Symbol; Symphony; Dueto....?

We are thinking of getting another small m/h after 6 year's absence and an Autosleeper looks like a good fit. Previously, we had a Romahome Dimension which we bought new. However, circumstances meant we weren't using it much and a newish motorhome sitting in the drive is a lot of money doing nothing. Now we are looking at secondhand and there's a lot more Autosleepers than Dimensions and they are priced more attractively. I can't see from the descriptions on the ones I've seen what the difference is between the Symphony, the Symbol and the Duetto.

Anyone her able to help?

Thanks

sniffy

I suppose the obvious difference between the Symphony/Symbol and the Duetto is the base vehicle, the Duetto being on the Transit and the others on Peugeot Boxers. The layout for all is the same (except Symbol ES which replaces side bench with an extra forward facing single seat which converts to a bench for sleeping). The Symphony was replaced by the Symbol (although both were made together for a short while) with some slight equipment changes - namely a 3 burner cooker, a large Heki rooflight and later style worktop/taps etc.
The base vehicles of course changed as manufacturers changed models, the Transit going through various changes from Mk5 to Mk7 and the Boxer changing from X230, through X244 to X250 and now X290 while the interiors remained pretty much the same but updating materials and fittings.

Welcome to the forum.    I would go along with what Paul has said and add you will probably find more Symphony/Symbol models than the Duettos and there was another to throw in on a Pug base - the Harmony

Hello and from a sunny Leicestershire

A major point is that all Duettos, from the MK4 to the MK7 Transit are rear wheel drive, all the Peugeots are front wheel drive.

Hello Sniffy and welcome to the forum from a sunny Leicestershire .

We enjoy the choice we made, brilliant for short or long breaks, we're just back from 5 weeks in Spain, and it drives like a dream.

Jeff

I thought I'd posted a reply before but it seems to have disappeared. Anyway, thanks for the replise and welcomes - much appreciated. I now have a better idea of what I'm looking at and looking for.

I don't want to spend more than about £10,000 so I guess I'm not going to get anything less than about 16 years old. Does anyone have any suggestions for well known issues I should look out for?

Thanks

sniffy

On both Transits and Boxers of that age the main problem areas are rust. On Transits that's just about everywhere, on Boxers it's sills, rear suspension mounts and front crossmember. On habitation equipment just make sure everything works.

Hello I have a 1996 duetto and I think that it,s a good choice the parts are cheap and it,s a very reliable motor home but the most problem is the rust if you can find a good one with some new wheel arches and rear doors it,s perfect   After it,s not a Ferrari one of my friend have a font vendome fortyvan and the last ford are very fast but it,s cost 44000 euros

My Duetto is 1996 and lovely. Rust is minimal and I've just had it waxoled as I want to keep it.

Pascal and Sue68 - good to hear from you and thanks for posting. Your Duettos sound good - very encouraging.

There's a few available not far from me so I'm looking forward to inspecting a few.

sniffy

Pros and cons with both, before I bought my symphony I was actually looking for a duetto but couldn't find one at that time that wasn't too rusty. The ford I think is a nicer drive, but the boxer is nicer to live in, because of dash mounted gear lever and right hand hand brake there's nothing in the way when you walk through to the back.
I'm very happy with my '97 symphony, it drives well and is pretty much rust free.
Have a look at a few and be prepared to travel.

Dave

Hi,
We opted for a 2001 symbol as at that time the symbol was a lot wider than the transit so I could sleep across the van and leave a lot of the cushions at home. In retrospect I wish I had bought a transit, the symbol floor drops behind the seats so when the passenger seat is rotated my wifes feet were dangling in mid air. I never had any rust problems but I had troubles with the clutch, gearbox, wheel bearings etc. All due to makers poor quality. The petrol engine was ok for power and gave about 23 mpg. But when it developed an idle speed fault it was an expensive nightmare to get fixed, mainly because none of the peugeot garages knew anything about them. I had a number of transit service vans in the late 90's 100,000 miles fault free and the last turbo diesel was a star, they also had an excellent drivers seat. Parts are still available and I would expect garage support to still be good. The bottom line ishow good the van you are looking is, bear in mind poor peugeot customer support for older vans. If possible buy a volkswagen, then a ford, then a peugeot,
Happy hunting,
Chris

I'd agree with Chris, but the VW suffers from being the narrowest of the lot in panel van form.