Has the Nuevo been over-developed?

harrysp wrote:
But I’d go a bit further, as I now think a full size cooker is not necessary. The grill is useless anyway, taking an age to cook anything other than toast. A small oven and grill combined without the useless ‘saucepan cupboard’ at the bottom would be a far better use of space and payload I think.

I tend to agree, but how much extra space and payload would be gained if the cooker was replaced with a cupboard or drawers, not much I think.
We seldom use the cooker, and have only used the grill a handful of times over the years.
But the internal spaces of the cooker are crammed with gear, and lacking any outside lockers on my van, the 'saucepan' cupboard is essential for items that would otherwise be stored in said outside locker.
Al.

harrysp wrote:

Gromit wrote:It's probably asking a bit much I know (and would be of real interest only to purchasers of brand new vans) but it would be good if A/S could offer the very basic van Andy suggests, with a checklist of optional extras the customer would like to order.

As it stands most of the extras come in bundled packs, but they contain items, often expensive ones, that the customer may not want - but has to have in order to get the one or two he does want

That is something we’ve often said. But I’d go a bit further, as I now think a full size cooker is not necessary. The grill is useless anyway, taking an age to cook anything other than toast. A small oven and grill combined without the useless ‘saucepan cupboard’ at the bottom would be a far better use of space and payload I think. There are many dispensable gadgets on the Broadway such as the microwave, and I agree the shopping list principle sounds great. 

However, we went to a dealer to look at some vans before buying the Broadway where some came with the shopping list of optional extras. When we added up everything we thought we needed it came to 10k above the asking price. Ultimately motorhome fitted extras are very expensive and buying an ‘inclusive package’ worked out cheaper for us. Imagine the joys of a bespoke van!

Our van, not an A/S, has no oven, no grill and no microwave, just a 3 burner gas hob. I've tried taking a microwave around with us but they're big and unwieldy. We do use a Remoska which does very well and is used at home  at Christmas to add to the oven's capacity by cooking chipolatas and bacon rolls etc.

Majority of European vans don't have an oven or grill, just 2 or 3 rings, often explained by saying they barbecue outside more. My other half wouldn't contemplate any van without an oven. Microwave is not required and an extra cupboard instead would be welcome.

I think of the extras such as cab air conditioning, cruise control and passenger air bag will be a package offered by the cab/chassis manufacturer and AS have to buy them as a package

Eltel wrote:I think of the extras such as cab air conditioning, cruise control and passenger air bag will be a package offered by the cab/chassis manufacturer and AS have to buy them as a package

These days I'd regard all those things as standard, rather than extras. It's the conversion bits like oven, overcab skylight, powered water filling, cab blinds etc that are really not necessities and need to be optional.

Getting back to over development, is it not also the fabrics and upholstery that have become too 'fancy'? A plain automotive style interior would be my preference, rather than dressing it up as a mobile flat.

steamdrivenandy wrote:Getting back to over development, is it not also the fabrics and upholstery that have become too 'fancy'? A plain automotive style interior would be my preference, rather than dressing it up as a mobile flat.

Problem there Andy, is that vans would not (fairly quickly) become "dated" and old fashioned looking . . . therefore people wouldn't be so keen to change to the latest model.

Some of the old, and not so old fabrics could give you a migraine, but I bet it's done deliberately - as in many other walks of life. There are those who just have to have "the latest" (look at the queues for the latest iPhone!!!!) so each new release has to be different to make last year's model look naff!

Dave

I agree Dave, but even the most ardent 'must have the latest' tends to buy on a 3 year cycle, not yearly. Car manufacturer's run something  like 3 year update cycles and I think motorhome companies make a rod for their own back by incurring annual change costs.

Nice to hear of another Remoska fan!  We had a European van for 10 years, and a Euopean caravan before that. No oven or grill in either, and the Remoska was worth its weight in gold.  Initially having swapped for the Nuevo we left the Remoska at home and used the oven (twice) but several trips in, the Remoska is now in the Nuevo and the oven is used as a cupboard! We do appreciate having the grill though, cheese on toast being possible makes us happy campers.

I agree that the Nuevo has been over developed, bring back the over cab cupboard (and ditch the sun roof) get rid of the fancy water fill mechanism and bring back the hole you pour water into.
A microwave is of no use to me except as an expensive bread bin although I would keep the TV aerial (although not the flying saucer type)

I don't follow model changes, but have they changed significantly since 2013, apart cosmetic changes of fabric and wood finish? 

If everything was optional think of the nightmare of finding a used van with the features you want!

Mike

I know what you mean Mike, trying to source a Talisman with the later Italian design furniture and cab aircon.

That’s the spirit

PLOUGHLIN wrote:The over cab cupboard is a no cost option, as is the Luton berth. The hole you pour water into is provided as standard as well as the Truma/Whale fill.

Quite so Peter, and in fairness to A/S it does indicate that they listen to customers. 

Our attitude is pretty similar to Askit. A complex beast like a motorhome is never going to be perfect in every detail . . . and certainly not for long with all the potholes we have to negotiate! 

We've done a lot of looking over the years, but never found anything else we would rather have. 

Mike187 wrote:I don't follow model changes, but have they changed significantly since 2013, apart cosmetic changes of fabric and wood finish? 

If everything was optional think of the nightmare of finding a used van with the features you want!

Mike

The only feature of the newer vans I’d like is the flyscreen on the hab door. A lot of money though for a bit of netting

Are we actually asking the right question in the thread title? 

If you think about it the Nuevo is kitted out in the same style and the same level of equipment that all A/S vans have and they are the things that have 'developed' over the years. The basics  of he Nuevo have remained the same. By that I mean it's still a short and by comparison with the rest of the market, very short, coachbuilt van. 

Maybe the only thing that makes it 'over developed' is, like the A/S Symbol, that it's still around, under the same model name, after so many years. There've been a  number of other, larger A/S Peugeot coachbuilts over the decades but their model name keeps changing but the Nuevo model name soldiers on.

Of course it could be said that A/S were over stretching the Nuevo concept when the offered a rear lounge version, after all, in times past that would have generated a new model name. But can they be blamed for trying to squeeze as much as they could from a semi cult model?

Maybe the question we should be asking is 'Have A/S vans been over-developed'?

We have always had a 'naughty cupboard' in our vans. We have been away for a few days, just back today, and decided that in the Nuevo, the microwave will be the naughty cupboard. It will store chocolate biscuits, crisps and so on. I don't think we'll ever have any other use for it.

gassygassy wrote:We have always had a 'naughty cupboard' in our vans. We have been away for a few days, just back today, and decided that in the Nuevo, the microwave will be the naughty cupboard. It will store chocolate biscuits, crisps and so on. I don't think we'll ever have any other use for it.

Exactly what we have generally used the microwave for over the summer. 
Unfortunately, when temperatures get to the mid 20’s the microwave gets very warm inside (at least mine does) and even storing bread has not been possible. 
You wouldn’t want to see the state a pack of chocolate fingers looked like!

Yes I get your point. Important foods which may suffer in heat, such as chocolate biscuits need to be kept in the fridge.
Having said that, I do think the size of the fridge in the Nuevo is spot on. Our last van, a panel van, had a huge almost floor-to-ceiling fridge with a separate freezer on top. We kept all sorts of stuff in it that did not benefit at all from being kept cold, the fridge would have used a lot of gas to keep it cool.

harrysp wrote:

Mike187 wrote:I don't follow model changes, but have they changed significantly since 2013, apart cosmetic changes of fabric and wood finish? 

If everything was optional think of the nightmare of finding a used van with the features you want!

Mike

The only feature of the newer vans I’d like is the flyscreen on the hab door. A lot of money though for a bit of netting

And then you find that you need to open the flyscreen and the door to get some cutlery out!

The Nuevo is a relatively high spec motorhome and as with any high spec product there will always some parts of the spec you don't need or want.  We certainly wouldn't want to be without the oven and microwave and the three methods of filling the on-board fresh water tank are sensible and useful.  For some the rear corner steadies aren't required.  For me the Truma i-Net box/capability is a waste of money but I would like to have had a decent TV antenna on an elevating mast that is directional and can alternate between vertical and horizontal - just like the one I had on my caravan for years.

I meant to add that the 4 glass wine glasses and the space they took were wasteful (and yes we do drink wine) as were the melamine mugs that couldn't have boiling water put in them.  One of the more useful additions to the spec were 4 china Marquis mugs which they gave us for free!

We didn't get any wine glasses or melamine or china mugs - but then ours was 'used' when we got it. I say 'used' because it had 1800 miles on the clock, at 4 years old. It was the same as new apart from the lack of wine glasses and mugs. We use the glasses cupboard for storing DVDs and books.

The wine glasses and crockery can hardly qualify under 'over developed' as they've been a unique and slightly idiosyncratic part of the A/S proposition for decades. An element of folklore, if you will.