review of 2002 -2006 Symbol/Sussex 2.2HDI

Hi folks,

Are you thinking about changing vans or buying your first one?

I like having a campervan and have had many over the years.
All second hand, some quite ancient.  At 55, My wife and I have had many vans since the eighties. VW s, Talbots, Ducatos, Peugeots

like other people I have read everything I could and tried to read between the lines.  plus I could never afford what I thought I wanted.
Almost everyone you ever buy is a compromise.  Anything small enough to park is very small inside.  Anything nice to live in is big to drive.

We decided that we needed a short/ medium wheelbase high top, easy to drive and park.  With the essential toilet.  Not white....heating and air con on the list.  Our previous van was a bilbo celeste, an absolutely fantastic small van, I rate them very highly if you live with out a toilet compartment.
I thought of converting my own but resale value would have been poor so we looked much wider.

We went to see a sliver Autosleeper Sussex advertised with aircon.  Disappointingly it had no air con!  The owner was obviously mistaken but I genuinely believed she thought it was fitted. For those of you struggling with models,  the very popular Symphony ran for many years since about 1993, became the Symbol in 2002? up until 2006 I think (approx).  The Sussex is an upgraded Symbol with a few extras fitted by one of the big dealers. the extras, as far as I know, a very big Heiki roof light, a motorised step and ..fake wood on part of the dash.

It was in excellent condition so we agree a price and became the owners in 20015/last year.  Full service history, 49,000 miles, 9 years old, silver, very well cared for. paid £16,750 which I was very pleased with as dealers have them advertised for well over 20,000. by far the newest and most expensive van ever for us!

So what is it like?
Over all we are very pleased and aim to keep this one.

Good
the classic lay out is easy to use and live with
The engine is absolutely superb, very quiet for a diesel, smooth powerful and economical, all you could hope for. Over 30 the gallon, well over if driven carefully.
nice to have the gear leaver off the floor but see not so good below..
Two single beds make up very easily and allow access to facilities  in the night with out waking partner. We slide the front seats fully forward and put in the small infills to make the beds.  i.e. we never swivel the seats.  we then recline the seat backs towards the dashboard and have nice reclined headboards! We are both less than 5 8"  taller people may need to swivel seats
The drivers seat has good support and adjustable lumbar support
The van handles well and inspires confidence
Autosleeper fit out is generally excellent and resale values are high
the large Hieki roof light is superb and really makes the van light and pleasant to be in.  with the fly screen in place you can open and close the ventilation with out letting mossies in.
The large windows are used on many vans and are great. Double glazed, fly screen or black out blind.  plus curtains which we rarely use.  only quibble is that they rattle even after me stripping and modding them.
Re sale value.  you will note I list of lot of not so goods but the fact I can get most of my money back when selling is a major plus point.  
I call it a campervan but in reality it is a baby motorhome and you can live in it properly. 
Removable carpets on vinyl, why does anyone buy anything else?
A good range of lights inside 




not so good
the gear changing is not so nice, with the very short stick you have no control it feels like a switch that you just throw, difficult to describe but it sort of sticks and then moves suddenly across.  I have carefully lubricated all the linkages and had it checked, it is in good order, it just does not match up to the best  floor changes, old fords and VW T4 etc.  The syncromesh must have to work hard.
The ride is harsh, very firm! and it crashes over the smallest potholes..
The driving position if very high.  I am only 5 7" and it felt as though I was looking out the top of the screen.  I immediately removed the seat swivel and this slightly improved it.  my wife has kept her swivel.  If I lower the sun visor completely I cannot see out!  very odd design by Peugeot.  it is as if the seat bases are too high.
The passenger looks out through the part of the screen not swept by the wiper ...
The van is surprisingly high to step up into.  I thought the major plus point on the front wheel drive was lowered load bays but that seems to be history.  it needs a step unless you are agile.
Being so high you do tend to move side to side a lot as the vehicle goes over bumps.
Storage is very disappointing, very little of it.  I have done some serious mods to the storage and I will post these some time.
If you want to use the bed as a double, the parts will fill the storage and it is is a fiddle to put together.  We have done what many do and left most of it at home.
The much desired diesel heater is slow to start and seriously noisy!  we refuse to use it if tents are nearby, it is too embarrassing.
Does any one in a van based camper need two ovens?
The water heater and air heater fill one entire seatbase/locker.  The water heater sounds nice but we never use it. Preheating water wastes power and you are constantly carrying the dead weight of the unused full tank. 
edgings on the furniture are not as good as early Autosleepers and are coming loose. 
It is nearly impossible to reverse up a steep hill, serious judder, this may be the clutch but I suspect the gear ration is too high.  This has caused us serious embarrassment when we met a travis perkins lorry head on on a 1 in 5 hill in Devon.  It refused to reverse and we had major juddering and no movement, so I increased the revs and then we had smoke billowing out either side....!  The lorry driver could clearly see we were not able to reverse and kindly backed down with his mirrors in the hedge both sides..
Elements of the fit out are more for selling at shows than using on site.  some down to price, some visual.  The reading lights are in the wrong place when in bed.  The table is awkward to access. the overhead locker is tiny etc.
Water tanks are not insulated and insulation generally is modest at best.
It is disappointing the the van is slightly wider than 6' 6"  we like the back lanes.  The early ducato/citroens were under 6 6"

There are quite a few not so good points but we can see why they have been so popular and we will aim to keep this one longer term.  if I could change one thing it would be the reverse gear, this worries me.

I hope that is useful to those searching like we were.
good luck
Graham

Very comprehensive and pretty accurate. I recognise many of your pros and cons from the Symphony we had.
Just one comment - your hard ride could be tyre pressures too high. If I remember right, I had 48 in the front and 50 in the back.

That's a lot of typing. The 'judder' seems to be an old problem on boxers, the various forums are full of comments about it. Apparently as you say it's due to a too high reverse gear which can be replaced if you want to go to the expense of having it done.
Mine isn't too bad but i only reverse onto the driveway and pitches.
If gear linkage is adjusted properly and greased at gearbox end and under the gear lever gaiter it should be smooth enough, it's not really meant for fast changes and you need to push clutch pedal down to floor.
Would agree about possibly tyre pressures too high but as often mentioned it needs to go on a weighbridge.

Dave