Ridgeway
LIFE MEMBER
Well after owning our ex rental Carado A366 a grand total of 14 months we have decided to upgrade, yes already.....
I have to say that getting a motorhome has been the best decision we have made in years and we really have enjoyed our first 12 months clocking up around 7,000kms across France, Italy, UK, and Switzerland. The mobility of 1 night stops and 15min set ups is just great even with 4 children and 2 dogs. And finding aires next to the beach for €4 p/night is simply a pleasure.
I don't mind admitting that we set a pretty tight budget to get our first van which we had targeted as being 2nd hand but we came across this ex-rental Carado and it ticked many boxes, not all as nothing ever does. 12 months on and we have decided that we'll be doing this "Camping Car" thing for a bit yet as the youngest is only 4yrs old and No1 daughter is now 16yrs old and already getting reluctant to come along so we started to get that feeling about an upgrade earlier on this year.
We were close to going for a Hymer Exsis-I 644, the only A Class that we could find with 6 berths. But we thought the floor space was limited for our crew and it was a tad too posh for muddy dogs...
We stumbled across a Laika that was on offer as it was a cancelled order and having really spent some time going through it (been back to see it 3 times) we decided to take the plunge and our Italian Ice Cream van will be ready on 21st June ! day after my birthday
It's an EcoVip 2 Classic with the 150bhp engine and is fully loaded with a premium pack although I'm sure after reading some Pappajohn posts I'll find some must have gadgets
oh:
We liked the underfloor storage although the garage space is small and the insulation and water system looks really well put together. Overall one of our aims was to get a van that would last some good years hard use and the build quality seems excellent.
Now I've got the job of stripping down the Carado and getting the van prepped at the end of June ready for Lugano, Venice, Croatia, Dolomites, Innsbruck in early July: a shake down run
I have to say that getting a motorhome has been the best decision we have made in years and we really have enjoyed our first 12 months clocking up around 7,000kms across France, Italy, UK, and Switzerland. The mobility of 1 night stops and 15min set ups is just great even with 4 children and 2 dogs. And finding aires next to the beach for €4 p/night is simply a pleasure.
I don't mind admitting that we set a pretty tight budget to get our first van which we had targeted as being 2nd hand but we came across this ex-rental Carado and it ticked many boxes, not all as nothing ever does. 12 months on and we have decided that we'll be doing this "Camping Car" thing for a bit yet as the youngest is only 4yrs old and No1 daughter is now 16yrs old and already getting reluctant to come along so we started to get that feeling about an upgrade earlier on this year.
We were close to going for a Hymer Exsis-I 644, the only A Class that we could find with 6 berths. But we thought the floor space was limited for our crew and it was a tad too posh for muddy dogs...
We stumbled across a Laika that was on offer as it was a cancelled order and having really spent some time going through it (been back to see it 3 times) we decided to take the plunge and our Italian Ice Cream van will be ready on 21st June ! day after my birthday
It's an EcoVip 2 Classic with the 150bhp engine and is fully loaded with a premium pack although I'm sure after reading some Pappajohn posts I'll find some must have gadgets
oh:We liked the underfloor storage although the garage space is small and the insulation and water system looks really well put together. Overall one of our aims was to get a van that would last some good years hard use and the build quality seems excellent.
Now I've got the job of stripping down the Carado and getting the van prepped at the end of June ready for Lugano, Venice, Croatia, Dolomites, Innsbruck in early July: a shake down run
