Swift Suntor anyone???

[Poppy]

Read the write up by one owner in this months MMM and then see if you feel like running out and buying one!

[Derek Uzzell]

While some of the problems mentioned in the piece are clearly Swift's fault, others seem more related to supplementary work - like adding an alarm system.

 

My wife read the article and commented that surely nobody in their right mind would put cab air-conditioning on their must-have list of requirements and then purchase a vehicle without it - a sentiment I fully endorse. It's perfectly possible to retro-fit air-con successfully, but common sense should tell one that it's much less hazardous to have the work done when the vehicle is being built than subsequently, both in terms of potential technical repercussions and warranty implications.

 

There's a lot of risk involved in buying a motorhome and it would appear that many purchasers are unaware of this or blithely ignore it. Of the dozen or so new cars (all either Mitsubishi, Toyota or VW) my wife and I have bought at least 70% have had faults (some serious) at hand-over. Now, when you take this statistic and throw a 'caravan' (with an unwholesome reputation for fault-proneness) into the mix, it's hardly surprising that I'd consider it miraculous for a new motorhome to be genuinely fault-free at hand-over and that I'm not in the least surprised when teething troubles show up. I recall saying this to a motorhome dealer acquaintance who replied "We don't meet many people like you." Pessimists, you mean?" I asked. "No," he replied, "Realists."

 

Some of the cock-eyed features on motorhomes do make one wonder whether the designers are on Class A drugs (perhaps it might be better if they were!) and there's absolutely no guarantee that an individual motorhome produced by a 'high class' manufacturer won't be seriously flawed.

 

My German-bought Hobby's blown-air system provided virtually no heat to the front part of the living area (this, of course, was not evident when I collected the vehicle in July 2005) and a repair was plainly impossible. The fault was overcome by a major redesign of the system but, because the vehicle had been bought abroad, it's questionable what would have happened if I hadn't been able to do the work myself. It's highly unlikely that Brownhills (the then sole UK agent for Hobby) would have chosen to get involved and there's absolutely no doubt that they could have carried out the task to my satisfaction. At least, when you are a realist regarding motorhomes, things like that aren't heart-breaking.

[Geoff Cole]

Derek,

In reply to your remarks regarding my decision to have aircon retro fitted, I explain why.

After deciding that we wanted a motorhome with aircon at the end of the 2005 season we found dificulty in finding a used or new one with the layout we required within our price range. We visited the G-mex show in Manchester and looked at what was on offer at the show. None of the dealers we spoke to were offering aircon as an option on models around 30k, When we discussed our requirements with the salesman at Brown Hills he was very helpful, he wanted the sale and went out of his way to help us.We were shown the models on offer, he explained that Aircon was at the time not available on the 2.2Fiat chassis but could be retrofitted, I like you do not like retro fitted aircon but I did not want to wait for at least 6 months for one and I was assured that as they were authorised fiat agents retro fitting was not a problem. The Swift model we chose met with our requirements we could take delivery in 3 weeks ready for our trip to France in February, Aircon would be fitted on our return in March and they would provide accomodation whilst the work was being carried out over 2 days. The show offers and discount for not having a trade in made the whole package attractive which is why we went ahead with the purchase.

 

The Alarm system was retro-fiitted by Brown Hills before we collected it and the fault was caused by faulty wiring by their technicians and was not attributable to Swift. I have been reimbursed for the cost of the repairs carried out in France, by Brownhills service department.

 

I have moved the waste tank further back and raised it to offer better clearance when getting of ferries at low tide. I have also re-routed the plumbing fron the sink so that it drains into the tank and secured all pipes to keep clear of the rear wheels. The probem with the radio was due to Swifts wiring this was highlighted in August MMM interchange by George Collins.

 

The only unresolved issue I have with Swift is their refusal to accept a warrenty claim by Brownhills for a repacement rear bumper which is made from capped ABS and has stress fractures in the corners. This matter has been going on since March.

My view is that campers are a collection of parts not not always assembled correctly and sometimes not at all!

Geoff Cole

 

 

 

 

[fred grant]

if nothing else my biddies, you as to admire geffs balanced view - of life as well as motorhomes. enjoy yourself geff and us hopes the christmas fairies at swift sort your rear end problem out.

 

fairenoughfred

[Mel B]

Hi Geoff

 

I haven't read the article yet so please excuse me if I have got the wrong end of the stick as I'm basing this on the info above.

 

Why are Brown Hills asking for a replacement bumper? When we had a Rapido it developed some stressing in the bumper and it was completely repaired by a body shop which Brown Hills used nearby. When they had finished it was an excellent job and we could not tell at all that it had been done and, more importantly, it never re-appeared. Why are they not, instead, getting your bumper repaired, at least that way the stressing should not come back, unlike a replacement bumper which could do exactly the same thing.

[Geoff Cole]

Hi Mel,

My bumper is a bit of a saga I had occation to visit Newark in march,it had been brought to my attention when I camped on my sisters drive overnight on the way back from France in March, Her husband does caravan servicing and was looking around my motorhome, he pointed out that there were stress cracks in the corners of the rear bumper and that it should be replaced under warrenty. It it made of capped acylic ( Not ABS my mistake on my post) the cause of the fractures are probably the way the corners have been cut. On my visit to Brown Hills I had a chat with the service department and a guy from the body shop came out and had a look he said they had a few of these bumpers cracked and said it needed repacement as a satisfactory repair on acrlic bumpers could not be carried out. He took some pics, the service centre filled in the forms and I went on my way. I was going back to France in May and hoped to have it fitted on the way but I was not having any luck getting a date.

 

Frustrated with the delays eventually I contacted swift who said they would contact brown Hills. Swift came back with the reply that Brown Hills had no record of my vehicle and had no record of the faulty bumper and suggested I contact Brown Hills service department (grrr), which I did. It would appear that with the management buy out the files had been lost and no claim had been sent in. I contacted Swift again, they asked me to send photos of the bumper which I did. after many weeks, Swift then contacted brown Hills who informed me that the warrenty claim had been turned down but had by some miracle found my photos and said they would re submit my claim on my behalf.

I have not been told by Swift why they will not honour the claim, Brown Hills insist that it needs replacing, and so it goes on.

Meanwhile the remedial action I have taken to prevent the cracks running Is to drill small holes at each end of the cracks to relieve the stress run a thin glue into the cracks polished and sprayed the area. I take great care to keep the motorhome looking as pristine as possible. I have so far spent a considerable amount of time trying to sort this out,and will continue to persue it.

Thanks for your interest Geoff

 

PS I think your rapido (my dream camper) is made of tougher stuff than my Swift!

[Derek Uzzell]

Geoff:

 

I'm sure Swift Suntor rear bumpers will be acrylic-capped ABS mouldings. It's usually easy to distinguish them from tougher GRP equivalents, as the reverse side of the ABS component will be completely smooth whereas the back of the GRP moulding will be noticeably much rougher. It is normally possible to repair and refinish acrylic-capped ABS successfully, but specialised materials and care are needed. (There was a relevant article by John Wickersham in MMM May 2002.) Consequently, it's understandable that Brownhills would prefer that the cracked bumper on your Swift be replaced under warranty rather than repair be attempted.

 

It's perhaps worth adding that I've seen plenty of coachbuilt-motorhome ABS-moulded rear bumpers with cracks in the corners. A few years ago, when I was considering buying a Chausson, it seemed that every other Chausson model being displayed at French motorhome exhibitions had a rear bumper with a crack on the inside corner (and sometimes on both corners). The cracked bumper problem is not confined to entry-level motorhomes though, as I an unhappy dealer once brought it to my attention on a brand-new top-of-the-range Eura Mobil. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the material itself (it's very widely used for car panels and bumpers), but the ABS mouldings used for motorhome rear 'cosmetic' bumpers are often pretty flimsy and easily over-stressed at the vehicle's build stage or by subsequent bodywork movement.

[Geoff Cole]

Thanks Derek,

You are quite right my bumper is of course acylic- capped ABS I did not explain it very well in my posts. The corners have been cut square instead of having a radius in the corners thereby causing stress I have carried out a successfull repair as per my previous post using suitable materials. As you say these panels are very flimsey And using this material for a rear bumper is in my opinion not the best idea and it is subject to damage from stones thrown up from the rear wheel which is why I fitted rear mud flaps. I have also reinforced the rear of the bumper with spray on polyurethane foam to provide some ridgidity. Its not the rear bumper that is the issue rather than the poor customer service from Swift and Brown Hills.

Geoff

[Guest Tracker]

My sympathies to Geoff who should not have to endure such diabolical service from anyone let alone suppliers of an expensive bit of kit like a motorhome.

 

The moral of the story must be that we could all tearn from the multiple postings about the terrible twosome and DO NOT BUY FROM SWIFT OR FROM BROWNHILLS.

[Geoff Cole]

Hi Tracker,

Unfortunately you are right, the service I have had has indeed left a lot to be desired, When I purchased my motorhome I thought that it would be a good thing to support a UK manufacturer, and also was of the opinion that if any thing went wrong then I would not have a problem, after all I was dealing with a major dealership. How wrong I was. I went to the trouble of writing to Swift last year about the various issues particulary concerning the way the plumbing was run to the waste tank and as to why they had not located the tank between the chassis rails, which I have now done. The short reply I received showed that they were not really interested in the issues raised. When visiting Brownhills earlier this year, I run my hand under the rear wheel arch on Swift models like mine. Yes you've guest it, nothing has changed the waste pipes were been worn away by the rear tyres! I pointed this out to one of the salesman, he was not really interested either. I went away very disappointed that a simple problem had not been rectified a year after pointing it out.

At least George Collings got a reply over the dangerous wiring( Aug MMM) I did not get a reply from Brownhills or Swift over what was potentially serious fault .(The wiring harness in the picture also carried the wiring to the rear lights!)

I realise that my camper was an entry level model but that is no excuse for poor workmanship. Buyer beware.

Geoff

[fud3]

Geoff

 

I have sent you an e-mail as we have the same van and are suffering from the same problems (minus the cracks but I will check this out)

[Guest peter]

Mel B - 2008-09-26 7:41 PM

 

Hi Geoff

 

I haven't read the article yet so please excuse me if I have got the wrong end of the stick as I'm basing this on the info above.

 

Why are Brown Hills asking for a replacement bumper? When we had a Rapido it developed some stressing in the bumper and it was completely repaired by a body shop which Brown Hills used nearby. When they had finished it was an excellent job and we could not tell at all that it had been done and, more importantly, it never re-appeared. Why are they not, instead, getting your bumper repaired, at least that way the stressing should not come back, unlike a replacement bumper which could do exactly the same thing.

I think you will find the Rapido bumper is made from G.R.P and not crappy A.B.S which is totally unsuitable for this purpose as it degrades badly under U.V light.

[Poppy]

For what its worth! We have had several british caravans including a swift bessacarr (expensive!).We now have a Hymer van motorhome.I think the British excel at interior design and all the things you can SEE.The underpinnings are not nearly so good. Our Hymer is quite basic really BUT the build quality is titanic and everything DRAINS superbly.Most children over the age of about 6 or 7 know that water does not run uphill.

[Geoff Cole]

Hi Poppy,

Besides running uphill the pipe runs under the van were not secured to the underside of the floor correctly and were positioned so that the rear tyres wore them away. Probabley the first time you realise that some thing is not as it should be is when you are camped up and the contents of the sink, or shower empty the onto your pitch instead of going into the holding tank. I suggest that Swift owners just run there hand under the rear wheel arches and check that the pipes are clear of the rear wheels. Besides repacing and reclipping the pipes I have also strapped them together with cable ties to keep movement to a minimum and prevent pipe sag when full of hot water. Moving the tank back, mounting the waste tap onto the tank and raising it improves the appearance of the motorhome as the tank drain pipe and waste pipes do not extend below the side skirts as well as giving better ground clearance. I have photos of the work for any one that wants to do this.

Geoff