My husband and I are currently looking for a new van to purchase. Unfortunately we have no dealers nearby and to view options requires a few days away so a lot of research has to be done via Professor Google. We have narrowed it down to Kokoda, Majestic Sierra, or Option Tornado. We have during a recent trip south seen all 3 vans. Being complete newbies to the current van models (our last van ownership was in the 80s) I was wondering if anyone has had experience with these brands.
hi, and welcome to the playground. unfortunately, we do not have any experience of these brands but you came to the right place to find helpers. it might help to read posts that complain of their van experience. also, in the search area you could type in those names and see what comes up. enjoy.
Hi - appreciate your dilemma. Friends just went thru the same period of confusion. We decided at the outset to buy a good quality second hand van privately and it turned out to be a very good decision. Narrowed our field down to 3 brands and committed 6 months to looking. It took 5 months but we saw plenty of really good vans in this time. We finished up purchasing a Phoenix van from country NSW 4 years ago (3 year old) and its brilliant. Our friends that I mentioned above brought a brand new Supreme 5 months ago and its been back 3 times for repairs - another member recently blogged a similar problem with Supreme earlier this week. The good thing about buying a second hand van is that many of the problems have been ironed out for you - but you must also be careful as there are good quality and "not so good" quality second hand vans out there. Whatever you do I suggest you don't rush your decision - take your time and look at all options. Also, make sure (not by talking to the salesman) your vehicle is rated to tow whatever you decide to buy.
Be very careful about what your car or Ute can handle ,mine has a sticker on it says 1800kg, legally it can pull 1400kg and i think 120kg on the tow ball , so be careful
we have wanted a bigger van for a while now and we are going to end up buying another bigger car (Bummer,but that's life)
Also the Tare weight is not the weight you will be pulling you have all your gear going into the van to take into account
We went through the same dilemma 2 years ago and ended up with a blue sky caravan. we free camp a lot and have been on the road 15 months fulltime and we are extremely happy with the van.We don't always stick to the bitumen and have struck numereous corregation but the van has passed all the tests except for a few very minor issues i corrected myself. I hope this helps.
hi, and welcome to the playground. unfortunately, we do not have any experience of these brands but you came to the right place to find helpers. it might help to read posts that complain of their van experience. also, in the search area you could type in those names and see what comes up. enjoy.
Thanks rocket - did that but the threads are a bit old and was hoping to get more up to date info. Although it is a concern to see one brand seems to have had quite a few leak problems.
Hi - appreciate your dilemma. Friends just went thru the same period of confusion. We decided at the outset to buy a good quality second hand van privately and it turned out to be a very good decision. Narrowed our field down to 3 brands and committed 6 months to looking. It took 5 months but we saw plenty of really good vans in this time. We finished up purchasing a Phoenix van from country NSW 4 years ago (3 year old) and its brilliant. Our friends that I mentioned above brought a brand new Supreme 5 months ago and its been back 3 times for repairs - another member recently blogged a similar problem with Supreme earlier this week. The good thing about buying a second hand van is that many of the problems have been ironed out for you - but you must also be careful as there are good quality and "not so good" quality second hand vans out there. Whatever you do I suggest you don't rush your decision - take your time and look at all options. Also, make sure (not by talking to the salesman) your vehicle is rated to tow whatever you decide to buy.
Regards
Peter
Thanks Peter. I guess I would feel more confident about buying second hand if I was more experienced with vans and where to look for problems. Any advertised in our local region seem to be way overpriced.
Be very careful about what your car or Ute can handle ,mine has a sticker on it says 1800kg, legally it can pull 1400kg and i think 120kg on the tow ball , so be careful we have wanted a bigger van for a while now and we are going to end up buying another bigger car (Bummer,but that's life) Also the Tare weight is not the weight you will be pulling you have all your gear going into the van to take into account
Thanks Cowboy, we have a ute which can tow 3 tonne but plan to keep the ATM of our new van under 2600kg.
We went through the same dilemma 2 years ago and ended up with a blue sky caravan. we free camp a lot and have been on the road 15 months fulltime and we are extremely happy with the van.We don't always stick to the bitumen and have struck numereous corregation but the van has passed all the tests except for a few very minor issues i corrected myself. I hope this helps.
Les
Thanks Les. We also hope to free camp a fair bit. Living in Central Qld it's getting the chance to see all the options. Googled 'blue sky' and they do have a dealer in Brisbane so will have a closer look at their layouts, inclusions etc.
We were after an off road van, not too heavy, and so spent a few days at Caboolture, checking out every caravan yard. We were initially keen on the Kokoda but after seeing a JB Scorpion, that ticked all the boxes for us.
We have ordered one and hope to collect it in mid Dec.
Suggest also that you give Caboolture Caravan Repairs (google) a ring they see lots of vans (under the skin) and can give you some good advice on vans you may be interested in. They have a very good reputation for repairs as well.
Firstly due to human nature, nobody really wants to admit they've bought a lemon, so will often praise their marque or say it has been perfect apart from a few minor issues, "I fixed myself".
I read many forums and cringe at some recommendations especially for the "Lemon" variety I bought, for the 3rd caravan I have owned (we now are on our 5th RV and feel we have at last got it right).
Do lots of homework and one of the best suggestions so far like Vic41 above states, is contact the the poor, or not so poor repairers that have to try and put the damn thing right when the leaks and bad workmanship have done their job.
Caravan purchase in Oz is fraught with problems especially for the uninitiated new buyer.
Warranty is only as good as the actual warranty you get when you really need it. Some dealers and lots of manufacturers, I'm sorry to say, feel once the new van has left their premises it's no longer their problem. Then it becomes your big problem like in my case a $65k problem, but that was in the past, but I still get a sour taste in my mouth when I think what we went through.
Oh and my dealers answer was "It's only a caravan what do you expect "
-- Edited by banjo on Saturday 1st of November 2014 02:25:25 PM
We did the same exercise 2 years ago and now live 24/7 in our Jayco Starcraft when it is not being dragged around the place
VERY important stuff to consider has already been mooted here, however the total weight (ATM) of the van (thats empty van plus tow ball plus payload) MUST be the same or less than the maximum towing capactity of your vehicle. Also the weight on the towball is important too. Your tow vehicle handbook will give you all those details.
We based our purchase on the following.
Weight and size, towability (ease of towing) accessories to free camp (solar, 2 house batteries etc) and overall comfort. We use our van to accomodate ourselves in our travels. The travel itself is important to be safe so we got AL-KO ESC, Have a look at a youtube presentation on this one) a weight distribution kit from Hayman Reece and rear view camera.
The bed is a queen size pillow top and very comfortable for a great nights sleep. We have shower, toilet, washing machine with a few other "comfort" add ons we had added to the van when it was built for us.
We decided on Jayco as the network of dealers and service agencies is huge, we have had a few issues that were promptly and freely dealt with by Jayco. So all in all, service and backup are important, make sure you insure the van (we have CIL) and enjoy this amaizing country of ours.'
Safe travels
__________________
P B Crockart EX RAAF Electrician,
Aircraft Avionics tech. Senior high school teacher.
We decided on Jayco as the network of dealers and service agencies is huge, we have had a few issues that were promptly and freely dealt with by Jayco. So all in all, service and backup are important, make sure you insure the van (we have CIL) and enjoy this amaizing country of ours.' Safe travels
We almost bought a Jayco for the reasons above ONLY. They make a very average quality van, they know this and back it up by 'better than the others' aftersales service.
Other then that, we wanted to make sure the comfort in the van, or lack of, did not compromise our time on the road. We spent over 12 mths looking at vans and bought our first one thinking we knew what we were doing. After having spent a bit of time in it, we learned a few things about a lot of things and just bought our second van. We have been on the road now happily for over 3 years, still enjoying it and have no wants to go back to our house.
My husband and I are currently looking for a new van to purchase. Unfortunately we have no dealers nearby and to view options requires a few days away so a lot of research has to be done via Professor Google. We have narrowed it down to Kokoda, Majestic Sierra, or Option Tornado. We have during a recent trip south seen all 3 vans. Being complete newbies to the current van models (our last van ownership was in the 80s) I was wondering if anyone has had experience with these brands.
Hi,
We went through the same confusion when trying to decide on a van. Ended up deciding on a 21' Options Tornado which we are due to pick up early December. I guess you are going to hear both good and bad reports on most vans, but when researching the Options Tornado we could find very few negative comments. Purchasing from Caravan World at Woombye and they seem to get a pretty good rap from customers.
The JBs certainly look interesting GarrynLyn - I can see another trip south coming up.
Thanks for the tip Vic41 - a great idea.
That's what worries me Banjo - it might not be a lot of money to some but we certainly don't want to waste ours on a lemon which will end up costing us a fortune.
Thanks Phil C - yes weight is a major consideration, we can tow 3tonne with a ball weight of 300kg and have been looking at vans with an ATM around 2400-2700kg wishing to leave ourselves some leeway. Have been looking (well husband has) at the ESC and a rear view camera will definitely be an added extra to whatever we purchase.
Thanks Larry - have had similar thoughts about purchasing a Jayco. They are certainly the most common van we see on the road and figured they would have a vast network of service agencies. ".. bought our first one thinking we knew what we were doing.." is what worries me the most.
Thanks Sundance. Will be interested to hear what you think of it after it arrives.
We have a few popular free camps just out of town - thinking I might go out and talk to some of the van owners.
Thanks Larry - have had similar thoughts about purchasing a Jayco. They are certainly the most common van we see on the road and figured they would have a vast network of service agencies. ".. bought our first one thinking we knew what we were doing.." is what worries me the most.
It sounds worst then it actually was. There was nothing wrong with our previous van. It was more disappointing that after all the time we spent looking and researching we still did not get it right. We learnt a lot more then we thought we knew and found a van manufacturer that would build a van based on our floor plan. Jayco do not build custom vans. Although we are happy with our new van, getting warranty work at times can be like pulling teeth.
In that sense Jayco are probably better. However it comes down to what your intentions are with the van. We could live forever in a day now with our new van. The layout is just perfect and makes better use of the available space.
