Coachbuilt or PVC - an old chestnut, I know!

Was browsing the 2015 AS brochure - not something I can recommend unless you already have a new van, or your finance director is distracted.
Anyway, I have always just assumed that the main reason for a PVC is external size making driving/manouvering/parking easier.
But now I see that many of the PVC's are longer than the coachbuilts. Not only that, but the width difference (mirrors folded) is just 2".
It seems to me that if you are driving somewhere and the width tolerance is down to a few inches, you will be driving very slowly, and mostly forwards, so you could have your mirrors folded in. If reversing, you'll probably have the aforementioned finance director, now reclassified as a co-pilot, outside and shouting.
I used to think I'd prefer a PVC for the easier gadding about, but every time I sat in one, I mentally ran out of space when wondering where all our "stuff" would go. So now I'm much happier (apart from the brain worm whispering "go on, get a new one, go on") knowing that the driving difference between a PVC and my Coachbuilt is negligible.
Or am I missing something? No doubt some of you can enlighten me.

Chris

One 'benefit' of a PVC is the supposed greater resistance to leaks and another is the general increase in body rigidity, leading to less rattles when on the move. Apart from that, I tend to agree with you.

We are considering a PVC at some point as I find it more difficult to keep our Broadway clean especially the roof so I thought it would be easier for me, but I agree with all the points you make.
Thinking about where to put stuff could be a problem, we travel fairly light but I can see problems ahead. My wife also likes the space we have so finding the right van and convincing her will be difficult.

I agree with the comments from "Spospe"; coming from a caravanning past it was the avoidance of damp issues that was our main criteria with the added thought that vans were probably more secure. We have moved up to our current Symbol from a rising roof van so we have more storage than ever and can still park on the drive at home. I still devour all the latest brochures and love the differences.

We've had 3 pvc's and 3 coachbuilts since 1988 and our new coachbuilt is in build at present. We're returning to a coachbuilt for the 'idea' of space and a lot more storage, though somewhat less payload. We've also found that when arriving on site in a pvc all the caravanners/tenters grimace as they pray you aren't going to park next to them and disturb them when slamming the sliding door..........that hasn't affected our choice at all as we have a way of closing it with the minimum of noise but if being 'shunned' is your bag go for it.

Its a very difficult choice if you are hovering Chris, particularly when you have one of the most spacious vans AS have built.
We have thought about downsizing to a Warwick or a certain W.Yorks made PVC that has a proper habitation door on the side rather than the big opener but decided to stay with the Windsor (similar sized van to yours) as we dont want a Pugeot and the fairly locally Lunars on a Merc chassis are the very long ones

roli wrote:Its a very difficult choice if you are hovering Chris, particularly when you have one of the most spacious vans AS have built.
We have thought about downsizing to a Warwick or a certain W.Yorks made PVC that has a proper habitation door on the side rather than the big opener but decided to stay with the Windsor (similar sized van to yours) as we dont want a Pugeot and the fairly locally Lunars on a Merc chassis are the very long ones

I'm not really hovering Roger, and I really appreciate the space in our Inca. I'm just easily swayed by bright shiny new things.
Fortunately, OH has a firm grip on the purse strings
However, I expect we will change in the next few years, and at least I (think) I am convinced that what seems to me to be a negligible width difference means that we can stay with a coachbuilt.

Cheers to all for the responses.

Chris

Took me a while to catch onto what a PVC is - Polyvinyl Chloride in my days in the Science lab!

We like the extra couple of inches each side of a coachbuilt, even though it's only 5.5 metres long

Cymro wrote:

dandywarhol wrote:Took me a while to catch onto what a PVC is - Polyvinyl Chloride in my days in the Science lab!

I had to dig out the brochure to find out what it meant: married to a chemistry teacher only permits one definition of PVC around here!

Hi there,

I've skipped over this thread before because I too was thinking "Polyvinyl Chloride?  Nothing to do with me 'cos I have a Duetto!"  

For me, we chose the PVC Duetto because it fitted on our drive, was beautifully laid out, in great condition and the Transit has a driving position that is second to none.

Against the coach built versions was that, apart from being too old to clamber up into an overhead "bunk", SWMBO dislikes the look of all "over-cab" coach built designs. 

Best regards,

Can anyone explain why panel van conversions are so much more expensive than coachbuilts ? I' d have thought it was easier ( and so less costly) to convert the former rather than build the latter ?

I don't speak from experience and I can see many advantages of a panel van but, from observation, I am put off by the heat loss that must occur as soon as you open what is effectively the van side to get out. No problem in summer but no good in winter.

Q

I had a Topaz well built base vehicle VW as well as Auto-sleeper build, for the life of me I cannot see how AS can warrant £57,000,  when a coach built on VW was  £1,000`s  less when new. perhaps it is like the miniature world so much more expensive than full size.  

When I wanted a newer van 2 years ago, I would have bought a secondhand Trooper low-lie, but the dealer price (at Marquis) for a 2 year old one was £10k more than I could buy a brand new full spec 140BHP Celex for, and you could no longer get the unique A-S solid-sided pop-top by then, so I had no choice but to go elsewhere.

BTW, I don't know where this PVC abbreviation has come from, but it's pretty nonsensical. Few of the main converters use panel vans - the Trooper is based on a T5 Kombi window van (which looks a bit like a minibus before they start the conversion), and so is my current van.

By all means call them "van conversions", but to use the term PVC is just factually incorrect.