I welcomed you in 'Introductions' so onto the nitty gritty stuff.

I had a Avan 'Sportliner' for 3 years towed ny a Falcon sedan then a Toyota Prado, both gas/petrol. They towed without any problem at all. I was away from base camp 8 out of 12 months for 3 years and was reasonably comfy. I decided to sell base camp, upgrade Tug and TeePee to what is in my signature 3 years ago and went full time GN. I have not looked back and love the life.

My Sportliner had a single bed at back small kitchen and small fridge one side and small drawer unit other side, table and two seats at front. I found I lived outside most of the time so changed the front to a full width bench and open shelving either side with an opening in middle, worked a dream too. Being solo it all worked for me and even had a camp toot inside for when needed and that lived in the open area under the bench at front with a cover over it.

I would suggest if you like the Avan Camper and you are a couple, go for the Aliner or have a look at the Cruisliner. I always said if I was married in the Sportliner we wouldn't be for long, too small for a couple.

Another thing, don't expect too much help from Avan's after sales service. Not all that good if at all. Any problems I had I fixed myself including a full re-wire for 12v and 'off grid' camping. Make sure the Avan is set up for that too if you want to do 'off grid' camping.

Enjoy whatever you end up with.

Tupai King wrote:

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Will our IX35 turbo diesel engine pull any of these with ease?

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 You are limiting your replies when you speak in abbreviated text. For best readability you should include all your info on the message for best readability and no rely upon having some in the heading. More importantly, what is an IX35?

Is yer Google broken?

I towed an Aliner with an ASX diesel prior to changing to a Penguin/Escape diesel. The Aliner was no problem for the Aliner so an IX35 with it's increased NMs will pull it with ease. However, that is not the full story, The ASX had a tow weight of 1400kgs and a TDL of 140kgs so the Aliner fit in well with these numbers. The IX 35 on the other hand may have a higher tow weight at 1600kg but the TDL is substantially lower than the 10% normally considered right for towing purposes in Australia. Getting the TDL of the Aliner (100kgs, depending on who you ask) down to a level the IX35 can handle won't be a problem as it's only a few kgs, but again, that's not the end of the matter: The Aliner is very short on usable, easily accessible storage and you may come to rue you decision in buying one. I would suggest you look at a Cruiser/Cruiseliner with the 5 configuration.

The 5 has a kitchen at the front with two single beds at the rear and a low cupboard between the beds with a fold out table. This configuration has plenty of easily accessible storage in the front cupboards and again, plenty of easily accessible storage under each bed.

Nothing is easy though, is it? Whilst the front kitchen gives plenty of storage and living area, that storage is mostly limited to the front of the camper making for a heavy TDL, a TDL the IX35 may not be able to cope with.

As already mentioned, Avan are not tops in after sales or warranty like many caravan manufacturers so I would opt for something else, keeping in mind the IX35's relatively low TDL.

I did, many, many storage mods for our Aliner in the time we had it which increased it's usability. Those mods are all outlined in the Tech section of campertrailers.org. Alternatively, you can join the Avan camper club and peruse the mods members have made or search on line. The Avan campers have quite a following as they are an excellent design, however, storage is not one of their best attributes.

Incidentally, I found nothing wrong with putting some of the information in the title, and who doesn't know what an IX35 is????   Your question was short and to the point, well done!

As an afterthought   the Aliner is quite low to the ground, we ground the stabilizer legs on a few occasions in CPs.  The Cruiser/Cruisliners are quite a bit higher.

 

 

-- Edited by toglhot on Tuesday 10th of October 2017 04:38:04 PM

-- Edited by toglhot on Tuesday 10th of October 2017 04:41:25 PM

-- Edited by toglhot on Tuesday 10th of October 2017 04:44:52 PM

Our first camper was an Aliner great little van no problems ,my brother in law had the  sportliner and it was too cramped they got rid of it for that reason...

Thanks everyone for your response.

No intention of speaking in abbreviated text. I was not aware that I omitted to type in "Hyundai". Thanks for pointing that out.

We have just started to look at what camper trailers that are available in the market which will be within our budget of $20k to $25K.

Thanks again for sharing your experience and info with us.

Safe travels to those on the road

Tupai King

 

 

 

toglhot wrote:

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Desert Dweller wrote:

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PeterD wrote:

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Tupai King wrote:

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Will our IX35 turbo diesel engine pull any of these with ease?

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 You are limiting your replies when you speak in abbreviated text. For best readability you should include all your info on the message for best readability and no rely upon having some in the heading. More importantly, what is an IX35?

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It's a Hyundai IX35.  http://www.hyundai.com.au/cars/suvs/ix35

It should be OK towing an ''ant hill'', no problem at all particularly a turbo diesel.

We watched someone erect one next to us on a wet windy day, felt sorry for them.

They are a great gadget though & very popular with many folk.

As Doug stated earlier don't expect much after sales service from A'van.

-- Edited by Desert Dweller on Tuesday 10th of October 2017 06:30:44 PM

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 Amazing, 'pull an anthill'.   Considering a 2014 IX35 can manage 392nm and the same year Hilux can only manage 360nm, it begs the question, what can a Hilux pull?   A rice pudding skin -maybe!

Hilarious...

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The manufacturers specification for the turbo diesel show a maximum braked towing capacity of 1600kg. It's not exactly a heavy weight tug at all.

Being able to read is not enough, you must be able to understand what you are reading. Clearly you are lacking in this department.

The ops question was to do with the engine, read the above again. Are you getting it it yet? No mention of how will the IX 35 tow, the question was "Will our IX35 turbo diesel engine pull any of these with ease'.

So in your effort to show us how clever you are, you have done the exact opposite.

So, in essence, the question has everything to do with engine and nothing to do with with chassis, towbar, weight and so on.

How's that old saying go again " give him enough rope'.

Can't wait for your next post, should be interesting!

-- Edited by toglhot on Wednesday 11th of October 2017 10:49:21 AM

-- Edited by toglhot on Wednesday 11th of October 2017 11:01:57 AM

The Aliner does have some silly ideas, as already said the awning is a bugger to put up and tends to have few more creases than I would like. It helps if you're not too overweight when exiting the dinette. The drop down door under the bed is a PITA, i removed it and installed a pull out drawer. The lights are hopeless where they are, too low. I installed an LED higher up which solved the problem. In very heavy rain, little spits will come in from the top. The window rubbers stick to the windows, requiring constant soaping. The overhead vents will melt if the camper is kept under a cover in the sun. The top entry cupboards at the front behind the table are a PITA, deep and narrow, the cupboard under the table requires you to get on all fours to access it. There is no socket to plug in a 15 amp lead, you have to poke a lead out from under the bed, a really stupid idea.

No way would I revisit an Aliner!

Search and search I did, nowhere can I find anyone suggesting that the IX35 is a heavyweight tug. Seems another case of someone's inability to understand the written word.