Adria Twin

After 3 good years in our old Bessacarr E705 we decided to change to a smaller van to explore the wilderness that we could not get to in "bessy" . As we were going down rough tracks and unmade roads more often to get to those truly out of the way places we loved to find, so while we were in Slovenia we came across the perfect van for us at a show being held in Ljubljana and as soon as we returned to the uk decided to track down a used version. But with none available we were forced to buy new with the all new fiat cab-X250 and what a difference it is compared to the old model we had become used to, for a start it had more air vents and a 6 speed gearbox more suited to motor homes having better spaced ratios. Then there is that quiet 2.3 multijet engine 16v of coarse much better than the old agricultural 2.8idtd we had before, we get 30-32 mpg from a engine with only a few hundred miles on it so better things shall come once the van has covered 20,000mls and is starting to loosen up ,these new engines have a designed life of 200,000mls so should go the distance

As can be seen from the photos above the van has a spacious layout with rear bed across the rear which lifts up to form a garage a very good idea as you can even get a small  scooter inside. The kitchen has  a twin burner hob and small grill from Smev which will be replaced at some time with a oven/grill from Dometic as these are far better than the Smev appliances-we have kept the smev as it warms pasties and bake off bread a treat and use a small Cadac to bake pizza and small roasts. The bathroom is opposite and is spacious and usable for a small van with plenty of storage, the heating is run by  a 4002 combi boiler from Truma powered by gas so at present we have a 13 +6kg bottles installed but shall be replacing these with a "gas low refillable" system as we had in our old van and would not be without it on he continent, all we had to do was fix the dump valve so if the electric supply is cut we don not loose all the water. This is okay as long as the van is not left with the water system charged and no heat in cold weather to protect the heater etc, we use the infamous clothes peg.

We shall be adding a "silver screen" external cover ASAP as the front sliding Remus blinds are okay for summer but not suited to sub zero trips. Along with this we are having a modified PWS bar and tow bar fitted to protect the van rear from bumps and also to accommodate our cycle rack from Germany which just drops on the tow hitch, better than having a rear door mounted system as these tend to let in water because the rear doors have not been closed properly.

This van is a pleasure to drive both on the motorway and twisting roads being car like to drive thanks to the X250 van chassis, we look forward to testing it extensively in Europe soon and hope one day to venture to Australia and the USA in it but that is in the future.

So if you see us on the road say hello and lookout for the web site on the van rear were always glade to meet people from all countries and exchange tails of the open road.

After done nearly 5000miles in the van we still think the new fiat X250 is a big improvement over the old model even with all the recalls mainly to do with bad design of the windscreen scuttle , and we are waiting for the engine cover and something to be done about the horrible judder in reverse up slopes. Still these faults cover all Fiat/Citroen and Peugeot vehicles be they camper vans or standard commercial vehicles.

Update as of 25/05/2008- We have removed the status ariel we used for Freeview as this is proving very unreliable and changed to a Kathrein satellite dish to use on the continent, also we have added a small folding leaf table by the door and [2] 12v switched lights under the bed to enable us to see in the dark when finding those hidden items. The 250amp agm battery we added in March is proving to be the best thing aded as we can camp for 2-3 weeks without a recharge and even the blown air heating dose not dent its charge, We are adding the gaslow bottle next month as the 13kg gas is used in 2 weeks of cold weather and is costly to refill at calor £25 compared too £12 at the petrol station so over a year we repay the initial cost of the refillable bottles.

This van is know for sale at a asking price of .....

£27000..ono.

The std battery  has been replaced [80amp] and does not have refillable gas .

1 owner ,fsh, Awning, towbar ,sat dish 6000mls huge saving from  new price of £32k - £35k

contact us by email  for details