Newest is Best - or is it?
@Sandra1952 (6047)
Spain
September 4, 2009 6:36am CST
Last year we traded in our 10 year old camper for a new Trigano Tribute 650 on a Fiat Ducato engine. It was great to have a new van with more space, but problems soon started to appear. Fiat gearboxes have a serious fault, in that when you reverse up inclines, there is a clutch judder. You can work around this most of the time, but I started to have trouble in 2nd gear as well. We took it to the Fiat dealers, and the synchromesh has gone, and second gear needs to be completely replaced. We're due to leave for Germany to visit the Oktoberfest in less than a week, and we won't get the camper back until 2 days before we sail, so all our plans have been thrown into disarray. The only good thing is that the work will be done under warranty so it won't cost us anything other than major inconvenience.
We had our Toyota HiAce camper for 5 years, and it never gave us a minute's trouble. Ironically, we decided to exchange it as it was getting to the stage where we thought it would give us problems. As we drive to and from our home in Spain to the UK at least twice a year, we thought we were doing the right thing in upgrading to a newer camper.
Have you ever bought the new, improved model and then discovered it wasn't as reliable as the old one? In vehicles? In anything else? Please tell me I'm not the only one going through this hassle!
1 person likes this
2 responses
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
4 Sep 09
Well it seems that the newer models aren't made to withstand what the older models did and for as long everything is getting made cheaper and cheaper made for the same cost if not more then the older models. Just like with cars..I would take a older model car any day over a newer model since they were built to last..I wish you luck on your trip..Here in KY we are soon going to have our Apple Day Festival and Oktoberfest..Between September 26 to October the 3
1 person likes this
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
5 Sep 09
Good morning. I totally agree - old things were made to last - just look at me - 57, one careful owner and still in good condition for the age except for the gammy hip and knee and the lung problem. Hang on, perhaps some old things aren't so good as the newer models!
Seriously, I do wish we'd stuck with the Toyota, although I do love the extra space and comfort of the new van. Hopefully, once this problem is fixed, we can enjoy it to the full, and at least the work is being carried out under warranty, so we won't have to dig deep for what promises to be a very expensive repair. Your festival sounds great. Touring the States in a camper has always been one of the things we want to do before we die - if we win the lottery or a long lost relative passes on and leaves us a fortune, we'll be right over!
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
7 Sep 09
Now that would be great to be able to tour all the fascinating things in the states if we had the money..I know I would..then head overseas to do some sightseeing over there..But sadly I don't have rich relatives..unless you count the ones on the Internet who keep trying to claim me..if I just give them the essentials to my bank account..
and we don't play the lotto very often..
and we don't play the lotto very often..
@jellymonty (2352)
•
5 Sep 09
yeah that happens to me some of the time. I remember when I had my Ford Focus it was such a reliable car and it had the basic stuff but then I got enticed to upgrade my car needs so I bought the new SUV Nissan patrol. Sure it had more space and all the sat nav and fancy gadgets but then slowly it was obvious that this so called new thing was costing me more to maintain it as I kept having to fill up the tyre pressure, fuel consumption was much faster than my ford focus plus now I had to pay twice the congestion charges etc.. I ended up selling the bloody car and went back to my dear old ford focus.. always regretted buying that piece of cr*p for a car!
1 person likes this
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
5 Sep 09
Hello, Jelly. That's the thing, isn't it? You have some spare money, and you think you should upgrade, but the upgrade isn't always the best move. Mind you, we have had no other problems other than the gearbox issues, so hopefully once it's fixed we'll be fine, and we stll have 18 months of the Fiat warranty left to run if other problems arise.
The accommodation is far superior, and we have a shower room, which we didn't have on the old van. Fuel economy is good, too. When we took a load of furniture and other stuff over to our home in Spain last autumn, we still averaged over 30mpg.
Talking of fuel economy, we have a 4 year old diesel Ford Fiesta which we keep in Spain, as the camper is a bit big to drive through little villages. The terrain is very level where we are, and we average between 55 and 60mpg, which means I spend less than 20 euros a month on fuel.
