BS20 Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 Hi all, At the height of the pandemic I put my Autocruise m/h up for sale, which sold it at a price which I could not turn down. We now travel abroad quite often and stay in hotels but I have been looking for a small 2 berth, 1-2 night away Autosleeper Symbol / Harmony / Symphony which I can park in normal parking bays. I know very little of these old small vans and was hoping to get some advice on the good and bad points about buying, owning and travelling in these vans. It will be used on the odd occasion when we just want to visit somewhere or have a sunny weekend away. I expect that these vans were owned by quite a few of you in the past as they have been around for a while. TIA Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 We had a Symbol 2004 vintage in 2005. It worked well enough but after a coachbuilt, even a compact coachbuilt like an Executive, it felt cramped, especially with a wet dog when it was wet outside! The loo/shower is compact and the sloping van sides do not help. We found the double bed a pain in the duvet to assemble and dismantle and store, and it blocked the side entrance door. The smaller the van the greater the compromise I guess! We found the sliding door tiresome especially when facing even slightly uphill and in reality, perhaps because I pushed it harder being more compact, we found it no more economical than a similar 2.0 hdi Executive. Would I buy another - well, maybe if I were alone but I doubt it for two as the Talisman/Executive have so much more space for little extra footprint. That said there are lots of people that love 'em and they absolutely do have their merits, we just found it hard to adjust to with two people and a lively border collie so we reverted to a coachbuilt! We tried a Warwick XL a few years later, the XL is quite a bit larger, maybe too large for you, than the older Symbol etc being on the newer X250 chassis and with it's 2.2 hdi it went well making long hauls (500 miles a day!) easier. The standard length Warwick has a transverse double bed at the back which is easier to live than the Symbol's midships and the warwick XL has two singles, or a huge lengthways double bed at the back of the van which we found worked better for us. It does have more space inside but after a couple of years we reverted to another Executive on the X250 chassis with air con! One great benefit of the X250 is the standard fit cab air con which is a blessing on a long haul on a hot day. As you may guess - we like the A/S Executive/Talisman!! Boxers in general seem to be a lot more tin worm resistant than earlier Sevel vans but most of them are getting on in years now so a darned thorough inspection would be time and money well spent. I am not sure now but afaik mechanically they seem fairly durable, but others may know better! There is also the similar interiored Ford Transit Duetto to consider. We find similar aged VW vans smaller and overpriced for what they offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 24, 2022 Share Posted May 24, 2022 Mike The 1st of the following 3 links relates to the results of a GOOGLE search on "Autosleeper Symbol problems" and the 2nd and 3rd links to problems with Harmony and Symphony models. https://tinyurl.com/msxp5uts https://tinyurl.com/3mdwxucn https://tinyurl.com/5n6tn49r The most authoritative (and accessible) free source of information on Auto-Sleepers models built in the 1990s and early 2000s should be the Auto-Sleepers Owners Forum (ASOF) https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com To make effective use of the ASOF you'd need to register for that forum and - as you don't own an Auto-Sleepers motorhome - you'd need to 'spoof' the information you provide to do this. (My ASOF avatar apparently owns a 2011 Symbol ES model...) This link may also be useful https://www.practicalmotorhome.com/advice/common-problems-on-the-mk1-fiat-ducato-talbot-express Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muswell Posted May 24, 2022 Share Posted May 24, 2022 We have a New Horizons Cavarno 2 based on a SWB Transit and at a touch under 5 metres we can park anywhere and with a 140bhp engine it goes well. We use it as something to travel and sleep in, not a mobile home. It has a shower in the toilet compartment but we have never used it. It only takes a couple of minutes to assembled the bed/s. There is no spare space inside so with 2 people you have to plan your movements and I wouldn't dream of having a dog in there as well. I know it's not the van you asked about but we think this size van is great, and we have gone away for 3weeks at a time. But, we don't use it in the winter except for day trips because we wouldn't want to sit in such a small space in long dark evenings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted May 24, 2022 Share Posted May 24, 2022 We used to have a A/S Duetto,*2003 (*so Transit Mk 6?)and as I think I may've posted before, with hindsight it's something we should've stuck with a bit longer, as it suited our usage better than the coachbuilts we later purchased. In the last few years we have looked at the likes of the (old) Harmony - as we now want two rear 3 point belts- but most of what we found were either a) lap belts b) just really tatty and now showing their age. I quite liked the look of the Romahome Dimension R30 but there isn't/wasn't many about and therefore quite **pricey (** for what for us would just be a picnic and "festival" van). edit; re: The Talbot Express type of Ducato! I had an Express in late 80s early 90s. It was our ex-works van(so had been beaten half to death) that I "converted" into a dayvan/camping-van. It couldn't have been that old at the time but the windscreen pillars were rotting through even then! and the wobbly gearshift and the hunt for reverse was always most amusing.....Having said that, you do see some very tidy looking A/S models that used them.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeePee Posted May 24, 2022 Share Posted May 24, 2022 We have owned a 2004 Auto sleeper Duetto from almost new. Is very similar to a Symbol and we have toured Europe extensively. We have had a refillable Gaslow bottle fitted and also cruise control. Would not be without it ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 24, 2022 Share Posted May 24, 2022 Another useful information source for early A-S Symbol/Harmony/Symphony motorhomes is the Talbot Express Owners Club & Forum https://talbotoc.com/ Plenty of stuff there about rust and the dire gear-shift 'quality' - a consequence of a Heath Robison linkage that converted the original LHD gear-change mechanism to RHD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BS20 Posted May 26, 2022 Author Share Posted May 26, 2022 Thanks for your opinions on the above models. Plenty around so I will have to compare and decide what I need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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