In March 2024, we visited Don Amott Leisure Kingdom. We had been toying with the idea of a change to our motorhome for a little while, considering that there was a noticeable uptick in supply of new vehicles and the start of a price reduction process across some manufacturers to combat this. From a family of Swift ownership over many years in caravans, including ourselves, Andy in particular was keen to get back into a Swift but this was an error of judgement and one we did come to regret.
We visited the Swift factory in early March 2024 on one of their showcase open days and were genuinely impressed with some of the vehicles they were making, where we especially liked the Swift Kon-Tiki (but in all honesty knew that we would probably choose a European model at that price point) but got to see the full range on offer as well as the build and manufacturing elements too. We had undertaken a lot of research at different dealers and explored the options to have a narrow and precise field of choice on our shortlist. We had also explored what our Auto-Trail Tracker LB would realise in part-exchange or sale to the trade. At the time of publishing this (in July 2024) we can report that we had a range of offers – varying by over £9,000 from the lowest to highest offer! During this period market prices were all over the place and there was little consistency and a lack of the Glasses guides (as they had gone at this stage) left things unknown.
On this visit to Don Amott, we were wanting to specifically compare the Bailey Autograph 79-4F (given we had the previous generation Autograph in the 75-2) and the Swift Escape 694. We quickly ruled out the Bailey as they were end of line and did not offer any real change from our first Bailey Autograph – we also did not like it was still on the ageing Peugeot cab. But, we did like the Swift Escape range, and that they had an island bed 694 version. In talking to the sales team at Don Amott, they were keen to have our vehicle in part-exchange and offered the best price out of all the dealers visited and trade offers – maybe the deal was too good to be true and we certainly did not see the flaws with the design and quality from first look – the moral in this is not to buy on impulse like this – both costly and time consuming. With a substantial discount on the Swift Escape on the forecourt on the day a deal stacked up and we committed to purchasing this motorhome. Now that was to prove a mistake and things all changed come the end of the year!
Collection came in early June after we returned from France. From the outset we were impressed with the dealer, Don Amott. We cannot fault their sales process or the handover. Nor could we fault the after sales when we had some initial snagging problems. We had snagging with the previous new motorhome so did expect something to go wrong – at the end of the day they have been built and come off a production line. The first things to flag up from our very first trip after collection was the habitation door. With no way to get to the back of the bolts that held the retaining latches as there is a fly screen – we struggled to fix this ourselves and so this ended up going in for a fix. At the same time some loose panels had popped and the door to the washroom was starting to fail to close. Don Amott addressed these issues swiftly and helpfully.
Our next trips were initially in the UK, another trip to Ferry Meadows, a trip to Great Yarmouth Race Course. What we did notice immediately was the noise. The habitation made far more noise than our previous two motorhomes when on the road. Road spray noise was shocking and the creaking was noticeable. We also quickly started to notice the rattling from the sliding doors and fixtures – suddenly this vehicle was not feeling anywhere near as solid as the Bailey or Auto-Trail and that is something that Swift should worry about when coming from the same UK industry. We knew the big test was to come…
Well the big test would be the euro trip around France and Spain. We knew from experience that French motorways would serve us well, Spanish ones in places less so (much like the pot-hole riddled UK ones!) as we would notice the creaks and rattles a lot. We had started to learn from other owners that there was an issue with the tanks underneath sitting too low and the issue of scraping, damaging or pulling them off. This made us nervous getting on the Le Shuttle and driving over speed bumps and entering and exiting some sites. The chassis simply crashes through everything – it became quite annoying to drive and Andy was not enjoying the experience. As our main hobby, leisure time and holidays we could not risk falling out of love with our adventures. The drive from Valencia to Biarritz was dreadful and this loosened even more of the fixtures with the vehicle becoming more rattly. When we pitched after that drive the washroom door would not close unless you were 100% level in any direction. Alde pipes became loose in places and we had to fix these. By the time we had driven to Benidorm and back we knew that this was not the vehicle for us and our search would commence.
We have covered the table on our You Tube and have the same view of many owners that in reality that the table is too big, impractical and positioned wrongly in the dining space. On one side you can’t get your legs round! In some positions it fills the space too much so you can’t always easily get round. The position to one side also meant getting into the cupboards a task.
The show at the NEC would be coming up in October 2024 and ahead of this Andy spent quite some time visiting dealers and forecourts. We knew that the Fiat Ducato was being rolled out in a new MY2025 cab with upgrades and spec so this was something we wanted to include. We also wanted an automatic – we should have gone for that when we switched to the Swift Escape. Early on we had been eyeing up what we wanted. That was an Adria. Between us we researched, visited dealers and tested them out and soon came round to the exact layout and model – the Coral Supreme DC (island bed – we have learnt this is the layout for us). Andy visited TMD Motorhomes in October half term and started to work with them on a deal to secure one of the new MY2025 coming through and the rest is history.
We have covered the arrival, collection and progress update on our You Tube channel so you can learn more about experience and we think you shall find that tried to stay optimistic throughout, come the autumn we were done!
Two Guys, Two Dogs, Four Wheels 