Vantage Sol knowledge/opinions please

[Agent Fruit]

Good afternoon all,

 

My decision making process is still swinging like a monkey on E numbers.....van conversion or Ixeo Time 585. There's a mere 30cm width in it, but it feels a rather important 30cm as I'll be spending a lot of time in narrow lanes, some with width restrictions no doubt.

 

The Vantage Sol has recently been brought to my attention as being well designed and built, but I can only find one review for it. Does anyone have any experience of it? I need a van that I can live in for several weeks or months at a time.

 

Thanks

AF

[grahamw]

Hi

 

Acquired our Vantage Sol end of last year and have done 80 nights in it so far with nothing whatsoever to complain about. We have the 3.0L Comfortmatic based vehicle which has been a pleasure to drive

 

We went for the Sol because of its rear lounge and the ability to dine in the rotated cab seats if required. A spacious rear lounge was necessary because of a back complaint I have and spacious comfortable lounging was essential. I've owned many spacious caravans and the Sol's lounge matches them for comfort.

 

We've just returned from seven weeks in France and as soon as we hit the good weather we tended to leave the lounge made up into a double bed and had breakfast in the cab seats with the small table. The rest of the time you are living outside or if you want a rest then the bed's waiting.

 

Storage is good but to make best use of it it does require trying all permutations and combination to get the best out of it. I carry a satellite dish and tripod which is a bulky item and it needs to go in an exact position to get all the other necessary gear in. Similarly the kitchen is tight but still very workable if you use the drop-down shelves. The small table in the cab area also adds some extra work surface if necessary. It's also very comfortable for using a laptop on when sat in the two front seats. We've added a couple of behind the seat storage tidies which hold a whole load of bits and bobs. With these fully filled the seats still can be rotated with them left in position.

 

We have the 85W solar panel fitted on the roof which has kept the compressor fridge well supplied with power without a problem in France when we have been off hook-up. The 90 litre fridge is a good size for a van conversion. We have been surprised how cool the van has kept in temperatures up in the mid 80's. I went and visited Vantage when they were building our motorhome and saw the insulation going in. Most of the van is then internally lined with a very practical material which adds further insulation and creates a good acoustic barrier.

 

One final point which probably says it all about build quality - no rattles when on the move. Only negative comment I have is the retention of the Fiat standard radio with its 20 minute cut-off. I've replaced it with a nice little Sony radio which simply plugs into the existing wiring harness and the original CANBUS connecting plug to the Fiat radio is just ignored. The Sony remote control works the radio quite nicely from the lounge area.

 

Graham

 

.

[Brian Kirby]

The layouts are radically different, and so is construction, so comparisons almost meaningless. By having an elevating bed, the coachbuilt Burstner offers a better kitchen block, washroom, dining and general seating areas. The bed may be no better.

 

On the other hand, the Vantage Sol is a panel van conversion, so will have the same width as all other Sevel based PVCs. To that extent, you are comparing apples with pears.

 

However, that "mere 30 cm" is one foot in old money, and that will make quite a difference should you find yourself confronted with a 2.15M wide gap. :-D Only you can really judge whether this may be a problem, but of you are looking for a narrow van, there is little point including the Ixeo Time 585. If you want Burstner, try the Travel Van, which is much closer in layout to the Sol, and although wider, at 2.18M, is still less bulky than the Ixeo. Otherwise Dethleffs Globebus is similar, but 2.15M wide.

 

If you want coachbuilt and narrow, you really need to be looking at the Transit based Hobby Van or Hymer Van variants, at under 2.1M wide.

[Guest pelmetman]

Just an observation, but in general I don't think the width or height make a great difference in how maneuverable a camper is:D...............Its the wheelbase that makes the biggest difference;-)  

[Agent Fruit]

Thanks Graham for your first hand experience. Can't beat it.

 

Brian - the problem lies in the fact that I like apples and pears, and can see a case for both. If width and appearance (my own preference plus practicality) weren't an issue then I'd have an Ixeo any day of the week. The PVC's I'm looking at are restricted to ones with rear lounges and decent width and length single beds. The list is short.

 

Dave, Sue and the dog - unfortunately PC Plod cares more about width ;-)

 

AF

[Agent Fruit]

Brian - I should add that the reason that I've started worrying about that 30cm is not so much my ability to get it through a small gap (that's always been in doubt :-o ), it's more that I've recently seen a posting about not being able to drive down more rural lanes due to 6'6" width restrictions. Since my plan is to explore the more far flung parts of this fair land I suspect I may meet a few of these signposts, though of course I've never had reason before to take notice of how frequently they occur.

 

AF

[crinklystarfish]

Having 'done' lanes in everything from a tiny camper to a 2.44m truck, I can't stress enough how a few cm makes a huge difference. As per the 'other' thread, you have to think 3 dimensionally. Road width is (generally) not a problem at road level, but very often is just over car roof height.

Unless your narrow lane excursions will be in very sparsely vegetated areas like the uplands, you will at some stage trash something like an Ixeo, and unless you are prepared to make window guards (I currently am doing just that) you will spend a great deal of time polishing scratches (or worse) out of the Sol's windows.

In your position I'd defo be thinking panel van with glass windows or something with grp panels and window guards. Also, If you want to at least attempt to persuade the Police you are trying to do the right thing, I'd probably be looking at something 'thin' Merc Sprinter based.