Autocruise Starspirit

[seadog]

Hi guys, new to this forum and would like some advice please. We are thinking of buying a used Autocruise Starspirit 2004 model. Can anyone give us a list of pros and cons

[globebuster]

Check extensively for Damp - including the underside.

[Rayjsj]

The 'Pre-Swift' Autocruises were pretty good for 'not letting in water'. When I traded my Starlet 2 in, the Dealer said 'I will check it for Damp, but have yet to find an Autocruise that was damp'. He didn't find any (2005 model) and he went on to offer me 'Top Dollar'.

I looked at a couple of Starspirits, Rear Lounge, but we wanted the Shower/toilet across the back so concentrated on Starbursts and Starlet2's, Low Alko chassis, inboard water tank. MMM winner 2005.

Lovely Van, I still miss it and especially the Eberspacher heating/hot water system, which was 10 times better than my present Truma Combi 4e.

Can only recommend Autocruises, but only the Pre-swift ones.

By the way, Welcome to the Forum !

Ray

[mikethebike]

Hi seadog

We have owned an Autocruise Starspirit on a 53 plate for nearly ten years. There is absolutely no problem with damp and the build quality of this pre-swift model is extremely good. The only problems we've had with it was a frozen water pump (our fault, but you live and learn ), the fridge struggled to operate on gas for a while, now sorted and the most annoying problem is the hab door lock which has a design fault where you have to manually lift the latch to shut it, inconvenient but cheaper than replacing it at £100 a time. Nothing has fallen apart on the cabinet work which is as good as new and we are only now just getting it re-upholstered as we intend keeping it another ten years as we cannot afford to replace it with another van.Quite frankly even if we could afford it we haven't seen much at the same size that we prefer.

As you can see from our own experience I can only recommend that model. All the same I would certainly get it damp tested for your own peace of mind. The only other thing I would warn you about is ours is equipped with an Eberspacher Diesel heater which is very efficient but can be very expensive when they go wrong.

[Tracker]

We too have had Starspirit and Starlet vans on the pre 2007 chassis and have nothing but praise for both of them as being far and away the best vans of their era that we have had in recent years.

 

Make sure you get a good test drive as whilst the 2.2 engined vans are the sweetest to drive the 2.8 pulls better but is noisier and the 2.0 is a bit gutless on long hills. I would choose the 2.2 as my fave.

 

The rear overhang can be a drag on tight bends and steep junctions where a rapid change of gradient is present like ferry ramps but as long as you have a good solid steel rear bumper at just below bodywork height the only thing you will clout will be the bumper which will not get damaged rather than expensive and very hard to source body panels.

 

Due again to the rear overhang the steering can be a bit light in cross winds and the front wheel drive is very skittish on wet grass so beware of getting stuck.

 

None of these things are a problem as long as you know about them - and you do now!

[seadog]

Thanks guys, you have all been most helpful to us. All the comments are taken onboard

[rolandrat]

I would say check for damp and any rectification work that has been previously carried out. It would be in your interest to get on your back and have a very close look underneath. Double check the habitation door step area.