New Age Road Owl ordered.

JT76

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Jan 24, 2016
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A few weeks back we made an impulsive decision to sell our little expanda. No plans of a trip for a while so we were happy to wait 6 plus months before we started to look for a new van. Within a week it got the better of me and the search was on. Still wanted two bunks but this time a shower and toilet was on the cards.

I always liked the look of the 17.58-3 and with the 2018 Jayco changing them to Journeys they came with a few added goodies like roof air and fibreglass walls as standard. Wasn't a fan of the new colours but the price was good and they were still smallish which I liked too. But we thought if we are going to change we want to keep this one for longer and there was a ? Over if a combo toilet was what we wanted. That quickly brought our research to two vans , another Jayco 19.61-3 again double bunks with ensuite. There was a lot to like about this van, again 2018 had a few changes and we were able to see one with the new cabinets with a dark and light two tone thing going on. It looked pretty good to us but the first dealer we went to offered a pretty poor discount. We then headed over to New Age and loved the look of the Road Owl its 19ft (internal so really just over 20ft external) and it really caught our eye. They were a little dearer but we were hooked. Unfortunately a pretty low discount was offered and we left not knowing what to do.

The next day we headed down to Sydney Jayco to see what they would do on a 19.61-3 outback and while we had our hearts set on the New Age for the right price we still loved the Jayco. We told them what we were thinking and they came up with a better offer then I was expecting but we had to buy there and then. No thanks to the pressure we said we would have lunch and make a decision so the offer got extended u til the end of the day. We knew the offer would be there when ever we wanted as it was on a new van to order but thought we may as well do something today as it's just as good a time as ever. Plus we wanted to get a van before our next planned big trip in the middle of the year. At lunch we called New Age, told them the offer and let them know we are buying it today unless they could come up with something we couldn't refuse. We gave them a price and they couldn't do it. 20 mins later they called back with a counter which was still too high. The New Age guy was a nice guy and at the time it looked like it wasn't going to happen. He spent a couple of hours with us the day before and there was no pressure etc so we liked the guy. We jumped in the car and started heading back to Jayco Sydney to do the deal. Even though we wanted the New Age the Sydney offer was really great. About 5 mins down the road one more call from New Age and we struck a deal. It was very close to what we originally wanted and it good enough to do the deal for us.

It was nice not have a trade or anything and being ready to go with two options both of which would have been great for us. Putting the dealer under pressure to give us the best price as we were buying that day so don't call tomorrow as the deal will be done.

Here is a link to our van

https://newagecaravans.com.au/caravan/19ft-road-owl-bunk-ensuite/

We added the adventure pack which has its of goodies too so not to much to upgrade but I'm sure I'll find a few things to do. We have chosen colours and while we had the option to change to a double bunk we actually kept it as a triple bunk. Now I have to buy another D2 eberspacher to fit, hopefully I'll be quicker second time around. And to top it off the fear of hail has made me put plans into council to get a shed built. So new van plus 9m x 7m shed on its way hopefully all done with a few weeks to spare before we head off in the middle of the year.
 
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Drover

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Nov 7, 2013
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Sounds and looks great my mate is on his second New Age, first was a lemon but second he's happy with the thing and since he's on road for this year has found the new Age agents good for some minor jobs that needed doing, no come back in a month like some places...
If you are having a 12v fridge load up on the solar and go for 300ah of storage and the best power system they have the basic is just basic.
Nice gear.
 
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JT76

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Fridge is a 3 way (184lt two door) so will just run it off gas when no power is available. They set up the van fridge to run through the 12 pin and the van battery to run through the Anderson. I have asked them to swap this so the Anderson will run the fridge and battery will be mostly topped up (weather permitting) through solar.

Need to add extra Anderson to car to run esc and also put a switch in so reverse camera can be switched from car to van. These fancy vans with the extra goodies just make more work for me to set the car up.

I will stick with the standard 150w solar and single battery as this was good enough for us in our expanda. It comes with a external solar plug too so I may look into getting an extra portable panel to plug in if needed. I guess if this doesn't work I'll add more down the track but still waiting for my money tree to start growing then I'll be set

Good to hear your mate went back a second time even after a lemon first time around, he must off liked it enough to try again. My concern is having to go through the new van teething issues as our old van had everything working perfectly after a couple of initial warranty repairs that took longer then they should of for small things. But a 4 week trip of close to 8000km will give it a good test! Within the first month of picking it up that is. Hopefully we get it early enough to find any issues and sort them before we leave.
 

Smergen

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Jun 8, 2014
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Congrats JT76... You won't be disappointed with your shift across to the New Age family. We love our Big Green Lizard and was a pleasure to live in all of last year. Sure there was some teething issues, but all were well supported and backed up no fuss by New Age either here in Melbourne or at different dealers around the country.

You'll love it I reckon.
 

Drover

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Nov 7, 2013
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Easy enough to run your own cable to the fridge with an Anderson and keep the one to the battery be handy to plug a solar direct to battery....On my mates I fitted a direct run to battery so he could run a portable panel and by pass the on board charging/control system BM Pro or something its called, he went again with a New Age as while the first van gave him curry he couldn't fault the service so he took it back after 12 mths and upgraded only problem now is the stupid BM Pro, works okay but the monitor shows false readings and no one can get it to work properly, says battery will die in 10 mins but has full charge, annoys the crap out of him, I put some masking tape over it for him, lol,lol.......don't leave roof vents open he reckons when not at home, things crawl in.
 
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JT76

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Jan 24, 2016
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Thanks guys, yes looking forward to it. First time around we picked up a floor stock model so there was no wait, now we have to wait months, not fun!

@Drover Things not working bug me too, I would rather not have something then have it and then it not work properly. Hopefully everything just works. Im only guessing but I think the external solar outlet would run through the BM Pro which ill leave as is for now at least.

@Smergen Followed your gecko build and its great to see you have been happy too!
 
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greynt

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Dec 15, 2012
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Have ordered the same van, due for July pick up.
Got a few extras, external shower, 3 x sirocco fans, light on the external front wall of the van, extra awning light, blind on the door and went with the 2 bunk option, as well as the usual show specials. They are fairly strict on what you can and can't do. Was looking at the Jayco 19 but not sold on the colours.
Was a bit hesitant going from Jayco, as our last 3 vans have been Jayco, and have had good service from them, and no hassles in respect to warranty issues. Hopefully all will be good. Haven't heard to many complaints, apart from the usual keyboard warriors...
 

JT76

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Nice one @greynt we actually didn't add anything as it had just about everything I thought we needed but I'm sure there will be plenty of mods down the track. Just ordered a diesel heater for ours so as soon as it arrives (early June) I'll have it ready to fit as we will then leave on a 4 week trip just after we get it.

I'm sure when we return I'll have a list of mods needed.
 
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greynt

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Dec 15, 2012
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G'day @JT76 what heater did you end up getting, I know you were talking of the D2 heater? I had a 2kw Planner brand in our old van and was really happy with that as heated the van and kept the boss happy when we travelled a few years ago. Thinking I may go the same again.
 

JT76

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Jan 24, 2016
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Yes just ordered another eberspacher d2. Fitted one to our first van and it was faultless, even after 6 months of non use as soon as we hit the button it fired up again just like every other time. I searched and found the best deal was on eBay, paid $1150 delivered but didn't come with the mounting plate which was around $55 delivered. Hasn't arrived yet so won't recommend the eBay seller just yet but it was posted same day and tracking shows it's in the country so should be good. First time (around two years back) we paid around $990 delivered from heatso.com but it was going to be around $1500 from them this time so looked elsewhere.

I have no experience good or bad from any other brand but I was happy with the d2, so much so that I wanted to get the same again. At the price I ended up paying there's not much in it anyway. Also being familiar with it will make the install pretty easy.
 

Kenshi123

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Jun 24, 2012
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Me too! Was looking at the pinnacle ones but the price difference isn’t that much. Look forward to hearing how it all goes.
 

Smergen

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Jun 8, 2014
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Have ordered the same van, due for July pick up.
Got a few extras, external shower, 3 x sirocco fans, light on the external front wall of the van, extra awning light, blind on the door and went with the 2 bunk option, as well as the usual show specials. They are fairly strict on what you can and can't do. Was looking at the Jayco 19 but not sold on the colours.
Was a bit hesitant going from Jayco, as our last 3 vans have been Jayco, and have had good service from them, and no hassles in respect to warranty issues. Hopefully all will be good. Haven't heard to many complaints, apart from the usual keyboard warriors...

Don't worry about leaving Jayco mate, trust me.
 

JT76

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Jan 24, 2016
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@Kenshi123 and @17triton our Eberspacher d2 arrived at the door today and all looks good. Seems to be the same kit as I received from heatso 2 years ago. The listing I found on eBay had the easystart controller (digital one again same as I used before and was happy) but others have different controllers. ddtechnik was the seller, at the time eBay had a 5% off offer so the total price was around $1140 delivered. I did have to pay tax on the way in but it was only $50 ish so not 10% like I thought?

Anyway happy with the seller. The mounting plate was ordered from another seller and it has not arrived yet but we also still don't have a caravan to put it in yet either so no rush for that!