Autotrail Savannah with two single beds

[Pagen]

Hi all, after much deliberation between us we have settled on the fact that our needs would be best met with a Motorhome that has two single beds. At present we have an extremely low mileage 57 plate Autotrail tracker EKS which we will be very reluctant to part with. However night time trips to the khazi to strain my taters does tend to wake the other half as I climb out of the made up double bed. Hence the proposed change. The Autotrail Savannah has caught our eye as it has these two singles and not a vast increase in length. Needs to still fit on our drive. However what are your opinions on the Savannah? What others can you recommend? We are not talking brand new but second hand , Opinions welcomed! This may well be our final Mo Ho so want to get it right !

 

[Geistguy]

Pilote do some fantastic twin single bed models, our p700gj has the most comfortable beds we've ever had in more than 8 motorhomes.

In our opinion the twin bed layout works best for us.

 

[Lenny HB]

Our last two vans have been twin singles for a different reason we love the big garage they give you. I wouldn't worry about having a van with higher beds as with the twin single layout you get decent steps down, well worth it for the big garage. Just make sure you have plenty of payload.

 

[Gellyneck]

We've had a 13 plate Savannah from about a year old and really suits our needs.
Particular pluses for us are -

• as you say the single beds
• the half garage which increases storage capacity significantly
• ours has the optional half-dinette so four seat belts (I've also made up drawer units under them to give even more storage)
• ours is a Hi-line model but we've never used the over-cab bed as there's only the two of us and the dog (tend to keep our out door jackets on it)
• the main table in not fixed but stored in a dedicated locker next to the fridge freezer so can be used inside or out
• it has an easily accessible spare wheel (albeit it on steel wheel as opposed the alloys on the others)

Main downsides for us -

• the TV is a drop down above \ between the cabs seats and "useless" if your using the cab swivelled around so we added and additional TV
• quite a steep climb into through the habitation door (ours has a grab rail fitted which is good for holding onto on the way out)
• the half dinette seats, whilst seat belted, are not comfortable for travelling in (OK when using them for dining)

Issues we've had -

• had to replace the "useless" factory fit media centre
• the usual Ducato windscreen scuttle leaks issue
• airbag ECU went faulty (my fault as I let the vehicle battery discharge heavily)
• awning light leds started to fail but easy fix
• interior step up to bedroom light stopped working (the plug on the end had come off)
• ours was the first to have drl's fitted and one unit had leds fail, again an easy fix
• habitation step bracket cracked and had to be replaced (diy)

Hope it helps in your thought process.

 

[grasscutter]

Wehave the Hobby Van Exclusive with high level singles.
Love the layout and the good sized garage.
Even when they are made up to the double you can still easily get out the end of the bed without disturbing your partner

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[Polar bear]

Got a 2016 Savannah which we bought new. Does everything we want great layout high payload few minor issues but you get issues with any van regardless of cost, good value for money.

 

[Wikky]

We changed from a 2005 Autotrail Cheyenne 630 which used the lounge cushions to configure 2 singles or a large double bed to a 2011 Rapido 7065+. This has 2 single beds and a washroom across the full width at the back. Small garage underneath. This works for us as we use the facilities in the van rather than the site. Another plus is the Alko chassis as the ride is so much better than the van ladder type chassis of the Autotrail we had.
The Rapido is plated at 3850Kg but we generally don't load it up totally.

 

[Pagen]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Having had a long hard think and as this next Motorhome will be our “forever one” we are considering trying to buy a second hand premier model with single beds. We are drawn towards Hymers but can’t seem to find any local to us (Cambridgeshire) service agents? Also considering dethleffs and pilote . Just want to get a good quality build ! What a quandary ! May well leave till early 2022 as not much about plus half the year gone by June plus it seems what few suitable Motorhomes about are very highly priced at the mo?

 

[G7UXG]

I’m biased, but Carthago do a decent build quality and a couple of twin single bed models.

 

[pampam]

We had a cheyanne that had two singles with a full width bathroom at the back, and loved it, also an arapaho and an apache,i would have two singles every time, ive had a hymer (caravan ) two singles and found the build quality a little bit superior to the autotrail , but saying that, i would have another, i think they are aesthetically pleasing , in fact weve been looking at them on ebay tonite

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[Lenny HB]

I’m biased, but Carthago do a decent build quality and a couple of twin single bed models.

Quite a bit better than Hymer these days, I'm not a fan of Hymer's new lightweight consruction.

 

[Pagen]

Hope we are not looking at same ones PamPam

 

[Minxy]

You could look at the Globecar Campscout too, twin singles at the rear with loads of storage underneath. We had one before we got our current Carthago C-Compactline i-138, although this doesn't have twin singles it has 2 doubles (transverse at rear and dropdown over cab at front) so we each have one to ourselves ... well along with a hairy 'child' each that is (dogs); no disturbing each other at all at night and I get away from hubby's snoring too!

 

[Pagen]

Does anyone know what year Hymer changed to their new lightweight construction referred to by Lenny HB ?

 

[Lenny HB]

Does anyone know what year Hymer changed to their new lightweight construction referred to by Lenny HB ?

First one was the B class Dynamic Line in 2016, and new models since then, the updated Exsis I think that was 2917 etc. The difference is in the internal cabinet contruction changed from lightweight ply to ply skins with polystyrene core on the cabinet doors.

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[irnbru]

We searched for a long time for one of the very rare Savannah that Gellyneck has. In the end we went for a leaking Benimar 264, it would appear we have been very unlucky.
The autotrail Imala 734 also has twin singles so you might want to compare that one.

 

[Pagen]

Gellyneck refers to the usual scuttle issues with the autotrail Savannah? What are those please ?

 

[Gellyneck]

Gellyneck refers to the usual scuttle issues with the autotrail Savannah? What are those please ?

It's not just the Autotrail Savannah it's a potential problem on all FIAT X250 Ducato's and equivalent Peugeot and Citroen models.

There's a number of threads on here about it including this one -

X250 scuttle drain improvisation.

I've yet to strip and seal my scuttle but having seen other peoples methods I believe this is a quite ingenious and cheap alternative. More pictures when I do the whole job

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

I believe the later X290 has less of an issue.

 

[Pagen]

Thanks for the clarification re the scuttle issue I actually had this issue on our existing Fiat based Mo Ho. (Rectified). Wasn’t sure if you meant that and didn’t realise it carried on through later models so thanks for the tip and obviously worth me keeping an eye out for with any new buy.