18' Series Just about to purchase 2011 18-57.6, need some advice

[Wandering Willies]

Hello everyone

As posted in Introductions we are about to purchase a new 2011 18-57.6.
Couple of dealers have stock in Victoria with different spec's and was hoping for a couple of comments regarding which is better.

First one comes with:
Awning, walls, draft skirt and anti flap kit
wind up antenna
IBIS low profile air con (I believe these are a great unit)
privacy screen
innerspring mattress
Alko drop down jacks (quicker setup?)
Fiamma bike rack

Second one comes with:
Awning, walls, draft skirt and anti flap kit
wind up antenna
Standard air con (roof)
CD/Radio
External Speakers
Coast to Coast bike rack
Innerspring mattress
Privacy screen and Storm cover

So the main diffence is the air cons, drop down jacks and the bike rack (CD & speakers also)
Wife prefers the second option colours (I know happy wife happy life)
Just wanted to know if the air con is that much better that I should go for the Ibis, keeping in mind we are heading of on a 6-12 month trip.
Thanks in advance for your comments, I have spent many nights reading through this web site which really helped narrow down the choice of van down to the expandsa

 

[10petenat]

Hi Wandering Willies. Great choice of van. We are also off around Australian come Jan. Might see you in our travels as we are heading south from Queensland. We have the Dometic Roof air con and love it. We have just put a bike rack on our 17.56-2 and it cost around $400 by the time we bought the rack and the things to mount it. I believe it is easier to put them on your van though. Not sure if that helps much..Enjoy

 

[Wandering Willies]

Well we paid our deposit yesterday on option 2 above (it has the Coleman air con) happy with the deal at Bayswater Jayco in Victoria
Come December we are on our way!!

This is the van


See you out there very soon

 

[cruza driver]

Looks good mate I bet you cant wait!

Are you coming over to get it or getting it freighted over the west?

 

[Wandering Willies]

Definatley cant wait, decided to go new as it was only about $5000 more than a 2 year old second hand van, managed to get a heap more extra's on the new one. Second hand ones I looked at where basic.

Flying over on the 18th December to pick it up, then going straight to Sale to stay with the parents in law for 3 weeks.
We are sending all our camping gear etc over on a pallet so the 3 weeks were in Sale we can load the expanda up.
After that we start our 6 odd month trip around oz heading up the east coast first.

Need to buy a Prado in Victoria also so if anyone knows of a good one let me know! Prefer 2008/09 D4D around $40000-$50000
Cheers

 

[Are We There Yet?]

We went with the Ibis because we wanted a unit that had a thermostat control and switched on/off as needed. The Ibis does do this but the fan keeps running the whole time, so we feel that we were mislead and didn't actually get what we wanted. Overnight we still run a small plug-in fan heater instead which is quieter and does switch itself on and off.
The Ibis air seems to be very good though. We haven't stayed away in any hot weather yet but I have switched it on when it's been warm at home and the air is very cold. I can't compare it to the coleman rooftop though as we haven't had any real experience with one. The salesman demonstrated both models when we were purchasing the van and at the time the Ibis seemed like a much better unit and quieter, hence why we upgraded. If we were buying again, we would spend a lot more time looking at the options of both units and also comparing how well they heat or cool. We were just saying this weekend that if we had known it wouldn't switch off, we might not have upgraded it.