# Living with a Chausson Allegro 93



## bracken

This post may be of interest to anybody considering buying a Chausson. It is written purely from a personal viewpoint with no allegiances or grievances to any person or company. In short I’m telling it as it is!

We recently decided to buy a new Chausson Allegro 93 to replace our four year old Autotrail Cheyenne, which had become increasingly uncomfortable for my decrepit body to drive, with its lack of seat adjustment to the rear, and the perpetual problem of the ignition key digging into my already dodgy right knee, (due to some idiotic design failure by Fiat several years ago). After some initial teething problems with the Autotrail, which I eventually sorted out, (shouldn’t have had to, but sadly that is the state of the build and much of the aftersales industry), we were very pleased with the interior and general quality of the motorhome, and would have liked another Autotrail. Regrettably the newer models had lost the useful under cupboard lockers, still had the same poor bed structure and had a smaller engine reportedly more prone to the apparent reverse gear problems – and that works out at a lot less for more money!?

Her who, (generally), must be obeyed had decided that a fixed bed and a fixed or readily accessible table, as well as a separate shower, were priorities for a replacement motor home and hopefully we would be able to maintain the aura of quality of the Autotrail . As I was very reluctant to keep provoking my back by wheedling the relatively heavy table out from above the drivers cab and we had already experienced problems with the Cheyenne bed, despite valiant attempts at sorting these out, (see my earlier post on this subject). I was determined that the vehicle would be factory fitted with cruise control and air conditioning and preferably be an automatic. It also had to have sufficient storage space for quite a lot of fishing gear. With a limited budget we knew we may have to compromise a bit here and there, but nevertheless searched around for something which ticked most of the boxes. Visiting motorhome dealers is at best a demoralising process! When you try to trade something in, no matter how many thousands of pounds of extras it is fitted with, the book guide price is apparently sacrosanct and often a lower offer is given – when you see low mileage 2005 SE model Autotrails retailing at £30,000 plus, (fitted with far less extras than your own), and are offered as little as £17,000 by one rogue, you begin wondering whether it really was just the thieves in the banking industry that brought finances to its knees!? (It appears to me that a dealer wants to make at least £20,000 on every deal). We finally came across an Allegro 93 purporting to be an unsold 2008 model, (in reality it was probably a 2007 we have since discovered), which made a favourable impression on the decisive half of this partnership. Not one to do a deal of this magnitude without making a few further inquiries, I decided to go home and search the internet – whereupon I was lucky enough to come across another unsold 2008 model, which had never been on display and further was built on a 4 ton chassis with a 3 litre motor, aircon and cruise as standard. Unfortunately the gearbox is a six speed manual as opposed to an auto which is a pity. At this point we piled the dogs in the car and immediately drove around 120 miles to the dealership to view the ‘newer’ model and after short deliberation did the deal – although we got a little less for the Cheyenne than the other Chausson dealer had offered, the Allegro 93 had been seriously discounted and after deliberation we felt we could acceptably make the exchange, albeit going broke to do it!? (At least Gordon won’t get our hard earned savings now). 

What’s it like to live in the new Chausson? Well there are pluses and minuses, I’ll start with the latter. The cupboard catch handles are dire! One fell to pieces after two days use, and on removing it to fix it, I discovered the whole pivoting arrangement is mounted by two very small pieces of plastic held in place by a couple of 4mm self tapping screws going a couple of mm into a large pilot hole. Who the hell gets away with putting something like this into production and expects it to last? If you want to put plates, mugs, wine glasses, tumblers, dishes etc into a cupboard you are entirely on your own – no racks of any sort are provided in this £50,000 plus vehicle! They aren’t very cheap to buy either. The obvious cupboard for accommodating these necessary items above the hob, has an extractor duct in the middle of it thus restricting the space to fit things into. Equally no TV aerial or lead is fitted, despite a dedicated TV cupboard and a fairly decent pull-out bracket being fitted in this top range model. (The dealer wouldn’t fit one in the deal either – the van I traded in had both a satellite dish and a Grade Directional digital aerial fitted)! 

The washroom needs a paragraph to itself – this one has obviously been designed by a 5 stone dwarf female! Basically in use it’s a failure and a disappointment! Try shaving, or cleaning your teeth in the inverted glass lampshade arrangement that passes for a designer sink, and you will inevitably crack your skull on the admittedly spacious high level cupboard! Unless you are very short sighted it’s quite difficult to get far enough back to see what you are doing as well. This brings us on to the toilet itself – ye gods it’s snug! It’s quite tricky to operate on if you get my drift – this definitely isn’t a washroom for fat ladies or bulky men! After sitting down, spend an hour or two, (it’ll probably take you that long to get up again if you have a bad back), trying to work out where to fix a toilet roll holder within reach! This also applies to hand towels and flannels. (If anybody is interested, a towel rail has been fitted under the bottom of the top cupboard in front of the window, and a small set of flannel hooks in the corner above the tap – the toilet roll holder is still being considered after a loop of string hanging from a ceiling hook was turned down as a suggestion). The electric toilet switch is fitted to the wall unnecessarily deep down beside the pan, instead of in a more ergonomically accessible position. The shower on the other hand is elegant, functional and works very well. In order to make a more sensible dressing / drying area, we put another curtain rail across between the fridge and the front edge of the wardrobe and have hung a full length curtain across this space - which works well. However, why oh why cannot all motorhome manufacturers use the superb swinging wall system in washrooms that Autocruise fitted in the years before Swift had to buy them out?! One washroom I owned in a previous van, even had a back door into the wardrobe so you could get dressed in the shower area too. It’s not difficult to design a functional spacious washroom / shower that doesn’t require a total washdown of the walls loo and everything else, so why do we have to put up with these inferior ‘designs’.

Mad white spaniels and black carpets are not good news either! A black carpet is a strange choice – mud brown may have been better!

The hob is a three burner all gas affair – unbelievably WITHOUT electronic ignition, it is also quite restricted in size if you put three saucepans on it. We have had to buy much smaller saucepans - and don’t even think about trying to use a grilling skillet. Having caravanned and motorhomed for around 35 years, I cannot remember how long ago it is since we had to resort to gas lighters. Penny pinching madness! The oven is a tiny grill affair above the freezer requiring a ladder to see into, (no ladder supplied – and not very safe when lifting casseroles out of)! Another extremely stupid and unsafe placement is the only 240volt socket - on the wardrobe wall directly above the gas hob. However did this pass a safety check? (I’ve since fitted a 240v socket on the opposite side of the small kitchen and another one low down on the front edge of the bed). The kitchen area may have been designed by a man, as there is definitely not room for two people to wash and dry up in this area.

There are neither outside accessible wet lockers or any dedicated locker for storing electric cables, water hoses etc. The only place to carry these items fairly accessibly is by stuffing them around the gas bottles, or in the very large underbed storage area accessible from a small hatch at the back – (don’t tread on the brakes too hard if you want to keep them in reach). There is a partitioned area beside the gas locker under the bed, which is impossible to reach by any normal person, and especially cripples like me – an outside door here would be good!

Now for some good points: The fixed double bed is good, a little firm but nevertheless a lot better than the one in the previous Cheyenne. The electric rising head end is good for a bit of evening reading and a lot more useful than I thought it would be. 

The huge fridge and good sized freezer are extremely useful and effective. The table which is fixed in the dinette area moves / slides in a very flexible way to accommodate easy eating from whatever combination of seats are in use – including the swivelling cab seats. The large slide out rack drawer unit opposite the fridge is great for keeping all sorts of food and bulkier items out of sight.

The enormous fixed panoramic sunroof directly above the cab gives superb lighting in this area and a great feeling of space. A heki rooflight fitted next to it towards the rear gives lots of ventilation. This vehicle is probably as near to an A class that can be obtained in a C class van. The 120 litre capacity water tank is very useful for several days away from a tap and doesn’t make you feel twitchy about running out of water if you are having a couple of showers. It is however a pity that it is built inboard under the front dinette seat – just think of how much fishing gear could be placed in that space. The underslung waste tank is fairly capacious and easily empties by pulling a handle under the gas locker – getting the waste pipe over a manhole is another game however.

The 12v lighting is good, and has a range of options when you finally locate the switches, (one hidden behind the seat cushion on the forward facing dinette seat took a bit of finding). It’s a pity that led ‘bulbs’ have not been fitted as standard in this day and age. (A modification to be done later).

A 15” TV with a standard centre mounted VESA bracket holes will fit into the dedicated TV cupboard, as long as it has narrow edges around the screen – I suspect an Avtex TV would be too wide, but haven’t tried it, settling instead for a Meos off Ebay at £150 cheaper – yes it does get a picture and quite a good one too! Fitting a Freesat box took a little more thought and determination. Eventually it had to be placed on a shelf in the adjacent cupboard towards the front of the van next to the TV cupboard – a not ideal solution, as the locker door needs to be open when it is use, both for ventilation and the remote control to work. I may eventually ventilate the door and fit an acrylic window into it to solve these minor problems. The advantage of the inbuilt cupboard and system is that it is quick to get out and put away, and is out of sight when travelling or parked in a carpark.


Now for the Fiat part: This has pleasantly surprised me, because the previous 2.8 ltre JTD engine I had was one of the most gutless devices I have ever driven! A 25hp boost from a Power box, (sorry, read fuel saving device), greatly improved it, but it was never in the same league as this redesigned new engine. This new 3 litre is superb! The six speed gearbox in most of the forward gears is very flexible, easy to change and has well spaced ratios. However, in first gear mine kangaroos and makes you look an idiot when pulling away; and in reverse it’s OK on the flat, but the couple of times I’ve backed up a slope – you’ve guessed it – it shudders! It is otherwise a very easy vehicle to drive, and quick as well. The power steering is higher in its assistance power than my previous two motorhomes and makes it much lighter to drive. The whole vehicle is very stable in a crosswind too. Pity they scrimped on the spare wheel though – this could cause me to curse them in the wilds of Scotland – but let’s pray not! The cruise control is excellent and a tremendous help to alleviate my disabilities. The cab is very spacious and the whole driving experience is relaxing and nearer to that of driving a large car as opposed to a 23 foot lorry – a fact for which I am extremely grateful.

Now the standard Chausson is built on a 3.5 ton chassis which gives a very limited payload by the time you have water, the missus, dogs, fishing gear and a Maxview satellite dish on board – that’s without the necessary drinks and food! On a 4 ton wide track chassis, you can load a good ¾’s of a ton if necessary, so going onto a spot check weighbridge is unlikely to raise much of a sweat! Wonderful!

The new motorhome is fitted with the brilliant Seitz windows, as opposed to the less secure, and more vulnerable to scratches by passing twigs, polyplas variations still extensively used by most manufacturers. I’m delighted by this feature! Why these are not more extensively used in the trade I’ll never know, (although I expect somebody will soon tell me)!

In summation: As I stated at the beginning we had a checklist of ‘would likes’. Our experience has shown that you always have to compromise, as nobody has yet built our ideal motorhome at a price affordable by mere mortals as opposed to bank directors on bonuses! The Allegro 93 has ticked many of the boxes. My wife is really pleased with this ‘van and has yet to grumble about the undoubtedly more difficult catering / cooking facilities. She loves the double bed and the electric rising headrests at the pillow end. She also finds the swivel cabin seats absolutely ideal for sitting doing cross stitch pictures of places we have previously visited, and also for watching TV in the evenings. I reckon driving to the North of Scotland in it will be a far more realistic and pleasurable experience than I have had in my previous two motorhomes, (the first was an Autocruise Pioneer Tasman, before the Cheyenne). The dogs have found their places somewhere on the floor, (under our feet usually), and are still trying to work out how they can claim the drivers seat and the fixed bed without being spotted. The spaniel, (totally mad ADHD), delights in laying in the wide doorway just watching what is going on and ready to hurtle out on the unwary. A nice ring bolt fitted in the floor out of the way at the side of the step cramps his style a bit when he reaches the end of his lead!! Anything from passing robins to Rottweilers are grateful for this fixture! My major reservation is with the washroom facilities, but I guess I’ll learn to work round these problems in time – might buy a crash helmet though!

The driving experience is as pleasant as it ever could be in such a large vehicle. The living experience only goes to prove to me that designers / manufacturers rarely / never live in their creations before putting them out onto the market. I am fully aware of the advice somewhere on here about hiring / borrowing the model of van you want to buy and living in it before purchasing your own – I’d love to be a fly on the wall and see what response you would get from most dealers if you made this request, particularly when you are looking for a relatively uncommon model! It would probably be worth filming!?

Should you buy a Chausson? I can’t see why not, several of us have done so. In general they are well put together, neutral in décor, if you choose the right upholstery and are pretty well insulated. The Fiat bit is – er well Fiat and all that entails, but it’s actually quite difficult to find a motorhome built on anything else with the features I would want. I would like a Mercedes automatic, but paying an extra £12,000 for one is a bit over the top, (although I understand that they do go well in reverse)!? I don’t think Chausson use a Mercedes Chassis – perhaps it’s a historical thing! As for the fridges and other essential fittings most are standard Thetford, Dometic, Cramer etc. and parts should be relatively obtainable anywhere. The particular Chausson parts would be mainly cabinet constructions, and I’m told take ages to get bits for if you are unfortunate enough to need them. Actually I have a chrome plated wire rack fitted above the kitchen worktop, which is a Friday night job, welded together by the local work experience lad, (or one who spent too long a time sampling the French wine), which I think is annoying me enough to get it changed, so I may find out the truth of this statement. This is likely to be my last motorhome so I hope it lives up to expectations, but overall our first impressions are favourable. If you want one and it’s the right price go for it!


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## duxdeluxe

Thanks for an honest assessment. We are idly looking for a chausson so this was extremely informative


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## oldenstar

A very good review.

Might I suggest that this is added to the Motorhome Review section?

Paul


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## rayc

I hope you enjoy your Chausson as much as we enjoy ours. It's always good the see another one at a MHF rally so hopefull we will see you at a future one.

Ray


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## Chausson

Hi
We have a Chausson find it very good. May I suggest you check your tyres for age, our M/H is 2006 model and today I find [I think} that the tyres are date coded week42 2002 so well out of date, not so much the date though as more the cracks in the tyres, shall be contacting our dealer on Monday as I would not expect to be changing tyres until I have owned the vehicle for about 5 years.
Do you think I am expecting too much???????????? 

Ron


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## MikeCo

We did have a Chausson Allegro 83 on a Renault 3 litre chassis, the main reasons that we parted with it were mentioned in the original post and that was the small toilet/shower and lack of storage.
The Burstner 710 we now have is a much better layout with a decent size rear toilet/shower and loads of storage.
Even the Fiat part has now been sorted.


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## solly

*Chausson allegro 97*

Hi Bracken. Just read your really usefull and full write up on the chausson. I have looked at a 2009 model today and fell in love with it. I only have two concerns re this vehical.
(1) can I put a tow bar on it to carry a scooter. The dealer says he can get a towbar bar fitted, however it does seem to have rather a long overhang from the back wheel.
(2)The road tax disc says it been registered as a private Hgv. the dealer says that this is wrong and that it should be private car tax. the weight information plates under the bonnet says that its 3,500 kg so what the dealer says would appear to be true. can you confirm this for me in respect of your vehicle.
once again thanks for a very usefull write
hoping you can help me
regards
Solly


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## richardjames

Solly
As I understand it Private HGV is correct and I have 2 Pates one saying 3500 and another saying 3800, have a look at the registration book what it says in there is what it is (if that makes sense) The dealer does not appear to know what he is talking about 8O 8O


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## rayc

*Re: Chausson allegro 97*



solly said:


> (2)The road tax disc says it been registered as a private Hgv. the dealer says that this is wrong and that it should be private car tax. the weight information plates under the bonnet says that its 3,500 kg so what the dealer says would appear to be true. can you confirm this for me in respect of your vehicle.


solly,Can you confirm what the Revenue Weight is on the V5C?

If both of the weight plates i.e. the Fiat and Trigano are max 3500kg then that is what the Revenue Weight should be. Be aware that it is a paper exercise to uprate to 3850kg which would take it into the Private HGV class. It is possible that this was done for registration but the uprated weight plate not fitted?


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## solly

*Chausson allegro97*

thanks to evryone who responded to my questions. Finally took the plunge last Friday and brought the allegro 67. should hopefully pick it up this week, so will soon find out if we have made an expensive mistake, hopefully not.
Wife fell in love with it so I had no chance. I expect all the old married men out there will recognise the problem :roll: Still I did manage to do a deal with her. She got the MH she wanted I can have a trike or quad bike, the proof will of course be in the pudding wether I eventually get what I want 
Thanks again for the advice etc
Solly


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## bracken

Hi to you all. I aplogise for not responding earlier to some of the responses to my original posting and thought a couple of updates may be of interest.

The chassis clues are as stated - what it says in the V5 and the plate listing the MGW as 3800kgs. A further clue is the fact that the HGV version has bigger wheels which substantially fill the wheel arches (I think they are 16" as opposed to the normal 15" but it's raining and I'm not going out to check)!

As for scooter racks - it is a long overhang and they would get in the way of the rear access locker door, but I would reckon they could be fitted to the HGV version but I would be a bit wary on the 3500kg version as you would be getting very close to the allowable MGW.

In use: I have now replaced all the locker door handle screws and I also had to have the wire drawer basket in the large drawer under the hob rewelded. Three of the four spot weld broke on our Scottish tour. The plastic tambour doors on the little cupboard near the TV and both larger washroom cupboards will open when travelling. This has caused us grief when a full bottle of washing liquid fell out and broke a cap on a journey, and wasn't discovered for a hundred miles or so - you would never believe how much a pint of this stuff can make a mess, or where it can get to! These doors need some sort of catch to keep them closed - I'm still working on this problem.

The blown air heater / water heater is a bit of a mixed blessing too! In reality I prefer a gas fire as you know when it's on and can control what it's doing. The electronics of the new system make all sorts of noises and I'm probably too incompetent to use such a sophisticated device - it's a bit of a law unto itself!

The only other problem I have had, is having the drivers door mirror smashed back twice by oncoming traffic on narrow roads. The repeater lights in the mirror body appear to be totally resistant to any form of adhesive yet invented so you have to buy new ones and they are not very cheap!!! Beware of grey haired old ladies in old plastic autosleepers amd young mums in 4X4's I say!

Otherwise I'm very satisfied so far.


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## sidaily

What a great review, which stands for my Chausson as well, although I'm at the cheaper end of the range with a flash 03. On the whole I am very pleased with this value for money motorhome, but I have a question which, if anyone catches this post and can answer, I would be effusively grateful.........Up in the luton is a 240v plug socket, a couple of 12v sockets and a tv aerial (coax) socket.Where do I attach the aerial. On the other side of the aerial socket is a coax cable. Lots of unscrewing small bits of chip board have allowed me to follow tho coax cable under the side door and come back into the vehicle under the fridge. Then I cannot find where it goes to. Does anybody ? Is there a place where I can attach an aerial. Surely even a frenchman wouldnt do such a dastardly trick as to excite me about the possibility of tv reception, by just laying some random coax (my wife is french, I can get away with that ! )...... Where's the other end, please.....my 2 year old needs cbeebies, the great outdoors can only last half an hour at a time for her !


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## Wupert

Great review

We only changed makes because of the Fiat engine

Everything else about Chauson was A1

If you like a Chausson go for it


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## Jezport

sidaily said:


> What a great review, which stands for my Chausson as well, although I'm at the cheaper end of the range with a flash 03. On the whole I am very pleased with this value for money motorhome, but I have a question which, if anyone catches this post and can answer, I would be effusively grateful.........Up in the luton is a 240v plug socket, a couple of 12v sockets and a tv aerial (coax) socket.Where do I attach the aerial. On the other side of the aerial socket is a coax cable. Lots of unscrewing small bits of chip board have allowed me to follow tho coax cable under the side door and come back into the vehicle under the fridge. Then I cannot find where it goes to. Does anybody ? Is there a place where I can attach an aerial. Surely even a frenchman wouldnt do such a dastardly trick as to excite me about the possibility of tv reception, by just laying some random coax (my wife is french, I can get away with that ! )...... Where's the other end, please.....my 2 year old needs cbeebies, the great outdoors can only last half an hour at a time for her !


Our 03 had the arial through the roor above the wardrobe. there was some brown trunking bringing 12V upto supply the aerial amp, cant remember where the coax came from but ut shold be there somewhere inside the wardrobe


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## sidaily

I shall look in the wardrobe. If I find it, you are a friend forever, if I don't find it, you're still a friend forever, but I wont be watching the tv !


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## Busmans

*Bed comfort*

Im 6'4 how comfortable would the Chausson Allegro 93 bed be?


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## G4EKF

Hi Bracken

Did you buy the 4 ton model? if so what is your wheel size. I have ordered a new chausson welcome 78eb on a 4 ton chassis and want to buy a spare wheel before it arrives.

regards

G4EKF


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## geraldandannie

*Re: Bed comfort*



Busmans said:


> Im 6'4 how comfortable would the Chausson Allegro 93 bed be?


Hi "Busmans", and welcome to the forum.

It's something that only you can find out, really. *The last post in this thread was over a year ago*, so I think it's unlikely to get a reply from the original participants.

I would say the French bed in our Welcome 85 is 6 feet long, and not much more if at all. I'm 5'10" or thereabouts, and although I sleep well, there's not much room at either end. You need to get to a dealer or a show and actually try them out. I suspect you could have difficulties in most motorhomes.

Gerald


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## Pudsey_Bear

bracken said:


> This post may be of interest to anybody considering buying a Chausson. It is written purely from a personal viewpoint with no allegiances or grievances to any person or company. In short I'm telling it as it is!
> 
> We recently decided to buy a new Chausson Allegro 93 to replace our four year old Autotrail Cheyenne, which had become increasingly uncomfortable for my decrepit body to drive, with its lack of seat adjustment to the rear, and the perpetual problem of the ignition key digging into my already dodgy right knee, (due to some idiotic design failure by Fiat several years ago). After some initial teething problems with the Autotrail, which I eventually sorted out, (shouldn't have had to, but sadly that is the state of the build and much of the aftersales industry), we were very pleased with the interior and general quality of the motorhome, and would have liked another Autotrail. Regrettably the newer models had lost the useful under cupboard lockers, still had the same poor bed structure and had a smaller engine reportedly more prone to the apparent reverse gear problems - and that works out at a lot less for more money!?
> 
> Her who, (generally), must be obeyed had decided that a fixed bed and a fixed or readily accessible table, as well as a separate shower, were priorities for a replacement motor home and hopefully we would be able to maintain the aura of quality of the Autotrail . As I was very reluctant to keep provoking my back by wheedling the relatively heavy table out from above the drivers cab and we had already experienced problems with the Cheyenne bed, despite valiant attempts at sorting these out, (see my earlier post on this subject). I was determined that the vehicle would be factory fitted with cruise control and air conditioning and preferably be an automatic. It also had to have sufficient storage space for quite a lot of fishing gear. With a limited budget we knew we may have to compromise a bit here and there, but nevertheless searched around for something which ticked most of the boxes. Visiting motorhome dealers is at best a demoralising process! When you try to trade something in, no matter how many thousands of pounds of extras it is fitted with, the book guide price is apparently sacrosanct and often a lower offer is given - when you see low mileage 2005 SE model Autotrails retailing at £30,000 plus, (fitted with far less extras than your own), and are offered as little as £17,000 by one rogue, you begin wondering whether it really was just the thieves in the banking industry that brought finances to its knees!? (It appears to me that a dealer wants to make at least £20,000 on every deal). We finally came across an Allegro 93 purporting to be an unsold 2008 model, (in reality it was probably a 2007 we have since discovered), which made a favourable impression on the decisive half of this partnership. Not one to do a deal of this magnitude without making a few further inquiries, I decided to go home and search the internet - whereupon I was lucky enough to come across another unsold 2008 model, which had never been on display and further was built on a 4 ton chassis with a 3 litre motor, aircon and cruise as standard. Unfortunately the gearbox is a six speed manual as opposed to an auto which is a pity. At this point we piled the dogs in the car and immediately drove around 120 miles to the dealership to view the 'newer' model and after short deliberation did the deal - although we got a little less for the Cheyenne than the other Chausson dealer had offered, the Allegro 93 had been seriously discounted and after deliberation we felt we could acceptably make the exchange, albeit going broke to do it!? (At least Gordon won't get our hard earned savings now).
> 
> What's it like to live in the new Chausson? Well there are pluses and minuses, I'll start with the latter. The cupboard catch handles are dire! One fell to pieces after two days use, and on removing it to fix it, I discovered the whole pivoting arrangement is mounted by two very small pieces of plastic held in place by a couple of 4mm self tapping screws going a couple of mm into a large pilot hole. Who the hell gets away with putting something like this into production and expects it to last? If you want to put plates, mugs, wine glasses, tumblers, dishes etc into a cupboard you are entirely on your own - no racks of any sort are provided in this £50,000 plus vehicle! They aren't very cheap to buy either. The obvious cupboard for accommodating these necessary items above the hob, has an extractor duct in the middle of it thus restricting the space to fit things into. Equally no TV aerial or lead is fitted, despite a dedicated TV cupboard and a fairly decent pull-out bracket being fitted in this top range model. (The dealer wouldn't fit one in the deal either - the van I traded in had both a satellite dish and a Grade Directional digital aerial fitted)!
> 
> The washroom needs a paragraph to itself - this one has obviously been designed by a 5 stone dwarf female! Basically in use it's a failure and a disappointment! Try shaving, or cleaning your teeth in the inverted glass lampshade arrangement that passes for a designer sink, and you will inevitably crack your skull on the admittedly spacious high level cupboard! Unless you are very short sighted it's quite difficult to get far enough back to see what you are doing as well. This brings us on to the toilet itself - ye gods it's snug! It's quite tricky to operate on if you get my drift - this definitely isn't a washroom for fat ladies or bulky men! After sitting down, spend an hour or two, (it'll probably take you that long to get up again if you have a bad back), trying to work out where to fix a toilet roll holder within reach! This also applies to hand towels and flannels. (If anybody is interested, a towel rail has been fitted under the bottom of the top cupboard in front of the window, and a small set of flannel hooks in the corner above the tap - the toilet roll holder is still being considered after a loop of string hanging from a ceiling hook was turned down as a suggestion). The electric toilet switch is fitted to the wall unnecessarily deep down beside the pan, instead of in a more ergonomically accessible position. The shower on the other hand is elegant, functional and works very well. In order to make a more sensible dressing / drying area, we put another curtain rail across between the fridge and the front edge of the wardrobe and have hung a full length curtain across this space - which works well. However, why oh why cannot all motorhome manufacturers use the superb swinging wall system in washrooms that Autocruise fitted in the years before Swift had to buy them out?! One washroom I owned in a previous van, even had a back door into the wardrobe so you could get dressed in the shower area too. It's not difficult to design a functional spacious washroom / shower that doesn't require a total washdown of the walls loo and everything else, so why do we have to put up with these inferior 'designs'.
> 
> Mad white spaniels and black carpets are not good news either! A black carpet is a strange choice - mud brown may have been better!
> 
> The hob is a three burner all gas affair - unbelievably WITHOUT electronic ignition, it is also quite restricted in size if you put three saucepans on it. We have had to buy much smaller saucepans - and don't even think about trying to use a grilling skillet. Having caravanned and motorhomed for around 35 years, I cannot remember how long ago it is since we had to resort to gas lighters. Penny pinching madness! The oven is a tiny grill affair above the freezer requiring a ladder to see into, (no ladder supplied - and not very safe when lifting casseroles out of)! Another extremely stupid and unsafe placement is the only 240volt socket - on the wardrobe wall directly above the gas hob. However did this pass a safety check? (I've since fitted a 240v socket on the opposite side of the small kitchen and another one low down on the front edge of the bed). The kitchen area may have been designed by a man, as there is definitely not room for two people to wash and dry up in this area.
> 
> There are neither outside accessible wet lockers or any dedicated locker for storing electric cables, water hoses etc. The only place to carry these items fairly accessibly is by stuffing them around the gas bottles, or in the very large underbed storage area accessible from a small hatch at the back - (don't tread on the brakes too hard if you want to keep them in reach). There is a partitioned area beside the gas locker under the bed, which is impossible to reach by any normal person, and especially cripples like me - an outside door here would be good!
> 
> Now for some good points: The fixed double bed is good, a little firm but nevertheless a lot better than the one in the previous Cheyenne. The electric rising head end is good for a bit of evening reading and a lot more useful than I thought it would be.
> 
> The huge fridge and good sized freezer are extremely useful and effective. The table which is fixed in the dinette area moves / slides in a very flexible way to accommodate easy eating from whatever combination of seats are in use - including the swivelling cab seats. The large slide out rack drawer unit opposite the fridge is great for keeping all sorts of food and bulkier items out of sight.
> 
> The enormous fixed panoramic sunroof directly above the cab gives superb lighting in this area and a great feeling of space. A heki rooflight fitted next to it towards the rear gives lots of ventilation. This vehicle is probably as near to an A class that can be obtained in a C class van. The 120 litre capacity water tank is very useful for several days away from a tap and doesn't make you feel twitchy about running out of water if you are having a couple of showers. It is however a pity that it is built inboard under the front dinette seat - just think of how much fishing gear could be placed in that space. The underslung waste tank is fairly capacious and easily empties by pulling a handle under the gas locker - getting the waste pipe over a manhole is another game however.
> 
> The 12v lighting is good, and has a range of options when you finally locate the switches, (one hidden behind the seat cushion on the forward facing dinette seat took a bit of finding). It's a pity that led 'bulbs' have not been fitted as standard in this day and age. (A modification to be done later).
> 
> A 15" TV with a standard centre mounted VESA bracket holes will fit into the dedicated TV cupboard, as long as it has narrow edges around the screen - I suspect an Avtex TV would be too wide, but haven't tried it, settling instead for a Meos off Ebay at £150 cheaper - yes it does get a picture and quite a good one too! Fitting a Freesat box took a little more thought and determination. Eventually it had to be placed on a shelf in the adjacent cupboard towards the front of the van next to the TV cupboard - a not ideal solution, as the locker door needs to be open when it is use, both for ventilation and the remote control to work. I may eventually ventilate the door and fit an acrylic window into it to solve these minor problems. The advantage of the inbuilt cupboard and system is that it is quick to get out and put away, and is out of sight when travelling or parked in a carpark.
> 
> Now for the Fiat part: This has pleasantly surprised me, because the previous 2.8 ltre JTD engine I had was one of the most gutless devices I have ever driven! A 25hp boost from a Power box, (sorry, read fuel saving device), greatly improved it, but it was never in the same league as this redesigned new engine. This new 3 litre is superb! The six speed gearbox in most of the forward gears is very flexible, easy to change and has well spaced ratios. However, in first gear mine kangaroos and makes you look an idiot when pulling away; and in reverse it's OK on the flat, but the couple of times I've backed up a slope - you've guessed it - it shudders! It is otherwise a very easy vehicle to drive, and quick as well. The power steering is higher in its assistance power than my previous two motorhomes and makes it much lighter to drive. The whole vehicle is very stable in a crosswind too. Pity they scrimped on the spare wheel though - this could cause me to curse them in the wilds of Scotland - but let's pray not! The cruise control is excellent and a tremendous help to alleviate my disabilities. The cab is very spacious and the whole driving experience is relaxing and nearer to that of driving a large car as opposed to a 23 foot lorry - a fact for which I am extremely grateful.
> 
> Now the standard Chausson is built on a 3.5 ton chassis which gives a very limited payload by the time you have water, the missus, dogs, fishing gear and a Maxview satellite dish on board - that's without the necessary drinks and food! On a 4 ton wide track chassis, you can load a good ¾'s of a ton if necessary, so going onto a spot check weighbridge is unlikely to raise much of a sweat! Wonderful!
> 
> The new motorhome is fitted with the brilliant Seitz windows, as opposed to the less secure, and more vulnerable to scratches by passing twigs, polyplas variations still extensively used by most manufacturers. I'm delighted by this feature! Why these are not more extensively used in the trade I'll never know, (although I expect somebody will soon tell me)!
> 
> In summation: As I stated at the beginning we had a checklist of 'would likes'. Our experience has shown that you always have to compromise, as nobody has yet built our ideal motorhome at a price affordable by mere mortals as opposed to bank directors on bonuses! The Allegro 93 has ticked many of the boxes. My wife is really pleased with this 'van and has yet to grumble about the undoubtedly more difficult catering / cooking facilities. She loves the double bed and the electric rising headrests at the pillow end. She also finds the swivel cabin seats absolutely ideal for sitting doing cross stitch pictures of places we have previously visited, and also for watching TV in the evenings. I reckon driving to the North of Scotland in it will be a far more realistic and pleasurable experience than I have had in my previous two motorhomes, (the first was an Autocruise Pioneer Tasman, before the Cheyenne). The dogs have found their places somewhere on the floor, (under our feet usually), and are still trying to work out how they can claim the drivers seat and the fixed bed without being spotted. The spaniel, (totally mad ADHD), delights in laying in the wide doorway just watching what is going on and ready to hurtle out on the unwary. A nice ring bolt fitted in the floor out of the way at the side of the step cramps his style a bit when he reaches the end of his lead!! Anything from passing robins to Rottweilers are grateful for this fixture! My major reservation is with the washroom facilities, but I guess I'll learn to work round these problems in time - might buy a crash helmet though!
> 
> The driving experience is as pleasant as it ever could be in such a large vehicle. The living experience only goes to prove to me that designers / manufacturers rarely / never live in their creations before putting them out onto the market. I am fully aware of the advice somewhere on here about hiring / borrowing the model of van you want to buy and living in it before purchasing your own - I'd love to be a fly on the wall and see what response you would get from most dealers if you made this request, particularly when you are looking for a relatively uncommon model! It would probably be worth filming!?
> 
> Should you buy a Chausson? I can't see why not, several of us have done so. In general they are well put together, neutral in décor, if you choose the right upholstery and are pretty well insulated. The Fiat bit is - er well Fiat and all that entails, but it's actually quite difficult to find a motorhome built on anything else with the features I would want. I would like a Mercedes automatic, but paying an extra £12,000 for one is a bit over the top, (although I understand that they do go well in reverse)!? I don't think Chausson use a Mercedes Chassis - perhaps it's a historical thing! As for the fridges and other essential fittings most are standard Thetford, Dometic, Cramer etc. and parts should be relatively obtainable anywhere. The particular Chausson parts would be mainly cabinet constructions, and I'm told take ages to get bits for if you are unfortunate enough to need them. Actually I have a chrome plated wire rack fitted above the kitchen worktop, which is a Friday night job, welded together by the local work experience lad, (or one who spent too long a time sampling the French wine), which I think is annoying me enough to get it changed, so I may find out the truth of this statement. This is likely to be my last motorhome so I hope it lives up to expectations, but overall our first impressions are favourable. If you want one and it's the right price go for it!


The only response I can think of after reading the cons.

Did you really research this MH properly as it sound like a right pile, sorry if that offends, but there are no pros with any MH if you think about it, you go out looking for things you like, if you find most of them then good, but you must check out if the cons are too much before spending penny one.

There is and has ever been only one way to check out the physicalities of a MH, and that is to push pull and twist every single item in the damn things, open every door/drawer and subject it to a little stress, do the washing up motions, act out showering and teggy brushing, try all the light switches, interrogate the dealer, and walk away after hearing the price.

I am in no way an expert on buying Motor Home, but I'm bloody good at spotting bad design and workmanship. I'd make an excellent snagger, but would be sacked for being too good.

As for not getting value for any extras you left on the old MH, seemples take em off, blank of any roof holes, re-fit them to the new MH, or Ebay them, better still sell the MH privately, dealers like cash just like any other horse trader, and will discount.

Be aware that not all dealers are the same, but try to buy locally, then you can complain to fellow MHers locally and affect their sales figures, although our local dealer is right waste of space, and would sell his grandmothers teeth.

In the final analyses, you get what you pay for and if you fail to buy quality, then you have bought something which will only cause complaint.

Do not be fooled buy flash maker names Hymer et al all produce donkeys, it's your job to check the legs and teeth to see if they are all present and correct, and for gods sake do not pay before a decent test drive.


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## bracken

Hi G4EKF

Yes my Chausson is on the 4 ton chassis. The tyre size is 225/75 R16 CP on "Continental" manufactured tyres. It would be worth ringing your vendor to check that your tyres are the same size however.

The van is built on the Fiat chassis with the 3 litre six speed manual engine/gearbox and drives very nicely and is very stable on these tyres. It is not subject to much deflection in strong winds or when overtaking lorries etc. In terms of driveability on wet grass they do however spin very easily on a slight slope, but I guess that is the same problem with all front wheel drive setups.

In answer to a previous post about checking out the design etc. Yes we looked at a lot of motorhomes and have to say that all designs are a compromise - it would be nice to design and build your own vehicle to your own specs - but even then I doubt that you would get everything right. 

I am definitely not influenced by big-name manufacturers and have to say that in general, all motorhomes are grossly overpriced and not very well built when you start to look under the 'gloss'. I'm a pretty capable snagger too and have spent most of my careeer designing and making things. I am also realistic about what can and cannot be achieved. What amazes me, is why their firms buy in such weak and generally shoddy handles / catches / hinges etc to fit to such expensive cpommodities. As for private sales, there is always the problem of ensuring the large amount of money changing hands, is definitely secure in the bank before your previous 'pride and joy' drives away!

As an update 18 months on. The Allegro is still performing well. I've fitted magnetic catches to the tambour doors to stop them opening when driving along, (no easy task in the restricted space available when the doors are built in position)). This became a priority after a new bottle of liquid soap ejected itself from the bathroom cupboard and broke its cap on the floor, thus losing all the contents under the wardrobe and sink cupboards - it took days to soak it all up! The kitchen cupboard by the TV cabinet also opened when travelling and allowed a coffee jar to bounce off the worktop (fortunately missing the glass cover) and onto a very miffed dog.

A worse failure occured when the sink, (an inverted glass bowl fitted above the worktop on my model), received some inadvertant pressure on the rim and broke the drain/waste unit which holds it all to the worktop. Fortunately, I eventually discovered that a standard clicker drain unit could be obtained and fitted to the existing drain and trap. Chausson did not appear to keep this part as spares, as my dealer did not source it in two to three months - thus I had to cure the problem for myself. Another slightly annoying problem, is that the swivel drivers seat often clashes with and damages the side of the seat cupboard behind it when swivelled around to use the table or watch TV etc. This will require the sympathetic addition of a plastic 'shield' at some stage when I get round to it. I have also had to take the wardrobe light switch to pieces to 'fix it' and get it to turn off when the door was closed and no it wasn't just out of adjustment, it had failed internally! A cheap nasty fitting once again.

The misaligned fruit basket above the worktop by the sink was 'fixed' at the first service - I suspect by giving it a good clout underneath with a hammer. The differing support bar lengths still annoy me visually, but it is no doubt more functional now.

I was also unfortunate to have a windscreen smashed when travelling in the middle lane on the M4 by Swindon, when an old VW camper pulled out from the inside lane about 20 feet in front of me and kicked a stone into the bottom of the screen, which started off a series of long splits. If the lady driving the VW reads this, please look in your mirrors next time before pulling out - we are both lucky to be alive! It's a good job my brakes work and old VW's never were renowned for their acceleration at 50 to 60 mph! This incident cost me £75 excess from my insurance, but the fitter replacing the scree reckoned they really cost up to £650 which gave me food for thought. Expensive glass! Actually I am now getting nervous of ladies in old motor homes. As mentioned above, I had the drivers door mirror smashed back by an old Autosleeper coming towards me at uncontrollable speed downhill on the side of Loch Lomond - this knocked the glass out and smashed the indicator repeater. This latter unit also appears to be manufactured of gold when bought as a fiat spare, and comes in many variations I discovered.

Otherwise I am still pleased and satisfied with the Allegro.


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## Alicat

Interesting feedback. I have an Allegro 94 and have suffered two of the problems highlighted.

The sink waste in the washroom leaked from day one and was replaced by the dealer.

The drivers seat made a ding in the seat base, I went for a piece of light gauge aluminium angle, polished and glued in place.

Tony


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## bracken

*Two years on!*

Well I've owned the Allegro 93 for two years now and covered nearly 8000 miles. So what's new?

Had a fridge failure, and had to get a man out to service it. He was brilliant and was there the day after phoning .(Rook from Northampton). The burner had sooted up very badly and set itself on fire, resulting in burning the insulation off one of the wires. If you get a nasty gassy, sooty, burning smell, get someone in to clean it, or do it yourself if you are brave! The 12V fridge system incidentally failed at the same time by sheer coincidence, and was down to a corroded push connector not making contact.

The main kitchen sink drain has now got very slow and will need stripping out to clear whatever is causing the problem - this has been a bit of a problem from new.

The water pump is developing a bit of a mind of its own and turns on every now and again for no particular reason, and there are no obvious water leaks to cause pressure loss. It also doesn't like the main tank getting below 7 litres of water, and will hum quietly to itself if you walk away and forget you have not turned the tap switch off on the main board - it waits until you are well out of earshot before starting this trick!?

The main large kitchen unit drawer, has developed a very annoying habit of opening itself when going around corners. The chief problem is once again the totally inadequate and shoddy catch holding it shut, (or not)! the plastic angle bracket pulls out of the 'wood' above it particularly when it's held in by the original 1/2" long screws - mine are now up to 30mm long and thicker, but still do not catch in the wood too well, and the whole catch needs to be mounted in better contact lower down from the upper lip, or the door front moved up (not easy).

The fiat bit! Headlights have lost their seal and mist up badly. I've posted my Warranty woes on this one elsewhere on here. The gearbox still shudders on reversing backwards up a slight hill - I'm not even bothering to try and get Fiat to sort this, as hopefully I'm not going to do too much reversing back up hills, and I'm not at all impressed with anything to do with Fiat Warranty. Otherwise I must say the vehicle is very nice to drive and quite a willing 'goer'. I've twice now had the rear nearside indicator fail due to wires pulling out of the plug under the conversion light. Have fixed this by scotch-locking two longer wires on to the originals and using two small terminal connectors straight into the spades under the light. (The original wires are too short and were under stress).

I get quite a lot of black streaks from dirt accumulating on the roof and water flowing down where the front moulding joins the flatter back section, I also notice the mastic is cracking along this joint so will have to get at it with some Sikaflex soon.

We took the room divider curtain from around the bed and added it to the front curtains in the cab, so that they now meet and don't need a handfull of clothes pegs to keep them together at night - (so we don't frighten the horses with a view of naked people getting undressed for bed).

I'm now going to have a second windscreen in 11 months, as the last replacement started to split from the top for some reason this morning.

If asked what mpg I get I would normally answer between 20 and 22. However over nearly 1900 miles from here to Dunnet Bay in Scotland and back, it appeared to do 26mpg to my surprise. 255 miles to Cornwall last week averaged 21.7mpg - not sure what the difference is caused by.

Another really aggravating thing when driving is that the table, now it's run in, slides viciously in all directions when you are driving along. I reckon I'm going to have to devise some sort of screw locking device for this to stop it moving in transit.

An interesting anomaly is that when you use the fluorescent strip light by the door on 12V battery power it doesn't switch on - but is absolutely fine when hooked up to the mains.

I wasn't sure how to access the bulbs in the ceiling lights until I went to Lincolnshire a couple of weeks ago! Thanks to the efforts of some total cretin of a traffic man in Lincolnshire CC, there are some absolutely ludicrous, high, and grossly unnecessary concrete rumble strips on some S bends on the road East of Toft Newton, which go completely across the road before and after these two sets of bends. I always approach these damned things slowly, as I am disabled with quite a bad back problem, but these are so vicious they actually shook the glasses out of the ceiling lights - it took me ages to find out where the retaining ring for one of them had flown to. Why are we at the mercy of idiots?[/U][/B]

I hope this may give clues for prospective purchasers of second-hand Chaussons when read with my original post here. Yes I'm still pleased with the van and have no intention of selling it on.


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## tr3vor

Hi Bracken

I have been reading your posts with great interest as last weekend we bought a 2008 Allegro 93 with a 2.3 diesel engine on the 4 ton chassis.

We take delivery on 23 July and I have already made plans to do some of the mods you have mentioned like mag catches on the tambour doors & removal of the wire structure on the kitchen worktop.

I will be looking out for things like drawers flying open and am gratefull for the heads upon possible issues like the fridge and rear light wiring.

I am also dissapointed by the number of 240v sockets and hope to rectify this very quickly after we have had our first shake down outing to see where power is needed and to identify any other issues that require correction.

As this MH is a great step up from our existing CI Cusona which was an entry level MH we are looking forward to all the new luxury and gadgets that we currently do not have.

Keep up the posts & thanks for all the info


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## Andysam

Re: the slow flow on the kitchen sink, I had this problem too. A quick look underneath showed the waste routed correctly and going "downhill". I thought the very shallow sink trap may be at fault and intended to replace it. However, I was under the rear of the van lying on the floor surveying a gaslow filler site, when I noticed that although the waste pipe does flow downhill, it was more or less flat across part of it's journey to the waste tank. Something not obvious from looking underneath whilst kneeling.

I simply cable tied up the pipe at the "higher" point and I've achieved a 100% improvement. The trap I suspect could do better but it's not bad and easy the live with so i shall. Might be worth a look?


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## bozzer

Hi

What an interesting read. We have had the Allegro 83 from new and been really pleased with it. I agree about the tambour doors, I've had a small piece of plastic working as a wedge since the mhome was 6 months old but I'll look into the catches.

Tr3vor - When we first looked at our Mhome I said what a useless thing the wire carousel was in the kitchen. I've proved myself wrong. A piece of non slip was cut to fit and tea/coffee containers travel there with oil/salt/pepper. Coasters positioned between them stop rattles and nothing is moved for travelling. The lower carousel has the fruit bowl and again everything travels in situ. I'd try it before you remove it.

Our Chausson is now 6 years + we've covered 33000 miles or there abouts and spend winter in Spain. We thought about changing it but decided to keep and put the £'s to any repairs which will no doubt need doing. £25000 (needed + mhome to get a new one) will pay for quite a number of repairs. We've reupholstered the cab seats as we'd worn the covers bare in places.

Jan


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## bracken

Thanks for the replies. When it dries up a bit, I'll crawl underneath and have a look for the waste pipe - that could well be the problem. While under there I'll either tie up or trim off the boiler dump pipe, (I assume that is what it is), which is dragging on the road underneath.

I agree that the carousel baskets are quite handy in the limited 'workspace' around the kitchen area and have also put in non-slip, non-rattle mats. We also use the bottom one for fruit and the top on is good for keeping pills, drink sweeteners etc etc.

As for putting extra mains sockets in - if you have a lot of patience and a strong neck, you can remove the panel at the back of the LH cupboard next to the TV cupboard, and get to the rear of the built in mains socket, (which is in the TV cupboard), then parallel up a socket from there down to the wall behind the forward facing dinette seat on the Allegro 93. The socket in the TV cupboard is unlikely to be used for normal application and gets in the way if you have a TV big enough to 'fill' the cupboard. Run the cable down tidily inside the small tambour doored cupboard above the sink. My other mains socket addition was placed on the underbed wall near the heater controls and the power picked up from the mains cable found in the bottom of the heater space. I must issue a warning here - DON'T mess around with mains unless you are competent! 

After driving around 90 miles and replacing the windscreen, I now have new back caps on the nearside headlight - which I'm assured will cure the condensation problem inside it. (If not bring it back Sir)! Er - why only caps for one light and not the other? "I expect Fiat don't know about any problems with the lights on driver side Sir!?" I await the results with eager anticipation now the two year warranty expires!

Can anybody reassure me what the point of the habitation inspection covers for £200 plus. Yes, I can see the point about a professional quality damp meter. However, when I suspected a fridge problem I asked two dealers what would be covered under the gas inspection, and was told categorically by both, that the inspection was only a visual inspection and did not cover any work such as stripping down and cleaning the flue or replacing parts. If you have ever had the cover off the back of the fridge, a visual inspection will not show you too much without removing a couple more internal covers - and to get to the flue, you have to unscrew the whole unit, (fridge freezer), and push it forward after removing the bend behind the top cover. I know this having watched mine being repaired. My guess is that they might fire up the water heater and see whether it works but the chance of any serious checking, cleaning etc are very slim. Now this might be the result of a cynical mind - but to get your five year build warranty, you have to have the habitation checks, 5 X £200 = £1000 for not doing very much apparently. Is it me or is this suspiciously close to a scam?


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## FXC04

bracken said:


> This post may be of interest to anybody considering buying a Chausson. It is written purely from a personal viewpoint with no allegiances or grievances to any person or company. In short I'm telling it as it is!
> 
> We recently decided to buy a new Chausson Allegro 93 to replace our four year old Autotrail Cheyenne, which had become increasingly uncomfortable for my decrepit body to drive, with its lack of seat adjustment to the rear, and the perpetual problem of the ignition key digging into my already dodgy right knee, (due to some idiotic design failure by Fiat several years ago). After some initial teething problems with the Autotrail, which I eventually sorted out, (shouldn't have had to, but sadly that is the state of the build and much of the aftersales industry), we were very pleased with the interior and general quality of the motorhome, and would have liked another Autotrail. Regrettably the newer models had lost the useful under cupboard lockers, still had the same poor bed structure and had a smaller engine reportedly more prone to the apparent reverse gear problems - and that works out at a lot less for more money!?
> 
> Her who, (generally), must be obeyed had decided that a fixed bed and a fixed or readily accessible table, as well as a separate shower, were priorities for a replacement motor home and hopefully we would be able to maintain the aura of quality of the Autotrail . As I was very reluctant to keep provoking my back by wheedling the relatively heavy table out from above the drivers cab and we had already experienced problems with the Cheyenne bed, despite valiant attempts at sorting these out, (see my earlier post on this subject). I was determined that the vehicle would be factory fitted with cruise control and air conditioning and preferably be an automatic. It also had to have sufficient storage space for quite a lot of fishing gear. With a limited budget we knew we may have to compromise a bit here and there, but nevertheless searched around for something which ticked most of the boxes. Visiting motorhome dealers is at best a demoralising process! When you try to trade something in, no matter how many thousands of pounds of extras it is fitted with, the book guide price is apparently sacrosanct and often a lower offer is given - when you see low mileage 2005 SE model Autotrails retailing at £30,000 plus, (fitted with far less extras than your own), and are offered as little as £17,000 by one rogue, you begin wondering whether it really was just the thieves in the banking industry that brought finances to its knees!? (It appears to me that a dealer wants to make at least £20,000 on every deal). We finally came across an Allegro 93 purporting to be an unsold 2008 model, (in reality it was probably a 2007 we have since discovered), which made a favourable impression on the decisive half of this partnership. Not one to do a deal of this magnitude without making a few further inquiries, I decided to go home and search the internet - whereupon I was lucky enough to come across another unsold 2008 model, which had never been on display and further was built on a 4 ton chassis with a 3 litre motor, aircon and cruise as standard. Unfortunately the gearbox is a six speed manual as opposed to an auto which is a pity. At this point we piled the dogs in the car and immediately drove around 120 miles to the dealership to view the 'newer' model and after short deliberation did the deal - although we got a little less for the Cheyenne than the other Chausson dealer had offered, the Allegro 93 had been seriously discounted and after deliberation we felt we could acceptably make the exchange, albeit going broke to do it!? (At least Gordon won't get our hard earned savings now).
> 
> What's it like to live in the new Chausson? Well there are pluses and minuses, I'll start with the latter. The cupboard catch handles are dire! One fell to pieces after two days use, and on removing it to fix it, I discovered the whole pivoting arrangement is mounted by two very small pieces of plastic held in place by a couple of 4mm self tapping screws going a couple of mm into a large pilot hole. Who the hell gets away with putting something like this into production and expects it to last? If you want to put plates, mugs, wine glasses, tumblers, dishes etc into a cupboard you are entirely on your own - no racks of any sort are provided in this £50,000 plus vehicle! They aren't very cheap to buy either. The obvious cupboard for accommodating these necessary items above the hob, has an extractor duct in the middle of it thus restricting the space to fit things into. Equally no TV aerial or lead is fitted, despite a dedicated TV cupboard and a fairly decent pull-out bracket being fitted in this top range model. (The dealer wouldn't fit one in the deal either - the van I traded in had both a satellite dish and a Grade Directional digital aerial fitted)!
> 
> The washroom needs a paragraph to itself - this one has obviously been designed by a 5 stone dwarf female! Basically in use it's a failure and a disappointment! Try shaving, or cleaning your teeth in the inverted glass lampshade arrangement that passes for a designer sink, and you will inevitably crack your skull on the admittedly spacious high level cupboard! Unless you are very short sighted it's quite difficult to get far enough back to see what you are doing as well. This brings us on to the toilet itself - ye gods it's snug! It's quite tricky to operate on if you get my drift - this definitely isn't a washroom for fat ladies or bulky men! After sitting down, spend an hour or two, (it'll probably take you that long to get up again if you have a bad back), trying to work out where to fix a toilet roll holder within reach! This also applies to hand towels and flannels. (If anybody is interested, a towel rail has been fitted under the bottom of the top cupboard in front of the window, and a small set of flannel hooks in the corner above the tap - the toilet roll holder is still being considered after a loop of string hanging from a ceiling hook was turned down as a suggestion). The electric toilet switch is fitted to the wall unnecessarily deep down beside the pan, instead of in a more ergonomically accessible position. The shower on the other hand is elegant, functional and works very well. In order to make a more sensible dressing / drying area, we put another curtain rail across between the fridge and the front edge of the wardrobe and have hung a full length curtain across this space - which works well. However, why oh why cannot all motorhome manufacturers use the superb swinging wall system in washrooms that Autocruise fitted in the years before Swift had to buy them out?! One washroom I owned in a previous van, even had a back door into the wardrobe so you could get dressed in the shower area too. It's not difficult to design a functional spacious washroom / shower that doesn't require a total washdown of the walls loo and everything else, so why do we have to put up with these inferior 'designs'.
> 
> Mad white spaniels and black carpets are not good news either! A black carpet is a strange choice - mud brown may have been better!
> 
> The hob is a three burner all gas affair - unbelievably WITHOUT electronic ignition, it is also quite restricted in size if you put three saucepans on it. We have had to buy much smaller saucepans - and don't even think about trying to use a grilling skillet. Having caravanned and motorhomed for around 35 years, I cannot remember how long ago it is since we had to resort to gas lighters. Penny pinching madness! The oven is a tiny grill affair above the freezer requiring a ladder to see into, (no ladder supplied - and not very safe when lifting casseroles out of)! Another extremely stupid and unsafe placement is the only 240volt socket - on the wardrobe wall directly above the gas hob. However did this pass a safety check? (I've since fitted a 240v socket on the opposite side of the small kitchen and another one low down on the front edge of the bed). The kitchen area may have been designed by a man, as there is definitely not room for two people to wash and dry up in this area.
> 
> There are neither outside accessible wet lockers or any dedicated locker for storing electric cables, water hoses etc. The only place to carry these items fairly accessibly is by stuffing them around the gas bottles, or in the very large underbed storage area accessible from a small hatch at the back - (don't tread on the brakes too hard if you want to keep them in reach). There is a partitioned area beside the gas locker under the bed, which is impossible to reach by any normal person, and especially cripples like me - an outside door here would be good!
> 
> Now for some good points: The fixed double bed is good, a little firm but nevertheless a lot better than the one in the previous Cheyenne. The electric rising head end is good for a bit of evening reading and a lot more useful than I thought it would be.
> 
> The huge fridge and good sized freezer are extremely useful and effective. The table which is fixed in the dinette area moves / slides in a very flexible way to accommodate easy eating from whatever combination of seats are in use - including the swivelling cab seats. The large slide out rack drawer unit opposite the fridge is great for keeping all sorts of food and bulkier items out of sight.
> 
> The enormous fixed panoramic sunroof directly above the cab gives superb lighting in this area and a great feeling of space. A heki rooflight fitted next to it towards the rear gives lots of ventilation. This vehicle is probably as near to an A class that can be obtained in a C class van. The 120 litre capacity water tank is very useful for several days away from a tap and doesn't make you feel twitchy about running out of water if you are having a couple of showers. It is however a pity that it is built inboard under the front dinette seat - just think of how much fishing gear could be placed in that space. The underslung waste tank is fairly capacious and easily empties by pulling a handle under the gas locker - getting the waste pipe over a manhole is another game however.
> 
> The 12v lighting is good, and has a range of options when you finally locate the switches, (one hidden behind the seat cushion on the forward facing dinette seat took a bit of finding). It's a pity that led 'bulbs' have not been fitted as standard in this day and age. (A modification to be done later).
> 
> A 15" TV with a standard centre mounted VESA bracket holes will fit into the dedicated TV cupboard, as long as it has narrow edges around the screen - I suspect an Avtex TV would be too wide, but haven't tried it, settling instead for a Meos off Ebay at £150 cheaper - yes it does get a picture and quite a good one too! Fitting a Freesat box took a little more thought and determination. Eventually it had to be placed on a shelf in the adjacent cupboard towards the front of the van next to the TV cupboard - a not ideal solution, as the locker door needs to be open when it is use, both for ventilation and the remote control to work. I may eventually ventilate the door and fit an acrylic window into it to solve these minor problems. The advantage of the inbuilt cupboard and system is that it is quick to get out and put away, and is out of sight when travelling or parked in a carpark.
> 
> Now for the Fiat part: This has pleasantly surprised me, because the previous 2.8 ltre JTD engine I had was one of the most gutless devices I have ever driven! A 25hp boost from a Power box, (sorry, read fuel saving device), greatly improved it, but it was never in the same league as this redesigned new engine. This new 3 litre is superb! The six speed gearbox in most of the forward gears is very flexible, easy to change and has well spaced ratios. However, in first gear mine kangaroos and makes you look an idiot when pulling away; and in reverse it's OK on the flat, but the couple of times I've backed up a slope - you've guessed it - it shudders! It is otherwise a very easy vehicle to drive, and quick as well. The power steering is higher in its assistance power than my previous two motorhomes and makes it much lighter to drive. The whole vehicle is very stable in a crosswind too. Pity they scrimped on the spare wheel though - this could cause me to curse them in the wilds of Scotland - but let's pray not! The cruise control is excellent and a tremendous help to alleviate my disabilities. The cab is very spacious and the whole driving experience is relaxing and nearer to that of driving a large car as opposed to a 23 foot lorry - a fact for which I am extremely grateful.
> 
> Now the standard Chausson is built on a 3.5 ton chassis which gives a very limited payload by the time you have water, the missus, dogs, fishing gear and a Maxview satellite dish on board - that's without the necessary drinks and food! On a 4 ton wide track chassis, you can load a good ¾'s of a ton if necessary, so going onto a spot check weighbridge is unlikely to raise much of a sweat! Wonderful!
> 
> The new motorhome is fitted with the brilliant Seitz windows, as opposed to the less secure, and more vulnerable to scratches by passing twigs, polyplas variations still extensively used by most manufacturers. I'm delighted by this feature! Why these are not more extensively used in the trade I'll never know, (although I expect somebody will soon tell me)!
> 
> In summation: As I stated at the beginning we had a checklist of 'would likes'. Our experience has shown that you always have to compromise, as nobody has yet built our ideal motorhome at a price affordable by mere mortals as opposed to bank directors on bonuses! The Allegro 93 has ticked many of the boxes. My wife is really pleased with this 'van and has yet to grumble about the undoubtedly more difficult catering / cooking facilities. She loves the double bed and the electric rising headrests at the pillow end. She also finds the swivel cabin seats absolutely ideal for sitting doing cross stitch pictures of places we have previously visited, and also for watching TV in the evenings. I reckon driving to the North of Scotland in it will be a far more realistic and pleasurable experience than I have had in my previous two motorhomes, (the first was an Autocruise Pioneer Tasman, before the Cheyenne). The dogs have found their places somewhere on the floor, (under our feet usually), and are still trying to work out how they can claim the drivers seat and the fixed bed without being spotted. The spaniel, (totally mad ADHD), delights in laying in the wide doorway just watching what is going on and ready to hurtle out on the unwary. A nice ring bolt fitted in the floor out of the way at the side of the step cramps his style a bit when he reaches the end of his lead!! Anything from passing robins to Rottweilers are grateful for this fixture! My major reservation is with the washroom facilities, but I guess I'll learn to work round these problems in time - might buy a crash helmet though!
> 
> The driving experience is as pleasant as it ever could be in such a large vehicle. The living experience only goes to prove to me that designers / manufacturers rarely / never live in their creations before putting them out onto the market. I am fully aware of the advice somewhere on here about hiring / borrowing the model of van you want to buy and living in it before purchasing your own - I'd love to be a fly on the wall and see what response you would get from most dealers if you made this request, particularly when you are looking for a relatively uncommon model! It would probably be worth filming!?
> 
> Should you buy a Chausson? I can't see why not, several of us have done so. In general they are well put together, neutral in décor, if you choose the right upholstery and are pretty well insulated. The Fiat bit is - er well Fiat and all that entails, but it's actually quite difficult to find a motorhome built on anything else with the features I would want. I would like a Mercedes automatic, but paying an extra £12,000 for one is a bit over the top, (although I understand that they do go well in reverse)!? I don't think Chausson use a Mercedes Chassis - perhaps it's a historical thing! As for the fridges and other essential fittings most are standard Thetford, Dometic, Cramer etc. and parts should be relatively obtainable anywhere. The particular Chausson parts would be mainly cabinet constructions, and I'm told take ages to get bits for if you are unfortunate enough to need them. Actually I have a chrome plated wire rack fitted above the kitchen worktop, which is a Friday night job, welded together by the local work experience lad, (or one who spent too long a time sampling the French wine), which I think is annoying me enough to get it changed, so I may find out the truth of this statement. This is likely to be my last motorhome so I hope it lives up to expectations, but overall our first impressions are favourable. If you want one and it's the right price go for it!


When my wife and I were looking recently for a motorhome again (we'd been without for a year, having sold our IH Irmao), we had narrowed options down (wanting a fixed bed this time) to the Allegro, a Burstner and a Pilote. Yours was one of the reviews we read and it gave us pause for thought, though was very informative, so thank you.

We have now put a deposit on a 3 year old Chausson Allegro 93 (the 2.3 130 bhp engine) from Highbridge and will pick it up early in January. It seems to have all we wish for and we both on the slimmer side, so hopefully the toilet (yes, you are right it is tight!) won't be a problem. On the plus side in the bathroom, the shower at the back means we can hang wet clothes in there without them hanging over the loo, which was how it was in our previous van.

Anyway, thanks again for the effort you went to sharing the information. Fingers crossed that ours will do us well.


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## craigrogers

Great review, seems wierd as some of the bits you mention are not evident on our 2010 Flash.

Good balance of what is good and what is not so good. When it comes to things that "don't fit you", seems strange as to why you purchased the mh in the first place as surely you would of known these when you viewed/tested it!?

Good write up though!


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## bracken

Thanks for the replies and plaudits above.

I have at last got round to modifying another little annoyance this summer. When driving along, or going round sharp bends a little too enthusiastically, the sliding table top used to do just that - slide into the back of the passenger seat or clunk across behind the driver making the mad spaniel who sat there until recently, duck his head a bit rapidly.

The cure: very simple, cut about 40 mm length of 6mm thick aluminium angle, which I had laying around the workshop, drill and tap a 6mm thread through one of the faces, and then drill and countersink two 4mm holes through the other face, about 10 mm from either end. Place the angle over the edge of the veneered MDF central support boss under the table, and drill a 7mm hole vertically, so that it correctly meets the threaded 6mm hole made in the angle plate. Go to the local ironmongers and buy a 6mm ring bolt / screw eye - shorten it to about 65 mm long and reduce the threaded end for about 6mm, (I used a lathe, but a file would do to get the threads off and down to the screw core). Now fit a flat steel washer, (4mm hole), to support a 1/2" rubber tap washer - when the ring bolt screw is fitted through the table boss and angle plate. screw the angle plate into the edge of the boss with some suitable 25 to 30 mm long MDF screws, so that it is all held firmly in place, and then screw the ring bolt upwards until the tap washer JUST BEARS against the table underside.[/B][/U]. Don't get too enthusiastic, as I guess the table surface formica may not have too much supporting the inside and will crack. This friction system works a treat, stops all unwanted table movement and is quite neat. When you get on site, it just requires the ring bolt to be unscrewed a couple of turns and the table is free to move again. Tighten up before you move off.

The only other annoyance I have had, is for the first time in well over 30 years, a mouse decided to move in and make a nest in the bottom cupboard under the sink. It shredded a box of tissues and a couple of dog towels to make itself cosy! Sadly the mouse has now joined the mad spaniel buried in the back garden, and hopefully he hasn't got any mates who are intent on taking up residence! Any prospective tenants will have to negotiate 4 various traps to do this though! The resident dog walker / gardener was a bit upset at having to wash and launder everything following this temporary intrusion! I've now got to get underneath and find out where it made an entry. Oddly enough, this morning I heard someone else bemoaning the fact that he had caught, (trapped), three mice in his work van this week. Perhaps this has been an exceptional year for vermin and you might just like to keep a regular check on your pride and joy. Be warned!


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## tr3vor

Hi All

We bought the Allegro 93 in July as planned and have already had some wonderful outings in it, mostly weekends with the Camping & Caravan Club, Motorhome section. Our furthest trip so far has been down to the Cape De Agde in Southern France.

Thanks to the advice & tips gained from this post I have fitted magnetic catches on all the sliding doors which has worked well, I have extended down from the back of the 240v socket in the TV cabinet and now have an additional either side of the bulkhead behind the passenger seats and also installed a twin socket near the heater controls as suggested.

The carousel baskets have proved useful for bits & bobs along with our coffee mugs for daily use.

I have looked under the Camper for the waste pipe but was unable to locate it so the water from the main sink still drains slowly but once you aclimatise to a slower pace of life this becomes less of an issue.

As for the 240v socket in the TV cupboard, this has been invaluable as we bought an Akura TV/DVD combo which fits in perfectly and runs on both 240 & 12v, it also has a USB input which accepts a memory stick and also my old portable hard drive stripped out of an old laptop and put into a portable housing, this means I can record TV onto either and play movies from either.

The trip down to the South of France did raise some issues though, the toilet is still a test as I have one leg in the shower and the other wedged against the shower door (I am 6ft with longish legs) I can live with this though. The main problems have been with the large pull out drawer which has occasionally opened whilst cornering, not sure if this was because it wasn't fastened properly but the plastic catch retainer does seem inadequate, I am looking for a better alternative.

My main concern is the lack of a spare wheel or anywhere to stow one (has anyone come up with a solution without taking up half of the garage, I have a bike rack fitted on the rear so no room there).

Another thing that annoys me is when I drain the fresh water to prevent freezing in the winter, I have not found a way to unscrew the big green plastic cap underneath without the water going up my sleeve.

On a separate issue I had an interesting occurrence, before going away for a short 3 day break I plugged the mains hookup in to my home supply and it immediately caused the electric to trip in the house, I checked for short circuits but found non so I decided to tackle it when I got back. Whilst away one of the club members who was an electrician took a closer look and also found nothing, he disconnected all the connections from the fuse box, checked them and re-connected, at this point we suspected it could be the charging unit. When I got home I took it to the local dealer who found no faults and all has worked OK since. I have assumed that it must have been a loose connection that was corrected when the electrician was checking the circuits. If anyone does have this problem try disconnection & re-connecting the cables under the fuse box.

We will be retiring at the end of April so are looking forward to some longer trips away, our first planned trip is 2 Months to Italy & Sicily, look out here we come.


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## Spacerunner

My Chausson Welcome 85 is coming up to 5 years old this May and has done 34000 miles.
Apart from some Fiat teething problems we have been fairly trouble-free.
I have installed LEDs everywhere in the habitation including awning light and rear locker light.
I have installed two mains sockets under the lounge table and one on the wardrobe side at the kitchen worktop area.
Two solar panels (140 watts) power a single Elecsol 125 amp battery. This combination seems to be more efficient than the two 110 amp batteries previously installed.

The bodywork is still looking excellent although the Fiat bonnet has a couple of stone chips.
There was a problem with the driver's side headlight misting up but I removed the headlight completely and was able to drain about half a pint of water out of it and re-seal all the joints. Seems to have cured the problem

We had thought of down sizing but have had second thoughts as we and the Chausson have grown into each other. We have looked at other vans but really can't justify the expense just for change sake.


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## FXC04

Spacerunner said:


> My Chausson Welcome 85 is coming up to 5 years old this May and has done 34000 miles.
> Apart from some Fiat teething problems we have been fairly trouble-free.
> I have installed LEDs everywhere in the habitation including awning light and rear locker light.
> I have installed two mains sockets under the lounge table and one on the wardrobe side at the kitchen worktop area.
> Two solar panels (140 watts) power a single Elecsol 125 amp battery. This combination seems to be more efficient than the two 110 amp batteries previously installed.
> 
> The bodywork is still looking excellent although the Fiat bonnet has a couple of stone chips.
> There was a problem with the driver's side headlight misting up but I removed the headlight completely and was able to drain about half a pint of water out of it and re-seal all the joints. Seems to have cured the problem
> 
> We had thought of down sizing but have had second thoughts as we and the Chausson have grown into each other. We have looked at other vans but really can't justify the expense just for change sake.


So far so good with ours, though only 5 months on our part, not the 5 years you have so far enjoyed. I thought about the leds too, you don't still have to hand the list of replacement bulbs do you - to save me (and presumably other Chausson owners) re-inventing the wheel. Thank you.


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## sallytrafic

I'm not sure how relevant my thread will be about an 09 Flash 02 but lots of the bits are shared across the range so it might be useful to see it.

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopict-95831-.html

To those who have commented why buy something with flaws bad design etc:

All motorhomes are the result of some one else's set of compromises. So when you get a match on your main requirements you buy it. You have to expect some warts, but better that than accept something that doesn't match what you want. No one will spot all the snags on handover or before some can take a year at least to materialise.


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## ann4me

Hi FXC04

These are the LED lamps I used, all bought on ebay from Hong Kong at £ 0.99 each + shipping which was minimal from emarket4un.

Delivery was about 2 weeks but they are just perfect.

I used G4 SMD 5050 9-LED 360 DEGREE Car light Bulb Cool White to replace the small flexible spotlight reading lamp bulbs (cool white gives a better light for reading & Warm White G4 19 LED Home Spotlight Spot Light Bulbs for all the overheads.

I hope this helps, enjoy your Chausson


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## FXC04

ann4me said:


> Hi FXC04
> 
> These are the LED lamps I used, all bought on ebay from Hong Kong at £ 0.99 each + shipping which was minimal from emarket4un.
> 
> Delivery was about 2 weeks but they are just perfect.
> 
> I used G4 SMD 5050 9-LED 360 DEGREE Car light Bulb Cool White to replace the small flexible spotlight reading lamp bulbs (cool white gives a better light for reading & Warm White G4 19 LED Home Spotlight Spot Light Bulbs for all the overheads.
> 
> I hope this helps, enjoy your Chausson


That is really helpful, thank you, I shall be on eBay at the weekend now!


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## bracken

I like the bits about LED lights, and have long been thinking about these myself. I did fit a load in a previous Cheyenne I owned. I have also had several in the house, but have mixed feelings about them. On 240 volts they seem to fail in the centre of the cluster and lose a large area of 'lights'. Some of these failures were very expensive units too. I must say however that they got far more use in the house than they ever would have in a motor-home, but even so, they do not last the excessive number of years they are advertised as lasting.

With regard to the damnable mouse I mentioned in my last post. The little swine also sat on the housing beside the drivers seat and nibbled a large chunk out of the seatbelt. I discovered this when slipping out to find some diesel. I have had to order a Fiat spare - cost £196!!! It wasn't long ago that you felt hard done by paying this much for a second hand Fiat 500. Apparently, you cannot buy just the webbing either. 

The next problem is getting the trim panel off to get at the reel screw to fit the new one. Anyone tried this on a mhome conversion? I can unspring some of it but the bottom seems firmly fixed. There is also a massive amount of electrical gubbins, relays and interestingly expensive looking stuff under the bottom panel - to be avoided if at all possible.


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## bracken

For anybody still interested in developments with this motorhome after my original submission, a couple of things have shown up since the last post I made.

The worst thing to have happened, is that in May this year, (a month short of the three years after first registration), after travelling to Scotland I was washing the flies off the bonnet and thought that a couple of them were particularly tenacious and well glued on. On closer inspection, the marks I was trying to remove turned out to be areas of cream undercoat showing through the white topcoat. I wrongly assumed that I had picked up a couple of stone chips on the journey. On returning home a flake of paint around the size of a a 5p had come loose and dropped off around one of these chips. In July we went to Lincolnshire, and after the journey discovered more flakes of paint had removed themselves from the bonnet! The final part of this saga is that I returned from Cornwall three weeks or so ago and came through a rainstorm which removed substantial patches of paint including one 'scab' around 60mm X 50mm right in the centre of the bonnet. The paint is obviously not adhering to the basecoat and far from being waterproof is actually washing off the surface. Guess how long Fiat warrant their paintwork - Three years!? In fifty years of motoring I have never come across anything this bad on paintwork.

Having contacted Fiat Customer Service, they have asked me to take the motorhome to one of their Commercial Agents. The nearest to here is around a 60 mile round trip. I will do this when I get round to wiggling it out of its parking pad and will report on any progress.

While in Yorkshire last week we tried to light the front burner on the Cramer hob - it didn't work! Fortunately the back two burners stilll operated OK so we didn't go hungry. On further inspection when I got home the surprising reason became apparent. Getting the screws out of the black cover above the jet box was a problem, and only one of the torx screws eventually came out. However, this was sufficient for me to be able to slide the cover to the side and see that the jet looked clear. I now removed the drawer underneath the hob and took a small spanner to the gas pipe from the knob/flame control unit to the burner. This pipe was solidly blocked! Application of fine wire and electric flex eventually unblocked this pipe wherupon I discovered it to be full of the oil that blocks up the gas regulators. (I had one fail on a caravan so know about this problem). The bad news here, is that this oil which gas companies mostly deny all knowledge of, has actually passed through the regulator and is therefore in some parts of the system. I will now just have to wait and see what fails next I suppose. Short of stripping down the whole gas system and replacing the pipes I cannot think of a simple answer to this one. 

When replacing the hob pipe the burner now works, but only at about half volume so gives a simmer type flame. Theres obviously more of this oily gunk in the control valve or somewhere. I was also intrigued to note that my hob is fully wired up for electronic ignition, but an igniter was not fitted by Chausson. Does anybody know where a Piezo igniter connects to under the hob as there doesn't seem to be a spare spade terminal. I'm sure I could soon drill a hole somewhere and fit an igniter button if I could find out where to connect it. It appears that I'm going to have to take out the whole hob and strip it down to get rid of the grunge in order to get it working properly again, so adding a wire or two wouldn't cause much more hassle.

I also had some further serious aggravation when in Scotland. I meticulously drain the water down over winter and leave all taps open etc. During the first evening we discovered the floor to be absolutely drenched and water flowing out from under the cupboard and sink units. To cut a long story short, the source was apparently a failed tap cassette in the top of the washroom sink. Despite having been left open all winter and no visible signs of a crack etc a small pocket of water had evidently frozen and damaged something badly enough for it to leak enthusiastically. A nice man in Dumfries spent a couple of hours or more replacing the cassete and we thought all was well. The next morning we awoke to find the dog looking extremely miffed and laying on a soaking wet bed. After some considerable deconstruction of the seats and harbouring grave thoghts about mice damage to water pipes I eventually tracked the leak down to the water filter attached to the pump. Feeling pleased with myself I gave the gland a tweak and thought this would stop the water. Sadly it did not! A hairline crack was presentt in the bowl housing and only seen because of a white limescale trace! After some further thought on the matter I worked out that the water filter could be removed and the inlet pipe connected directly to the pump, so this is what I did until I could get home and get another filter of the same configuration, (there are at least 4 variants for some daft reason and only one will fit).

Moral of this latter tale. If you think you have completely drained your pride and joy for the winter - You haven't!


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## FXC04

*Habitation Door Security - Allegro 93*

I know this is quite an old and rarely visited thread now, but here's hoping.

Has anyone fitted additional security to the side door on the Allegro 93. I always think it seems pretty flimsy and I quite fancy fitting something we could lock outside when leaving it and from the inside at night.

Has anyone any experience or recommendations please?

Thanks.


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