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teto69

Hi all, I am new to motorhoming. Started in mid 2007 with a new ci carioca 706g van. We had intended on using the van for dog shows in Ireland and the UK and had converted the vans large garage into 4 kennels for housing our dogs.[rotties] After a number of shows and long weekends away in the van, we decided that we liked the motorhoming thing and started to look at A class motorhomes to give us more dining space and a more user friendly kitchen area (the kitchen area in the carioca van was useful but was very narrow and when someone needed to use the loo or access to back bed the person in the kitchen needed to vacate the area to allow passage).

There were also a small number of quality issues with the Carioca van, most of which was bad quality control at factory. Curtain rails becoming detached from ceiling, all the presses in the van rattled and needed adjusting, and on the move the habitation area sounded like a bag of spanners, rattling down the road, which was a pity because the fiat base

x250 2.3 was a dream to drive if not a little under powered for a van with a large over bed. On the whole the van was a lot of van for the money but lacked luxury and quality.

The hunt for the A class began in earnest and I soon homed in on the Adria Vision 707sg, it had got great reviews by a number of magazines and internet sites and had the layout that checked all the boxes, it also came with the promise of good build quality and luxury fittings.

We went and had a look at the van at the only Adria dealer in the Republic of Ireland (pat horan motors) which is a small family run business in the midlands (County Tipperary). They were very helpful.They have been dealing in Adrias for over 15 years and have built up a great reputation in Ireland for giving outstanding backup and help to all their customers. I had met some customers at the dealership and most seemed to be repeat Adria buyers, very satisfied with their vans and dealer. This inspired confidence in my decision to purchase the Vision. All the extras installed on the van were done in house by a very competent installer who's knowledge was impressive, all in all the experience was good.

The van was ordered in late August and arrived in Ireland the following 14 February. After inspection it was found that the leather seats and cruise control we had ordered at the dealers had not been installed at factory, we went over the official order and found it had been ordered but Adria had not installed them.

It is a pity Adria cant read an order sheet correctly as we now need to install an after market cruise control and see if we can live with the cream upholstery, if not we will get an auto upholsterer to cover seats and benches in the van, time will tell.

The hand over was done and it was time to take her out on the road and off to her new home.

First impressions where that it was a lot wider then our old van and needed somewhat more road, but 20 minutes later I had settled in and felt comfortable driving it on the narrow country roads. The steering felt slow and heavy compared to my fiat and the engine lacked the smoothness at lower rpm but on the move on motorways the chassis seemed to gel together and gave a good ride, power from 2.5 150 BHP engine can haul the van along effortlessly at 70 + but i wondered when fully loaded how spritley it would feel. I will consider an ECU remap if needed to up the power. The breaks felt good and had good stopping power and the chassis had little body roll so all seems good.

The vans interior has not disappointed, it feels spacious and opulent and the build quality looks excellent, little to no rattle on the move and the cabinetry looks and feels like it wouldn't be out of place in a small yacht. The lighting has good functionality and also has some nice mood lighting in back bed and strip lighting on the step into rear area.

The heating is both electric and gas and gets the van up to temp quickly. Adria have added a more user friendly control panel and its a doddle to use, both hi-tech and usable so a good job there.

The look and feel to all the components in the habitation area is impressive, only time will tell if durability is an issue. We have not as yet slept in the van so sleeping comfort has still to be experienced. We will post a update with pix and added extras in the near future. Any other Adria owners, please comment on durability and any experiences, good or bad.

Rapide561

Hi

Is that the model with the remote controlled bed?

Good vans by all accounts.

Russell

teto69

yes, they had electric beds frount and back but this year chose to make frount bed manual pulldown due to slow mechinisim. Surprised

teto69

someone must have adria visions 707 Sad

clubadria

Hi teto69

We have vision owners in the club that are happy with it but there are people with them that have had problems which you may well have read.
One owner had the electric trip for no reason trip switch in wardrobe below shelf another had problem with fridge staying on mains electric reason unknown,handbook not very clear but apart from that only grips with dealers.
Hope you enjoy yours and it stands the test of time.
Did you order blue material with light wood and do the dogs sleep in the garage,we have one member just bought one and his two dogs stay in there its also nice and warm.

Regards
David

teto69

hi david (clubadria) we had ordered the van with cream leather and the walnut wood but it arrived without leather Sad

so i will have to either get seat covers madeup or get a auto leathering company to recover seats, to be honest i don't know which is best. maybe scotchgaurd and seat covers just for show days and remove covers for holidays.
all 4 dogs sleep in garage and cooling would be more a problem hence roof aircon and cab aircon. we divided the garage into 4 pens each with removable panel to make pen bigger if only showing 1 or 2 dogs it works real well.

PLUM99

I note from you post that performance of your Vision is as good as you thought. I bought a new Izola 150 DCi last year and I too was not totally impressed with the performance from new, it seemed reluctant to accelerate in sixth at motorway speed and was slow through he gears. But now after 4/5000 miles the engine has loosened up the performance is very good, easily accelerating in sixth from 50mph, the long hill M5 at Bristol fully load from holiday in sixth at 65mph and accelerating so if your Vision is new maybe you just need some more miles.

Regards
Ian

Waleem

Isn't the Adria Vision the van that only has enough payload to carry a packet of fags ?
Wink

I remember a fair bit of criticism about it.

teto69

hi just finished converting my garage into 4 dog pens here's
some pic's Cool

sorry about big finger in shot Smile

clubadria

Nowbodys going to steal your motorhome with four dogs greeting them.