Pilote Reference G690L (1 Viewer)

DuxDeluxe

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Jul 10, 2008
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We went to the Peterborough show to buy a few bits and pieces and somehow ended up with a new van..... Due to a lengthy business trip we did not pick it up until near the end of May but it worked well for both us and the dealer (Hayes Leisure - excellent) as they needed some time to get it registered, uprated etc and we had to remove the dome and solar stuff from the Broadway.

6 weeks in and 1200 miles, here are some initial thoughts.....

Plus points:

Space - massive lounge area made bigger by the lack of fixed table. One of the reasons we bought it, so at last plenty of room for us and the dogs. Great place to simply slob out or socialise, with both the driver and passenger seats swivelling. Plenty of light from the windows, helped by the massive cab area and side windows.

The drop down bed is easy to lower and extremely comfortable

It has a really decent size kitchen and a superb bathroom as well. Plenty of room to cook and to shower, but not at the same time...... we did look at the shorter Adventura A Class but it was compromised in both of these areas for the sake of 80 cm shorter.

Lighting is.... generous, with an almost confusing selection of LED lights to choose from, the main side lighting being dimmable as well. Build quality appears to be good with fit and finish mostly up to a good standard. Soft furnishings are not quite as good as Autosleepers, with lower quality materials used, but comfy.

Points for improvement:

A couple of annoying rattles which have been easily fixed without returning to the dealer. The 2.3 150 engine felt a bit flat but this was in comparison with the 3 litre in the previous van. Economy is hovering about the 24.5 mpg mark. The shower leaked very slightly into the locker beneath but a quick email to dealer sorted it. Unscrew drain from tray have a look and screw it back in, making sure nothing is caught underneath. Fixed - but will keep an eye on it. Drivers door mirror on the limit of adjustment and will be fixed under warranty. Fuel filler housing slightly cracked and likewise will be fixed under warranty

Big gripe is payload.... Frankly we think it is criminal to sell this as a 3500kg van. Unless you like solo motorhoming. Knowing that the French (Rapido and Pilote) both - ahem - squint at the unladen figures and mysteriously always seem the wrong side of the +/- 5% allowed, plus also almost empty water tanks. Aware of this, we uprated (free as it was unregistered) to 3650kg for delivery. One fitted awning, some bikes, half a tank of fuel and half of water and 10kg overweight! That is before we even really started........ SV tech to the rescue and two higher load rating rear tyres and air assist suspension later and now plated at 3850 with the extra all at the rear axle as that was only 20kg under the max. Front unchanged as we had 200kg spare there. Happy now, but it just shows that everyone needs to be careful about payloads - I thought we had adequate margin.

Future projects:

We wanted the half leather upholstery but the van that had it (ours was one of two at Peterborough) was sold about an hour before.... so a future trip to Reluxe is called for. They do the Autosleeper stuff and we were impressed with it.

With the air suspension the van now sits slightly high at the rear. Sometime next year, we will uprate the front suspension with Goldschmidt units to raise the front by 2" and improve the ride

That's it. We have almost found our perfect van. Dawn loves it, the dogs are obsessed with it so all is good at Dux towers......


Edit - we took up some of the carpets as Hayes had left the extra vinyl covering they had for the sow but fully carpeted it looks really nice. Hayes have been very good, both during and after the sales process. It would have been a lot more expensive and October to get the same van from Pullingers, just up the road and Hayes came with a good reputation so we went for it
 

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