Auto-sleepers to discontinue Trident /Trooper

Just read in the caravan club magazine that Auto-sleepers are going to discontinue the Trident & Trooper, except for special one off order.

Not much demand for a small new camper that costs nearly £55k. mmmmmm, I am surprised.

So does that mean that the current T4 Tridents & Troopers are going to hold their value well the the years to come, compared to the more complex T5. (thinking electrics & general reliability here)

I read about that as well but I thought all Autosleepers were only built to order. I can't see them doing a run of any model just to stock-pile them! or do they wait until they have say 20 orders for Nuevo's before they build any.

spook69 wrote:
Not much demand for a small new camper that costs nearly £55k. mmmmmm, I am surprised.

Indeed - when you put one next to almost any other new van, it looked like appalling value for money, and I wonder how they ever sold any - though I suspect from talking to another van converter that VW's frequent base vehicle price hikes have not helped...

Hi Paul,

I don't think Autosleepers are built to order.

I bought my 2011 model new at a reduced price because customers wanted the Euro 5 engines in the 2012 models.

I’ve read in the press that A/S will consider building the Trident & Trooper on Customer supplied Vehicles, (doesn’t say new or used). The only VW base van left in main production will be the Topaz, although at £55K I can only think the end is near.

In fairness to A/S the Trooper and Trident are built on a high-ish spec VW van (140bhp, etc). A number of convertors appear a lot cheaper but if you look carefully some of these are based on the lower spec vans in particularly Engine bhp.

However the latest Trident / Trooper ‘as was’ includes hot water & a gas tank, which for a small van just puts up the costs especially as these facilities are not really needed (in particular hot water). However if you look carefully at the side of the units you will see that the fronts are made out of a single sheet of 8’ X 4’ wood ! in an attempt to save costs!

I think A/S have got the development of the Trident & Trooper all wrong in this latest model. (The Trident even has a cupboard in the high top (above the rear seat), rather than that open space that was so useful for carry bedding etc or as a child bunk).

I’m sure the prices of older Troopers & Tridents can only continue to hold their value as a result of A/S decision to drop production. If you have one hang onto it !
John

I've had my Trident for nine years and It's still worth what I paid for it. I've no intention of selling it though. I've been to a few VW shows this year and seen some of the great T5 conversions people are building and if I were to buy one now I'd probably get one of those.

The Cotswold is also to be shelved though i'm not surprised with the AS decision to scrap some models between being over priced, numerious faults in models of late including cracking Gel coat and really poor customer service on serious faults with excuses of work overload and people off on holidays or sick.
In previous years , under the org owners it was a quality product, As these days are anything but, staples to hold frames together ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh dont get me started. I can safely say I'll never own another hindsight is a great thing in life

They done (supposed to) a PDI on our replacement van and didnt even cop on that the wiring was wrong on the gaslow indicator amongst other things like faulty water pump etc etc, thank goodnesss for some decent dealers who do look after customers

Haven't been on this site for ages. I bought a second hand (obviously as R Reg) Trident a couple of years ago. I bought a new one R Reg for £25,000 and sold it after two years, always regretted this. I was delighted to find a lowmileage Trident for sale a couple of years ago. Love it - for me and two dogs (without new husband it is ideal) small though so we have bought a caravan for longer holidays. I was horrifed when I saw how much they are new now and not nearly so cosy - no little loo in a cupboard either and all it a bit minimalist. I am not surprised that at £55,000 there is no demand any more. Shame though, but there is a lot of choice out there now campervans are so popular.

Its not there isnt a demand, its the cost of the VW base vehicle. Chatting with a few people this week at the Manchester Show and AS are not the only ones reviewing base vehicles

It's a lot of money: you could have a factory California for that I think!

surprised this didn't happen sooner, the trident is just too expensive. I seem to remember autosleeper used to get a good deal on the T4 base vehicle(under 10k) but the T5 have spiralled to silly money.

I buy and sell a lot of vw autosleepers, its safer than putting money in the bank. As earlier posts have said some models not only hold their money they have gone up.

Can remember buying the 90/91 T25 tridents 10 years ago for around £5000.00, expect to pay £10k now for anything good.

I would also say Autosleeper lost their way with the T5 trident, I have had a few of the early 05/06 models and found a lot of faults along with shoddy build quality. I haven't bought a T5 for a long time as they are overpriced in the used market.

On the other hand the last of the T4 models in 2004 were the last of what I would call a proper autosleeper, you got a proven base vehicle with tdi engine and a proper interior with quality furniture.

I remember buying an 02 trident 5 years ago for 15k, would fetch around the same today.

My advice is if you have a nice low mileage T4 trident, keep hold of it as they are getting harder to find.

Interesting. Who's buying these older VWs? I'd assumed they'd be finding their way into the Dub scene as 'traditional' A-S customers would want something newer.

there's a big market for 1st timers with max budget of £10,000 and 10k don't buy much these days, especially when the new stuff is 50k+.

The talbot express is affordable but a bit dated now and decent t4's and boxers are out of reach.

Hence the t25's are reaching the classic status and seen as fairly trendy without costing a fortune like the older bay window/split screens.

im in the air cooled scene and the t25's have risen masivley in last 5 year's and they are roomy inside,ive also a splitty that im selling and the prices are way over priced,ive a trooper and rather go away in that as we have 3 kids and need the space and a good nights sleep

eBay always seems to have a fair few sub-£10k T4 Tridents and Troopers.

Peel wrote:eBay always seems to have a fair few sub-£10k T4 Tridents and Troopers.

There's a fair few sheds for sale on ebay too. If we're talking retail quality vehicles they're getting hard to find as some of the early t4's are over 20 years old now. I've seen a lot more rubbish than good.

i gotta 1998 Trident. Not brilliant condition but not bad. I was looking to upgrade to a Topaz in the next few months, cos i need a propper loo Should i bother now, or should i hang on to it? could do with some advice on paint for a couple of small rust spots too, anyone? was also wondering what its worth. it's got a motorbility semi automatic/manual transmission and has done 65K. I paid £10K for it over a year ago. But maybe i should just hang onto it. By the way, are there many fully automatic topaz's out there and are they more expensive?

Generally small rust spots here and there on a VW aren't much of an issue, and a local body repair shop will probably do a pretty good job on them for a couple of hundred quid all-in.

IIRC the auto transmission option on VWs has always been quite expensive (currently around £1700 on a new T5) so they are relatively rare and so go for a bit more.

£10k for a 1998 Trident with 65k miles on the clock seems a good price - presumably bought via private sale and not a dealer? If it's running well I'd be inclined to hang on to it. One of the things to watch out for if you upgrade is exterior visibility from the drivers seat - the Tridents were great, with nothing obscuring the rear nearside quarter. I'm fairly sure that visibility is much more restricted on some of the later Topaz models.

Thanks Mojo. maybe i will just hang onto it then.