Feeling a bit disillusioned with Warwick XL

Hi all,

I am not quite sure what to expect, but I am feeling a little bit disillusioned with our 67 plate Warwick XL.

The list of niggles just keeps growing ( and I am not a DIY person to repair myself )

So far we have:

Decals coming off in the heat - warranty claim in train to replace them all.
A weep somewhere in water system as the pump keeps running every 30 mins
A weeping shower tap 
Bathroom basin will not drain without using a vacuum over the drain to clear air lock
Fridge door latch is broken and swings open when travelling 
External fridge vent has a catch missing at one end so  is loose 
Water coming in around the windscreen above the front passenger sun visor - leaving damp stains on the cab roof lining 
Ongoing rattles form the fibre glass hanging rail in the bathroom which appears looser at one end and not secured properly to the ceiling 
Faulty catch on the  saucepan drawer under the cooker
Day light can be seen through the seals on the rear door - warranty claim rejected-- got to go to Peugeot
Faulty step when it rains  - it just keeps going in and out the you start the engine - have taken the fuse out to disable it completely 
One of the roof sky lights is coming loose inside the van i.e it is coming away from the ceiling
Bathroom door does not latch onto the bottom hook and can  jam leaving you locked in the bathroom
The trim around the rear windows keeps lifting in the heat, have glued this back down countless number of times 
Dealer fitted bike rack is dropping on the lower rail after just one use

And so it goes on, this excludes the issues already fixed by the dealer.  Really unhappy with the build quality of the van.  its been back to the dealers 3 times already and goes back again in November for its first hab check and another go at these issues

Thinking of  just chucking it in and looking at the Vantage  panel van conversions at the NEC next month.   Grateful for thoughts, should I expect all these issues with any vans, or will Vantage be any better.

It seems you have just experienced what I have believed for the last 2 years that A/s build quality has gone down the toilet. At a site in Cambridge a couple of months ago I got talking to 4 other van owners. ALL had owned A/s vans in the past 6 years , not one had a good name for them unfortunately. The one owner who did love their new van in EVERY way was funnily enough the owner of a Vantage Sol.....

Wow  I can understand your concerns, but looking at your list there isn’t anything that isn’t fixable . It would be great, if we all bought our new vans and all was wall right away. Not so, there will always be snagging.

Some of it is Peugeot. We had similar ...daylight through rear doors, and water ingress via rear doors too. Hard to pinpoint exactly where, but finally discovered from high level break light. Peugeot were all over it  service was superb.
 Autosleeper replaced inside back panels due to water damage once leak fixed...without question.
All fixed now. Some issues same as yours with peeling trim inside and decals.

Had probs with twisted water hoses  missing carpet studs ....lots of wee things. We also felt, like you that we’d made a mistake.

Persevere.....it took us about 9 months to get it all fixed...but mainly because we are very far away from dealer and over an hour away to a Peugeot garage.

I tell ye, my patience at times was taken to its limit.

But......it’s a great van for us, great layout. Looks sleek, handles really well...etc etc.  We have used it for trips a lot in recent months and it’s getting better and better every time   Still finding out new things about it.
 Due for 1st year service next month, weee bits needing tweaked but on the whole.....glad we stuck it out!

Naturally you must do what’s right for you and your sanity, happiness and peace of mind....maybe just give it time? If you like lots of other things about it maybe stick it out .....it will get fixed

Can only sympathize with you, some are common faults which really should not be occurring. We also have the rear trim around the windows pulling away from the blind housing, which isn't surprising considering it's only a piece of hardboard ? liable to deformation under differing humidity levels. other manufacturers use better materials here.

I too am going to the NEC in October and will be giving IH and Vantage a serious look over.
Certainly everybody I talk to, who own one of the brands, can't recommend them more highly.

To be fair some of the problems are down to the base vehicle manufacturer i.e. Peugeot. I may be wrong but the new Ford Transit seems a lot better finished, if only AS would build a Duetto again. I am not holding my breath though as AS have said in the past that they will concentrate on Peugeots for their van conversions.

Hubert

I know the feeling I am beginning to dread going out in the van and this year we have only done about 50% of our normal trips out.   
At first the problems were Peugeot based but this year there are AS issues that are causing annoyance.
While we were away I saw a Devon PVC conversion on a Transit of similar age, other than a service it had never needed to visit a Ford Main Dealer (ours has been that often to a Pug dealer it could find its own way!) And there had been no problems at all with the Devon bit.  All at around 2/3 the cost of an equivalent AS model.
The van was a touch too short for us otherwise I may have been looking.

Thank you all for your comments, glad I am not alone.  You are absolutely right, there is nothing so seriously wrong it is stopping us using the van, in fact in our first year we will have 4 months away and covered 10,000 miles - and everything can be fixed.   We do like the van and are 100% sold on panel vans.  We have had people in France coming up to us saying they like our camping car. - it is indeed as good a looking van as you can get. 

We will look at the Vantage Neo, I would be concerned to spend - I dont know an additional £10k and find it is not a great deal better, and logically I could fix everything wrong with the AS and some and have lots of change left over.   I guess it is just the faffing around which is so irritating when you are a DIY numpty like me.  Back and forth to the dealer then to Peugeot, submitting warranty claims etc  life is a little to short !!!

Sorry to hear of your problems with the van..incredibly frustrating.
I was curious about the Vantage range so had a look at their website; they look fine but is that  a compressor fridge that I can see in the photo's?

merv wrote:Sorry to hear of your problems with the van..incredibly frustrating.
I was curious about the Vantage range so had a look at their website; they look fine but is that  a compressor fridge that I can see in the photo's?

 I think it is, they fit two leisure batteries and a beefed up solar panel.  I have been doing some research and some think that should be ok.   it is also the case we very rarely stray from campsites with EHU - and if so only for one or two nights.  Would not be my first choice but everything seems to be a compromise

Yes they only use compressor fridges as do East Neuk on their Fyfers (check them out).

My Celex has a compressor fridge, and for 3-season use it's never been a problem at all with just a single leisure battery and 100W solar panel. Provided you get a bit of sun each day it will run pretty much indefinitely without needing EHU.

If you wanted to wild camp for any length of time in midwinter with no engine run-time you would probably need more solar (preferably with panels that can be aligned) - but TBH that doesn't really interest me!

-mojo- wrote:My Celex has a compressor fridge, and for 3-season use it's never been a problem at all with just a single leisure battery and 100W solar panel. Provided you get a bit of sun each day it will run pretty much indefinitely without needing EHU.

If you wanted to wild camp for any length of time in midwinter with no engine run-time you would probably need more solar (preferably with panels that can be aligned) - but TBH that doesn't really interest me!

Thats really good to know, thank you and backs up my extensive googling !!!!

roli wrote:I know the feeling I am beginning to dread going out in the van and this year we have only done about 50% of our normal trips out.   
At first the problems were Peugeot based but this year there are AS issues that are causing annoyance.
While we were away I saw a Devon PVC conversion on a Transit of similar age, other than a service it had never needed to visit a Ford Main Dealer (ours has been that often to a Pug dealer it could find its own way!) And there had been no problems at all with the Devon bit.  All at around 2/3 the cost of an equivalent AS model.
The van was a touch too short for us otherwise I may have been looking.

We met an owner of a Devon Sprinter van conversion on a site in Spain in the spring.  He said how happy he was with his van, his one and only issue was a wobbly table either wise he said it was perfect.  Some praise