Devon Sahara (1 Viewer)

[Absolutelyalan]

Morning all,

I'm still searching for my next MH and I've seen a Devon Sahara, 05 on an LDV chassis. It's the sort of layout I would like, but I'm not familiar with the LDV, or Devon Conversions for that matter, so any opinions/comments would be appreciated.

Ranger, I think you had one of these? Did you sell?

 

[The general]

LDV ? Still I think they got ford engines( duratorqu?) but as a van horrible to drive , but in my limited knowledge I think Devon got a very good name ,was looking at them myself when I was on hunt for PVC.

 

[scotzsue]

Would say what i think of owner ofconversion company, but i dont like coventry, the vans seem to be a decent conversion though, No knowledge of LDV as never driven one.

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[chaser]

My favourite van till we got this one, if the body is sound, it will run for ever, on a piece of string, if it's right money I'd still like one, we went 3000 miles in self converted ldv , France down to pisa and back round Spain, loved it.

 

[GeriatricWanderer]

Can't comment on the Sarah but l run an old 2003 Devon Sunrise and can comment that all the cushions are still keeping their shape, the seat fabric is virtually as good as new, including the driver's (80k on the clock), all the furniture is sound and still all stuck together, all the moving bits like hinges and windows are still working well, no rust where the body panels were cut. I think you'll get my drift

If ever l had to change my van l don't think l'm look beyond a Devon. Though sadly they no longer build on a Toyota base.

 

[ambulancekidd]

If your used to driving a normal modern vehicle then the LDV will be a serious shock to the system. Yes the ford engine will run forever if properly maintained but it wouldn't pull a soldier off a woman. The driving experience leaves an awful lot to be desired. Try shutting the doors & they'll resemble biscuit tins in sound, glance down & you will see daylight (yes really) under the bottom door seal on both sides. The gear change is quite slick but the gear ratio choices are very poor. Reliability as mentioned by @chaser is generally good & when they do go wrong they're normally cheap to repair

Now having said all of that, it does rather come down to personal choice, after all some people liked the Citroen 2CV & VW Beetle, (god preserve us)!! Please drive before you buy though & if you can live with the shortcomings it should be very cheap, but remember that any resale will have a poor value too.

If its this one on Ebay then the price demonstrates what I mean, try finding any other campervan of this age at this price & you'll see what I mean. However, the conversion by Devon looks beautiful & the quality shows through well. Oh & this engine isn't the Ford Duratorque that perhaps we thought it was.

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[Ranger]

Morning all,

I'm still searching for my next MH and I've seen a Devon Sahara, 05 on an LDV chassis. It's the sort of layout I would like, but I'm not familiar with the LDV, or Devon Conversions for that matter, so any opinions/comments would be appreciated.

Ranger, I think you had one of these? Did you sell?

Yes we have one, had it for the last eight years and couldn't find anything that came up to it in space, build quality and overall usability at 6metres. It has the 2.4 Duratorq engine which pulls well and does around 30mpg but at 90bhp is a little underpowered by current standards. It rides well and is fairly quiet after extensive soundproofing. Biggest gripe is it is a little low geared at around 2800rpm at 60mph. We would have liked Devon to build us another on a suitable base but as been said above (great quality conversions shame about the company head) but they weren't interested. We have now had a new conversion carried out by S&L Motorhomes on a new auto Iveco 3.0 as the knees have had enough of clutch pressing. Ours will be up for sale shortly when we have time to prepare it and comes with lots of extras.

 

[Infinity31]

some people liked the Citroen 2CV & VW Beetle, (god preserve us)!!

Made me laugh, added together around 25 million were sold. Perhaps 'some people didn't like them' would be more apt

 

[Ranger]

If your used to driving a normal modern vehicle then the LDV will be a serious shock to the system. Yes the ford engine will run forever if properly maintained but it wouldn't pull a soldier off a woman. The driving experience leaves an awful lot to be desired. Try shutting the doors & they'll resemble biscuit tins in sound, glance down & you will see daylight (yes really) under the bottom door seal on both sides. The gear change is quite slick but the gear ratio choices are very poor. Reliability as mentioned by @chaser is generally good & when they do go wrong they're normally cheap to repair

Now having said all of that, it does rather come down to personal choice, after all some people liked the Citroen 2CV & VW Beetle, (god preserve us)!! Please drive before you buy though & if you can live with the shortcomings it should be very cheap, but remember that any resale will have a poor value too.

That sounds like you are talking about an old DI converted to a camper after a long hard life. We are talking of a factory built from new, cherished low mileage examples. I have to say I thought the body panel pressings were not the best until I got the new Iveco and then realised things built in Italy are not great. I thought Iveco panels were like bean tins in comparison but the converters who cut the windows out said they were thicker than Fiats.

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[ambulancekidd]

Made me laugh, added together around 25 million were sold. Perhaps 'some people didn't like them' would be more apt

People would buy & wear a hair vest if it was cheap enough

 

[chaser]

Saw one of those on a site when we had our old one, envious, but they were same year, ours cost 3000, his was 15000, certainly eased the envy

 

[Absolutelyalan]

If its this one on Ebay then the price demonstrates what I mean, try finding any other campervan of this age at this price & you'll see what I mean. However, the conversion by Devon looks beautiful & the quality shows through well. Oh & this engine isn't the Ford Duratorque that perhaps we thought it was.

You're looking at the wrong desert, Ambulancekid! I'm looking at a Sahara, not a Kalahari and anyway, I cut my teeth on a rising roof camper and although I have many fond memories, I'm too old and smelly to go down that route again.

Ranger's comments about the revs at 60 and the need for soundproofing are slightly concerning. Our last MH was an A Class on an Iveco Daily 2.8, and on one occasion doing about 50 on the M275 the Second-in-Command had to hold the satnav to her ear, and even then couldn't hear it. The poor old thing is going a bit mutton, but even so..... It was one reason for selling.

Ranger, when might you be prepped?

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[gus-lopez]

If your used to driving a normal modern vehicle then the LDV will be a serious shock to the system. Yes the ford engine will run forever if properly maintained but it wouldn't pull a soldier off a woman. The driving experience leaves an awful lot to be desired. Try shutting the doors & they'll resemble biscuit tins in sound, glance down & you will see daylight (yes really) under the bottom door seal on both sides. The gear change is quite slick but the gear ratio choices are very poor. Reliability as mentioned by @chaser is generally good & when they do go wrong they're normally cheap to repair

Now having said all of that, it does rather come down to personal choice, after all some people liked the Citroen 2CV & VW Beetle, (god preserve us)!! Please drive before you buy though & if you can live with the shortcomings it should be very cheap, but remember that any resale will have a poor value too.

If its this one on Ebay then the price demonstrates what I mean, try finding any other campervan of this age at this price & you'll see what I mean. However, the conversion by Devon looks beautiful & the quality shows through well. Oh & this engine isn't the Ford Duratorque that perhaps we thought it was.

The 1,9 diesel in the LDv's was the peugeot engine. Economical & bullet proof.

 

[Zains Pops]

Much to my surprise the other day I was behind a LDV panel van on a 17 plate. It seems that after going skint in UK the tooling was sold off to a Chinese outfit, now they are building them again and sending them back to UK.
No idea what motor they use, but looking at the thing closely whilst sitting in a queue it seems the paint finish and door fit has not been improved through its intercontinental journeys. I guess they are going to be cheap, but certainly I wouldn't want one regardless of the price.

 

[ambulancekidd]

The 1,9 diesel in the LDv's was the peugeot engine. Economical & bullet proof.

I couldn't agree more @gus-lopez & when I posted the comments I did say that the ford Dura-Torq Engine was a pretty reliable unit But I didn't know & wasn't aware of exactly which engine was in the vehicle.
My experiences with the PSA 1.9 have been very positive, but I'll go a wee bit further & say that the bodywork on any LDV was shockingly poor, even when new. That's something I have had a lot of experience with.

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[chaser]

I couldn't agree more @gus-lopez & when I posted the comments I did say that the ford Dura-Torq Engine was a pretty reliable unit But I didn't know & wasn't aware of exactly which engine was in the vehicle.
My experiences with the PSA 1.9 have been very positive, but I'll go a wee bit further & say that the bodywork on any LDV was shockingly poor, even when new. That's something I have had a lot of experience with.

All true but they did the pug then went to the tranny banana that was the one we had, just goes and goes, no computer or other stuff you can't see, look after the body and you have a van for life, I have also had a ldv pickup with the duratec, never had any probs with that either but didn't do the miles the van did.
They are noisy , rusty and basic but I love em.
There is someone on here converting one but havnt seen any of his posts for a bit.

 

[chaser]

Saying all that, if this is the one please don't do it
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=112407960098&globalID=EBAY-GB
God that's a lot of money for any ldv

 

[GeriatricWanderer]

I once heard the LDV described as "Agricultural", sounds about right.

Massey Ferguson might give a rough ride but they go on for ever.

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[chaser]

I once heard the LDV described as "Agricultural", sounds about right.

Massey Ferguson might give a rough ride but they go on for ever.

Wouldn't say it's a rough ride as much as just noisy, with some decent revolving seats it's quite comfortable.

 

[mitzimad]

if you are looking at ldvs remember to lift the front carpets and look for damp screens can leak and rot the floor out even on very clean looking vans

 

[chaser]

if you are looking at ldvs remember to lift the front carpets and look for damp screens can leak and rot the floor out even on very clean looking vans

Yeah that's what did for ours but saying that , it was four years ago that we could watch theroad go by through the floor, but just checked and see it's passed it's test again this year for some lucky person.

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