Hi All, Anyone got an Auto Trail Apache 632? Info Required (1 Viewer)

[Kev*]

Hi Everyone, it's my first visit to the forum so I thought I would start off with a very short story.

Went to NEC Motorhome Show to 'LOOK'
Pick up new van in July
End of story.

We have sat in our old van which has the U shaped lounge and have gradually convinced ourselves that we won't miss it too much and the fixed bed and garage was definitely the right way to go.

I would like to know if anyone of you all knowing motorhomers have or have had an Autotrail Apache 632 and would like any tips/tricks on what works for you, where you store stuff like tea, coffee and sugar, best place for outdoor coats/ walking boots/wellies. Hose pipes, electric cable, levelling wedges etc

Have you got enough 240v sockets/USB charging points?

Any info at all really, what you like about it, what you are not so keen on.

There is no turning back now but really need you lot to convince us that we have done the right thing by telling us about your Auto Trail.

Thanks in advance for any info

Kev and Al

 

[lorger]

Hi and welcome to fun, I cant help you with your van as never had one. My advice would be don't go buying loads or adding extras until you've spent a few nights in the van. Take a pen and paper with you and write down your ideas before buying loads of stuff you either don't need or fit in the wrong place.

 

[The Dudess]

We are at the same stage as you at the moment - waiting for our new van and wondering OMG! have we made the right decision, have we ordered the right options, will we miss the fixed bed, will the oven be significantly better than Tectower, where will we store all our stuuf, will we be overweight, etc etc. I am dying to buy some new stuff for the new van but I think @lorger is correct. Try to hang fire until you take delivery and have got used to it for a couple of days (hope I manage to take my own advice! ). Oh, and

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[MC 55 FUN]

If I'm reading this right, a mere 225kgs of payload makes the vehicle unsuitable for purpose i.m.o.

http://www.auto-trail.co.uk/range/apache/632/technical-data

 

[Kev*]

Well, that's p**sed on my strawberries, will have to keep the old van.

 

[The Dudess]

Is it too late to upgrade to 3,650 kgs?

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[MC 55 FUN]

Well, that's p**sed on my strawberries, will have to keep the old van.

Sorry . . . It's better to have the facts of the matter though than be prosecuted for driving overweight, even if the vehicle was uprated to 3650kg & if you have a C1 licence entitlement, you'd only have 375kgs of payload which is barely enough for 2 lightweight adults muchless 4 & all their associated paraphernalia i.m.o.

 

[DigglyDog]

Hi Kev and welcome

Don't forget to watch the appropriate forum in the British Motorhomes section - a mine of useful stuff.

Hi jacking the thread a bit...there seems to be much discussion on weights lately. Are manufacturers just adding stuff (and weight) unnecessarily now and making their offerings virtually unusable. It seems there's almost an arms race of stuff being added just to make them competitive. I dread to think what electric drop down beds add to the overall weight..

 

[Madeinengland]

Hello We have a MH with a big garage and it's such a godsend. Put a extending shower curtain rail across the width makes a great place to hang those wet things. When we first got it, oh filled it up to the hilt with everything known to man that he might need. Thankfully now some of the un- necessaries are making their way out.

Enjoy your new van.

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[Kev*]

Not got to the build stage so still time to upgrade, will have to look at extra cost. Got a few weeks before it's too late to make changes.

 

[MC 55 FUN]

Not got to the build stage so still time to upgrade, will have to look at extra cost. Got a few weeks before it's too late to make changes.

According to Autotrail's website a max' weight uprate to 3650kg is free, however as stated above, a payload of 375kg's after uprating, is highly likely to be insufficient for real world usage.

 

[EX51SSS]

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[Kev*]

Well, got me worried now. We take very little with us and have gradually worked out what we actually need to take as opposed to what would be nice to have at hand. How can Auto Trail sell a van that cannot be used as it should be? How do other people with similar payloads use their vans? Will ask for an upgrade and check the payload of our old van as to be honest we never even thought about it so could have been overloaded and not known. We have paid our deposit so I think there is no going back unless we lose our deposit, will have to see.

What would be a usable payload be?

Love the van but this payload issue has really thrown a spanner into the works.

 

[MillieMoocher]

You might be alright getting your deposit back if you go down the "have now discovered that the van is not fit for purpose due to inadequate payload" route. The dealer involved may well be amenable if you get an alternative van through them too, it may have to be a bit of give and take.

Not sure how much deposit you paid (and not prying) but it could be better to accept the loss of deposit as opposed to getting a van which you can't really use safely/legally. I'm thinking here that if you took the van and then tried to sell it on, you'd be likely to lose a lot more £ than the deposit paid.

A quick look at AT site suggests the payload mentioned is based on a dry freshwater tank, so even on the 375 kg, by the time you've put 100l of water on board that's another 100kg out of the payload. Not sure what fuel load they've assumed but I would expect that to be 25% full, so again a full tank of fuel at 1kg per litre makes it worse.

There's a thread started by @Mickey1 which has a lot of payload info in it, and from that you'll see that Autotrial are not alone in their somewhat questionable approach to payload.

I'm sorry that there seems to be a lot of p1ssing on your fireworks, but at least forearmed with the knowledge you can hopefully avoid making a costly mistake.

Re "what's an adequate payload", in my opinion and for our needs (2 adults 2 dogs) I'd not even look at anything that didn't have 500kg, current van has 850 ish and I think somewhere in the region of these 2 figures would be fine for most people.

I have to admit that when I ordered my van I hadn't fully appreciated payload issue, but the dealer I used in effect told me that we should go for the free upgrade as the licence entitlement held would be ok. Good advice as it turns out!

 

[MC 55 FUN]

Well, got me worried now. We take very little with us and have gradually worked out what we actually need to take as opposed to what would be nice to have at hand. How can Auto Trail sell a van that cannot be used as it should be? How do other people with similar payloads use their vans? Will ask for an upgrade and check the payload of our old van as to be honest we never even thought about it so could have been overloaded and not known. We have paid our deposit so I think there is no going back unless we lose our deposit, will have to see.

What would be a usable payload be?

Love the van but this payload issue has really thrown a spanner into the works.

The sad fact is that there are far too many Moho's out there with insufficient payload, therefore making the vehicle unfit for purpose & potentially illegal to use.
I'd suggest 500kg minimum.

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[suavecarve]

All is not lost in reference to payload.
I totally agree with @MH 55 FUN about the weight even with the upgrade.
You ll find me in a number of the threads on weight.
I m reckoning on 500-800kgs of weight required depending on the style of use eg carrying a motorbike and pushbikes or canoes and things like that for 2 ppl

HOWEVER, here comes, hopefully, the good part.
I wasnt offered an upgrade at all on my rollerteam 690 and only offered the 3500 kg. I could uprate to 4,100 kgs for £150.
what i would be doing is asking the ever so nice funsters if anyone had the same model as yours and politely ask them to divulge the information on the V5 to work out how much weight your van can actually carry. Then armed with that information you can make an informed judgement as your max might be similar to mine and on the presumption your licence is a good un you would have already made the right decision albeit by the wrong means !

Someone will be along in a mo to confirm you add up the front and rear axles from your V5 to make the total weight (you still have to be under those weights on the axles though)

 

[MC 55 FUN]

According to Autotrail's technical spec' :

Front axle 1850kg
Rear axle 2000kg

Max' plated weight after uprate is 3650kg & still only a 375kg payload it seems

 

[138go]

Rear axle weights can be increased but you are then looking at adding air suspension and changing to larger wheels and different tyres. There comes a point where it's just not worth the agro. You will also have to tell your Insurance Company as you have modified the vehicle and they may well decline to Insure it. They don't like modified vehicles as they don't have any documentation and analysis to work out premiums.

If you need bigger payload then you need a Maxi Chassis and the C1 Licence.

There must be hundreds of New Motorhomes owners out there running around completely oblivious as to how much overweight they actually are.

Ask the Dealer what Auto Trail include in their weight calculation. Extras are not usually part of it as they are trying to convince people they can drive them on a car licence.

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[suavecarve]

According to Autotrail's technical spec' :

Front axle 1850kg
Rear axle 2000kg

Max' plated weight after uprate is 3650kg & still only a 375kg payload it seems

Why not 3,850 ?

 

[tonka]

This model Autotrail is built on the mid range chassis, thats why it gets offered at 3500 or 3650..
The Maxi chassis is used on other Apache versions like my 700 where the MAM is 4250kg, In that i have 730kg of payload allowing for an already fitted awning, gas bottle and full water ( correct at time of how AT did their calculations)..

This question gets raised often over on the Autotrail facebook group, usually AFTER people have spent their money and then realise they can carry very little...

 

[lorger]

What chassis is the van on, we uprated our last van to 3850 from 3500 it was just a paper exercise. If it was me I'd phone the dealer and let them know your concerns and see what he can do, I'm sure he'll not want to lose the sale.

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[138go]

Why not 3,850 ?

You cannot get the weight forward so the 1850Kg front axle weight is impossible to achieve as there is no way to load it. If you had a cab with a large bulge over the front and you used it for storage you would probably start getting close. So the governing factor is the 2000Kg rear axle load. Our Laika has 200Kg of payload left but only 80Kg on the rear axle. There is no way to carry extra payload at the front.

 

[Chris]

I would try to cancel with that payload.

As others have said it just doesn't work.

Do they do the same model on the maxi chassis? If so that's the one you want.

 

[suavecarve]

You cannot get the weight forward so the 1850Kg front axle weight is impossible to achieve as there is no way to load it. If you had a cab with a large bulge over the front and you used it for storage you would probably start getting close. So the governing factor is the 2000Kg rear axle load. Our Laika has 200Kg of payload left but only 80Kg on the rear axle. There is no way to carry extra payload at the front.

So I got the max (both axles added together) because I have a large overcab area that I could fill with weighty load ?

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[Its only me]

Hi Everyone, it's my first visit to the forum so I thought I would start off with a very short story.

Went to NEC Motorhome Show to 'LOOK'
Pick up new van in July
End of story.

We have sat in our old van which has the U shaped lounge and have gradually convinced ourselves that we won't miss it too much and the fixed bed and garage was definitely the right way to go.

I would like to know if anyone of you all knowing motorhomers have or have had an Autotrail Apache 632 and would like any tips/tricks on what works for you, where you store stuff like tea, coffee and sugar, best place for outdoor coats/ walking boots/wellies. Hose pipes, electric cable, levelling wedges etc

Have you got enough 240v sockets/USB charging points?

Any info at all really, what you like about it, what you are not so keen on.

There is no turning back now but really need you lot to convince us that we have done the right thing by telling us about your Auto Trail.

Thanks in advance for any info

Kev and Al

We have a 632 for just two of us, had it 10 years. Uprated to 3700kg. We store tea, coffee and sugar in the high locker in front of the microwave. Boots go in the garage, and wet coats can hang in the shower. With tow bar we tow a Smart car. Have fitted second battery and solar panel. I also fitted a double USB socket for phone and tablet charging, plus a tv in bedroom.

 

[footscray188c]

Buy a damp meter