Oh heck ... yet another very, VERY expensive show ...

[Minxy]

Minxy Girl It sounds fantastic! One thing that just crosses my mind however, you mentioned not using the Globecar since January (!) ........ will you find the time to use this one?

I am indeed a tad jealous Minxy, enjoy it! ?

We will certainly be using it so before you ask, no you cannot borrow it!

Its just the way things have gone that means we haven't got away this year, doing up and trying to sell our place, then the same with our rental bungalow, poorly dog, along with other stuff and the time just flew by, and here we are nearly at the end of September!!! Romy is very stable on her meds with a perfect cortisone level, the vet is really please with her so much so that the 3 monthly checks have been changed to 6 monthly, long may she continue as good as she is. We do have to deal with the 'puddles' if we don't let her out in time as her she has a weak bladder but other than that she's loving life and at Lincoln show had some lovely rolls around on the grass making silly noises with her legs waggling about in the air - a really happy girl.

 

[Minxy]

Hi Mel and congratulations, looks very nice and automatic as well.

Just out of interest , has the dealer mentioned the Fiat extended warranty on the engine/gearbox, five years for what I thought was a very reasonable fee. The problem is they are only available from Fait Professional outlets AND they are only available for 15 DAYS after purchase of your new baby.

May be of interest to you, auto boxes are expensive when/if a replacementis required.

your old Globe is running well.

Thanks for reminding me about it ... I'll have to investigate it as we intend to keep this one for a LONG time (yes really!) it might be something worth doing. I'm pleased the Familyscout is going well, lovely layout, very similar to what we will have in the Carthago!

 

[Chockswahay]

Minxy Girl ya know Mel, you have come out of this fiasco rather well ? I’m sure it was a lot of grief and heartache that you could have done without, however, now you have the van of your choice..... specced as you want.....AND with an automatic gearbox.....what’s not to like!

(Couldn’t I even borrow it just for the winter? ???)

 

[Pausim]

Some of the Carthago dealers are also Fiat Professional garages and if so can take care of the extended warranty at handover. You get the Fiat Camper recovery for 5 years with the extended warranty which we reckon will save us over £300 on recovery costs in years 3,4 &5 which is a chunk out of the cost of the warranty.

 

[Rob Turner]

Congratulations! Make sure you have a GOOD look around and everything is as you want it quality wise before you pay. What engine and HP does it have?

You don’t need to look around a Carthago ?????

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[Trev45]

Lovely van , I notice that each one you looked at seemed to be '' quite a bit more expensive '' than the previous one . Good job you stopped at about £90,000 . An expensive free ticket to the show !!!!

 

[Wagoneer]

We do have the sliding door but that's the wardrobe so no garage access plus the spare wheel is likely to be bolted to the other side.

You've just reminded me. Our sliding door gave access to a supplementary wardrobe in the garage which was basically an enclosed area surrounded by a heavy duty curtain with coat rail. Our van is only 7m long (with transverse bed) but find the main wardrobe sufficient for our needs. I removed the curtain.

I suppose the physical separation between hab and garage improves the overall insulation even though the garage can be heated, if required. Our spare wheel is located on the forward garage wall on the the UK nearside.

Suggest you checkout the bed mattress. Ours is laid on wooden slats and find it rather firm. Am considering installing a Froli support system to improve comfortability (£300 approx). Carthago use a similar system in their more expensive models.

 

[Rob Turner]

One thing I would consider is fitting some fans to the top fridge vent to expel all the hot air, only a few quid and will make the fridge a lot cooler in the hotter climes.
Although the 3 way fridges are ok, they aren’t a patch on a compressor type.

Cracking choice and the guys at Cannock are sound.

 

[Bustup15]

Minxy Girl
Extended warranty link, very helpful and done over email and phone

New home looks great - congrats and enjoy!

Fiat Extended Warranty

I have posted the following on another thread earlier today in response to previous postings, but thought it may be of more general interest...…. so re-posting as a new thread...….. Telephoned Fiat Pro in Italy. Helpful English speaking Lady needed to know details from my V5 DVLA Registration...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[Minxy]

(Couldn’t I even borrow it just for the winter? ???)

Er ... let me think for a mo ... how many wonderful home baked loaves of bread would I need in order to let you borrow it? Hmmm ... okay, for starters how about a dozen nice tasty wonderful white bread loaves ...






... that's sufficient to allow you to get your nose round the door!

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[Minxy]

Minxy Girl ya know Mel, you have come out of this fiasco rather well ? I’m sure it was a lot of grief and heartache that you could have done without, however, now you have the van of your choice..... specced as you want.....AND with an automatic gearbox.....what’s not to like!

No complaints here!

Interesting phone conversation this morning though from the seller of the one we were originally buying ... they've now managed to look at the COC and discovered it was built in November 2017, our suspicions were indeed correct that it has been sitting around somewhere gathering dust. What has made this feel even more 'sour' though is that they said they DO have a 2019 model ... at £8,000 more (it does have a bit more kit but that's still quite a jump) ... it therefore appears that they knew all along that the other one wasn't as 'new' as it appeared.

Their 2019 one without some of the kit we're getting would actually work out quite a bit dearer than the 2019 one we ARE buying - obviously they don't know what we're actually paying but 'ours' was already cheaper than their 2019 one from the off and we've also been offered a better PX (£3,000 more), so we'd be mad to buy theirs.

 

[Pausim]

Presumably the 2017 built one had the older dark cabinet finish?

 

[Minxy]

Minxy Girl
Extended warranty link, very helpful and done over email and phone

New home looks great - congrats and enjoy!

Fiat Extended Warranty

I have posted the following on another thread earlier today in response to previous postings, but thought it may be of more general interest...…. so re-posting as a new thread...….. Telephoned Fiat Pro in Italy. Helpful English speaking Lady needed to know details from my V5 DVLA Registration...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Thanks for that, Newfie kindly posted the below cost table on the other thread:

Its interesting that the last year works out a lot more than the previous 2 years' extension costs, in 'theory' it should be £769 but is actually nearly £100 more at £866:

1 year: £253
2 years: £516
3 years: £769 but the cost is actually £866

So is it worth extending it for the full 3 years, or just 2?????

Do they know something we don't!

 

[Minxy]

Presumably the 2017 built one had the older dark cabinet finish?

Same decor as the one we're getting so nothing obvious to the uneducated eye; it was whilst we were were perusing the longer one they still had on the stand (as the front lounge area was identical to the one we were then buying so we were working out where bits and bobs would go etc) when hubby opened the glovebox and he found a delivery sheet with some 'early' dates on it ... hmmm ... why would a delivery note have such early dates on for a supposed newer vehicle? We then suspected it, and ours which had the same trim etc, weren't as young as we believed so had a snoop round it examined things like the struts on the doors/lockers which had date stickers on and they were manufactured in 2016 ... no way would a manufacturer have them sitting around for 2 years before they fitted them, we didn't find anything later than autumn 2017 ...

 

[Wagoneer]

One thing I would consider is fitting some fans to the top fridge vent to expel all the hot air, only a few quid and will make the fridge a lot cooler in the hotter climes.

Think Minxy Girl's van has the fridge exhaust through the roof. That may complicate installing extraction fans.

If anyone has done this on a through-the-roof system I'd be interested to know, as mine is that type

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[Snoopy]

Wow looks amazing, pleased you both found one, couldn't take another let down for you both. My anxiety levels were rising, the more I read, have fun in it?

 

[Minxy]

One thing I would consider is fitting some fans to the top fridge vent to expel all the hot air, only a few quid and will make the fridge a lot cooler in the hotter climes.
Although the 3 way fridges are ok, they aren’t a patch on a compressor type.

Cracking choice and the guys at Cannock are sound.

Think Minxy Girl's van has the fridge exhaust through the roof. That may complicate installing extraction fans.

If anyone has done this on a through-the-roof system I'd be interested to know, as mine is that type

You're correct, the top fridge vent is on the roof but it may still be possible to do a fan retrofit if we find it necessary.

Having a compressor one sounds good but for the way that we use our camper, never going on sites or having hook-up, always wild camping or using aires, it isn't ideal, so we're chuffed to be getting a 3-way one ... and an AES one at that!

 

[Minxy]

Wow looks amazing, pleased you both found one, couldn't take another let down for you both. My anxiety levels were rising, the more I read, have fun in it?

Our anxiety levels were through the roof when we first 'discovered' the issue ... we then had to make sure the dealer got the message so we could get our deposit back ... that REALLY raised the pressure!

What is concerning is that we aren't novices by any means, having had quite a few MHs/campers over the years, but we were nearly caught out so what hope to newbies have! Its usually payload that people fall foul of, not the age of a 'new' motorhome.

 

[CazPaul]

Turned out well in the end though
I remember our first Hymer, we bought new in 2007, merc chassis was 2005 and Hyme r conversion was 2006, we did know before buying and it was a cracking price, great van too, not an ounce of trouble engine or conversion.

 

[Snoopy]

We had some many helpful comments, but experience (nil) just intuition to start with, fingers crossed we will be ok, went to the NEC last year, loved the single bed layout, with option of sin

Dinners becoming a double, then my bubble popped, realised they don't take monopoly money?, we went to view everything, so when we did eventually find one, it was the complete opposite to what we thought we wanted,
so couple months back we
found zebedee!, Hymer camp 2003, off to Hereford this weekend, 1st run out by ourselves?

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[Minxy]

We had some many helpful comments, but experience (nil) just intuition to start with, fingers crossed we will be ok, went to the NEC last year, loved the single bed layout, with option of sin

 

[Rob Turner]

Think Minxy Girl's van has the fridge exhaust through the roof. That may complicate installing extraction fans.

If anyone has done this on a through-the-roof system I'd be interested to know, as mine is that type

Mine is through the roof, it’s no problem at all.

 

[h1ghway1]

|Looks absolutely fabulous.. I'm sure you will have some great times in it.... enjoy

 

[PJGWiltshire]

Like all Carthago the table can get in the way of general use of the lounge area. We have the Chic c line and decided to unbolt the fixed table in the lounge (where it now sits covered in the house garage).
We then sourced a quick drop down table which we put in the MH garage or just lay it on the bed whilst in transit. It makes a great difference in accessing the seating without twisting ones back to slide around the lounge

 

[Minxy]

|Looks absolutely fabulous.. I'm sure you will have some great times in it.... enjoy

Yes he's gorgeous ... not got a 'real' name for him yet ... I'm sure something will come to mind when I get my mitts on him (ps I'm talking about the MH! ).

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[Minxy]

Like all Carthago the table can get in the way of general use of the lounge area. We have the Chic c line and decided to unbolt the fixed table in the lounge (where it now sits covered in the house garage).
We then sourced a quick drop down table which we put in the MH garage or just lay it on the bed whilst in transit. It makes a great difference in accessing the seating without twisting ones back to slide around the lounge

We had a play with the table to see how difficult it was to get through from the cab into the lounge and it wasn't great, then we realised someone had twisted the table 180 degrees round the wrong way, once adjusted it was very easy. Adjusting it is easy-peasy too as it's simply a matter of pressing the knob on the floor with your foot and twisting the top however you want, much easier than having to loosen 2 knobs under the table top then have to tighten them again.

We'll see how we get on with it, if it's a bit too big I'll just remove the existing top and put my own in - I've done this in most of our MHs/campers and it also means we don't have to worry about damaging it.

 

[PJGWiltshire]

just posted a pic of ours without table

 

[h1ghway1]

If its a him I have no objection to you calling him Paddy.... cheers, Patrick

 

[Pausim]

The advantage of the large table size is you can adjust it to be within comfortable reach of all the seats. With a bit of experimentation we soon found various positions that suited different times of the day and as already said, moving it is easy.

 

[596]

The advantage of the large table size is you can adjust it to be within comfortable reach of all the seats. With a bit of experimentation we soon found various positions that suited different times of the day and as already said, moving it is easy.

These huge tables put me off, yes I did play with the back and forward side to side 180 but quite frankly they are ridiculous and really cause stress, fine to sit down for supper, but the simple answer in my opinion that I have seen in a few is the ones that fold in half with almost seem less hinge giving you a more practical day coffee table, I saw so many in Dusseldorf it was as if all used the one choice of table and mechanism from the stock room. There are alternatives about.

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