to pop up or not to pop up? (1 Viewer)

[ruthasaurus]

Hi, its the new excited lady!

Been to see a few autosleepers today in kidderminster from knight motorhomes. There were 2 campers there that seemed good, one was a 1992 trooper with a pop-up roof, and the other a 1993 trident with fixed roof. Both were in good nick, and the dealer is going to properly service everything and get MOT and tax sorted. He said it would take about a week to get it ready. Has anyone ever bought from this dealer before, and any pros and cons of a pop up roof? Going to see a private topaz tomorrow. I'm finding it very hard not to make a hasty decision, my level headed and motor-buff step dad is helping me, but its becoming apparent that it is going to be me who actually has to make the final one!

 

[vwalan]

hi .i always used hightops better for wild parking as they dont know if you are or arent .pop top gives the game away. the best poptop used to be the solid sided ones .cant remember the name now . they are nice . the plastic or canvas ones are noisy ,cold and not very nice at all. . the pop top does have the height advantage , that can be ideal sometimes . but also the hightop allows things like fridge freezers etc to be moved in the van. as i had kids years ago i noted friends with poptop got grief from their kids about cold . mine never complained. i later used sheldon and leisuredrive tops on campers we converted in the business . still have a leisuredrive one here fitted in 98 on my sons vw. dare say he will never sell it. it was a proto type and is one of i believe 2 of its shape . never got produced as it was a bit high. but gives alot of space in the roof bed.

 

[vwalan]

heres one of my first sheldon hightop in 1980 and the beige van is my sons . thats him holding my grandson. he never got round to windows being fitted still arent .

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[ruthasaurus]

Thank you, good advice. Ill be doing a fair amount of wild camping so thanks for the heads up on giving the game away! And also the cold, I think that might be an issue too. The dealer said a pop up is no colder, im not so sure. Cant believe your son has no windows, that must be proper wild camping!
Ruth

 

[vwalan]

maybe how he was brought up.
heres a couple from the 70,s then some in maroc in 2000.he came with us that year and slept in the teardrop.
no windows is beter for stealth and security.
i,m not vwalan for nothing . shame i know have a mitsubishi.
see the avatar .thats my camper vehicle for going away in .

 

[ruthasaurus]

WOW beautiful campers, i can see you've definately enjoyed yourself!

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[scotjimland]

I agree with all Alan says (wouldn't dare not )

I had a pop top VW and it was cold up top in winter and also a lot of condensation ... Only downsides to a hightop are height barriers and perhaps a bit lower MPG ..

I'd go for the hightop :thumb:

 

[vwalan]

the solid sided popup is ok. i just cant remember its model name . a friend had one it was great. based on the t25. i also have a mazda bongo tin top . if i need more space i put roofrack and roof tent on top. but dark windows etc .much better for parking.
on the teardrop we had bars on the widows folk think its a mobile dog kennel but its really a bed in a shed.
i would go for hightop .
when i first did campers with hightops every one thought it was a daft idea and never catch on . how wrong they were.

 

[JohnH]

I used to help out at a national dealer who had an outlet in Tewkesbury. The model which had the semi rigid sides which popped up was the Autosleepers Trooper based on the VW T4 from memory. They were much better than the canvas sided pop ups but nowhere near as warm as a high top. The great benefit of course is the ability to go under a lot of height barriers.
Personally I drive a high top Autosleepers and have managed to camp in minus 10 degrees C which would not be possible in a canvas sided roof vehicle. Met the guy from Knights once or twice, a very pleasant chap and the vehicles he sold seemed fine.
John

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[vwalan]

hi they go back further than that heres my mates at run to the sun years ago.these were hard sides that you lifted up into place . did a nice job . folded down very neat. also had beds in roof.

 

[JohnH]

hi they go back further than that heres my mates at run to the sun years ago.these were hard sides that you lifted up into place . did a nice job . folded down very neat. also had beds in roof.

Of course you are perfectly correct. It's just that that model was around in some quantity at the time I was working; I think that they also produced the pop top on the T5 but it was too high for some height barriers and they came up with the low line model. I think that some dealerships used them as "company cars".
John

 

[vwalan]

i,m not a lover of t4 or t5 .cv joints clutches .flywheels all seem to give probs . was talking earlier this week with a local service manager .vw never got it right. seems they still have problems. gearbox mounts as well. t2 or t25 for me .but not the aircooled t25.
mind the 1900/2000cc was best in the t4 .less power but less trouble the 5cyl used to bust cv joints often.

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