swift motorhome 2004 advice (1 Viewer)

[Motorhome wannabee]

Hi all

I am very keen to buy a motorhome and have my eye on a lovely swift sundance 630L 2004 model through a local swift dealer. Is this a good model? I have a young family (2 kids and partner) and I long for touring the UK and europe - my main concern is whether it is fairly easy to get around with a motorhome and bikes to get into villages or is it best to tow a car/scooter. Are there any particular things I should be aware of when purchasing a 2nd hand motorhome. Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Douglas]

Hi all

I am very keen to buy a motorhome and have my eye on a lovely swift sundance 630L 2004 model through a local swift dealer. Is this a good model? I have a young family (2 kids and partner) and I long for touring the UK and europe - my main concern is whether it is fairly easy to get around with a motorhome and bikes to get into villages or is it best to tow a car/scooter. Are there any particular things I should be aware of when purchasing a 2nd hand motorhome. Thanks in advance for any advice!

I have a Swift 630g for the last 5 years, and I'm sorry I ever bought it, if I had the money I would get rid of it and buy a decent motor home that does not fall apart and the cost a fortune to repair it.

Oh! there are plenty on the forum that disagree with me, but beware swift don't produce a motor home that can stand up to heavy use, we live in ours for 6-8 months a year and every couple of weeks I have to do a repair.

So far I have replaced .... Accommodation door.... about £600
Garage door about £800
3 setts of gas struts about £120
shower tray about £800
2 kitchen sink taps about £75
1 bathroom tap about 50
repairs to electric step about 40

At the moment the toilet level gauge does not work
The water level gauge does not work
And a hell of a lot of small things that need continual attention.

Buy something from the continent, even a 10 year old Hymer is better that a brand new Swift...

Doug...

 

[scotjimland]

Hi

I've never owned a Swift. nor any other British van simply because the Germans build them so much better .... like Doug I'd prefer an old German van to any new Brit van,

General advice with ANY van.. look for damp, around windows, roof lights, door, all corners, inside cupboards, under the sink and the floor... any sign or smell, walk away , damp kills vans and is very expensive to put right .. if unsure what to look for take an experienced motorhome owner along ..

Cracked or damaged sinks, shower trays, windows are expensive to replace.

Ask to see everything working, heating, hot water, fridge , cooker etc, don't be fobbed off by any excuse from a salesman for not demonstrating.

Take a test drive... not just a run round the block.. and don't rush into buying the first van you look at..

There will be plenty of other advice ... watch this thread

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[grasscutter]

I have to come down on the other side and say that I love my Sundance 630L. OK there are vans out there that may have a higher spec. The layout for me is superb and I find the build quality to be fine. Like most newer things you can always say that they don't build them like they used to.
Drawbacks with 630L. Lack of external storage access (doesn't bother me). Long overhang at rear( I have air ride suspension, makes a huge difference).
Parking is typical of a large motorhome. You will always take up two spaces and may well have to park outside towns etc (the same applies to any 24 feet + motorhome).
Good luck.

 

[Terry]

Hi wannabee go for comfort in your van. It is not a lot of use having a drop down bed if you cannot climb into it or perhaps get out in the middle of the night if you had too much wine LAYOUT / comfort is the single most thing you should be looking at We have tied all sorts of layouts from 2 / 4 berth to 6 to 4 again then 6 again and now in a 2 witch suits us great. Get out and look / try out as many bed layouts and don't be scared to put up climb in etc, etc, before buying Use one of the shows or a dealer to try this and get a good idea what is going to suit you then look for what you want.
Also try hiring one for a weekend or mid week this will give a good idea as to what you want It is a lot of money to spend and get wrong.

print the att below and tick all the boxes before you buy :thumb: any promises made get in writing :thumb: because it is surprising how dealers forget once they have your money
terry
get in writing :thumb:

 

[Welsh girl]

We have a 2010 swift voyager and find the spec on her is great, we had a sundance before this one and I must agree that the build quality just wasnt there and there was stuff going wrong with her all the time, luckily we had the money to upgrade after selling our house but we are glad we did now as the space we have is great and nothing has gone wrong so far where as in the first week thinbgs went wrong with the sundance so it is not all of swifts stuff that c**p.
We would have loved a german winterized one but we couldnt find the layout we wanted so we compromised and had the tank heaters and waste tank heaters as the extra also all the pipes are lagged so here's hoping we get through the winter with her, we didnt with the sundance and was always draining the tanks because of risk of freezing and living out of water carriers, we were also worried about the "Judder" but there is none on this model , all been rectified thank god as well as the water ingress problem has been solved so we are well happy with this one:thumb:

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[Peter JohnsCross MH]

Hi Doug,

Sorry to hear of your problems with the 630G, I would have though a number of them would be under warranty

Peter

 

[Minxy]

Howdy wannabee ... welcome!

From your post I guess you haven't had a motorhome before and this is the first one you've fallen in love with ....

If so then I would suggest you do NOT buy it!!! It is very, very easy to think it is the right one for you, which it may turn out to be, but unless you do a lot of looking around at various types of motorhomes and what you get/don't get, with them, you could make a very, very costly mistake - lots of people do and that's a club you DO NOT want to join!

You may find it more beneficial for example to have one with bunks for the kids, which would give you the option of having the bottom one as storage space for larger items, of which the 630 is a bit limited I think.

Remember that adding bikes to the rear of the van will not only add to the weight (check the payload - don't take the dealer's word for it), but also the overall length. Towing isn't the best way to have a motorhome holiday and if you think you may end up with a car too, I'd suggest looking at a caravan and car combination instead - many people find this a better solution especially if the children are small.

Decide how you intend to use the motorhome first, and what is important to you - do you need lots of storage, a good kitchen, washroom, beds - once you know how you intend to use it, you can then work out what you need from it. After all, if you intend to stay on the same campsite for a week then a caravan would probably be your best bet as your needs are likely to be different, but if you are travelling around from one area to the next each day and seeing/doing things on the way, in which case a motorhome may be more beneficial.

Take your time, do your research, leave the chequebook/creditcards etc at home (so you can't be tempted!) and have a good look round what's out there.

 

[swiftcruiser]

Hi, if I can make an observation, plan a trip with say 2 or 3 overnight stops and hire a motorhome for a week. We did this after a few miles and a couple of overnight stops plus a change of weather as we had and you quickly begin to identify the pluses and negatives.

After our hire we went on to purchase a 2007 sundance 630L it took a lot of finding, I agree with a previous thread that I also have had to sort bits and pieces, but these items like water pumps, truma boiler faults are sourced from outside manufacturers and fitted into swift products, when you read the forums all caravans / motorhomes seem to have their fair share of faults and if you buy German like a Mercedes BMW or right. So I suppose you pays your money and takes your choice. For my part am pleased with my Sundance, as a post script quite a few hire companies use swift products and they wouldn't purchase a product that would let them down!!

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[jhorsf]

look on some of the Swift forums and you will see just how bad it gets rotten floors leaking roofs etc do some research on these forums first

 

[Douglas]

Hi Doug,

Sorry to hear of your problems with the 630G, I would have though a number of them would be under warranty

Peter

Some of them were, but not all, I have had the heap of rubbish for 5 years now so the warranty finished a long time ago and a lot of it fell on me.


Doug...

 

[Supertractorman]

As has been said before, choose your layout and hire a van for a week or so. We did and ended up buying a Swift van of totally different layout and would not want to change it. If you do buy a van of the wrong spec you can lose a lot of money with trade ins etc. :Sad:

David

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[SandJ]

look on some of the Swift forums and you will see just how bad it gets rotten floors leaking roofs etc do some research on these forums first

The same can be said for other marques including Hymer

We swopped our Hymer for a Swift and do not regret it, you can get problems with them all. The diffrence is do the Dealers sort it, as your contract is with them?

Manufacturers get the blame from the dealers as they in some instances do not want to do warranty work as they do not get paid the highly over inflated hourly payments they charge their customers.

Swift have sorted many an issue that the dealers have failed to sort for members on here and other sites. They have also listened to us (Swift owners) and improved the range making improvements ongoing.

If I was looking to live in a motorhome full time I would not buy any of the entry model vans (what ever the make) as the build quality is not as good as the higher spec one's in my opinion.

Look at as many vans as possible, do a wish list and pick the van that ticks the most boxes.

 

[Douglas]

Manufacturers get the blame from the dealers as they in some instances do not want to do warranty work as they do not get paid the highly over inflated hourly payments they charge their customers.

Swift have sorted many an issue that the dealers have failed to sort for members on here and other sites. They have also listened to us (Swift owners) and improved the range making improvements ongoing.

.

If you re-read the original post, he is talking about a 6 year old van, manufactures warranty is not involved in the question.

Doug...

 

[Motorhome wannabee]

Thanks for great advice

I really appreciate your comments and I had fallen in love with my first campervan as had the layout I thought we needed etc etc plus a good salesman! I will take my time and consider options etc. I certainly dont want to blow the budget on a money pit as never be forgiven! Thanks all.

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[Peter JohnsCross MH]

Entirely depends on the dealer you by from in many circumstances as to the quality of the van and the back up service provided.

Yes some Sundances have ahd problems with floors and in every instance Swift backed up their product with full recification as they do im noist circumstances.

Sundance 630G is a very popular van and I will always buy a pre-owned one for stock, OK perhaps as we know the model, we know all the problem areas and make sure they are put right before we sell them.

Peter

 

[tjay]

swift 630L

We have a 2007 630L (our second one last was a 2004) Up to now no serious problems,some niggly one though.I have fitted a tow bar,a 4 metre Fiamma awning,reversing camera and this weekend will be fitting another 110 amp battery (one already fitted) plus a 80amp solar panel/regulator that I have inherited (brothere sold his van and i asked him to give it to me,so he did. LOL!!
As both the tanks are externally fitted under the chassis they wiil be affected by the cold,so i am also insulating both using the the 40mm thick foil backed house insulation panel cut/trimmed to fit,all edges sealed with silicone,secured by silicone and then doubly secured using 15mm tyraps x 60mm long.All the pipework will be done with foam pipe insulation then sealed and also tyraped.I have done this on several of my motorhomes in the past and it works very well.
We did upgrade to a Autotrail Arapaho but thar was a bag of poo !! so we got rid.
Re towing a car we tow a Fiat Siecento on a A frame,as we are both disabled (wife has a wheelchair) this gives us the freedom to go wherever we want to go with no "hassle" of setting up a caravan,fetching/emptying waste/water containers either. Great