campingmaggie Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 i have just bought a 2006 elddis firestorm 400rl(barrons special) and i am looking for information. i am interested in any information about the van, good or bad as i can not find anything. eg how does it differ from standard elddis vans, how is the model viewed by owners, anything in particular i should know. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 If I remember correctly, the standard Autoquest/Avantgarde models lacked the following: - 240v elements in the Truma air and water heaters - flyscreen on the habitation door - second locker door next to the battery locker, giving access to the under-seat area - plastic 'teak' dashboard trim - Heiki roof vent The 'special editions' i.e. Sunstyle, Suntor, Firestorm, Sundancer et al. had some or all from that list. Otherwise they're the same van. Good basic van. Now't wrong with them. Superb lounge and sleeping area. You just have to spend a few minutes converting from one to the other, which seems to have gone out of fashion these days: people prefer instead to lounge at a half-dinette and sleep in a small mis-shapen bed to avoid this task. Bizarre, I know ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
campingmaggie Posted November 27, 2010 Author Share Posted November 27, 2010 Thanks for your information. We have some from the list. We intend to use it in winter do you think there are any problems, the water tank is inside but the waste is underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 There are some comments on the following forum thread that may be useful: http://www.motorhomefacts.com/forum-printtopic-1-42554-0-0-asc-viewresult-1.html In January 2006 MMM Magazine published a longish test report on an Autoquest 600, but I don't know how much of this would be relevant to the 400RL. As Steve says, 'dealer specials' like the Firestorm had an enhanced specification that included things that were optional extras on the standard base model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 Hi maggie, I had an Elddis Autoquest 120 with the rear lounge. Much of the info so far is accurate but mine did have a Heki rooflight in the lounge. I used mine in all weathers while working around the UK and managed fine. You will need to put a container under the waste water outlet when it freezes. Just leave the drain tap open. My fresh water tank was under the wardrobe inboard and just to be on the safe side in extreme cold, I left the wardrobe door ajar to allow heat into that area. The Truma heater was gas only and was not fan assisted. When on hookup, I also had a small fan heater (1kw - 2 kw). I set the electric fan up to blow its warm air across the Truma and it circulated heat around the van very quickly. If you ever need to change your leisure battery, it is possible to fit a larger one. I replaced mine with a 100 ah Elecsol. Yours will probably be 80 ah. Mine did have a door fly screen as standard but if your hab door is near the front of the van (as in rear lounge configuration) you will find that the bottom hinge on the fly screen is liable to seize up. keepit lubricated and open and close it regularly to keep it free. I had the van 3 years and had no problems to speak of with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 747 - 2010-11-27 1:21 PM Hi maggie, Much of the info so far is accurate but mine did have a Heki rooflight in the lounge. Are you perhaps thinking of the large (almost 1m x 0.5m) Seitz rooflight that all the vans have? The Heki/Heiki roof vent that I mentioned is above the galley and is much smaller, circa 30cm square and provides ventilation but not light. Another standard item on the 'dealer specials' from the standard vans' option list that I forgot to mention is the Status TV aerial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 Steve928 - 2010-11-27 4:06 PM 747 - 2010-11-27 1:21 PM Hi maggie, Much of the info so far is accurate but mine did have a Heki rooflight in the lounge. Are you perhaps thinking of the large (almost 1m x 0.5m) Seitz rooflight that all the vans have? The Heki/Heiki roof vent that I mentioned is above the galley and is much smaller, circa 30cm square and provides ventilation but not light. Another standard item on the 'dealer specials' from the standard vans' option list that I forgot to mention is the Status TV aerial. Hi Steve, When you talk about a 'galley', the configuration must be different to mine. There was only the one rooflight. Mine did have a Status 530 aerial fitted from new. I should explain that my Elddis was 2 months old and pre owned when I bought it from a dealer (seems like somebody made a big mistake :D ). :D I have never been sure about these aerials. I often thought they were agreed on in the argy bargy of negotiating with a dealer. What I have also just remembered about the Elddis was that the external TV aerial point never worked well. I later discovered that the coax fitted at the factory is of rubbish quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosbotham Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 Steve928 - 2010-11-27 8:39 AM If I remember correctly, the standard Autoquest/Avantgarde models lacked the following: - 240v elements in the Truma air and water heaters - flyscreen on the habitation door - second locker door next to the battery locker, giving access to the under-seat area - plastic 'teak' dashboard trim - Heiki roof vent ;-) I had a 2008 Compass Avantgarde 140. Spec may have changed between 2006 & 2008, but mine had a 240V element in the water but not air heater, did have a flyscreen, did not have the 2nd locker door/plastic dashboard trim, but had one large + one small roof lite. It also came with a TV aerial, but I don't know if that was standard or fitted by dealer. What was missing from the standard Elddis model, present on the Firestorm (I think) was blown air heating. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 28, 2010 Share Posted November 28, 2010 It's possible to download certain brochures/handbooks from: http://www.elddis.co.uk/archives.html If it's possible to establish from those files what the standard technical specification of an Elddis Autoquest 400RL was back in 2005/2006, then it may be possible to identify what differences there were with the "Firestorm" version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 We had a Compass 120 Suntor('07) prior to our current van..and I always thought that fresh water tank was underslung?.. (..I know the the water heater was under the wardrobe but I didn't think the fresh tank was also there?.. :-S ) A neat and tidy vans..230v blown air heating,second external locker and a decent size kitchen area. Ours was a little rough "behind the scenes" tho'(..cables and pipes rubbing on raw edges of cabinets etc)and the bathroom cupboard in ours' was a little cheap'n'nasty.. Oh!..and if like ours' your fire rattles like hell...before you try to pull the front off(..as per the instructions)just check that they haven't fitted an additional screw in through the top grill,as they had with ours'.. :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 pepe63 - 2010-11-29 5:44 PM We had a Compass 120 Suntor('07) prior to our current van..and I always thought that fresh water tank was underslung?.. (..I know the the water heater was under the wardrobe but I didn't think the fresh tank was also there?.. :-S ) A neat and tidy vans..230v blown air heating,second external locker and a decent size kitchen area. Ours was a little rough "behind the scenes" tho'(..cables and pipes rubbing on raw edges of cabinets etc)and the bathroom cupboard in ours' was a little cheap'n'nasty.. Oh!..and if like ours' your fire rattles like hell...before you try to pull the front off(..as per the instructions)just check that they haven't fitted an additional screw in through the top grill,as they had with ours'.. :-( They must vary a bit then between models. The Autoquest had the water heater under the nearside seat in the rear lounge but no blown air heating or external storage locker. The fire did`nt rattle on mine, maybe that is another Compass feature. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosbotham Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 Location of the water tank / heater is an age thing. On 400s / older models, tank was inboard (base of wardrobe?), heater was in rear corner. On 140 / new models, tank is underslung and heater is in base of wardrobe. Pros/cons either way...newer is better for storage, older is more winter-resilient. I'm not sure if the move co-incided with model renumbering or not, but the principle's true. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs p hancox Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 hi we have jsut part exd our 2006 firestorm 140 rl so be very interested if same one!! Green interior reg starts PN we loved van and had it from new, reason for change we are hoping to full time next year and felt we needed a van with fixed bed and additional insulation, apart from that loved the van, we used it a occasional second van as size meant it could get into most parking spaces, we spent 57 nights away last year, A great little van and very user friendly. the only thing we umed and arhed about was if to have an Lpg tank fitted as it only takes smaller bottles, and wished it had a fire that was electric as well as gas, but we solved it by lugging a small radiator around. good camping I am sure you will have loads of fun with your new van Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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