Almost the day.

[maison]

Thursday, 5th March we trade in our 8 year old Sundance for a brand new Esprit 454.

Can hardly wait to take delivery.

Shake down trip next week then off to France at end of March until mid June!

 

[Bernie P]

Hope you don't find a string of problems with yours as I did with my new Esprit 442. So far we've had:

1. Front of cabin LED's, left one falling out
2. Trim screw missing drivers side by upper seat belt attachment
3. Towel ring loose (had to remove it), door has damage from previous attempts to fit it.
4. Left side bed pull out, rear end, doesn't go back flat against the seat Frame badly warped.
5. Waste tank leaking when indicator shows less than full
6. Kitchen window doesn't stay open. Stay arm not fixed to window
7. Front gas bottle retaining strap broken (stitching came undone)
8. Habitation door, top hinge pin fell out, no bottom cap fitted to retain it.
9. Habitation door, opening surround cracked in the area of the middle hinge
10. R/H bench seat, cushion retaining pin, top front, pulled out of the wall.
11. Table store door & front nearside cupboard door catches stick
12. Overhead locker door catches stick in open position during cold weather
13. Water filler cap. Lock doesn’t work
14. Number plate fell off after 1 day – bumper not cleaned before fixing
15. Vehicle battery locker cover wasn't fitted properly

The dealer who supplied it has had one go at fixing it, but the waste tank still leaks, the replacement washroom door had been packed badly damaged so we've another 6-8 weeks wait for another replacement and we've now been told the whole habitation door unit (surround etc) will have to be replaced!

Swift clearly don't do Quality Assurance as some of these clearly show system failures (Guess what my job is?).

Still as a unit it's great Motorhome and we've had it out every monyh since we got it in September

 

[Bill_OR]

Maison,
Hopefully your new MH will have none of the issues that have affected Bernie and will be great. Get out there and have fun!

 

[maison]

@Bernie P
Sounds pretty grim!

Our history so far:-
Truma panel failed first night. Proved to be a blown fuse. Incorrect fuse rating had been fitted. All OK now.

Reversing light lens wet on inside. New unit ordered.

One LED light in habitation area not working. New unit ordered.

Also had seat cushion retaining pin pull out. This part is not good design. Our previous units have not even had such a pin so don't think they are really necessary.

All problems dealt with by Dealer without problems.

We collected on 5th March, already have over 1100 miles on it and spent nine nights on the road so consider it to be well shaken down. Hope I'm right as we are heading to our place in France on the 30th and not returning until June.

Having the oil drained, engine flushed and new oil and filter fitted in the next couple of days to remove any swarf etc created by new engine. (have done that with all our vehicles to date and it seems to pay off).

Hope we both come to enjoy our M/H in future years. It is our fourth Swift so, as you can tell, our previous models have all served us well after the initial teething problems.

We have also owned an Autoquest many years ago which was good and a brand new Autosleeper which was a disaster. We changed it after 18 months for another Swift.

 

[Bernie P]

Not so much grim as frustrating. I don't know why the motorhome community are so happy to accept "Teething troubles", no other industry in the world would get away with it.
It's not as though it's difficult to prevent things like this.
I had a Swift caravan before upgrading, no problems at all.

Enjoy France, we'll be there in August where exactly in France is still to be decided. Looking forward to the more flexible holiday the MH will give us.

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[maison]

Further to the above.

Having been on tour for three months in the Swift and covering 5500 miles I have just had the following repaired under warranty.

Two small LED bulbs in the ceiling.

Driver's seat cover retaining clip was missing on delivery. Now fitted.

Reversing light replaced due to water ingress.

"Sticky" locker hinge replaced.

No major problems experienced at all so far. Love the layout, finish and driveability of the M/H.

Signed

"Satisfied Swift owner"

 

[Bernie P]

Finally getting the habitation door and bathroom door replaced on 19th August. Just finishing two weeks in France with it and the LED light under the counter won't stay on, the bathroom lights have stopped working as have the ones over the door and cab (they do work when you lock/unlock the van). The 12V socket in the habitation area has also stopped working. And before any one says anything I've checked the fuses and all connectors I can get at.

Other than that loving the change to a motorhome.