A'van Aspire Hardtop Series

We purchased our Avan 555 Feb 2018 and it hasn’t missed a beat. The en-suite is spacious, the island bed is fantastic and so much storage room. I particularly love the wardrobes on both sides of the bed. We have completed a red centre trip and now on a six month trip up to top end and eventually across to Perth and down to Adelaide before heading back home to Qld. We do plenty of free camping so the 18o litre water tanks are great. We have solar and a diesel heater and a 180 litre fridge freezer. Good quality throughout this is our third Avan and the quality versus cost is excellent. The dining seats are comfortable and roomy as we have a cafe lounge set up and the table also folds back.

I am know expert in towing a van but find this a good van to tow and set up. I would not hesitate to recommend this van .Buy one now.

Amazing value for money, easy to tow light weight.
It offers so much for the $$
the van looks very nice with large windows, new 2018 decals look nice.
Avan Nowra & Penrith, Anthony a really genuine sales guy.
Mark & Di @ Penrith very helpful.
We love our Avan Aspire 499 bunk.

Haven't been in bad weather. Had an electrical fuse blow, and to replace it was extremely difficult because fuse holder WAS located under the front part of the bed! Have since relocated fuse holder out from under bed to out side face of forward bed frame. Fill tube on Thetford head not friendly to operate. Thetford head water pump 10 amp fuse in cassette compartment hard to get at to replace. Bed difficult to make up, but very comfortable.
Flooring plywood had wood void in traffic area between bed and hand basin causing 12" diameter 1/4" deep "bird bath" in floor surface which flexed when trod on. Fix was to glue patch of yellow tong to under side of floor and add steel bracing attached to framing.
Insulation for weather and sound is excellent as is window covering for light "lock out" for sleeping in.
Towing, breaking, etc., easily managed with 2012 d40 Navara 4x4 king cab

My van has just done almost 10000klm around SA and NT. Back in NSW and cannot fault the van.
Going back to Avan for service and could not wish for better service from the dealer or for a better van ,great to tow and very comfy.

The caravan was purchased after a trip to the Caravan & Camping Sale in July 2017 so we had opportunity to compare a wide range of manufacturers. The delivered product met all our expectations. Small touches like the cut out on the side of each wardrobe to access the extra USB points we asked for were an excellent modification.
Er asked for, and would recommend, a completely removable table for our L-shaped lounge. We love the en-suite.

There is plenty of storage available and the tunnel boot is very accessible.

My wife is the driver, I'm blind, and she has no trouble towing the van.

We had a Purpleline remote mover added after purchase which makes moving the van a breeze.

8 1/2 months later. Warranty is a dirty word . Cheaper to take it to Alko and pay for it yourself. Glad to see end of Avan Bomaderry. Last trip for warranty work on the suspension was 2 1/2 months and when I go to get it back personal items and camping equipment to the value of $450 missing from van. They deny it , even though they had the keys and it was kept in their locked yard. No forced entry, police report filed, but kiss the goods goodbye. They will not even answer emails in regards to missing items.
The long and the short of it is the van has the Alko torsion bar suspension. A good product set up for even weight as bought off the shelf. Trouble is , was put under van of UNEVEN weight distribution. Result is it wears the outside edge of passengers side tyre. Avan deny it.Add up the weights yourself. On the drivers side is , the stove ,rangehood,hot water service, tv, aerial, microwave,fridge and toilet. About 120 kgs. Passengers side, well the diner and the shower. Now when you pack it you would use all the cupboards. Where are they, oh yea , the drivers side. So let’s say we are up to 150 kgs on the drivers side.
The other bit is the dubious tare weight. They say 1540 kgs. I can get close if the jockey wheel is not on the weigh bridge. So somewhere between rego and you taking it away, it gains 100 kgs.

The finish and quality was as good as any others.
The van is reliable and only problem was loose wire on water guage which Avan fixed without any hassles.This van is the most comfortable I have owned and I did own an earlier Avan plus a couple of Jaycos which were good but not as good as this one.
Towing is hassle free and follows me a dream.

Great to tow & so far meets all our expectations.
Poor service from Avan where they did not fit the Thule awning which was a selling point then lied about it.
Make sure you have every minute detail when dealing with the sales people as there were other customers who had similar complaints.
Apart from that very happy with The van.

Nice van, easy to tow. Has rear double bed could do with a little bigger but very comfy if have the inner spring and not the foam. Kitchen consisting of gas cook top, microwave oven, deep bowl sink, 12v range hood with light and 3 way fridge. Rear combination shower/toilet with separate vanity not a problem very compact. It has reverse cycle air-con. Would recommend.

We have only had the van for about 4 weeks, but travelled from Adelaide to Townsville including a fair amount of central QLD. The only problem we have experienced is the water gauge doesn't always want to work. We are only keeping the tanks half full to keep the weight down and we don't need 180 litres as we don't free camp all the time. We are very happy with the quality and appearance of the van. We put a adapter on the table to swing it at different angles to give us more room sitting at it. Tows beautiful.

We have found our van to be great to tow. Only issue we have is the table is hard to get in behind and the seat are very uncomfortable, but hey you are not supposed to be sitting behind them for hours so no big deal. We did find that our dealer supplied us with the grey water hose and didn't mention that we needed a connector. However we were asked to read all the supplied material and it does say to buy a connector of the correct size. We have not had our first month service so I guess we will find out what the service is like then. But so far it has been good.

Recently purchased second hand and full of bulldust but good bones and a good price that allows minor repairs without over capitalising.
Excellent spacious van with low weight, tows well and love the windows that can be secured open unlike many other lightweights that have click clack windows that can readily be opened fom outside that is no good for free camping.
Would like the tunnel boot fully closed off from interior.

Ordered new Aspire 402 in June 2016 delivered LATE November 2016. Full of faults as listed below.
1/ parking brake not adjusted at all
2/ drivers side rear clearance light faulty on pickup, needed replacement
3/ ac remote cable hanging 150 mm below chassis
4/ large drawer under cook top rocks laterally 20-30 mm as it is opened
5/ grooves cut into fascia under said drawer to allow for drawer slides
6/ 30 % of screws used in internal fit out were either loose or had stripped screw holes
7/ bed lifting handle had screws protruding through plywood, risking torn hands
8/ corner cover piece to inside top of door jamb does not fit properly, bar code showing
9/ gaps around window architrave trim, fixing brackets over-tightened crushing wall lining
10/ table is WAY out of level in any position
11/ door striker or locking plate on door jamb had sharp corners and edges
12/ battery supplied was already 6 mths old ,your warranty is only 6 mths from van pick up,
even cheap battery shops give 12 mths
13/ wires to "utilux" terminals on battery, both positive and negative, had loose wires not correctly crimped
14/ cable holes through front boot metal "firewall", to front right and left side clearance lights, does not have
flexible cover insulation to wires, holes have rough edges risking "shorting" of wiring resulting in fire
15/ water supply brass hose fitting loose, not tightened up
16/ sharp screws through metal "firewall" protrude into kitchen under bench storage area

We offer the following suggestions for improvements---

a/ second LPG bottle should also be filled prior to van pick up
b/ install 12 volt cig, socket for TV etc
c/ relocate external light from behind door, many campers cook outside their vans,
d/ relocate coax box to underside of microwave shelf to give clear work space
e/ relocate all floor mounted items, ac duct, water pipes, power points, battery etc
to provide more usable floor storage,
f/ relocate front storage items to higher level , providing better storage of gear
g/ corner shelves to the right of the entry are basically useless, these need a low fixed "gate"
to prevent items from falling out during travel
h/ replace fixed jockey wheel with swing type

June 15th 2017 Update: Follow up to my email to AVAN on April 10 2016

Assuming you have read my Email of the above date regarding workmanship 402 Aspire,
I thought I would inform you fellow van owners of AVANS reply,
WRONG !! NO reply from the dealer NOR from AVAN head office!!
This is of no surprise to me as the dealer basically has an apparent "could not care" attitude.
However, we pursue the issue and who knows maybe the Gods will smile on us ..Ha Ha

Phantom

To find a little van with double bunks a double bed and shower and toilet was a big challenge with out going to a 20 ft or bigger van. This little van has it all, we just love it. Great to tow good clearance every thing we need for our weekends away. Like another person said they are not a $70 k van so don't expect a penthouse on wheels, but we love it and have had no problems.Hard to find a van with all this brand new for under $40 k with a 5 yr front to back warranty.

Brought it second hand from a dealer who said it was fully serviced!!!! Not enough or poor quality wheel bearing grease had to replace all bearing due to overheating, Grey water floods shower recess. Low internal water pressure unless you use the pump as well. water leaking from under sink, clip hadn't been tightened. Support leg on awning won't hold up have to use a wooden dowel. .Flyscreen and shade cords broken on front window. Lucky i'm a retired fitter and have fixed it myself, didn't have much pleasure from the dealers. So just be warned the if you buy one second hand this is what you can expect...

Picked up new Aspire 555 in Aug 2016. 1st night had a bad water leak under sink, next day returned to dealer where leak was fixed but in process of doing repairs to water pump under bed, the bed strut seized and when bed was returned to flat, the fixture anchoring the strut to the bed broke away from timber frame. Water inlet cover on external van wall will not close, table too close to seat - I'm skinny and have to hold my breath to get behind the table, upholstery pattern on seat back not aligned horizontally and door trim is too short leaving a gap.
Have been trying to get the dealer to mail me a new strut but after four weeks of phone calls, no success.
So in summary love the design, the value and the towing ability. Don't like quality control and dealer after sales service.

we picked up our aspire 555 this year and have been travelling for 2 months now. we love our 555 and cant really fault it in any. we purchused the van at the big show in feb and found the team a pleasure to deal with we have had a few minor issues (teathing problems) and avans respose has been great. we could not beleive how much is in the van not only for its size buy its weight as well. if you want a light weight but high quality van you cant go passed the avan range and i would highly recomand the team at avan. dont take my word for it get down to a show or even a dealer and check it out

Bought out 499 in 2013. Not the perfect layout for us but what its got, its weight and especially the price was perfect for us. She tows well and havent had any problems. We love it.

Bought an aspire 499, very happy with it. Nice and light and tows like a dream but most of all it was affordable. We use it to visit family who live in Vic and Wa and just sit it on their front lawn. Also use it for a few weekend trips here and there. We bought it through aw rv world and have nothing but positive things to say about them. We will be looking to getting a new van hopefully soon with an island bed and separate shower toilet, I like the avan frances.