Potential Nuevo newbie here - two questions

Hi everyone. I am a very experienced caravan and motorhome owner and I am getting older than my teeth. I have a car and a Rapido coachbuilt, 6.5 metres long. I think in the near future as my joints deteriorate more, I will just have one vehicle and of course that means the car will go.
Wondering if I can live with a panel van, I went looking at lots of different makes and models, all of which I think in the end will frustrate me with their perceived lack of space inside. I went to SMC Motorhomes and looked in all the Autosleeper PVCs, jumped out of the last one, and straight into a Nuevo. I was instantly struck by the sheer spaciousness of it, compared to the even longer pvcs. You all know of course that the Nuevo is 5.something metres long, shorter even than the 6mtr pvcs. The swingwall is a wonderful idea it seems, and the fact that to make the bed up one person can stand between the front seats and another in the isle at the back, making the process a lot easier than in a rear U lounge.
Now I have two questions:
1) Peugeot. The last time Peugeot made a decent car was the 504. I know personally of two people who have had problems with newer Peugeot cars that Peugeot themselves have been unable to fix. One of them would not run just because a smaller - than - standard battery had been fitted. The Computer That Must Be Obeyed didn't like it, and threw a hissy fit. The ECU repairer I took my daughter's car ECU to said that French cars are the least reliable in the world. I know that Fiat aren't exactly top of the reliability list but I would rather have a Ducato than a Boxer. I'm not prepared to pay the gazillions extra to have the Fiat servo-and-computer-assisted clutch version.
So my question is, what reliability problems have you had?
2) The Nuevo fold-away table seems to me to be a bit heavy to heave in and out of the wardrobe, even without all The Fragrant One's ball gowns, plus several different coats and hats in there. Also when I tried in the dealer showroom, I couldn't even get it past the TV aerial (which I don't want anyway). So my question is, given that you will have to pack it away each time you drive off, is there a lighter, easier to erect and fold up table that fits in the wardrobe? Or, can you get a goose-neck table support tube to fit a slightly bigger-than-the-small-one table into the Fiamma cone socket by the front seats?

Other than that, I would want on any MH the solar panel, underslung gas tank, air con, steering wheel controls, and pretty well all the things that come as standard on the AS coachbuilts.
Nuevos are thin on the ground at dealers. Some of them have one only, some have none. Does that say something?

I'm looking to replace my 2006 Nuevo with possibly a newer one. As you say they are few and far between. Autotrader have 48 Nuevos for sale but not a single one between 2011 and 2014.

As an alternative can I suggest you look at the Devon. It's the same layout as the Nuevo end kitchen but on a Sprinter base and is a sub 6 metre van. I think they were made up to 2011.

I'm really looking at a new one, partly because of all the "you can't come into our town with a smokey old diesel and kill our citizens, whereas it is fine for us to run buses with no one on them churning out clouds of smoke" nonsense. At the very least you can order a new one, and I particularly like the version that has cupboards all across the over-cab area instead of the sun roof window.

willy eckerslike wrote:As an alternative can I suggest you look at the Devon. It's the same layout as the Nuevo end kitchen but on a Sprinter base and is a sub 6 metre van. I think they were made up to 2011.

Can you make two single beds using the front seats. The Eton is the same body on a Transit but the front seats are lower than the benches and can't be used to make singles.

If you are asking about the current Nuevo, according to the salesman yes, you can make two single beds using the front seats as foot rests. They are height adjustable and I saw no reason to think that system wouldn't work.

"So my question is, what reliability problems have you had?"

None.

"The Nuevo fold-away table seems to me to be a bit heavy"

Ours went up into the loft OK.     I fitted a swan neck leg on the end of the bed box just behind the driver's seat, and we use that for much of the time. We also have a Fiamma tripod table which is handy for when we have visitors, or to take outside. Being a tripod it's far more stable on uneven ground than the big heavy table.





Making the large double bed, or the singles is quick and easy. Less than a minute for the double, but I would suggest you think about having the overcab locker option instead of (what I consider  ) the daft opening roof light. It robs you of a lot of storage space in the small van, and fries the bald pate when driving in the sun. Keep the duvets in the overcab locker, then it's the work of moments for the person at the front to throw them onto the bed.

We have looked at loads of other vans (as you do) but we are now on our fourth Nuevo. 'Nuff said????

I concur with Dave about the beds, singles are easy, double takes about 2 or 3 minutes from start to finish. Bit longer to put away but that's mostly wrestling the duvet into a vacuum bag to stick it under the seat. We use the table, it is heavy but still easy to lift in and out of the wardrobe. My wife does it mostly and she is a foot shorter than me and about half my weight   

As for the base vehicle, our 150hp engine is very sprightly and make the drive very enjoyable.

Between us, my husband and I have had Peugeot and Fiat cars and motorhomes and would go for the Peugeot any. My husband's 2010 Nuevo had a Ford engine.

Nora

The Peugeot engine in our Broadway has taken us all over Europe and Morocco with never a single stutter or worry ( touch wood, fingers crossed).  

We have a plastic stacking storage drawer unit in the wardrobe and a few inches of hanging space beside it. Add in hanging cloth bags of socks and so on and getting the table in and out, while not impossible, becomes a bit of a faff for a single meal. We have always carried one of those small wood and aluminium fold flat tables, which travels, luggage strapped to stop it falling sideways, behind the passenger seat. Last trip my OH cut and finished a larger piece of ply which can be bolted and unbolted to the centre of the small table. It travels either in the back of the shower or behind the seat.  This is perfect for our needs, being the right height for eating using our outdoor chairs and the right width to go between the bench seats in the van - neither of which we found true of the AS table. 

I think the AS table will join the swansneck table in the loft before long.

Quilter wrote:I think the AS table will join the swansneck table in the loft before long.

Morning Quilter

If your swansneck table top has the offset boss it's almost a collecter's item! 

The offsetting makes it so much more versatile, and ours stays in place for virtually the whole journey when we go abroad. It sits behind the driver's seat ready for the frites and steak hache when we stop for lunch, and fitting the swansneck leg is possibly the most useful modification we've done to our van.

Gromit wrote:

Quilter wrote:I think the AS table will join the swansneck table in the loft before long.

Morning Quilter

If your swansneck table top has the offset boss it's almost a collecter's item! 

The offsetting makes it so much more versatile, and ours stays in place for virtually the whole journey when we go abroad. It sits behind the driver's seat ready for the frites and steak hache when we stop for lunch, and fitting the swansneck leg is possibly the most useful modification we've done to our van.

I don't think I've ever really examined it Dave.  My dislike of them might be because of the nasty experience I had with a similar table in our last van ( Bessacarr E530). Having banged and bruised bits of my anatomy on it so many times it finally delivered the coup de grace when it removed a large and structural chunk of my hand when I attempted to fold it down. I rather went off fitted tables after that.

Quilter wrote:I don't think I've ever really examined it Dave.  My dislike of them might be because of the nasty experience I had with a similar table in our last van ( Bessacarr E530). Having banged and bruised bits of my anatomy on it so many times it finally delivered the coup de grace when it removed a large and structural chunk of my hand when I attempted to fold it down. I rather went off fitted tables after that.

I think we are talking about different tables?

I'm thinking of the one which fits on the swans neck leg like this.

Not sure if it is the same one Dave. The Bessacarr one had a ( nasty, sharp, stiff)  hinge under the table top and so the top could be folded flat and slipped out of the way behind the seat. When next we visit the nether regions of the loft we'll have a look.

We strap our 2 Lafuma chairs behind the cab seats when travelling so would not have room for the table leg shown.

Hi Gromit

I also have a new Nuevo EK

1. Can you still get the swan neck bracket ?
2. How much and where from?
3. Does it use the existing small table as supplied by AS

Ta very much

Eltel

Paulmold wrote:

willy eckerslike wrote:As an alternative can I suggest you look at the Devon. It's the same layout as the Nuevo end kitchen but on a Sprinter base and is a sub 6 metre van. I think they were made up to 2011.

Can you make two single beds using the front seats. The Eton is the same body on a Transit but the front seats are lower than the benches and can't be used to make singles.

I have used the front seat and slept on one side as a single. There is very little height difference between the front seats and the benches.
Cheers, Peter

Hi
   The swan neck table is great we use it all the time,It came as standard in our AS Surrey it is a little small so we bought a bigger top from AS (Make sure you get one that is of solid construction"not honeycombe") bought a socket as I did not want to dismantle the original and now we have larger table 
regards
Alan

When I asked AS about the leg, in Aug 2015, the leg and fittings was £113.30 inc delivery, £75.24 for table and base fitting.

I bought one of these in the end, fitted the table plate offset. £78 delivered.

http://leisurelines.net/multi-position-swivel-table-leg-1440-p.asp

PLOUGHLIN wrote:When I asked AS about the leg, in Aug 2015, the leg and fittings was £113.30 inc delivery, £75.24 for table and base fitting.

I bought one of these in the end, fitted the table plate offset. £78 delivered.

http://leisurelines.net/multi-position-swivel-table-leg-1440-p.asp

Not quite as neat Peter (arguably?) but better value for money and it certainly looks very sturdy. Some of the features are better, but my only reservation would be the table plate which would make it into a bit of a lump for storage.

Having said that, if it spends almost all of its time set up it doesn't matter so much about storage. I would certainly have given it serious thought, but didn't know of it until now. 

That looks good Peter, I can see it on the end of the O/S bench, to provide a coffee/sandwich/drinks table for both benches and even the captain's seats.

That's where I fitted it on my van. Stays in place permanently, swings between cab seats for drinks/nibble use, behind driver's seat for travelling, though we don't use beches as beds, having the fixed rear bed.

meanchris wrote:That looks good Peter, I can see it on the end of the O/S bench, to provide a coffee/sandwich/drinks table for both benches and even the captain's seats.

Exactly where I see it. 

May I draw the attention of the honourable member from the North West to the photo's I posted earlier in the thread. As I think I said already, it's probably the most useful modification we've made to our van.