Talisman and/or Pollensa (1 Viewer)

[calculad]

Opinions and experiences welcome on either of these.
I believe that they fit our requirements:
Autosleeper (naturally, unless someone can convince me otherwise)
3-4 berth
Forward facing belted passenger seats(at least one extra prefer 2
Big wide bed
Not too, long less than around 6m
£20k-25k price bracket for 2000-2003 vintage

Other niceties
20k-50k mileage (would be nice)
Ford engine 2.4 Litre min
I 'd better stop.
We are looking to move slightly upwards from our Symphony which we love but have just outgrown (grandson amongst other things)
Thanks
Kev

 

[DESCO]

We had a Talisman for 4 years and had nothing but praise for the van. Nothing went wrong with anything either fittings or build. Ours was a 2.8 Fiat (old style) and that only let us down once a relay burnt out,fixed by RAC. The van took us on 8 six week tours of Scotland, plus many other trips, we only changed for a ready made bed in the end.
Ours was a 2002 van the era when Autosleepers quality was not in question and the monocoque construction was the best. With care they should still outlast many others.
So would recommend without question.

Best of luck with your search, hope this helps you.


Dave:thumb::thumb:

 

[JayDee]

We had a 1997 Amethyst which was pretty much identical to the Talisman except that the Talisman is on a Boxer whereas the Amethyst was on a Transit. The new Amethyst grew by some ridiculous amount (didn't seem much different inside) so they are no longer similar.
We found that we used the area above the cab for storage (not possible if that's the grandson's domain) and under the side bench. No access from outside, but there was a beanie box under the back end (retro-fit). We used to carry things like awning fabric (i.e. not poles), ground sheet and lightweight camping chairs on the roof (in a roof box). We took it all around SW Ireland along some very small roads with no difficulty.
Missus liked the rear kitchen. Bathroom though small was adequate. A bit cramped for wardrobe space (but that's the case in a lot of MHs). Only down side we (I) found was that putting the bed up put paid to any other lounging and it was impossible to leave the bed up when travelling and night-stopping. Assembly was, however, straight-forward and quite quick.

Liked the Amethyst a lot.


John

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[reader]

The moncoques are better respected than the styrofoam built vans, so you need to be looking at the Amethyst or if an older van is an option the Legend (probably best AS ever built) If you will consider a Pugeot then the Talisman is the one to go for.

 

[calculad]

Didn't make the top 3

I was surprised that hardly any of the "popular" motorhome marques made it into the top 3 survey that i posted in another forum.
Not a single vote for Auto-Sleepers.
Can anyone explain way.
K

 

[DESCO]

I think Autosleepers have gone down since they stopped the monocoque body, and had the brief tie up with Sea. It stopped being a family owned company and profit became king, nobody took pride any more, and it showed.



Dave:thumb::thumb:

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[ennboat]

AS Talisman

We have a 1997 Talisman chosen firstly for the monocoque body and also for the smaller size but still having an overcab bed. Just about fits in a standard parking space, easily if the rear can over hang a curb.
Toured all over the UK, Outer Hebrides a real favorite, the AS is perfect for small country lanes but still has all the required conveniences for comfortable extended holidays - in the words of pop Larkin - Perfik !

 

[pneumatician]

Which Motorhome

Calculad, I think to answer your question in part is there is very little pose value in owning an Autosleeper and we assume if its Uk manufactured it will be below par. Much better to have a German or Italian even possibly, French. Hymer,Liaka,Alto etc etc.
I dont think they are better, they do offer different features than the average UK van.

I have owned two Autosleepers the first was great a Trident, the second was Ok a Pollensa and I would have rated that higher had I the Ford variant as apposed to the Peugeot.
Currenty we have a German van on a Mercedes which is a Monocoupe (La Strada). No pose value cause nobody's heard of them. Good feeling of exclusivity tho

Steve

 

[M&L]

It seems that the Autosleepers built over the last few years do not have the same reputation as the earlier ones. We bought a new Autosleeper Inca in 2007 and kept it for only 9 months. We bought an Autosleeper because we believed that it would be a quality van but not so. After using it for a while, including a trip to Norway, we came to the conclusion that the internal design was poor, the build quality was poor and that it was not suitable for longer trips abroad due to lack of storage.
We now have a Burstner.

Mike

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[petertee]

Ex-Burstner refugee

Unlike Mike the respondent above we have moved from Burstner (Aviano 640) to AS Broadway for similar reasons.
All our storage is now inside and it is capacious enough for our needs as we use the overcab area for storage. Storage inside the Aviano was minimal in comparison but with a large garage that we had to use for stuff we would rather have inside.
In comparison to the Aviano our Broadway is rattle free if we remember to cushion the pans and grill etc.
We have much more usable space in the saloon and don't now feel we're cooking in the bedroom but we do have to make up the bed/s each night. It takes all of 6 minutes or so. We much prefer the end kitchen and toilet/shower arrangement. We do at least 5 or 6K miles on the continent annually and find the AS just what we need for an enjoyable trip.
We had niggly problems with the Aviano and the engine access for oil and water was pathetic where the AS has standard Peugeot access.
We're all looking for different things and what suits me may not suit others. What contact I have had with AS has been helpful and prompt. Burstner doesn't even answer e-mails in my experience.

Peter