Bilbo's Campervan - long term review and notes of
personal modifications and improvements.
These
pages are Copyright Douglas Hopwood © 2015 All rights reserved.
They
must not be quoted or reproduced in whole or in part in any way without my
permission.
An
exception is posting a link to this page which is allowed.
This review
was compiled in January 2015 is based on the experience of 4 years and over
30,000 miles of ownership of a VW T5 based Bilbo's Nexa
2 berth Campervan purchased new from Bilbo's in September 2010. (See end for
full spec). He has come to be
affectionately known as 'Bertie' the Bilbo's and has taken us on many an
enjoyable holiday in the
If you have mods that you have made to your Bilbo's or comments that
you want to make then please send me an email. My name is
The Vehicle
Engine and Performance
The
Transporter base of our camper has the 140hp engine option with 7 speed DSG
automatic gearbox. I would have preferred the 180hp, not because any more power
is needed but I would expect slightly better real world economy as the twin turbos should match lower and higher engine speeds more
effectively. This combination of engine and gearbox was not available when we
bought Bertie.
Nonetheless,
performance is more than adequate with comfortable autobahn cruising at 85mph
returning more than 30 mpg. The roof stays put at speeds over 100mph if you are
that way inclined but more leisurely touring can return 35mpg or more with
40mpg just out of reach in normal driving. When VW downsized their engines from
2.5 to 2 Litres I cannot deny that I was a little apprehensive that the new
engine might turn out to be a gutless buzz box. I need not have worried. The
torque of the 2 Litre engine is frankly just remarkable with heaps and heaps of 'grunt' smoothly
delivered. In fact care has to be taken when taking off on damp hills to avoid
noisy 'axle tramp' before the traction control and electronic diff lock kick
in. Towing is a breeze. The only mild disappointment is a minimum engine speed
and tickover which to my old fashioned mind are a
slightly high 1,000 rpm.
Cab and comfort
Main road
driving comfort has proved to be excellent even after one long day after
another - on tours as far south as
In order that
my 5ft tall wife's feet can rest on the floor we have raised the floor on the
passenger side with two inches of foam under the mat. This works well - just a
pity about the colour. She also has to reverse the head rest on her seat so
that it doesn't poke her in the back of the head.
For a vehicle
based on a van I am surprised at the limited dedicated storage options around
the dash. With the high seats it is a bit of a stretch to the lower door bins.
We added a centrally placed floor bin with Velcro 'hooks' underneath it to grab
the carpet and prevent it from sliding around. The bin is a large ice cream
container smartened up with black 'sticky back plastic'.
A grave omission
is the lack of map pockets on the back of the front seats. I don't know whether
to blame VW or Bilbo's for this. I have to think back to a Morris mini van in
the 1960's to remember the last vehicle I had which had no map pockets on the
back of the front seats. This omission has been addressed by making up a board
covered in a light grey fabric with a suitable pocket. This is secured to the
back of the driver's seat between the headrest at the top and the seat frame at
the bottom. The seat frame attachment was a tricky task due to the necessity to
avoid its interfering with the seat back tilting mechanism. There is a VW
California option of a multi pocket seat back (VW picture above right) but this
is too thick and would interfere with turning the seats around at bed time.
'Sat Nav's' are a great boon when driving in foreign
cities but until they get 40" screens there is no substitute for a map for
route planning. Which reminds me that the dashboard 12V
socket is accessed by pulling out the ashtray which is not very convenient.
Also there is just the socket in the cab and it is centrally mounted which
means lots of trailing wires for the 'Sat Nav' and
the Dash Cam both of which are best placed at the side of the screen - the
right hand side for right hand drive.
The two rear
seats mean that four up is the legal maximum number of persons for driving.
They each have seat belts and head rests of course although when touring we usually leave the head rests at home.
Remarkably
there is no cabin courtesy light for the rear to see what you are doing when
getting into the back at night when the habitation lighting is not on. There is
only a light on the side step. We overcame this shortcoming by highjacking the supply to the step light to feed instead a
courtesy light fixed to the pillar that is behind the sliding door. For
neatness it was not difficult to lead the wire behind the trim. The light used
was a black Osram Copilot
lamp which matches the two existing reading lamps fitted by Bilbo's. This has proven
to be a very worthwhile mod and does not upset the bulb failure warning system.
Not only does it function exactly like a rear courtesy light when the rear
sliding door is opened but having a flexible stalk it can also be directed 'any
which way' and would be a good mod for Bilbo's to adopt.
Roadholding is excellent and far better than I
expected from a campervan. It would put many 1960's rally cars to shame on
those occasions when you may feel the need to compromise tyre wear by exploring
its limits. Perhaps when the first opportunity to overtake that lorry you've
been stuck behind for miles occurs on a short straight that ends in an open
corner with good visibility. The electronic stability control comes into its
own here too as it does on mountain hairpins. I am sorry, but I don't have
access to a BBC 'Top Gear' film crew so there are no pictures to illustrate the
roadholding.
Noise and vibration have been fine apart from the rattles from
the living accommodation. In fact the noise level at speed is a pleasant
surprise given the commercial vehicle base. It only gets really intrusive at
speeds that are legal nowhere in Europe except
Reliability has been good apart from noisy drive
shafts early on. These were diagnosed as ungreased splines
and were fixed under warranty without quibble by our local VW dealer but: Why,
oh why, are VW still shipping these not properly greased!!! This is an issue
with a history. The only other reliability issue so far has been a reversing
sensor which didn't quite make it to its 4th birthday.
Maintenance costs averaged over the 4 years have so far
been very reasonable. Although the reversing sensor diagnosis and replacement
came to a hefty £172, our low annual mileage of around 8,000 miles means that scheduled
services only come at 2 year intervals (so long as we use the special long life
oil). With little stop start driving, tyre wear has been pretty good as the
original rear tyres still have at least another couple of years in them whilst
(at 34,000 miles) the original fronts will need replacing before the next year
is out. (June 2015 update - the front tyres have now been replaced with ones
matching the original fitment for £96 each BUT the fitters struggled to get the
wheels off. A team of two men had to use a big copper hammer and much violence!
Roadside fitting of the spare wheel in the event of a flat tyre would have been
impossible. This problem is apparently common with most VW/Audi vehicles. A
little copaslip applied when new would eliminate the
issue. Come on VW!)
The DSG gearbox is a curates
egg. It is great on the open road where the changes are very smooth. In a
manual gear box the seven speeds in this box would be a chore given the limited
rev range of the diesel engine - which is presumably why the manual only has
six speeds. However, there is a short but annoying delay when taking off at a
junction. This can be a source of anxiety at busy urban roundabouts.
Unfortunately the manual override to gear selection is hardly of any use at
all. That is because it is nothing like a manual gearbox. You don't have
control - it does! If you expect to be warned of low rpm by
the engine starting to labour - forget it. Before that happens big
brother will have taken command and changed down for you. Similarly at the top
of the rev range "Ve hav
ways of stopping you from revving the engine!" because well before the rev
limiter (if there is one) big brother takes over again and changes up. The
result is that you end up having no idea what gear you are in. You cannot
pre-select the right gear for that sharp corner coming up because if the revs
stray in the slightest from its preferred rev range big brother will step in
and select a different gear instead. Ughhh!
Inevitably, even in the mountains, you give up and re-engage Drive or Sport -
very frustrating.
Another
gearbox issue is the infuriating US style interlocks which exist on modern
vehicles only because they can. It is not normally necessary in a manual car to
press the brake pedal as well as a button on the gear lever in order to engage
a gear. Why is it necessary on an automatic? On our demo drive this nearly
caused an accident when we were stationary in the middle of a junction urgently
needing to go, not realising that in order to go we first had to apply the
brakes! Similarly, if you are coasting in neutral in a dead slow downhill nose
to tail traffic jam why, when the traffic speeds up, do you have to invite the
guy behind to crash into the back of you when you unexpectedly have to stop in
order to engage Drive?
The final
issue that I have with the gearbox is the lack of fine control when parking on
a steep hill. The drive in front of my house is only a foot or so longer than
the vehicle and has a 1 in 6 gradient. Trying to avoid reversing into the house
is a daily nightmare. This may be a 'feature' of the 'Hill start assist' but
either way beware of parking in a small gap on a steep
hill.
Any nice surprises? I love the way I can fold the mirrors
on the fly when passing oncoming traffic in tight country lanes. This is
particularly useful when your vehicle is wider than your average car. It is
great too that if you start folding them when you park, they carry on folding
and complete the process after you have turned off and removed the key. That
applies to the windows as well. They don't stop closing just because you have
turned off the ignition - although they won't open again until the ignition is
on.
Other Niggles list.
The ride on
poor roads is very harsh. I can't believe this is not addressable in this day
and age even on a van.
The gear
selector quadrant is not handed for right hand drive. Only the passenger can
see from the gear quadrant whether forward or reverse is selected. The driver
has to look at the LCD screen instead but that display doesn't start until a
while after he has started off.
The radio
isn't handed either, as the most used knob - the volume/on-off - is the one on
the passenger side. Surprising given the number of these vans that VW sell in
the
The rear
window wiper will only work in intermittent mode. As a result the rear window
stays opaque and useless in heavy rain - and then because it not wiping you forget that it is actually on but in intermittent mode. Why
on earth can't I have the rear wiper just 'on' if I choose?
In the winter
the windscreen on this vehicle steams up readily and comprehensibly. This is
presumably recognised by the makers who have arranged that the Air Conditioning
comes on automatically when you set the heater air flow to 'all to screen'. Effective, but not a popular option on a cold morning and not so
effective when the condensation has frozen. This vehicle cries out for
an electric windscreen as fitted to many Fords.
The box in this
picture contains the dehumidifier which lives between the front seats during
the winter time. It collects lots of moisture but doesn't prevent the screen
from misting up.
The remote for
the central door locking operates only the driver's door if you press it once
in the normal way. That is great for van drivers in the scary part of a big
city but not for an aged couple living in the suburbs. This drives my wife mad
when she can't get in on her side 'cos I didn't
remember to press the remote twice - again!
The
speedometer is crazy. Firstly - who needs a 160mph speedo
on a van! and secondly why do the graduations change
from every 5mph up to 80mph to every 10 mph thereafter? This is very confusing
when you are travelling through a country where the speed limit is 140kph and
you are looking for 85mph and getting 90mph.
The printed
manual is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. It is thick with the usual
pages of backside covering but there is no detail of needful stuff like which
fuses do what. Amazingly the dealer doesn't know either! Nor is there any
information about which light bulbs to carry or where and how to fit them. I
still don't know whether the heater temperature control works a thermostat or a
valve. (climate control is not fitted so what do the
temperature markings on the knob mean?).
There should
be a warning in big letters on the front cover of the manual for DSG equipped
vans which says that even if you have the hand brake on you will not be allowed
to take the key out unless you selected park before you turned off. I haven't
broken the key off but others have.
There should
be another even larger which says if you have DSG you can't select Drive unless
you first brake.
By
the way. Never
leave your keys in the vehicle - because the vehicle can and does lock itself.
This happened to a friend with an identical camper a long way from home and a
window had to be smashed to gain access.
Living accomodation
Lifting roof
The "Low
lie" side opening roof works well. It is easy to raise,
lower and secure, taking care that the fabric folds correctly. We do have
grandchildren but reckon that more than two persons in a space 
as
small as a campervan would be a step too far for us so we don't have the roof
mounted 'kiddie beds'. If they want to
come too then they will have to have a pup tent. When open, the roof gives us full headroom
the full length of the living area. The hole in the transporter's metal roof
does not extend over the cab but the opening roof does. This gives a large
storage area over the cab where our clothes bags are stored at night. The roof
has two large vinyl windows on the kitchen side (these have blinds that can be
closed at night) and it has permanent ventilation along the ridge. In the
heading picture at the top of this page one of these windows has its blind open
and the other is closed. There are mesh ventilators with zip-up covers at each
end of the roof to allow extra through ventilation for warmer climes. The only
downside to the roof is the height. This means that we can't enter 2 metre high
car parks as the overall height of our camper exceeds 2 metres - by just 10
millimetres! (measured). However, we can of course
take it into those multi storey car parks which have 2.1 or more metres of
clearance. This scared a car park security attendant at a new Carrefour
supermarket in Tirana. We were totally unable to converse in his language, but
having seen a 2.1 metre clearance sign, we confidently drove in and left him
jumping up and down making wild gesticulations and obvious decapitation hand
signals. We don't put a top box on top of our roof but, within reason this is
an option. We have friends who do and we did see a guy once who had a canoe on
his Bilbo's roof and he seemed happy raising and lowering it.
Access
The base
vehicle is
This rear
folding step lives on the back of the offside rear joinery. It is complemented by
a fabricated metal step over the remarkably flimsy VW rear bumper. This stout
metal step is mounted on the towing bracket and carefully shaped so as not to
interfere with the reversing sensors. A second folding step lives on the
outside table rail for use either at the side door or the passenger door. The
side step is not visible to following traffic so forgoes the decorative
addition we have made to the
rear one.
Another access
issue is the tailgate. This is a single large lifting door. It is definitely a
better choice than twin side hinged doors as the lifting door makes a great
natural porch when the rain is pouring down. However, the downside of this
choice of door, which is heavy and has powerful supporting gas struts to
overcome, is the difficulty of reaching the strap to close the door from inside
the van. It is no problem when you are stood outside but a real stretch when
you are trying to close it from inside - especially if you are of mature years
and only 5ft tall.
When the beds
are made up the back door is the only way in and out so we have dealt with the
door issue by mounting a rope tackle with a double block on an eye mounted on
the floor behind the kitchen joinery and a single block with becket mounted on the door below the window. A short loop
of bungee prevents the rope from fouling the door when it is slack. In use, the
end of the rope is lifted from its hook under the worktop and pulled to give a
three to one purchase. This is really not an ideal solution. It works but is untidy
and the only neat solution would be an electrically powered closure if such an
(expensive) option exists.
Beds
Now that we
are older we like single beds so that our different night time needs don't
disturb each other's sleep. That is the reason that we chose Bilbo's Nexa and why Volkswagen's own '
With the chair
back thus facing across the van instead of acting as a length limiting
footboard, I can sleep feet forward and dangle my feet over the end as I do
with most standard sized beds. In use I place a small wedge shaped cushion that
I have made onto the squab of the chair to bring it level with the rest of the
bed. The resulting slightly narrower foot space is not a problem.
Note that no
handbrake lowering kit is fitted. (If it was, you probably wouldn't be able to
reach down to the handbrake!) This means that the driver's seat can only be
rotated when the handbrake is off. That is not too much of an issue with an
automatic gearbox which should be in the 'park' (transmission brake) position
when stopped anyway. Those with manual gearbox equipped vans need to remember
to select a forward or reverse gear before the handbrake is released and
reapply the handbrake after the seat has been swivelled around.
The curtains
are well made and substantial with 'blackout' linings and whilst there are
quite a few 'poppers' to fix each night they are very effective at shutting out
the light, don't rattle as some blinds do and require no storage since they all
draw neatly to be secured by matching tie-backs.
Kitchen
The SMEV
combined three burner gas hob and sink with pumped
water work well and there is a small work surface left even when the glass lid
of the hob/sink is open. It seems that all British campers have to have a grill
so that they can have toast for breakfast - apparently. Accordingly, as
standard the Nexa is fitted with a grill in addition
to the hob. It looks like a small oven but isn't. If it was we may have kept
it. Unfortunately the door fell off our fitted SMEV grill even before we had
used it. The same happened to friends of ours so it may be a common problem.
Bilbo's were happy to fix the door but we
asked ourselves why prime kitchen space was dedicated to making toast. We could
make toast with a folding toaster on the hob where we could more easily watch
it. Most other things that we might grill we could just as well fry. So instead
of fixing the grill door we asked Bilbo's to remove the grill altogether and
replace it with a much needed and much more useful extra kitchen drawer which
they did, taking the unused grill in part exchange. The new drawer is well made
and looks as though it has always been there.
The new drawer
is the large rectangular one on the left in the picture. It is above the
shallower cutlery drawer and to the left of the pan and crockery drawer which
has a curved top.
The gas locker
takes one calor or two camping gaz
cylinders. We carry two camping gaz 907 cylinders as
they are easy to find in
There is an
excellent Waeco 43 litre compressor fridge with a
small freezer compartment. The fridge has served us well except for a small
bizarre problem. When the fridge is not in use and the door catches are on the
ajar 'ventilate' setting, the door will occasionally crash open. Experience
proves that this occurs at the first right turn after a road hump. Bilbo's have
tried and failed to fix this issue which seems to be a 'feature' of this Waeco model.
We live near a
lot of road humps so a solution was needed. We found the answer with a safety
catch made from an adapted clothes peg. This secures the door catch when we are
not on a trip. The door catches seem to be reliable on a trip when the fridge
is in use with the fridge door loaded and fully shut.
Kitchen
storage comprises a cutlery drawer, a pan and crockery drawer, our added dry
goods drawer and a cupboard that will take two stacked 9 litre 'Really Useful
Boxes' with a box of cereal on top and a bottle of wine or two behind.
We have added
two small containers which are secured to the top of the fridge joinery with
Velcro. One serves as a bread bin and the other as a waste bin. A fire blanket
is similarly secured next to them. Like the cab bin these are ice cream tubs
smartened up with carefully applied sticky back plastic but silver in this
case.
We have put
loops on our tea towels and added hooks for them under the top of the
wardrobe/fridge joinery opposite the kitchen. A towel rail has also been added
under the worktop behind the kitchen.
The 36 litre
water and 35 litre waste water tanks have proved more than adequate for our
requirements. It is just a pity that the gauge only reports 25%, 50%, 75% and
100% levels. For drinking water we prefer to use small 2 litre disposable
bottles.
Table
The standard table
is fine for two campers. It clips on a rail below the rear side window on the
driver's side with a single fold down leg which always gets in the way when
getting up from the table. The driver's seat is rotated around (where it stays
for bed time) for one person to sit at table and the other person sits on the
offside rear passenger seat. If you don't have the optional infill panel to
convert the beds to a kind of double then, when travelling, the table could
live beside the offside rear passenger seat. There is an optional swivelling
pillar table for the nearside of the van which would be necessary if you needed
to seat four at table inside the van.
In our van
however, when not in use the table travels in the default position strapped
behind the offside rear joinery. This is because the space beside the rear
passenger seat is used to store a pair of home made fly screens that enable us
to leave the rear side windows open at night in warmer climes.
A rail is also
provided on the outside of the nearside rear seat so that when the side door is
open the table can be mounted with its leg on the ground. The table can then be
used for al fresco meals although we prefer to erect a small collapsible table
for such occasions. As you see we also use this rail for a clip on mounting for
a folding step. The only feature of VW's
Habitation Electrics
A
sophisticated charger and control panel are fitted to deal with charging the
120Ah leisure battery on the road or from a mains supply, fusing the mains
connection and powering the refrigerator, twin fluorescent lights, twin reading
lights and the water pump etc. The system also indicates if a mains hook up has
reverse polarity. The control panel displays temperature, vehicle battery
voltage, leisure battery voltage, fresh water tank level and waste water tank
level. Unfortunately we had three years of pain with unreliable electrics and
weird symptoms. Bilbo's were very good and patient with this. In year one they replaced the charger/fuse box but the problems
later returned. In year two they replaced the control panel but the problems
later returned. Finally, in year three the problem was traced to a leisure
battery with a very slightly undersized connector post! This, combined with
clip on rather than clamp type battery connectors, had caused intermittent poor
contact/low voltage. Of course when the battery was disturbed to diagnose the
problems, good contact would be temporarily restored and the problem masked.
After replacing the offending battery the electrics have been reliable.
The leisure
battery lives under the wardrobe with access from inside the toilet cupboard.
It would be better if there were a door on the front of the battery
compartment. This would require a little more work but would be a major
improvement to the access to the battery and its wiring and would allow the
battery to be secured at both ends. As supplied our battery tray was inadequately
secured but when reported, Bilbo's promptly changed the screws to make a much
more secure fitting.
A twin 13 amp
mains socket is provided on the front of the kitchen joinery and a 'cigar
lighter type' 12v socket is provided next to the control panel.
The Camper
benefits from the fact that, unlike all the cars I have owned,
both the radio and the cigar lighter socket in the cab will function even if
the ignition is off. I don't know if this is a standard feature of the
Transporter van but in a camper it is very much appreciated.
Heater
Our van came
with an optional Webasto 2Kw hot air heater. It burns
diesel from the main fuel tank but will stop when fuel is low. It is mounted
below the drivers seat and blows rearwards through a
nozzle that can be rotated to give a choice of air direction. There is a single
rotary on/off/thermostat setting control above the rear offside seat on the
front of the wardrobe. This heater has proven a great aid to comfort on chilly
nights in late season, higher altitudes or both.
In common with
all diesel vehicles, the standard vehicle heater is very slow to warm up. It
would therefore be very useful on icy days in the winter a) to be able to turn
the hot air heater on remotely from the house 15 minutes before getting into the
van b) when driving, to be able to turn it on and off from the driver's seat
without having to climb into the back.
There is a
solution. Some Webasto dealers can fit a proper
remote control with feedback (so when you are not in the van you know whether
you have succeeded in turning it on or off). Unfortunately this was designed
for the more expensive heaters and is priced at more than the cost of the
entire basic heater installation as fitted to our Bilbo's campervan.
There is
however, a cheap solution. If you understand basic electrics and can read a
wiring diagram you can fit a generic two button remote. This is a 'hack' as it
is not manufacturer approved and the only feedback is the indicator light on
the main control which, when you operate it from the drivers seat you can see
in your rear view mirror. I keep my remote in a small tin so that it cannot be
operated accidentally whilst in my pocket and not in the van. You may wish to
delay installing this hack until after the Bilbo's warranty has run out. If you
find an alternative cheap remote that will give feedback of the heater's status
please let me know.
Toilet
The camper
came with a Thetford 465 chemical toilet with battery operated flush. This
lives in a cupboard at the rear. In use it is pulled out and a modesty curtain
can be clipped on.
We generally
use camp sites with toilet and shower facilities so we replaced the toilet with
a Portapotti 335 - the smallest that Thetford make.
This keeps us independent if we cannot not find a suitable
site but allows room for a slim shelf above the toilet which we use to
store shoes and a little space at the side for slippers or 'flip flops'.
Storage
Storage is a
critical issue in a campervan. In addition to the under seat storage, kitchen
storage and shoe storage already mentioned there is a wardrobe.
We call it
this because it is tallish, not because you could hang up anything longer than
a small jacket. There are several useful small shelves with raised fronts to
stop stuff falling out and a narrow hanging space which we use to store the
outside table, chairs, folding barbecue, place marker, kites and anything else
that is long. Our outside table and two chairs each roll into compact
cylindrical bags and the homemade barbecue folds completely flat.
One of our
chairs is the modern lightweight variety, the other is a very old but sturdy directors chair design that takes up no more space but
doesn't collapse when a heavy person (me) tries to get out of it - as the white
framed chair did which appears in the awning pictures below. The table is the
roll up aluminium slat variety. When we are on the road our coats live on the
back seats and our clothes live in soft bags on the floor or on the back seats.
When the roof is up the bags and the coats go over the cab.
Awning
The van came
with an awning rail so I made up a simple sun shade type flat awning from
lightweight Odyssey waterproof fabric with a rope sewn in along one edge to
engage in the rail. Two poles adapted from B & Q telescopic clothes props,
with 5mm pins inserted into the ends to replace the hooks, engage in brass eyes
in the corners of the awning and a third optionally goes in the middle or in
the centre to prevent pooling if rain is expected. The two corner poles are
supported by guy lines.
Sun shade mode
Rain likely
mode - note the position of the third pole.
The second
awning picture above was taken near
Apart from the
need to peg the guys this sun shade is quick and easy to erect but we don't
often stay in one place long enough to use it. Its main features are that it is
light and compact.
When not in
use the fabric folds up very small. The poles live in a bag attached by Velcro
to the roof level ledge inside the van on the drivers
side. This is more secure than it looks as the Velcro is heavy duty and the
pole bag overlaps the cab top at the front where it is trapped by the closed
roof.
Bilbo's
We have been
very pleased with the layout of our campervan. The construction has been well
thought out with the right facilities and the joinery is well made even if some
of the securing brackets are a little on the lightweight side. We have also
been generally pleased with the friendly after sales service provided by
Bilbo's. Although we have usually had to wait around three weeks to book the
van in for attention, when it was in they were helpful, and attentive and, when
appropriate, accepted responsibility without argument.
Towing
Our van
sometimes tows a cabin sailboat, often long distances. This it does very
comfortably with confident braking and no stability issues.
However if you
are planning to have a tow bar fitted to any modern vehicle there is a
cautionary tale to be told.
When we bought
"Bertie" our Bilbo's campervan, we specified the fitting of 'Standard
electrics' but a 'two bolt' tow bar. Essentially the idea was to get the
manufacturers 13 pin electrics but an old style tow bar rather than the new
'Swan neck' style.
This was so
that a bumper protection plate could be fitted behind the towball
along with a heavy drop plate mounted upside down to back it up. This
facilitates hooking up the trailer when single handed without damaging the
bumper. It would also enable a custom step to be mounted on the tow bar that to
fit over the flimsy bumper. Accordingly Bilbo's had a Witter 2 bolt tow bar
fitted which fitted the bill perfectly and enabled the extra goodies to be
bolted on as intended. However, the Witter supplier who fitted it, instead of
fitting VW electrics, simply wired the 13 pin socket into the lights without
making the proper connections to the vehicle's computer 'CAN bus'. As a result
the vehicle had no way of knowing when a trailer was connected so that the
stability control program would be disabled and thus wouldn't 'fight' the
trailer. We might never have become aware of this problem had we not been
advised by Bilbo's to ask our local VW dealer for a software update so that the
reversing sensors would be disabled when a trailer was connected. Our dealer
applied the update but it had no effect which revealed the shortcomings of the
wiring. This was later corrected by Bilbo's VW dealer who installed the
intended VW standard wiring to the 13 pin socket.
So, if you
have a 'non manufacturer' tow bar fitted to any modern vehicle, make sure that
no short cuts have been made with the electrics as it could render your outfit
unstable and thus unsafe. On the other hand, if you have manufacturer's
electrics fitted, make sure that whoever fits them tells you the location of
any fuses that protect them.
Specification of this campervan as
supplied
Motorhome
base vehicle
Single upward
opening rear door
2.0 TDI 140PS
engine
7 speed DSG
Automatic gearbox
Metallic paint
with colour coded bumpers and mirrors
Power steering
ABS on 4 wheel
disk brakes
Traction
control and Electronic diff lock
Electronic
Stability Control
Hill hold
assist
Immobilizer
Lowered
suspension
16" Miyato Alloy wheels (Steel spare)
Cruise control
Rear parking
sensors
Mud flaps
front and rear
Electric adjustable,
folding and heated mirrors
Electric front
windows
Two swivelling
cab seats with rake, reach and lumbar control with arm rests
Trip computer
Air
conditioning with front and B pillar vents
RDS Radio/CD
player with Aux-in
Rear sliding
windows
Tinted glass
in rear side and tailgate windows
Heated rear
window
Two rear seats
with seat belts
Additional
noise supression
Blown Air
diesel heater
Fire extingusher
Bilbo's Nexa
Habitation
'Low Lie' side
opening elevating roof
Awning rail
(option)
Twin bed
layout
Kitchen
joinery on the nearside with worktop, drawers and cupboard
3 burner
hob/sink unit with electric sensor pumped water and glass lid
Grill
(removed)
Steel lined
gas locker
36 Litre Fresh
water tank and 35 Litre waste tank
Wardrobe/Fridge/toilet/battery
joinery on the offside
43 Litre
Compressor fridge with small freezer compartment
Porta Potti 465
Chemical toilet (replaced with 335)
Power
management system and charger with electronic control panel
120 Amp hour
leisure battery
240v External Socket
for Mains hook up
Double
internal 240v mains socket for appliances
Rear 12v
socket
12v
Fluorescent light over the kitchen and another over the table area
Two 12v
reading lights on flexible stalks
Thermal
blackout lined curtains all around