Smart Construction“ that’s suffered with water ingress please ? Any advice regarding your experience with build quality and warranty back up would be greatly appreciated.
thank you

If you want a NEW Motorhome a Kontiki starts around 105K?, I have had a bad experience with mine. They are very well equipped so you would not be able to get a new German van for that money. You may be close with a Rapido or Pilote but bear in mind these vans all have "Packs" to add on, like comfort, or entertainment etc which pushes a 100K van up by 20 or 30k sometimes. Would I buy Swift again.... mmm not sure, I have not had anything break or fall off but the damp has scared me. The plus side is the factory have taken this serious and addressed it

 

[Mzracer]

If you want a NEW Motorhome a Kontiki starts around 105K?, I have had a bad experience with mine. They are very well equipped so you would not be able to get a new German van for that money. You may be close with a Rapido or Pilote but bear in mind these vans all have "Packs" to add on, like comfort, or entertainment etc which pushes a 100K van up by 20 or 30k sometimes. Would I buy Swift again.... mmm not sure, I have not had anything break or fall off but the damp has scared me. The plus side is the factory have taken this serious and addressed it

Fatboy, you are right on the pricing, when I went to N&B you had to be looking at something north of £150K for a basic Arto.

Of course the trick is to not buy something that is new !!

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[IRHP]

Their previous Swift was a similar tag axle ,and they didnt have that problem, I think it was mainly because they were in Morocco ,on a lot of uneven roads and parking places as to \why they bottomed out a lot.

If I remember correctly they did a fair bit of scraping before going to Morocco

 

[Fatboy]

Swift tag axles are not the only ones that ground, anything with a 1.8m+ overhang is gonna ground out

 

[Mzracer]

Swift tag axles are not the only ones that ground, anything with a 1.8m+ overhang is gonna ground out

Yes it is school boy physics.

 

[Jo662]

If I remember correctly they did a fair bit of scraping before going to Morocco

Swift tag axles are not the only ones that ground, anything with a 1.8m+ overhang is gonna ground out

Many manufacturers use the same Alko chassis, including Cathargo and Hymer

 

[whisky walker]

Had a very bad experience with mine, it is being corrected at the factory, I don't know of another new Swift suffering damp, but I may be wrong. Just happy the factory have acknowledged it and are going to rectify it.

Just read your post about issue being corrected by the factory. How did you get the factory to take it back in, because mine has been back to the dealer twice but I would like the factory to look at the water ingress problem.

Cheers

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[Fatboy]

Just read your post about issue being corrected by the factory. How did you get the factory to take it back in, because mine has been back to the dealer twice but I would like the factory to look at the water ingress problem.

Cheers

I’ll pm you

 

[whisky walker]

I’ll pm you

Cheers

 

[RV-AL]

Roaming radfords on YouTube seem happy with theirs and made a good few mods to it.

The Radfords are Swift Ambassadors so doubt they can give honest opinions.