Post from John
The October
Caravan and Motorhome show at the NEC (see previous blog entries) is a
dangerous place. Whether it’s the heady aroma of wood, leather and GRP, or some
kind of low level mass hysteria, visitors seem to open their wallets and spend
freely. In previous years, we have come away laden with items for Theodora.
This year was
different, however.
We bought a new
motorhome….
We had been
considering changing vans for some time. Whilst Theodora had been a good and
faithful servant for four years, the opportunities for longer trips brought on
by retirement meant that a couple of improvements were needed. One, a bigger
washroom to allow us to use more limited facility sites (Caravan Club CLs or
aires in France) and two, a simpler arrangement for making up the bed, ideally with
the option of two singles. We both would have liked another van conversion like
Theodora, but the basic laws of physics meant that we would have to look at a
coachbuilt motorhome.
My objective
for our visit to the show was to come away at the end of the day knowing which
van we wanted (Ruth wasn’t optimistic about achieving even that). Now that we
live only 40 minutes from the NEC, we were at the doors when they opened at
10.00am – and were still there when they closed at 6.00pm. We spent all day
looking at vans, but kept coming back to the Auto Trail stand. Initially we had
not considered this range, as it conjured up images of hulking twin rear axle
beasties. However, the baby of the range seemed to suit our needs. Only about
1ft longer than Theodora, it would still fit on our drive for loading, and met
the washroom/bed criteria.
We were
introduced to the local dealer, Edwards Motorhomes of Worcester. Their sales
guy, Andy, offered us an attractive deal on a 2016 model they had in stock. After
much pondering and a couple of cups of coffee, the deal was done.
So on November
17th, we became the proud (but slightly apprehensive) owners of an
Auto Trail Imala 615. We said a sad farewell to Theodora, and climbed into the
new van. Gosh, it felt big! 1 foot longer, but 18” taller, it towered over
Theodora.
Three days
later we took the van, now christened Amelia, to Cheltenham on a “shakedown
cruise”. We stayed at Briarfields Caravan Park, on the outskirts
of the city. The site is well maintained, with excellent facilities, and a bus
runs from outside the gates to the town. Unfortunately, it poured with rain
virtually the entire 48 hrs we were there, confining us to the site.
This allowed us
to spend time going through all the manuals and sorting out how to work
everything.
Initial
impressions? Well, we were pleased with the space inside, the bed(s) are much
quicker to get ready, and the big washroom looked fine. Unfortunately we
couldn’t test the water systems as we couldn’t remove the water filler cap! As
we discovered later, there is a knack to it…
In terms of
driving, the 2.3ltr engine in Amelia does not give the same oomph as the 3.0ltr
unit in Theodora. Accordingly, our progress is rather more stately, as befits a
lady of somewhat larger girth. Having said that, we have hardly pushed the
engine, given it only had 100 miles on the clock when we collected her.
Otherwise, the difference in size has not been too noticeable so far.
Over winter
will see a return to Edwards to resolve the few teething problems that were
“shaken down” on our Cheltenham trip, then 2017 awaits!
