Tips for Topaz Buyers?

I just wondered if any Topaz users had any tips for a person considering buying a used Topaz. I accept this info varies with the various specifications through the years but others may also be interested.

I have already learned a lot just by searching for 'TOPAZ' and reading all the posts. Useful to know, for example, to look out for whether both batteries are charged on hookup or not. Also to note the power options for the fridge.

Approximately what year of Topaz are you looking at ?

Not exactly what you asked for but my webssite contains a model history with photos for the Autosleeper Topaz (and all other models) and includes downloads of some sales brochures and a magazine review (at the bottom of the page) that may be useful for you.
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I am also looking for a decent Topaz (post 2000 2.5 TDI would be the ideal one for me)

Cheers,
Dave

shargrea wrote:Approximately what year of Topaz are you looking at ?

We are broad minded and it will all be down to value for money but as for the year we are looking in the range of 2000-2007.

In fact we went to Todd's in Preston today with every intention of buying one of the two they currently have on offer. They had two for sale one was a low mileage 2000 and the other a higher mileage 2007. However, we decided that we we would not give the salesman the sale even if they were the last vans on earth!

We were not doing a PX and asked him what the discount would be on the 2000. He pretended to go off to check and came back with a discount of £1000. However, we know that this is Todd's 'standard' discount for non-PX because we have had it quoted to us for other vehicles. I am told that it is the 'standard' trade discount. We then identified faults on this van to him and asked if these would be rectified. He said that any faults would have to be rectified at our expense as the £1000 was the only discount he would give.

A double glazed side-window had cracked. He said we would have to pay for that to be replaced - cost of item £150 (no price quoted for labour costs). We had previously been told by another salesman that the cam belt would -if not recently replaced, and if within the advised time scale for replacement -be done automatically as part of the pre-delivery service. This salesman said that Todd's did not do that unless it was at the customer's expense and that the cost to us would be £250. I then pointed out that the two batteries - vehicle and leisure and which are both housed under the bonnet -were not safely secured. They had been merely 'chocked' in place with small blocks of wood. Any front impact would have placed the batteries at significant risk of being dislodged. I do not think the batteries were sufficiently secured to pass an MOT and I was disappointed that this vehicle was on display in this condition.

All-in-all - as we also wanted to fit a camera (quote of £500) - the so-called £1000 discount and we pick up the tab for everything else was a contemptuous arrangement. We never bothered exploring the pricing of the 2007 van with him (which was the one we really fancied) as we did not want to do business with him. A pretty poor show we thought.

I think the salesmen count on the fact that there aren't that many motorhomes for sale, so that if you show interest in one, there are unlikely to be any others of the same model and similar age available for sale within 50 miles. So unless you are prepared to travel all round the country you are likely to buy the one you are looking at.

We have had our 2001 Topaz for about 6 weeks now (our first motorhome), and are very pleased with it (so far).

Only niggles are:
Water pump rapid cycling on/off when using cold water taps.
The "your brake pads are worn out" warning light coming on very occasionally.
Passenger seat adjustment (forwards/backwards) lever coming off.
Top gear seems very low (judging by rev counter), so I'm reluctant to take it over 60 on the motorway (but that's good news for the fuel consumption).

Forgot to say that vehicle wasn't taxed and salesman would not cover that either.

Never mind bought one today in a private sale from a very nice couple.

Good for you! Enjoy your new toy, I'm sure you will.

Paulmold wrote:Good for you! Enjoy your new toy, I'm sure you will.

Thanks for your good wishes and hope to see you on the road!

shargrea

What engine/gearbox do you have in your 'van, and what revs are showing at 60mph

makfai

Glad you found a nice one, and hope everything turns out ok. I think dealers are getting worse, and certainly don't find many having genuine concern for their customers, present or for enticing them back in the future! We travelled 60 mils to a dealer in Newark (no not the big one you are thinking of) to veiw a 'van placed on their web page the previous day. We went by car (we did toy with taking our 'van but was half way through cleaning it).
They had an "open day" I was not aware of and they were packed out with vehicles (loads of cars as well) so we had to park opposite and not on their premises. My blue badge was ignored and no apology for the extra walk was given by the man dealing with parking. We looked over the 'van carefully, was much impressed as it was far better than I thought. We get a salesman over, apologise for not giving bringing our "p/x", not a problem says he. He comes back 15 mins later, made an offer and we accepted. We said we understood if the price varied a bit as he had not seen our 'van. "We normally stick to what we have quoted" says he. Right we will have it then. No, will not sell it to you at the moment as we have just had a phone call from a chap in London who has no p/x, and we would sooner sell it to him. No offence to you but we would sooner not have a p/x. If he does not buy it then you can have it!. We left without looking at any other vehicles he tried to interest us in We phoned back the following day and the chap from London did not have the 'van, but they had now sold it "blind" to another guy who would be there the following day. He did not have a p/x so he could buy it. If he didn't then we could hace it. We presumed he bought it as the following day their web site stated now sold.
We did consider writing in as we did not feel we had been treated very well. We looked at the "card" given to us and he was the M D.! We didn't bother.
So, another one bites the dust!

fluffles

makfai wrote:
In fact we went to Todd's in Preston today with every intention of buying one of the two they currently have on offer. They had two for sale one was a low mileage 2000 and the other a higher mileage 2007. However, we decided that we we would not give the salesman the sale even if they were the last vans on earth! <snipped>

Not the experience I've had with Todd's, or from what I've been told other peoples either.
Have things changed around there?

Frank

fluffles wrote:shargrea

What engine/gearbox do you have in your 'van, and what revs are showing at 60mph

makfai

fluffles

We have the 2.4D AJA (non-turbo 5-cyl diesel). Off the top of my head it's showing about 2700 RPM at an indicated 60 MPH. At 75 BPH it's the same power as my old Fiesta !

Sorry to hear of your dealer trouble, and I wish you better luck in the future.

Makfai
Sorry to hear about your experience with Todds. We have been there on several occasions and like most dealers we have found these days they are just out to make as much as they can with little thought for the Customer. Generally we have found the larger the Dealer becomes, the worse the Customer service and the lower the “part exchange” offered!
In terms, of Topazs, we have had 3 of them. Two were on the T4 and one on the T5.

Our T4s were both non turbo 2.4D models, one registered in 94 and the other 98. Both were solidly built and well made by A/S with real wood. The 1998 van we kept for 5 years it was in excellent condition when we bought it and we eventually has a turbo fitted by TB Turbo in Lancashire to give the Engine a bit more pulling power. This was an excellent mod but unfortunately TB Turbo are no longer trading. The black side panels on the T4s can become loose and need re-fixing but this is not difficult to do.

Our T5 was a 2008 model. It drove very well, better than the T4 which in itself is still pretty good. The quality of the conversion was not a patch on the older model. As with all the A/S these days, there is much use of plastic and all wood is laminated and unlikely to stand the test of time even if you are very careful. The table storage in the T5 vans is a joke. One is put in the front locker using up valuable space and making removal difficult, especially as everything else in the cupboard sits on top of the table! The small table is mounted in the wardrobe again wasting valuable storage space. On the T4 design the tables are mounted behind the bench seat and side seats. This is similar to a number of other A/S models of a similar vintage. The T5 is very light and modern inside, the large Heki roof light is fantastic. The T5 van creaks and rattles so much more than the T4 design, mainly due to the plastics.

The tip up basins in the T5s is a bit iffy staying closed. We has the whole panel replaced under warranty as it started to split. A/S know they have a problem with these basins but seem reluctant to do anything about it.
Neither the T4 or T5 bench seats are that comfy due to the depth of the bench seat. Pulling it out a bit does help.

If I had to choose another Topaz I would buy a late model T4 with the 2.5TDI Engine (102BHP), around 2003 / 4 vintage. You should be able to pick good one up for about £22/23K, but I’m not sure of your budget. A T4 LE model would in my opinion be the best, e.g [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] However this one is rather pricey especially with 60K on the clock !
Sorry to go on. Hope this may help you. Good luck
John

Thats why non of our 3 vans have come from Todds, or 2 other vans in the family partly due to Todds welching out on a deal at the last moment with my B.I.L

boxerman wrote:

Not the experience I've had with Todd's, or from what I've been told other peoples either.
Have things changed around there?

Frank

Perhaps the wider context may help.

We are returning to motorhoming again after a break of about 5 years. We used to use Todd's previously and I was happy with the service (in fact I had several pleasant chats with the actual owner) so we returned to them this time. The salesman we described above was not the only one we met and the one we met earlier was rather brusque and condescending in tone. He was also like a limpet until we told him to leave us alone. Funnily enough, we met another couple who used Todd's who said the same about him. They knew immediately who we meant. They had known him for years. The wife did not like the salesman at all but the husband said that despite the salesman's manner he was OK when it came to the actual deal.

We had also visited Todd's about two weeks previous to our recent experience. We asked the parts dept to send us some details about a specific camera we were interested in. We left our phone number and our email address but never heard anymore from them!

So whether we had a particularly unfortunate experience or not I cannot say but it will now only be out of necessity if we return to their premises. BUT I am happy to agree that we all have different experiences and I realise that we have drifted 'off topic' somewhat by discussing experiences. . .apologies

hoopman

One very, very nice looking T4 Topaz, especially in this colour! Agree about the milage but they do seem less bothered by this the further north you go.

fluffles

I have found Todds no worse or better than any other dealer, Spinney's are the same,pick holes in your van but won't have anything said about theirs,they are a business after all.Maybe the salesman in question didn't take you seriously because you looked at vans with around a 12k difference in price? Enjoy yr new van

duetto1462 wrote:Maybe the salesman in question didn't take you seriously because you looked at vans with around a 12k difference in price? Enjoy yr new van

You may well be right about them all being the same but I thought the Todd's attitude of take it or leave it was poor sales tactics. It does not convince us that a company is interested in the customer long (or short) term.

It is not a sign of professionalism if the salesman did not take us seriously - more fool him because at that time we were more interested in the higher priced van! Any salesman should know it is not the headline price which counts but the value for money on the full deal which counts.

We asked him about the lower one first to get an idea of his overall attitude and to see if, having set a baseline, we could improve the deal when we asked him about the higher priced vehicle. It would not be prudent to do it the other way round. We also thought that we would compare the different specification viz-a-viz the deals on the two vehicles. We felt that although we liked the interior of the new one an older T4 might be better than a newer T5 and that with the right deal we could perhaps buy the older one and have it refurbished for much less than the difference in price of £12000.

We had also registered an interest a couple of weeks earlier in a Nuevo and had discussed with his colleague how we were working out whether we wanted something like the Nuevo (which we had before) or more of the day-van type which we could use to stay in if we wanted or could park-up and use a B&B/hotel if we preferred.

We are happy with the deal we have now got and are prepared to spend the money saved on having it refurbished - not by Todd's!

It is sad if they are all the same