First Trip out for Us in the Nuevo

We have had many trips out in Caravans which I normally tow with Land rover's so being the proud new owner of a 2004 Nuevo I was wondering how this small motor home would handle/drive compared to the Landy/Caravan Combi.

Having got a couple of Jobs of work to do in Sussex we booked into a little site in Seaford and off we went. Here are my first impressions 

1) I was surprised about the amount of rattle you get driving a Motor home. I suspect however well you wrap things you still get a lot of rattle. I suspect the shocking state of the UK roads has a lot to do with this and of course it will all be going on just the same in a Caravan but you Just don't hear it.

2) The little Nuevo drove very well and with the 2.2 ltr HDI engine had plenty of power and Torque. Once you get the hang of the gears they are ok but the raised seat height to accommodate the swivel seats makes the handbrake a little difficult to operate on a hill start. If these 'vans' are made in an Automatic this might be a good option.

3) As for speed I felt that the sweet spot was about 58 mph. If I went much over 60 on the motorway It felt uncomfortable to me. Given that I bought this to tow boats with to places, I cannot go over 60 any how so this was fine for me. At one point (not towing) I got up to 68 and did not feel terribly comfortable.

4) The pressure/Air wave from lorries is interesting and will push you around a little but at under 60 mph this is not a problem. This is the same with the Caravan but with the Large Disco I tow with is not a problem.

5) The van is very well laid out and for two people and a small dog is plenty big enough for a few nights and the equipment in the van is very good. The heater certainly gets it very cosy. The new Led lights were excellent and the tiny £11 tv Ariel worked fine where we were.

6) The little site at Seaford was fine and literally a stones through from the Beach. It was we thought a little over priced at £30 and the facilities while fine were rather dated. Would I stay there again. Yes for the location.

7) I notice other people in motor homes wave to you on the road so we waved back.

Here is a very short video of our trip if anyone is interested.

Generally we were very impressed and pleased with our new to us Purchase of this little Nuevo

Great review of a first trip, echoes many of my own sentiments - although I have never towed a caravan, we've had campervans/motorhomes for coming up to 30 years now.

I guess you'll get used to the rattles; masses of tea towels help, from wrapping round oven shelves/grill pan and bottles to jamming into cupboards to stop movement & dampen noise but you'll never eliminate them all.  

I had a radio/CD/SD/USB player installed with four midrange speakers, two tweeters and a huge bass woofer mounted behind the driver's seat which helps to drown it out.  

You've got the hang of the sweet speed quickly - I too used to use my van for work and tended to drive like a white van driver, it was a bit hairy sometimes! Now I'm retired and have all the time in the world so I can tuck in with the lorries on the inside lane and pootle along at a much more relaxing pace. The pressure wave from passing lorries can be a challenge, as can driving with gusty sidewinds. 

Glad you've got into the waving habit, part of the fun of motorhomes! 

Loved the video - we do use the van for day trips even in the winter some years but seldom for touring, so it's nice to enjoy other's experiences vicariously while tucked up warm at home. (As I also do with the SIB as you may know from other forums).

I'm sure you'll have many happy experiences in your Nuevo, as we have in our vans over the past three decades.

Bigplumbs wrote:....
1) I was surprised about the amount of rattle you get driving a Motor home. I suspect however well you wrap things you still get a lot of rattle. I suspect the shocking state of the UK roads has a lot to do with this and of course it will all be going on just the same in a Caravan but you Just don't hear it.

2) The little Nuevo drove very well and with the 2.2 ltr HDI engine had plenty of power and Torque. Once you get the hang of the gears they are ok but the raised seat height to accommodate the swivel seats makes the handbrake a little difficult to operate on a hill start. If these 'vans' are made in an Automatic this might be a good option.

3) As for speed I felt that the sweet spot was about 58 mph. If I went much over 60 on the motorway It felt uncomfortable to me. Given that I bought this to tow boats with to places, I cannot go over 60 any how so this was fine for me. At one point (not towing) I got up to 68 and did not feel terribly comfortable.

4) The pressure/Air wave from lorries is interesting and will push you around a little but at under 60 mph this is not a problem. This is the same with the Caravan but with the Large Disco I tow with is not a problem.

5) The van is very well laid out and for two people and a small dog is plenty big enough for a few nights and the equipment in the van is very good. The heater certainly gets it very cosy. The new Led lights were excellent and the tiny £11 tv Ariel worked fine where we were.

6) The little site at Seaford was fine and literally a stones through from the Beach. It was we thought a little over priced at £30 and the facilities while fine were rather dated. Would I stay there again. Yes for the location.

7) I notice other people in motor homes wave to you on the road so we waved back.

.....

Generally we were very impressed and pleased with our new to us Purchase of this little Nuevo

Very similar experience to our 2019 Nuevo.  My wife is in charge of rattles and generally knows how to stop the worst of them with strategically positioned T towels etc.  The seat is high to accommodate the swivel mechanism, so if you are tall as I am you sometimes have to stoop a bit to see out and its a long stretch for the parking brake which is on the wrong side.  Fortunately my parking brake has an alarm if not fully released and I have hill start assist which is useful.  I learnt through experience not to try parking brake hill starts when climbing levelling ramps as if not done perfectly it can make the front wheels spin/slip with dire results if you are also trying to put one of them onto a levelling ramp.  I drive at much the same speed as I did when towing.  Higher speeds push up the fuel consumption.  I found a noticeable improvement in handling and comfort when I adjusted the tyre pressures to match the axle loading - the front CP tyre pressures came down from 73 psi to 47 psi.  We were concerned that after our 4 berth caravan there wouldn't be enough storage space in the Nuevo but there is plenty.  The other week we paid slightly less than £20 a night for the CAMC Minehead site which has good facilities so £30 does sound a bit steep for out of season.   The waving habit was new to us but is fun.

Agree completely with all you say. There is a massive difference in fuel consumption between driving at 55mph and 62mph - for me 32mpg to about 27mpg. Even roomier for 2 without a dog and you haven't mentioned that it turns on a sixpence! Worst rattle on ours is microwave internals - NOT the turntable or its rollers!

inspiredron wrote:Agree completely with all you say. There is a massive difference in fuel consumption between driving at 55mph and 62mph - for me 32mpg to about 27mpg. Even roomier for 2 without a dog and you haven't mentioned that it turns on a sixpence! Worst rattle on ours is microwave internals - NOT the turntable or its rollers!

I have not got any sort of fuel computer on my model and am not into working out that sort of thing but I must say the old gauge went down far quicker than I would have liked

When I towed a caravan with a range of diesel cars I generally got around 26/27 mpg.  At similar speeds I get around 34 mpg on my 2019 Nuevo.  When we reach a site we don't use the Nuevo as a run about as we did the tow car so our overall fuel consumption is well down.

Caraman wrote:When I towed a caravan with a range of diesel cars I generally got around 26/27 mpg.  At similar speeds I get around 34 mpg on my 2019 Nuevo.  When we reach a site we don't use the Nuevo as a run about as we did the tow car so our overall fuel consumption is well down.

How do you get around when you get to the site ?. That has always been my greatest gripe about a motorhome over a Caravan

Out of now 5 motorhomes, 4 different, average fuel consumption 27Mpg, recorded to the 1/10th of a litre and always filled to full every refuel, so, NOT guesses, accuracy!

Why people bother about fuel consumption amazes me. You pay £20 to £40k for a MH, use it an average of 3 to 4000 miles a year and bother about more or less pennies! 

We rarely use sites, indeed abroad, mostly Aires so are in towns anyway, as are UK pub stops. if on a site, we pick one with a very nearby bus stop and use buses, incl in Europe.

Bigplumbs wrote:

Caraman wrote:When I towed a caravan with a range of diesel cars I generally got around 26/27 mpg.  At similar speeds I get around 34 mpg on my 2019 Nuevo.  When we reach a site we don't use the Nuevo as a run about as we did the tow car so our overall fuel consumption is well down.

How do you get around when you get to the site ?. That has always been my greatest gripe about a motorhome over a Caravan

When we caravanned we stayed on a site for longer than now and because we had the car we used it even when we didn't really need to.  Now we walk and cycle much more and use public transport either to extend a walk or to visit a nearby town or attraction.  Its the only time I get to use my free bus pass!  We have on the odd occasion gone out in the van but we prefer not to.  If there is no decent shop nearby, we stock up in between sites when we will sometimes visit an attraction en-route.  Everyone uses their van in different ways and this is the way we use ours.

IanH wrote:.....
Why people bother about fuel consumption amazes me. You pay £20 to £40k for a MH, use it an average of 3 to 4000 miles a year and bother about more or less pennies! 
.....

You can spend half a million pounds on a house but that's not a reason for having an inefficient heating system or leaving the lights on all day.  I've always regarded fuel consumption as important and more so now given climate change.

Bigplumbs wrote:

Caraman wrote:When I towed a caravan with a range of diesel cars I generally got around 26/27 mpg.  At similar speeds I get around 34 mpg on my 2019 Nuevo.  When we reach a site we don't use the Nuevo as a run about as we did the tow car so our overall fuel consumption is well down.

How do you get around when you get to the site ?. That has always been my greatest gripe about a motorhome over a Caravan

Take the MH. That's why small is good. 
.

IanH wrote:Out of now 5 motorhomes, 4 different, average fuel consumption 27Mpg, recorded to the 1/10th of a litre and always filled to full every refuel, so, NOT guesses, accuracy!

Why people bother about fuel consumption amazes me. You pay £20 to £40k for a MH, use it an average of 3 to 4000 miles a year and bother about more or less pennies! 

We rarely use sites, indeed abroad, mostly Aires so are in towns anyway, as are UK pub stops. if on a site, we pick one with a very nearby bus stop and use buses, incl in Europe.

After getting 16mpg  from our last towcar, anything over 20mpg from a MH is a huge bonus.

Tinwheeler wrote:

Bigplumbs wrote:

Caraman wrote:When I towed a caravan with a range of diesel cars I generally got around 26/27 mpg.  At similar speeds I get around 34 mpg on my 2019 Nuevo.  When we reach a site we don't use the Nuevo as a run about as we did the tow car so our overall fuel consumption is well down.

How do you get around when you get to the site ?. That has always been my greatest gripe about a motorhome over a Caravan

Take the MH. That's why small is good. 
.

We probably should take it off-site more often but even when we caravanned my preference was a site where I didn't have to use the car.  Although breaking camp is much easier than with a caravan, it still involves some work.  But the main reason we prefer to keep the van on site is security.  If my car was full of all my holiday gear we would never leave it unattended in a car park or the side of the road so we are reluctant to do so now with a motorhome.

Caraman wrote:

Tinwheeler wrote:

Bigplumbs wrote:

How do you get around when you get to the site ?. That has always been my greatest gripe about a motorhome over a Caravan

Take the MH. That's why small is good. 
.

We probably should take it off-site more often but even when we caravanned my preference was a site where I didn't have to use the car.  Although breaking camp is much easier than with a caravan, it still involves some work.  But the main reason we prefer to keep the van on site is security.  If my car was full of all my holiday gear we would never leave it unattended in a car park or the side of the road so we are reluctant to do so now with a motorhome.

The security aspect doesn't unduly worry me. Obviously, we take care where we park and wouldn't leave the van in certain places but I'd do no different with a car. Sites aren't exactly secure either, especially remote CLs.

As for breaking camp, I guess we all differ but, for us, it meant no more than putting the kettle away, locking the fridge door and unplugging the EHU. Our aim when we changed from a cvan was to make life simple.

It's interesting to read how we do things differently. We have enjoyed detouring and sight seeing between sites and doing our shopping enroute with the result that we rarely stayed more than a night or two on any site. It's great to have the choice.

Resurrecting this thread  as we have just had our first trip out in our new to us Nuevo. 

Local trip to Castleton for an overnight stay. Found the ability to pay upfront made checking in easy, not sure why we still need to show a membership card. Maybe the membership and website information don't "speak" to each other?

Loved the comfort and quality of the van so pleased with it.  Ironed out a few glitches and learned about the van like you do.  Only outstanding issue was that having left the electricity on overnight the night before we went the van is parked  under our bedroom window.  OH was woken up by the aircon switching itself on at about midnight.  Never had aircon before and doubt we would use it due to efforts to reduce our carbon footprint.  There's defiantly a fault as the display is not readable.  He was surprised  how loud it was, I don't think that we would want to sleep in the van with that going!

That’s why aircon makes people unpopular on sites. I think it tends to be louder outside than in.

Good to hear your trip went well.

We have just driven down the Rhone valley with the mistral behind us and the computer was giving us consumption in the forties.