Saturday 20 October 2012

Thoughts From The NEC

We visited the Caravan & Motorhome Show at the NEC last Thursday and had a really good day ( despite losing my digital camera so if anyone found one................... ).

On the surface ( i.e. without counting them all ) there appeared to be many more motorhomes than caravans this year and with new prices starting at round about £40K there must be some money around somewhere.

It never ceases to amaze me at such shows when there are lots of vans together how much variation can be created in the interiors of a big white box on wheels.

On the Bailey stand the Orion made a very lacklustre appearance with one 400-2 and one 430-4.The main emphasis was of course on the new Unicorn 2 ( there were three Cadiz's ) supported by the Pegasus and Olympus.

The new Unicorn wasn't presented in the best light with excess mastic around the windows,a poorly attached front panel which moved up and down and poor seals generally.

Of course speaking to a rep.these are models that were "rushed" out for the show but one would have thought that you put your best models in the shop window ( not that there should be such a thing as a "best" model ),and how long would it have taken to remove a bit of excess mastic from around a window.

I think as far as QC goes then Bailey have definitely taken their eye off the ball.

The presentation of the Orion was so poor it made me wonder if there wasn't an update in the pipeline or even discontinuing it altogether.

The time from the Unicorn 1 to the Unicorn 2 was about two years and the Orion is approaching two years old.

If they do discontinue it I think it would be a shame for such a smashing little van.

I must admit though that when on our travels we see plenty of Unicorns,Pegasus and Olympus but very few Orions ( single figures I would think ).

I hasten to add that this is just my musings and I have no "insider knowledge" at all.

Away from Bailey we were impressed by the offerings from Eterniti,albeit at a price of about £25K.

Now with one of those and a VW Toureg to pull it,it would have to be a lottery win.

I liked the fact that any mobile technician who is MCEA registered can service it and keep the warranty up instead of hauling it to a dealers.

So with a few bargains from Isabella it was a good day all round

Ian




5 comments:

  1. I would agree with your 'survey' results, on our travels the order of popularity certainly appears to be Pegasus, Olympus, Unicorn then Orion which I find strange (but I am a biased 450/5 owner!). However we did come back to our van once this summer at Chatsworth to find it surrounded by 3 other Orions!

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  2. Yes one of the Orions we saw was at Chatsworth where there were numerous Unicorns.

    Have only ever seen two "on the road" and another shares our storage but yes they appear to be a rare breed indeed.

    They seem to attract attention though,we have had requests to look round the van more than once and when it is parked at home prior to going away all the neighbours want a look.

    Ian

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  3. I agree with these observations as well, we have the 440-4 and have only seen two other Orions, one parked up at a property and one on site at Broadway. I also agree it was a poor showing at the NEC for the Orion as well. We love our van, although we are new to caravanning and were initially considering a much older van we bought the Orion new as it met all of our requirements so well. It would be a shame if they discontinued such a good little van. We have been asked several times for a tour inside and one lady even likened it to the Tardis as so much fits inside the seemingly small outer shell.

    I treated us to some red stripe Corelle from the NEC and an Alko handle for the jockey wheel to pull the van around easier but that was all we bought. People did not seem to be buying much, saw loads leave with just one or two bags, sign of the times perhaps.

    Teddy.

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  4. Teddy,

    Just had to look up "Red Stripe Corelle" on Google,I thought it was some fancy exterior decal,wrong again.

    I didn't think that the accessory shop at the show was particularly cheap so didn't buy anything there,what I did buy though was one of these :-

    http://www.showerfriend.com/

    Saw them at the Manchester show last January and wished I had got one then,bit of a gimmick but useful when you want one.

    Ian



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  5. We have an Orion 460-5 have travelled up and down, left and right in the uk and not seen one other. Have a family competition on the go with the kids...who ever sees one gets a pound. Money is safe I rekon. Love our baby Orion.

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