Zaskars new pride & joy! (1 Viewer)

zaskar

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At last, I've got some piccies. Rig is absolutely wonderfull. VERY comfy, loads of space. Even our Dougal loves it and has spent all week tearing up and down the bedroom steps! Must be nice for him to be able to walk about without the fear of being stood on!
 
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vwalan

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i bet you thought all your birthdays had come at once! lovely rig , see you on the road somewhere .soon this will be 5 alive motoring fun site,ha ha

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chaswb100

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Congratulations! Outfit looks great.Any tips on what to check on collection as we collect our Kountrylite 26RK on monday? How do you find the Navara handles the weight?

Thanks - Chaswb100
 
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zaskar

zaskar

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Congratulations! Outfit looks great.Any tips on what to check on collection as we collect our Kountrylite 26RK on monday? How do you find the Navara handles the weight?

Thanks - Chaswb100

Oh, dear:Sad: I was afraid of being asked this!
What can I say? The rig is wonderfull, the dealer and his wife are EXTREMELY nice people to deal with, but, TBH, both they and the American manufacturer need to sharpen up thier act a bit.

The rig was delivered from the States with a differnt bathroom layout than that specified and unknown to either me or Calder!
Certain personal mods had also not been carried out by the manufacturer as promised. This was VERY annoying considering that I took the time and effort to construct a PowerPoint document and e-mail it to both Calder AND Allen Trailer (the US manufacturer of KountryLite)
This document contained screen grab photos off Calders site with assosiated text and labelling which specified EXACTLY what we wanted. It simply didn't happen. These faults are ALL Stateside, not Calder.
When I E-mailed the States to complain, although I recieved a lengthly appology, I do not accept some of the comments within. When answering my point about the wrong bathroom layout, I was told that by the time my e-mail arrived, the shower tray and different sink cabinet had already been fitted and that it would take a WHOLE,
3 hours [unquote] to take it out and put in what I REALLY wanted so they didn't bother.
Oh right, so I'm spending the best part of 30k and you cant be ar$ed giving the customer what he wants for the sake of 3 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:Eeek: Very VERY poor on the part of the Americans I feel !

Where Calder let themselves down i feel, is a certain lack of organisation which in the end became EXTREMELY frustrating and ffi and I couldn't wait to get back home!

When arangments are made for fitters/technitions to come to the rig to carry out mods or wanrantee/PDI work, I EXPECT them to be on time, not hours and hours later.

When you find out from a fellow purchaser (on the same site) that Calder will be arriving at 9am the next morning to take you for your first test drive.................and yet you've not heard a word from Calder, you think "oh cheers!, thanks for letting ME know!" If Dale hadn't let that one slip, they'd have turned up un announced and we'd have been running round like idiots packing everything away instead of taking our time and enjoying the experience.

When you look at the fitting of the optional extra handbrake that we specified and you know yourself that the handbrake cables have been fitted SOOOOOOOO tight that the brakes simply MUST bind on, and you mention it to the fitted on Tuesday, and he says "dont worry, it'll be fine"........and then you EVENTUALLY get to your test drive at 4.30 pm on the Friday (bear in mind that we're leaveing saturday AM) and the brakes get SOOOOO hot that you cant touch the hubs!
So I say (trying to be reasonable given the hour and the frustration!), "dont worry, I'll bring the unit to you on Saturday morning before we leave and you can sort it then?".......and the fitter says, "can't do that, there's no one in"!!!!!!!!!!:Eeek:
YOU WANNA BET PAL!!!!!!!!!!:Angry: I aint spent 30K to be treated like this! So there and then (5pm) we trundle back to the workshop where they have to angle gring the fixing brackets (that THEY welded) off my chassis and re-weld them in a better location, by which time, ffi and I are VEY hot, VERY knackered and VERY upset.

Unfortuntely, the above is going to be seen as nothing more than a slagging off of Calder leisure and that REALLY is NOT what I want. I maintain that Alex and his wife are LOVELLY people to deal with and a I genuinly believe that they care about what they are doing, its just that, as in all things in life, there could be improvments made to try and smooth the buying process for the customer so that he/she can thoroughly enjoy the experience and not be sat there thinking "just give me my rig and let me bugger off so that I sort the problems out myself".

In summary:-

Alex and Margarite are wonderfull, knowledgeable and friendly people to deal with, they just need to sharpen up thier "people" a bit.

Thier carpenter (sorry I've forgotten his name but he's one of thier relatives) is to be THOROUGHLY recomended for cabinet mods. He made a first class job of some mods in our rig and was a thoroughly nice bloke to boot.

Paul, in the workshop, is definately going to be recieving a "thank you" package. Of all the staff, he really did go the exta mile with info, help, advise and all sorts, even turning up at the campsite at 8PM at night with his wife/girlfreind/partner to deliver a set of keys I'd stupidly left at the office. (Nice Beemer BTW Paul::bigsmile:)

So, the rig is wonderfull. Not quite what we ordered, but we ARE extremely happy with it and to be fair Alex did say that if we couldn't get used to the bathroom layout, he would take the rig back as an ex demo and get us another rig with what we ordered. I suspect we will live with it because a/ it's tooooo much trouble to go back up to edinburgh and b/ if I'm honest, the layout installed DOES give a MUCH bigger bathroom..........which is what Alex said all along. My gripe was that I SHOULD have been informed FIRST, rather than drive all the way up there to find out!

Would we deal with Calder again?
Yes, course we would and I would STILL recomend them, simply cos I do believe that Alex cares. All I would say, is check EVERYTHING and be prepared to be patient (unfortunately, I have to admit to not having a great deal of patince!:Blush:).




As far as the Navara goes.

It's exactly as I thought it would be. It does the job and it does it well. It is NOT a rocket ship with 3 1/2 tonnes hanging off it's backside and if you get (as I did) a later D40 Auto with the Euro 4 spec engine, it's flippin' thirsty!!!!!
Stability = Fantastic, like its on rails, especially after towing a twin axle for 12 months!
Slight bucking but most can be eleiminated by increaing airbag pressure on the
Nav. I used 2.5 Bar and it was fine.
Speed. = Back from Edinburgh to Cheshire via M74 & M6. Set cruise at 58 and was
comfortable. Auto box dropped a gear coming up Shap but maintained 58mpg.
That's PLENTY good enough for me.
Fuel. = OUCH!!!!!!! 14.6MPG So much for stories of 30 solo, up to 20 towing a 5ver!!!!
Having said that, all the owners I "spoke" to were running earlier Euro 3 spec
Navs (known for better fuel economy) and towing much lighter Amerilites etc so
given the weight and housing estate style aerodynamics of the high profile
Kountrylites, I suppose it's not too .......and
still about 2 - 3 MPG more than I got out of my last 6.5 V8 RV.
Mine might improve slightly as I've only got 8k on the clock so it's still tight.

Sure there's lots more I could bore you with but I've gone scree/word blind!::bigsmile:
Please feel free to come back with any specific questions and I'll GLADLY try to help.

Good luck for Monday, and pleasde PLEASE dont be put off by my ramblings, it could be me just being picky!

Z


ps. I chose the Nav because my milage (apart from the yearly holiday to France) will be comparatively low. For us on site comfort was a greater priority than on-raod performance. If i was going on a long term European tour, i think I would at least consider a Dodge Ram or similar, purely because the engine wont have to work as hard and consequently, even with a huge American V8 pickup, your economy will be similar.
Having said that, whilst we were up at Calder, there was an Amercian (a hell of a nice guy called Larry) who'd just come back with his KountryLite high profile after 12 months in Spain and Portugal. He towed with a '56 plate Nav and was quite happy. Again, he said that progress wasn't exactly rapid but the Nav DID do the job and hadn't let him down once.

edit no 2 = For Navara info, I use this forum, www.nissan-navara.net very helpfull people.

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old-mo

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Nice looking rig,, well worth the wait, I bet..:thumb:

Hope you have many happy holidays and trips with it..::bigsmile:

Hope to see you at the Americana..:thumb:
 

barryd

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Looks fantastic! I think you were more than tolerent with the suppliers as well!
 

chaswb100

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Thanks for all the info_Our Kountrylite is an ex demo so hopefully all snags will be sorted already, but we will check everything works as it should.We are going to the Lake District for a few nights on the way home so will let you know how we get on.Our Navara is a manual Euro3 & has also done 8k so will be an interesting comparison on fuel.

Thanks Chaswb100

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robrobc

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Nice Rig Zaskar.........I wish the three of you many happy miles and sites.:thumb::thumb:


I am interested in the fact that your mpg is worse than mine with a 6000cc V8 Diesel, this goes back to the old chestnut of size and power vs frugality.

This all is an irrelevance, you are very happy with your outfit and that is all that matters, I hope that we may bump in to each other one day out on the road (by bump I do not mean literally !!!!)

Happy Travels

Rob
 
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zaskar

zaskar

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This all is an irrelevance, Rob

Nope, dont agree mate.:winky:
You made a very good and very valid point and one which future 5ver buyers should seriously consider.:thumb:
In my case, I knew that my milage would be limited, so for us, onsite comfort had to take priority over on road performance.
For people considering a European tour, then I would think seriously about a yank V8 pickup. As you know, because the engine isn't working as hard when towing, then based on my findings with my Nav, then it is possible to get similar consumption from a Ram or 250/350.
I think where the Nav will benefit, is when driving solo. We will be using it for everyday use (solo) for shopping/sightseeing etc and in those conditions, 27-27 is easily acheivable with a sensible right foot.


............I hope that we may bump in to each other one day out on the road .............
Rob

Me too mate:thumb: ffi' and I haven't been to an MHF rally since one of the first at Rivendale near Ashbourne years ago. We had a great time with the crew and keep saying we must repeat it.:thumb:
 
Nov 10, 2008
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Our 5er

Z,
We have the high profile 26RK and are presently in Spain.
Have you had the Nav chipped? Ours is and you DO get 30+ (best 34 on a run)solo and we averaged 19mpg in in the 1,200 miles down to here. Going over Pyrenees dropped to 15 or so. As it's about an additional 25BHP it also helps in "acceleration" if you can call it that but I can not compare it to anything (first time towing). So for approx. £300 I think it is worth it.

I agree 100% about Calder, they don't seem to work to a rigurous hand over so they were a few things we had to sort after delivery. All the people are genuine and care, I guess as the business "just grew up" some proper business rules went missing. BTW did you get a manual on the actual rig itself, I was told they was none?
One thing you should do is get something to hold the steps in, if you hit a big bump they can pop out (it happened), we use a strong belt.
Other than above it's a great rig and can not imagine having anything else.
Regards John & Tricia
Swinhoe's 5th Wheel Euro tour

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zaskar

zaskar

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Sep 25, 2007
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Z,
We have the high profile 26RK and are presently in Spain.
Have you had the Nav chipped? Ours is and you DO get 30+ (best 34 on a run)solo and we averaged 19mpg in in the 1,200 miles down to here. Going over Pyrenees dropped to 15 or so. As it's about an additional 25BHP it also helps in "acceleration" if you can call it that but I can not compare it to anything (first time towing). So for approx. £300 I think it is worth it.

Hiya guys::bigsmile: Yes, our Nav is also chipped, and yes, it definately makes a positive difference. I dont know about difference for towing the 5ver cos I've only towed the rig once the Nav was chipped, but certainly solo, last week it was 21-21 MPG. Now its been chipped, its about 24-25mpg which is going to add up nicley over the years thank very much:thumb:
Possibly the difference in our mpg's (yours compared to mine) is the engine type and milage? Mines a late 08 Euro 4 spec engine with just 8k on the clock. Because of the bl**dy tree huggers, its basically been strangled to death re emissions and so it is a known fact over on the Navara UK Forum that the earlier Euro 3 spec engines get faaaaaar better MPG cos they're not as strangled.


BTW did you get a manual on the actual rig itself, I was told they was none?.

No, we didn't get a KountryLite/Allen Camper manual, just LOTS of little 'uns for all the equipment.

One thing you should do is get something to hold the steps in, if you hit a big bump they can pop out (it happened), we use a strong belt..

Good tip:thumb: Must admit that I had wondered but thought, "nah, don't be daft!" Now that you've said that, I think I'll invest in a strap, just in case.

Got a return tip for you, that was passed on to me by another owner. :thumb:
If you're internal 240 system trips (at the van, not the post), normally you'd reset at the little blue lever on the trip box that Calder install. This owner was trying and trying, but it wouldn't reset, even tho it should-nothing at all was on in the van. When he spoke to Calders spark, it turns out that the little square white test button (stamped with a "T")on the same box is a begger for sticking in and has to be teased back out with a knife/small screwdriver before the little blue lever will re-set.:Doh::thumb:

Regards John & Tricia
Swinhoe's 5th Wheel Euro tour[/QUOTE]
 

robrobc

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Nope, dont agree mate.:winky:
You made a very good and very valid point and one which future 5ver buyers should seriously consider.:thumb:
In my case, I knew that my milage would be limited, so for us, onsite comfort had to take priority over on road performance.
For people considering a European tour, then I would think seriously about a yank V8 pickup. As you know, because the engine isn't working as hard when towing, then based on my findings with my Nav, then it is possible to get similar consumption from a Ram or 250/350.
I think where the Nav will benefit, is when driving solo. We will be using it for everyday use (solo) for shopping/sightseeing etc and in those conditions, 27-27 is easily acheivable with a sensible right foot.



Me too mate:thumb: ffi' and I haven't been to an MHF rally since one of the first at Rivendale near Ashbourne years ago. We had a great time with the crew and keep saying we must repeat it.:thumb:

When I say irrelevence I mean it is not exactly rocket science to compare a Navarra with a Ford F250, what is useful IMHO is being to able to capture live data from people who are using these vehicles in real life situations, bit late maybe for those of us that have already bought :Doh: but it may help those who are on the brink of buying.
I shall have used a full tank of diesel shortly (takes a long time as it is a 90 litre tank....:Eeek::Eeek:) and then I may have some data on the economy when running solo.

Rob

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dazzer

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My F150 Lightning is the Ferrari of pickup trucks is has a 5.4ltr V8 supercharged engine and will outdo a Porsche from the lights :Blush::winky:. I drive it every day both for work and pleasure and having owned a Navara would NEVER EVER go back to a Jap/Euro pickup.

I get around 15-18mpg normal driving round town and maybe up to 20 on the motorway, if you hammer it (and its very hard not to :ROFLMAO:) the mpg drops to single figures and if you thrash the arse of it (and its very hard not to :thumb::ROFLMAO:) you get about 5-6 mpg :Eeek:.

It is rated to tow over 4 tonnes and does so with ease. I often tow a very heavy trailer with a 2 1/2 ton access platform on it and you hardly notice its there. I havnt noticed any change in mpg when towing but this will no doubt be down to a lighter right foot and slower speeds.

The main difference between the Lightning and the Nivara is EVERYTHING!! :ROFLMAO:

I get out of the Lightning after a 200 mile drive towing the trailer as fresh as when i got in it, the Nissan was like driving a tractor by comparison and i always felt half dead after a drive of more than a couple of hours. The autobox and cruise control make for very lazy easy driving my ONLY complaint about the Lightning would be the noise from the exhaust which has 2 volumes, loud and VERY loud, which on a long haul can get a bit monotonous but thats why there is a volume control on the stereo i guess :winky:

The steering wheel on the wrong side is something you learn to live with very quickly and as its so bloody fast, overtaking from a few feet further back than you would be in a RHD vehicle is not a problem.

The Nissans etc are a great looking truck with all the chrome bling bits but i can honestly say i havnt met 1 person yet that would rather have a Jap/Euro truck instead of mine even with the less than great mpg. I could get it converted to gas which would give better economy than any Jap/Euro truck but i knew it would use fuel when i bought it and just accept that the price to be paid for performance, looks and the sheer usability of it is well worth every penny.:thumb:

Im afraid its USA pick ups or nothing for me and i dont even own a 5er!!! (but i do keep going on to SWMBO about it with no luck :cry:)
 
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Nov 10, 2008
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Z,
Mine is an October (58) plate and has 7K miles, same as yours I guess (174 BHP original spec)
One more tip, the rubber covers on the rear bumper, they come off unless you tape them on.
Also as you (we) are over 12m overall you will need "long vehicle" stickers/plates if you intend to drive in Europe.
Regards Jack
 

robrobc

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Z,
............................................................
Also as you (we) are over 12m overall you will need "long vehicle" stickers/plates if you intend to drive in Europe.....................
Regards Jack


Best place to buy these from??? Thanks in advance.

Rob

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vwalan

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any truck accessory place or auto factor. from 1996on vehicles over 11mtr they can be yellow with orange/red border with out long vehicle written on . they are not expensive .last ones i bought were 9.5+vat for apair aluminium backed.
 

duetto owner

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looks good, hope you got a decent rebate for all your messing around and disappointment, especially as you could have refused the rig due to wrong spec.

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fuzzybo

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Glad you're pleased with your Rig!

Hubby & I plus 3 dogs are about to embark on the journey down the road of the 5th wheeler and, like yourselves, have chosen the Kountrylite but with the rear kitchen. I like the fact that we have at least a few inches on lino in which to lasso the dogs (for drying purposes after a shower - much badger /fox/any old pooh rolling) before they get onto the carpet!
We looked at the lower profile but did not like the idea of sleeping with our heads in what could feel a bit like a MRI scanner - we like air around our bonces.
I have to say I have read just about every comment/blog & musings on old loo rolls in order to find out every little bit of info about it and have worried about every little bit...MPG, width issue...apparently it isn't 7' 6" it's 7' 11" with the awning permanently there and blah blah blah.
We have had a caravan then a motorhome and then another caravan (for 1 trip only) and didn't like the lack of space, lurching and nowhere for the dogs to sprawl. We looked at the Fifthwheel.co's offerings but felt they were a tad too expensive if beautifully built and the chap at Newbury didn't appear to think we had the moolah...(silly boy shouldn't judge a book by its covers) and so was quite vague and dismissive when we asked questions. It was so reassuring to read that you are obviously delighted with your new rig and wish you every conceivable joy on your travels. We await with trepidation the story that the actual take over may turn into and must say that both Mr & Mrs Calder Leisure have been most pleasant if a little overrun with jobs to do. So, we can only hope that we get it boxed off soon and get on our way. Hope to see you sometime to compare notes !
 

fuzzybo

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Another thing.......

Have you heard of Bridge X ? I paid it for £14.99 which included an Autoroute add-on and a download for my Garmin Nuvi 7600 or something. You can plot your route and see where all the low bridges are ...I think it might save us turning it into a low profile!
I have also purchased Mo & Dick's Big Site Book....something the caravan club should sort out in their books.
There will be more of us!
 

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