# Our Bessacarrs first trip.



## RichardnGill (Aug 31, 2006)

Some of you might know we had a Hymer before the Bessacarr so we were a bit worried about both changing to a British van and also getting one on a Fiat X250 base as the Hymer was on a MK7 Transit. 

We set on Sunday Morning from Durham a bit later than we wanted to and as we were staying at the CC site at Warwick racecourse we had a few miles to cover. The Fiat bit went very well at high speed cruising quietly and effortlessly at a good 70 MPH which is aprox 2200RPM all the way down, the only down side was the 19.2 MPG but we did have a head wind and so far the van had only covered just over 400 miles, So was not too worried. 

After a good night with no problems we set of to visit Road Pro at Daventry as the Camos dome we had fitted needed a tweak, then we cut across country through Banbury and past Cheltenham to give the van a test on A roads, which it preformed no problem still pulling 6th gear at 55MPH doing aprox 1600RPM. Then a gentle drive down the M5 to Taunton. We stopped for Derv at an Asda near the M5 on the way down and confirmed that the computer reading of 19.8 was very close to an actual of 19.6MPG. We had 3 lovely nights at Van Bitz again with no problems. We tried the Fiamma awning out for the first time after checking the site was quiet. As we didn’t have one on our last van it took us a while to get it sorted out and probably gave someone a bit of entertainment. 

From Taunton we then went Cheltenham Racecourse CC site stopping for a night. This site was a bit of a test for the Fiat as we need to level the van due to a slopping pitch. So I made it even harder by reversing up hill up the levelling ramps. At tickover I could get the engine to vibrate if I laboured it too much, but a few revs and it was up the ramps no problem. I would say it was no worse that our Transit at completing this task but don’t forget the Bessie is close to 5000KGS. I was now getting good at getting my Mountain bike in and out of the Bessies large garage and this time I headed of the Cleeve hills for a bit of off road riding. The bike got very wet and muddy but this was not a problem as the Garage has a plug in the floor for drainage and is lined to make cleaning mud off very easy. 

After a night at Cheltenham we headed back up North to a meet near Gool. This was going to be a good test for the van as it was going to be 3 nights with no hook up and a kid that loves TV. The Bessie has 2* 110AH batteries and nearly all the lights are LED (only 4 halogens 2 in the cooker hood and 2 reading lights in the cab). We have also had an 85watt Solar panel fitted. After the 3 nights with not much sun and a fair bit of TV watching the batteries were still at 12.2 Volts. The van was again no problem running on gas and batteries. 

We then had a steady drive home going via York back up to Durham. The van was no problem in slow moving bank holiday traffic in York. I found it was far better than the Transit in traffic as first gear is so easy to get the van moving compared to the Transit. 

We had covered over 800 trouble free miles with an average fuel economy of nearly 22 MPG. The Fiat has proven nice to drive giving a very good driving position for me. At 5’11” I use to have a problem with head room in the Transit, but the Fiat cab was fine. So far we are very happy with the Bessacarr and the Fiat 3.0 Mulitjet. The only problem so far with the Fiat is the rear brakes seem to squeal at 20MPH when braking very gentle. Hopefully this will go away with use. We still have a few jobs to get done on the Bessacarr bit but these were just minor snags we spotted from new. 

Well Done to Swift Group for an excellent van which is very comfortable for both sleeping and to lounge in with very good storage and cooking facilities. Having 8* 240 sockets fitted as standard let us plug the lap top in while the Xbox was being used and the wife was charging her phone. In the Hymer we always had to juggle about what was plugged in. Having a full oven grill and microwave meant that we could cook just the same as at home and the large work top meant that both preparing food and washing the dishes was not too much of a chore. Sometimes it is the little things like this that make life in the M/H less hassle. 


Richard...


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## carol (May 9, 2005)

Richard - Brilliant, so pleased all went well - it helps to make getting used to a new motorhome if you have no problems.

Here's to many more.

I assume that your image isn't working for some reason in your logbook - perhaps if you PM Nuke, he can see what is wrong.

Carol


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