Looking to buy a 2021 Kemerton XL

johnguppy wrote:Peter 
So true that's given me a totally diffident  view  in fact just 5 mins ago have been offered a  Kemerton XL auto  with 600 miles  who is changing to a Warwick XL as wife did not like layout  and at 70 cant see me camping in a field to be honest

...im guessing from this that you will be using sites, with decent facilities?
...then, if not using your own facs, any specific reason to choose a van whose selling point is a large rear washroom/shower?

If you cannot see yourself camping in a field then the above statement questioning a large bathroom for using on facility sites has some weight.I would also question the desire for carrying extra domestic battery capacity and additional solar ??Hopefully you know best what you want but I would suggest you give a bit more thought to what you want from a van just to help make sure you don’t become one of the early re-sellers.Hopefully I don’t sound too critical of your current choice,only saying do all you can to be sure.Then commit and enjoy.

Without wishing to upset anyone, please may I just add something about the need for a large bathroom if only intending to use sites with good facilities - there are those who need a roomy bathroom space because of health reasons. Several acquaintances with motorhomes do indeed have a motorhome because it fulfils their requirement in that regard - e.g. mobility, cancer, prostate problems etc. They do not want to have to make their way, especially at night to a toilet block. They do want to have some independence but be able to enjoy travelling and visiting new places as well as much loved haunts.
Many of us are lucky enough to be able to manage with a small bathroom but to some it is a major factor in their choice of motorhome.

johnguppy wrote:Peter 
So true that's given me a totally diffident  view  in fact just 5 mins ago have been offered a  Kemerton XL auto  with 600 miles  who is changing to a Warwick XL as wife did not like layout  and at 70 cant see me camping in a field to be honest

John

You don't need to be in a field to need offgrid operation of your van.

We do pubstops in UK, 2500 of them they allow you to nightstop in their car parks if you eat/drink in the pub, virtually never an EHU. Google MOONFRUIT MOTORHOME
In France we use aires and municipal site, mostly aires, usually in or near a town or village centre, usually no EHU but grey/black dump.
In Europe Aires have different nams according to country, suffice it to say there are 8000 of them!

We manage perfectly well off grid in our Warwick Duo with 100w solar and just the original LB. We rarely stay more than 2 or 3 nights anywhere, never had any battery issues at all, we never take care to minimise its use, don't need to the solar sorts it out by lunchtime the following day

Guys i have been overwhelmed with helpful advice it has been so helpful as we have found all your comments so helpful  comments so helpful  and the information gathered helps us make up our minds  it does seem i had a bad experience  with my local dealer  and now i don't need  air con on the roof  and i am not restricted  to white only feedback from  2 other  dealers seems much better and helpful 
Could i ask  is this forum  part of the a/s owners club  sounds as if i should join 
once again  thanks for all your advice 

Just thought of another question   it seems there is no aerial on the front cab   is this now using  the TV/fm  on the roof as  i have seen several with  just bungs   in the roof where an aerial should me be

The forum has no formal relationship with the owners club but many forum members are also members of ASOC including myself.

thanks paul

I'm thinking that you should still be able to buy another 80W solar panel. They are supplied to A-S by Solar Technology and I bought one from them a few months which I fitted. My dealer had quoted £500 to fit a 40W to be within the as then the EC700's solar controller's limit. (probably still 120W)

This 80W panel didn't appear on their website so I needed to phone for availability.  I paid top money for the extra 80W panel but at least I saved on my DIY install. Incidentally the solar panel came from them in a cardboard box labelled Auto-Sleeper.

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My 2 x 80W panels fit neatly between the roof lights, don't assume you can add 2x 140W solar panels unless you lose or cover a roof light/vent. I suppose I could add another solar panel above the cab but the aerodynamics would be affected. I believe glyne lock has fitted or plans to fit more solar than I have.

The Kemerton XL isn't for everyone and if we didn't have our son who joins us for days out we might well have bought something like a Warwick. If you want 2 x 140w of solar perhaps the Kemerton XL isn't for you unless glyne lock has some good news.

When we were last out in October when we visited A-S in Willersey to have repaired our external fridge vent and sign off on the damp they'd found earlier in the July, my wife and I were at last starting to enjoy having our new Kemerton XL but only after a year and after I modified and had our dealer and A-S sort all the problems we've had. We did make the decision to keep going back every year to A-S in Willersey for our annual habitation checks.

Peugeot has the cab radio switch off after 20 minutes. In the van to prevent me having to keep doing an impression of a jack-in-the-box every 20 min, when my wife wants to listen to Woman's Hour or us the news, I make other arrangements not involving Peugeot.

It's a pity that Covid-19 has affected so much this year, bring on the vaccine and the sunny uplands in 2021 for us all.

John
as a kemerton xl owner I wanted the lay out for the separate shower the seating area and been able to make good use of the front seat to make a large seating area and good cooking area. this lay out I had only seen on a Devon conversion Arizona or a lunar landstar ew or ews. lots of motor homes are less in price BUT then when you add on the extras the price soon starts going up. you said about fitting extra sola panels with the roof lights etc you can only fit what panels will fit in the spare roof space you have with any van you buy. I use pub stops a lot like Ian has said and mainly only ever use the ehu to cool the fridge before we go away in the van. even if I use a site I don't need to use the ehu at the extra cost as I have  fitted my van out with a second leisure battery and mppt controller and extra solar panels. when having the ec500 or ec700 turned on has a high drain on the battery at night with out using heating lights watching a tv  etc so to make my van usable all year round required some mods. from down sizing from a large camper with a garage at the back and bed above and large seating at the front  was going to be a big down size the only other motor home we liked was a benimar mileo 286 but went for the kemerton xl to be able to load my kayak on the roof better with a van than a coach built mh .as for the layout the kemerton xl we find works great for our needs

johnguppy wrote:Guys i have been overwhelmed with helpful advice it has been so helpful as we have found all your comments so helpful  comments so helpful  and the information gathered helps us make up our minds  it does seem i had a bad experience  with my local dealer  and now i don't need  air con on the roof  and i am not restricted  to white only feedback from  2 other  dealers seems much better and helpful 
Could i ask  is this forum  part of the a/s owners club  sounds as if i should join 
once again  thanks for all your advice 

Just thought of another question   it seems there is no aerial on the front cab   is this now using  the TV/fm  on the roof as  i have seen several with  just bungs   in the roof where an aerial should me be

Ref the radio aerial, we were told by Marquis that the aerial now runs up inside the plastic trim on the driver's side of the windscreen. I can only assume this is correct.

I think it's unlikely the base vehicle aerial would utilise an AS fitment added as part of the conversion.

I had the same problem with Autotrail    in the case of  A/S  its a hole in the top of the cab  where an aerial is should be fitted  like in every fiat or boxer van why put a cable inside the windscreen pillar  Metal on outside   and plastic trim   cannot work correctly 
I also found out that the radio  A/S fit has there logo on the front is from a 2014 van   so i guess  poor DAB reception 

The new boxer van has a dual  aerial  for AM/FM  and DAB  and  Sat nav three completely different  size of Aerials  so does the fiat van 

Does anyone have a plastic panel in the space above the cab  it seems they put it in there on left hand size

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80 rigid solar panel. They have many others too

IanH wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

80 rigid solar panel. They have many others too

it needs to be 50cm wide to fit in the gape and is why I used renogy panels and R/V used the same panel as A/S had fitted as he posted above

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Glyne, this one is 345mm wide, clearly 2 are needed for 80w, however, no need to re-invent the wheel!! If renogy worked, clearly did, then that's the solution!

IanH wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Glyne, this one is 345mm wide, clearly 2 are needed for 80w, however, no need to re-invent the wheel!! If renogy worked, clearly did, then that's the solution!

this is why the p v logic 50cm wide are made for A/S and not for sale on there site as R/V had said and the 2 x 40w that you have now shown would clearly not fit either. its what make and size  fits the spare roof space best

johnguppy wrote:
I also found out that the radio  A/S fit has there logo on the front is from a 2014 van   so i guess  poor DAB reception 

I have a 2017 Peugeot PVC and the radio has the AS logo though it is just trim. The van was built by AS in June 2017.
The DAB performance is terrible. Totally dreadful. I removed the head unit to check if the aerial had become disconnected.
It is a "Fiat 250 VP1 DAB" and is dated 28 Jan 2017.  Could be a 2014 design though I would say 1914 from its' performance.

Just had a look at my photos and I see the type approval is 2014.

From your reply it seems like the same problems i had in 2011  with another British motorhome dealer  who removed the cab aerial supplied with the fiat chassis and poked it inside the wing mirror  and it never worked from the day i collected it  it seems very strange that if you purchase a new car  today it comes with  an aerial fitted on the roof  that is three  aerials  in one  DAB /AM/FM and SAT NAV   all new fiat vans  have an aerial and the radio works fine   Now in 2021 there is no aerial  and a rubber bung  in its place   i suspect some hidden device  inside that is not fit for purpose  looking in the cab space  where you would see the aerial its been boarded over  DAB reception   has improved  and i have driven from Dover to Plymouth   with no loss of reception  using  main roads  
I have called  A/S and asked and they don't know where the aerial has been moved too  it could make me re think buying  a 2021 model   its another hassle  and modification  carried out  thinking it could work  just remember  the old analogue  88-108   FM is being phased out  before 2025  and replaced with DAB  same lines as TV

But mine's a 2020 model, not 2021, and the aerial is hidden.