Kannon Fodda
LIFE MEMBER
- Feb 26, 2019
- 3,092
- 9,572
- Funster No
- 58,768
- MH
- Autotrail V-line 540
- Exp
- I Make Schoolboy Errors!
As a newbie to motorhomes, I’ve dived in feet first and acquired my nice shiny new PVC in early August. I’d seen many articles on the web about the van but most appear written in sponsorship or promotion, rather than offering a real user insight. Perhaps my (rather lengthy) views, as a novice singleton motorhomer will be of use to somebody.
I’d ordered the van at February’s NEC. Delivery took a little while longer than hoped, probably because I changed the spec post NEC to get the auto gearbox. Now, in less than a month I’ve clocked up over 700 miles bringing the home from the northern dealer, whilst stopping overnight on a couple of CLs, then attending my first Funster Rally in a field in Lymington before spending a long bank holiday weekend on a fuller facility site with EHU. In this short period I have put most of the toys through their paces.
This is the Autotrail V-Line 540SE based on the Fiat Ducato 5.4m length van, fitted with the 130BHP engine and Comfortmatic gearbox which includes cab-air con, cruise control / speed limiter. It was factory upgraded (show offer) with the media pack (Integrated sat-nav radio reversing camera, and an Avtex TV/DVD). I’ve also had a factory fitted towbar (to be used with a cycle carrier). The van itself has all the trimmings you might expect, and perhaps a few more in a compact rear lounge layout (converts to a transverse double bed) with 3 way Dometic fridge, 3 ring gas hob / oven, microwave, Thetford cassette toilet, shower, Trauma gas / electric combined water and space heater, rooflights, Remis blinds to all windows including cab, 100W solar, Gaslow integrated lpg tank, roll out awning.
Overall, I’m very happy with my mid life crisis purchase, although my bank manager may be less impressed. There is probably no such thing as a perfect build, layout and specification and perhaps there are some things I would do differently. Compared to many alternative manufacturers who’s base price is initially cheaper, but once a similar specification is listed becomes more expensive, the 540SE offers a good balance. It’s going to take me some time to work out how to get the most out the van, and I’m going to have fun trying.
The Driver Experience
I’ve only really driven cars, the largest a few years ago was an Espace. So this is a step up (more a clamber) to the driver seat. The rearwards seat movement is limited by the wardrobe panel behind. At a long legged 6’ I’m OK but do feel a little bit like I’m perched. The seat is OK, but has no lumbar support adjustment and the headrest is fixed. The height adjustment to the steering wheel worked OK (no front/back only up/down). At my height the driver’s door mirror is at it’s movement limit for my preferred view of the road behind.
The road ahead view is great, but side, oddly to the right driver side is poor with the door window reduced in size by the Remis blind housings, and the wardrobe bulkhead behind preventing an over shoulder look. This isn’t comfortable pulling out on some slip road and roundabout junctions. With the habitation door window on the left that oddly has a much better view. You rely on door mirrors there being no internal mirror. A reversing camera, in the radio sat nav screen (brochures incorrectly imply a display fitted to the screen) will come on automagically (if the radio / sat nav was on), although that is proving difficult to gauge distance to objects. There are no parking sensors.
The overall cab is adequate, but plasticky. One has to remember this was intended as a commercial vehicle. The toys I’ve become used to on a car aren’t fitted such as auto on headlights and screen wipers. Air con is manual control rather than climate control, and will work hard in even moderate sunny weather due to that large black dashboard area, and big glass windscreen, and won’t have the power to cool the habitation area.
The Comfortmatic seems to work OK, although can be a bit confusing to get into gear from neutral when you’ve been sat at lights and not wanted to ride the clutch. It seems odd (but you get a shed load of warning buzzers in neutral) to switch off the engine with the gears in drive or reverse (there is no “P” position). If the hill climb mode button is depressed the van seems to pull much better both on shorter steeper hills, as well as the lengthy motorway gradients. Hill starting takes some mastery and I’m not sure at what point (if it exists) the hill start assist would cut in, but a slight rollback in a traffic queue seems almost inevitable.
Performance of the engine seems OK, but I haven’t got much to judge from. You know it’s a heavy vehicle, but I believe there is plenty of power to accelerate in most situations. It’s a big vehicle so not designed to be thrown around and it does seem to have quite a bit of bounce in suspension as well as giving a sensation, especially on roundabouts, of wanting to understeer. It’s too early to know what mpg I’m getting. That first £100 tank fill was a shock compared to a car! Comfortable at anything up to around 65mph, wind noise from roof fittings becomes apparent above around 60mph, and that fuel gauge needle will seem as if visibly moving at 70mph.
Van Layout
This is a rear lounge / transverse bed arrangement. For a single person it works fine. I suspect two people would find it cramped and always be climbing around each other.
Storage space is at a premium. A 6m van would be a big difference with an extra 50cm overhead locker and undersofa storage on each side. But that length van wouldn’t have fitted the driveway. Every cupboard seems to have some piece of kit in it, whether a simple solar controller or switch, isolation valves and water pumps under the sink / oven, or the Trauma and leisure battery to the sofa benches. It’s the latter that is most awkward as even a moderate length foldup chair struggles to fit. There is a moderate hook provision in the shower room, but none elsewhere, so even spreading a towel to hang and dry is no easy. I’ll be fitting a holder for a kitchen roll soon. It pays to be organised and if you get something out to use it, put it away afterwards or you swiftly run out of floor, worktop or seat space.
Both driver and passenger seats swivel. But the driver’s seat will only turn 90 degrees due to the wardrobe, so really only the passenger seat is useable from the habitation area. But with the sliding door open, the lift up flap end worktop table lifted to rest your coffee cup, it’s a nice spot without having to make up the more formal lounge table area, even if your feet do dangle.
I had expected that once arrived at a site, I’d be so lazy I wouldn’t want to make / unmake the bed each day, and would rely on the front passenger seat. In practice I find I’m in the underseat storage too often so daytime as sofa benches is preferred. Making up the bed is reasonably swift but slightly lumpy due to the shape of the sofa cushions, and I’ll look to find a compact mattress overlay subject to storage. Four people would fit seated in the lounge, albeit with a squeeze.
I was pleasantly surprised the van stayed reasonably cool inside, despite the sun and 30 degree temperatures over the weekend. This was simply using the rooflights, side door, and rear door windows, along with cab blinds. The shower room warms up swiftly as the mushroom vent is ineffective once the door is closed (I may look at fitting some form of fan linked to the lighting). But the large lounge windows on either side aren’t practical to open, nearside would get taken out by the sliding door and offside is over the Trauma flue and fitted with a sensor that stops the Trauma working if this window is opened.
The shower room is inevitably compact. A flip down very shallow washbasin is over the toilet. Tip it up and the waste water drains away although there can be a couple of drips from the basin edge. You can’t see the waste outlet point, so can’t put a stopper in if a few odours start to rise from the greywater tank. A couple of wooden shelves are under the basin, shallow depth just enough to hold a spare toilet roll or two, but you need anti slip matting if the shelves are going to retain contents whilst driving along. I would have preferred the shelves to at least be plastic coated, even if a door wasn’t practical, so they can be wiped down. They’ll be in range of inevitable spray from the toilet use. Showering is fine, with a useful trigger to the shower head, albeit with a clingy curtain, you just have to be disciplined with water use and recognise that, the water can fluctuate cold if you stop start flow. But getting all water to drain that plughole is fun, needing a small mop or squeegee. The Thetford toilet seems fine with push button flush from your freshwater tank so you’ll quickly drain that to fill the cassette. You’ll feel fairly perched on high when seated and your neighbours will soon work out what you are up to as a small, noisy vent fan (Thetford’s equivalent to the SOG) starts up.
Equipment
The 540SE has a number of toys, most of which are fitted as standard, or part of the Media Pack upgrade. There are an incredible number of different LED lights with strip fittings over the sliding door and lounge, plus for the awning, further lights under the cab storage and entrance, over the cooker, and as individual reading lamps over the sofa. There are also 4 different locations of 230V socket outlets for when on EHU, but meanwhile only a paltry single 12V socket in the corner of the living room with the cab port disabled if the engine is not running. All habitation 12V power is off if the engine is running, the fridge served from the engine battery.
The kitchen is well equipped with 3 ring hob, oven / grill, sink unit and flip up worktop, plus the 3 way fridge of good capacity, although you’d soon run out if you try and fit a case of beer. That fridge has some quite bright blue LED lights, very noticeable after lights out. There is also a microwave, but that only works when on hook up, and I wonder if Autotrail should have offered that as an option in favour of another locker, still it makes a good bread bin. But the storage space limits come into play as you work out where best to keep plates, glasses, mugs as well as even your tea, coffee, and other essentials, let alone a fully stocked larder with pots pans and stuff. And surface area overall is limited which may affect anyone trying to do more than a small snack.
Hot water and heating is provided by the Trauma combined unit that runs from the gas, EHU or a mix. I first misread that as Trauma and know I was correct. It takes up half of one of the sofa bench seat spaces, along with various tubing, and even on water only keeps that under seat space a bit warm. As I understand it, it holds a small volume of water in the boiler ready for use, but that takes quite a few minutes to heat from a cold start. It’s not been cool enough to try the space heating mode. Apparently there is an app I can use on a smartphone for control and remote operation. The control panel loves to display error codes, so keep the manual nearby so you can realise it won’t start as a window sensor is open, or simply the 12V power is off.
Electrics are probably the weakest specification. 100W solar is manually switched between the leisure and engine battery, but the control suggests both may be charging? All is fed through a Sargent EC176 Power Supply Unit / 12V and 230V consumer unit with a 75Ah leisure battery (actually 72Ah according to Banner’s spec sheet). Autotrail indicate I could have had a second leisure battery (same capacity) but Sargent say the PSU is “fairly low end” and shouldn’t support more than 120Ah limited to a fixed 13.8V nominal 12Amp max charge rate. As it is a second battery would take up too much under sofa space but a bit more capacity for off grid when there is lower solar input would have been nice. Over a windy and cloudy weekend mid August the solar did appear to be replenishing overnight lighting, TV and related use so despite my misgivings Autotrail could argue the systems are sufficient.
Fresh and waste water capacity is a limiting 60 litre each. I’ll have to learn to use water better if I’m to reduce my fetch and carry with watering cans and buckets and survive a little longer off grid. The integrated gaslow undertank of 25litre is great but needs to be planned ahead for refills and unless the engine’s ignition is on there is no way to check how much is left. Turn the fridge up high on gas and it will chew through it, with Dometic warning that lpg may need the burner to be frequently cleaned.
Build Quality
There are many detractors on MHF and elsewhere who are highly critical of the Autotrail brand. I know some have had very poor experiences. I’m not putting my head into the sand, and whilst I have some minor gripes, so far I do consider these mere snagging.
Most awkward is the shower door which should latch top middle and bottom, but at present is middle only. There is also some trim to the centre rooflight which is pushed in place and tries to pop out with change in temperature. The grey and fresh water drain cocks seem to be push fit rather than glued so I wonder when they might fall off with the flexipipes under the van seeming to have only a single hanger clip fixing which might be vulnerable.
A wire to the solar controller wasn’t secured and caught when I removed something from the overhead locker. Easily tightened up for the loss of a 20A fuse. The steering wheel buttons for the radio needed to be programmed (every vehicle I’ve bought in 20 years these just worked). The WC cassette door needed minor adjustment to ensure latching (quickly fixed by the dealer during handover). The shower curtain should have four popper fittings to the wall panels, but those aren’t aligning.
My OCD does get a little miffed that the rear vehicle doors appear to be different widths, rather than truly centred, so that the bed cushions when laid out don’t align with the door frame, and the left door panel is slightly wider than the right. Similarly the rear windows have differing heights below and above the windows opening on each side of the lounge. Clearly this is by design and no doubt a result of the base vehicle, but it’s this sort of thing that I find annoying, whereas others would no doubt be concerned about some mysterious rattle (it’s a motorhome and everything has a potential to shake about if you don’t pack it down). But Autotrail really should have done better with the fridge unit, prominently labelled internally that the freezer compartment was removeable yet the cupboard bulkhead obstructing that outer door prevents that operation.
I’d ordered the van at February’s NEC. Delivery took a little while longer than hoped, probably because I changed the spec post NEC to get the auto gearbox. Now, in less than a month I’ve clocked up over 700 miles bringing the home from the northern dealer, whilst stopping overnight on a couple of CLs, then attending my first Funster Rally in a field in Lymington before spending a long bank holiday weekend on a fuller facility site with EHU. In this short period I have put most of the toys through their paces.
This is the Autotrail V-Line 540SE based on the Fiat Ducato 5.4m length van, fitted with the 130BHP engine and Comfortmatic gearbox which includes cab-air con, cruise control / speed limiter. It was factory upgraded (show offer) with the media pack (Integrated sat-nav radio reversing camera, and an Avtex TV/DVD). I’ve also had a factory fitted towbar (to be used with a cycle carrier). The van itself has all the trimmings you might expect, and perhaps a few more in a compact rear lounge layout (converts to a transverse double bed) with 3 way Dometic fridge, 3 ring gas hob / oven, microwave, Thetford cassette toilet, shower, Trauma gas / electric combined water and space heater, rooflights, Remis blinds to all windows including cab, 100W solar, Gaslow integrated lpg tank, roll out awning.
Overall, I’m very happy with my mid life crisis purchase, although my bank manager may be less impressed. There is probably no such thing as a perfect build, layout and specification and perhaps there are some things I would do differently. Compared to many alternative manufacturers who’s base price is initially cheaper, but once a similar specification is listed becomes more expensive, the 540SE offers a good balance. It’s going to take me some time to work out how to get the most out the van, and I’m going to have fun trying.
The Driver Experience
I’ve only really driven cars, the largest a few years ago was an Espace. So this is a step up (more a clamber) to the driver seat. The rearwards seat movement is limited by the wardrobe panel behind. At a long legged 6’ I’m OK but do feel a little bit like I’m perched. The seat is OK, but has no lumbar support adjustment and the headrest is fixed. The height adjustment to the steering wheel worked OK (no front/back only up/down). At my height the driver’s door mirror is at it’s movement limit for my preferred view of the road behind.
The road ahead view is great, but side, oddly to the right driver side is poor with the door window reduced in size by the Remis blind housings, and the wardrobe bulkhead behind preventing an over shoulder look. This isn’t comfortable pulling out on some slip road and roundabout junctions. With the habitation door window on the left that oddly has a much better view. You rely on door mirrors there being no internal mirror. A reversing camera, in the radio sat nav screen (brochures incorrectly imply a display fitted to the screen) will come on automagically (if the radio / sat nav was on), although that is proving difficult to gauge distance to objects. There are no parking sensors.
The overall cab is adequate, but plasticky. One has to remember this was intended as a commercial vehicle. The toys I’ve become used to on a car aren’t fitted such as auto on headlights and screen wipers. Air con is manual control rather than climate control, and will work hard in even moderate sunny weather due to that large black dashboard area, and big glass windscreen, and won’t have the power to cool the habitation area.
The Comfortmatic seems to work OK, although can be a bit confusing to get into gear from neutral when you’ve been sat at lights and not wanted to ride the clutch. It seems odd (but you get a shed load of warning buzzers in neutral) to switch off the engine with the gears in drive or reverse (there is no “P” position). If the hill climb mode button is depressed the van seems to pull much better both on shorter steeper hills, as well as the lengthy motorway gradients. Hill starting takes some mastery and I’m not sure at what point (if it exists) the hill start assist would cut in, but a slight rollback in a traffic queue seems almost inevitable.
Performance of the engine seems OK, but I haven’t got much to judge from. You know it’s a heavy vehicle, but I believe there is plenty of power to accelerate in most situations. It’s a big vehicle so not designed to be thrown around and it does seem to have quite a bit of bounce in suspension as well as giving a sensation, especially on roundabouts, of wanting to understeer. It’s too early to know what mpg I’m getting. That first £100 tank fill was a shock compared to a car! Comfortable at anything up to around 65mph, wind noise from roof fittings becomes apparent above around 60mph, and that fuel gauge needle will seem as if visibly moving at 70mph.
Van Layout
This is a rear lounge / transverse bed arrangement. For a single person it works fine. I suspect two people would find it cramped and always be climbing around each other.
Storage space is at a premium. A 6m van would be a big difference with an extra 50cm overhead locker and undersofa storage on each side. But that length van wouldn’t have fitted the driveway. Every cupboard seems to have some piece of kit in it, whether a simple solar controller or switch, isolation valves and water pumps under the sink / oven, or the Trauma and leisure battery to the sofa benches. It’s the latter that is most awkward as even a moderate length foldup chair struggles to fit. There is a moderate hook provision in the shower room, but none elsewhere, so even spreading a towel to hang and dry is no easy. I’ll be fitting a holder for a kitchen roll soon. It pays to be organised and if you get something out to use it, put it away afterwards or you swiftly run out of floor, worktop or seat space.
Both driver and passenger seats swivel. But the driver’s seat will only turn 90 degrees due to the wardrobe, so really only the passenger seat is useable from the habitation area. But with the sliding door open, the lift up flap end worktop table lifted to rest your coffee cup, it’s a nice spot without having to make up the more formal lounge table area, even if your feet do dangle.
I had expected that once arrived at a site, I’d be so lazy I wouldn’t want to make / unmake the bed each day, and would rely on the front passenger seat. In practice I find I’m in the underseat storage too often so daytime as sofa benches is preferred. Making up the bed is reasonably swift but slightly lumpy due to the shape of the sofa cushions, and I’ll look to find a compact mattress overlay subject to storage. Four people would fit seated in the lounge, albeit with a squeeze.
I was pleasantly surprised the van stayed reasonably cool inside, despite the sun and 30 degree temperatures over the weekend. This was simply using the rooflights, side door, and rear door windows, along with cab blinds. The shower room warms up swiftly as the mushroom vent is ineffective once the door is closed (I may look at fitting some form of fan linked to the lighting). But the large lounge windows on either side aren’t practical to open, nearside would get taken out by the sliding door and offside is over the Trauma flue and fitted with a sensor that stops the Trauma working if this window is opened.
The shower room is inevitably compact. A flip down very shallow washbasin is over the toilet. Tip it up and the waste water drains away although there can be a couple of drips from the basin edge. You can’t see the waste outlet point, so can’t put a stopper in if a few odours start to rise from the greywater tank. A couple of wooden shelves are under the basin, shallow depth just enough to hold a spare toilet roll or two, but you need anti slip matting if the shelves are going to retain contents whilst driving along. I would have preferred the shelves to at least be plastic coated, even if a door wasn’t practical, so they can be wiped down. They’ll be in range of inevitable spray from the toilet use. Showering is fine, with a useful trigger to the shower head, albeit with a clingy curtain, you just have to be disciplined with water use and recognise that, the water can fluctuate cold if you stop start flow. But getting all water to drain that plughole is fun, needing a small mop or squeegee. The Thetford toilet seems fine with push button flush from your freshwater tank so you’ll quickly drain that to fill the cassette. You’ll feel fairly perched on high when seated and your neighbours will soon work out what you are up to as a small, noisy vent fan (Thetford’s equivalent to the SOG) starts up.
Equipment
The 540SE has a number of toys, most of which are fitted as standard, or part of the Media Pack upgrade. There are an incredible number of different LED lights with strip fittings over the sliding door and lounge, plus for the awning, further lights under the cab storage and entrance, over the cooker, and as individual reading lamps over the sofa. There are also 4 different locations of 230V socket outlets for when on EHU, but meanwhile only a paltry single 12V socket in the corner of the living room with the cab port disabled if the engine is not running. All habitation 12V power is off if the engine is running, the fridge served from the engine battery.
The kitchen is well equipped with 3 ring hob, oven / grill, sink unit and flip up worktop, plus the 3 way fridge of good capacity, although you’d soon run out if you try and fit a case of beer. That fridge has some quite bright blue LED lights, very noticeable after lights out. There is also a microwave, but that only works when on hook up, and I wonder if Autotrail should have offered that as an option in favour of another locker, still it makes a good bread bin. But the storage space limits come into play as you work out where best to keep plates, glasses, mugs as well as even your tea, coffee, and other essentials, let alone a fully stocked larder with pots pans and stuff. And surface area overall is limited which may affect anyone trying to do more than a small snack.
Hot water and heating is provided by the Trauma combined unit that runs from the gas, EHU or a mix. I first misread that as Trauma and know I was correct. It takes up half of one of the sofa bench seat spaces, along with various tubing, and even on water only keeps that under seat space a bit warm. As I understand it, it holds a small volume of water in the boiler ready for use, but that takes quite a few minutes to heat from a cold start. It’s not been cool enough to try the space heating mode. Apparently there is an app I can use on a smartphone for control and remote operation. The control panel loves to display error codes, so keep the manual nearby so you can realise it won’t start as a window sensor is open, or simply the 12V power is off.
Electrics are probably the weakest specification. 100W solar is manually switched between the leisure and engine battery, but the control suggests both may be charging? All is fed through a Sargent EC176 Power Supply Unit / 12V and 230V consumer unit with a 75Ah leisure battery (actually 72Ah according to Banner’s spec sheet). Autotrail indicate I could have had a second leisure battery (same capacity) but Sargent say the PSU is “fairly low end” and shouldn’t support more than 120Ah limited to a fixed 13.8V nominal 12Amp max charge rate. As it is a second battery would take up too much under sofa space but a bit more capacity for off grid when there is lower solar input would have been nice. Over a windy and cloudy weekend mid August the solar did appear to be replenishing overnight lighting, TV and related use so despite my misgivings Autotrail could argue the systems are sufficient.
Fresh and waste water capacity is a limiting 60 litre each. I’ll have to learn to use water better if I’m to reduce my fetch and carry with watering cans and buckets and survive a little longer off grid. The integrated gaslow undertank of 25litre is great but needs to be planned ahead for refills and unless the engine’s ignition is on there is no way to check how much is left. Turn the fridge up high on gas and it will chew through it, with Dometic warning that lpg may need the burner to be frequently cleaned.
Build Quality
There are many detractors on MHF and elsewhere who are highly critical of the Autotrail brand. I know some have had very poor experiences. I’m not putting my head into the sand, and whilst I have some minor gripes, so far I do consider these mere snagging.
Most awkward is the shower door which should latch top middle and bottom, but at present is middle only. There is also some trim to the centre rooflight which is pushed in place and tries to pop out with change in temperature. The grey and fresh water drain cocks seem to be push fit rather than glued so I wonder when they might fall off with the flexipipes under the van seeming to have only a single hanger clip fixing which might be vulnerable.
A wire to the solar controller wasn’t secured and caught when I removed something from the overhead locker. Easily tightened up for the loss of a 20A fuse. The steering wheel buttons for the radio needed to be programmed (every vehicle I’ve bought in 20 years these just worked). The WC cassette door needed minor adjustment to ensure latching (quickly fixed by the dealer during handover). The shower curtain should have four popper fittings to the wall panels, but those aren’t aligning.
My OCD does get a little miffed that the rear vehicle doors appear to be different widths, rather than truly centred, so that the bed cushions when laid out don’t align with the door frame, and the left door panel is slightly wider than the right. Similarly the rear windows have differing heights below and above the windows opening on each side of the lounge. Clearly this is by design and no doubt a result of the base vehicle, but it’s this sort of thing that I find annoying, whereas others would no doubt be concerned about some mysterious rattle (it’s a motorhome and everything has a potential to shake about if you don’t pack it down). But Autotrail really should have done better with the fridge unit, prominently labelled internally that the freezer compartment was removeable yet the cupboard bulkhead obstructing that outer door prevents that operation.
