New Age Manta Ray 16ft Ensuite

Excellent van, even more excellent service – Although I can’t speak highly enough of our 16ft Manta Ray, it’s the after sales service that blows me away. We are currently camped in Manjimup at the first of our New Age Tribe gatherings. We’re not usually ones to join clubs but after a friend told us how good these ones were, we joined. AsI’m writing this, the staff from New Age, Perth are… Read more

wandering around showing people how things work on their vans, doing minor repairs,and fitting new spare wheel covers if wanted,and all for free. After they’ve finished doing their friendly assistance round they’re going to cook us a sausage sizzle lunch, and tomorrow a bacon and egg breakfast. Last night they arrived with free wine from one of the owners vineyard. I’m constantly hearing about how the sales service is non-existent after a van purchase, and our last van (not a New Age) lived up to that usual expectation. We’re astounded at the way the staff from New Age Perth are supporting their customers. And now to get back to the van. I’m not surprised the distributership isn’t frightened to be in close proximity for a whole week end with their customers. Our van,now six months old, has weathered storms, and a trip to the Kimberley’s red dust. It shows no signs of shonky work man ship. No leaks, and no internal red dust. We’re happy little campers!

Not happy with Warranty issues – Purchased from Newcastle started with only minor problems easy fix inside van fitted out great outside looks good underneath the pipe work and electrical lines poor everything siliconed together solar panels on roof siliconed straight to the roof and rubbing tow hitch welded on crooked draw bar has rust at some of the welds left hand brake not… Read more

working properly over heating even after adjustment Melbourne have done nothing gave us an upgrade on the air conditioner I’ve checked the models and in fact it’s a down grade by about $400 Snakey Salesmen looks like solicitors will have to deal with them all we wanted was a no stress retirement

Living the dream – Just picked up our new MR16ES2 from Cannington Perth. Excellent customer service and after service. Hand over was a little bit over whelming but came with a dvd to watch again later. Van was perfect, no issues. Quality build with quality equipment and finish .Built in Australia for Australian conditions. Perfect size for 2 people with plenty of room. Now living the dream.  Show details

MR16E - Deluxe, but not truly offroad for any great distance – Took possession of our 16' Manta ray Delux (single axle) in March. Since then have done two trips: a 2000 km trip to Central NSW (entirely on paved roads) and a 9000km trip to far North Qld, including about 300km of dirt roads. In terms of comfort, this van has ticked every box for us, and, despite what I say below, we still like it. On paved… Read more

roads it has been flawless. We pull it with a VW Tuareg and it tracks perfectly at the speed limit; no sway, no instability, and no extraordinary fuel consumption. However, on our first 50km of dirt road, just about every screw that could move either unwound itself or pulled out. The worst fault was that the screws holding the upper track for the suspended heavy en-suite sliding door pulled out and the door collapsed. Just close behind, almost all the screws in the cooktop/griller unwound, and the glass cooktop slid out of its friction-held mount. We were lucky to find all these before serious damage had been done (although we still have a few loose screws and bolts with no home). We found,subsequently, that at the end of about every 50km of dirt road we had to re-tighten or reinsert numerous screws (including the screws in the door hinges). In future, we will tighten and glue all screws that we can, but there is no doubt that this van is good for local off-road use, but it is not really suitable for sustained rutted dirt roads.

New Age Manta Ray 16E – We purchased our Manta Ray 16E from Motoco in Townsville, after many visits to the team on site Victa, Monica & John and the many changers made by us to suit our requirements, we got the van we designed, nothing was a problem, took the van on its first outing and all went well, sat on 100klm and overtaking was no problem very happy with the van

Ticks all the boxes for us! – This is our 2nd New Age van after upgrading for more off-road capability. This van has great ground clearance, and a rugged exterior look, yet inside has luxurious fittings and layout. NA Gold Coast have provided great after sales service and promptly attended to some minor warranty claims after our 10,000km shake down trip to Birdsville and Cape York. I would definitely recommend this van to those looking to go a bit further.  Show details

Problems with van rolling at the top seems too high off the ground unstable – Van not towing well rolling from side to side looking at getting heavier shocks fitted this should have been done on manufacture the shocks are under engineered for weight of van causing a dangerous rolling from the top you can push on the side of the van and the whole van rocks easily will not be towing this van until problem is solved.  Show details

Attention to detail ( Not ) – We purchased our Manta Ray Deluxe MR16E in October 2014, with a delivery promised May 2015, ended up getting it late June. From day 1 we new there was some issues. New Age had 9 months to think about this van. They knew it was being registered in NSW with laws on location and height of number plates, yet it turns up with a spare tyre rack mounted… Read more

plate and light as an after thought, boogie ! The rest of the under floor wiring was similar, wiring to tight, insufficient supports so part of the wiring loom hung below chassis rail, not water proof connection on ESC and electric brakes ( this will cause cables to corrode and eventually fail), cable gourmets falling out of the chassis rail so the wiring was wearing on the chassis. I have had to re route the hand brake cable so that it no longer rubbed on the wiring loom. The best was ESC wiring to the Anderson plug was about 200mm short and just taped with insulation tape that fell off by the timeh we got the van home. When I reported this the comment from New Age was that I should move the ESC socket closer to the tow hitch ! Mmhh. The rest they would not consider fixing. Inside the cupboard doors and draws rub together when opened. The fridge trim panel on kitchen bench fell off, the cafe dinner table leg rusted as did the SS hinge on the table. The vanity basin had a star crack in it that someone has tried to fill, they were not interested in that either. The water pressure pump nuisance cycles at the most odd times. The water tanks get an air lock so they can not be filled in one go. The welding work I suspect has not been finished properly because we have rusting problems bleeding through the paintwork. I have read this other reviews and it appears to be a common problem. Another major problem for us was the uninsulated floor. We first used the van in Western NSW mid winter where we experienced several sub zero nights. The problem was the floor, uninsulated is was unbearably cold to stand on and you could feel the cold just seeping up though it, for an insulated van it was very cold with condensation problems. I have since insulated the floor to fix this problem.

The positives are that the road clearance height is great for the areas we go and the van tows extremely well, it behaves well on and off the road. The suspension is good and braking excellent. The service department at Nowra NSW has been excellent and have really tried to have these problems addressed, many thanks guys.

The negatives apart from what has been detailed previously is the attitude of all I have spoken with thus far from New Age themselves.

I have been told straight out by one individual that works for them that quote " our vans have the best finish in the market " if this is true probably does not speak well for the industry as a whole in quality assurance.

Would I buy another, probably not given the poor care factor of New Age in after sales matters.

Not all perfect – Mmmm where to start. Our Manta Ray deluxe mr16e has had issues from the first trip, as of December 2015 it is a month old. While many of the inclusions are welcome, some are over kill. There are 18 seperate lights in the main cabin, I think that's over kill as it makes the roof look like Chinese checkers. A few well places led strip lights would… Read more

have been just as effective. Although storage is good, most of the cupboards are completely different sizes, resulting in kitchenware being stored all over the van, rather than in a central location. Despite being a light duty four wheel drive, it's way to high, the ride height could come down 6-8 inches and not effect overall performance. A round sink with no where to put washing up is a pain, resulting in storage of dish drainers and trays to capture excess water. And yes this was one of the compromises we knew about but still struggle with.

One month old and its issues.

Bathroom door fell off its rollers, it was held on with metal threaded screws rather than wood screws?

Tap on the drawbar was mounted so high it can't be turned on without fouling the front tub.

Cheap Chinese out side speakers distort even at low volume

Scratches on the door at pick up, over a month now, still waiting for a response fom new age?

And the most serious, the ALKO esc doesn't work, and was told by the dealer, connecting it whilst faulty could result in the brakes locking on!

Mostly happy but new age need to respond to customer and warranty enquire. Sydney RV mostly hopeless.

Manta Ray MR16E Deluxe (Offroad) – Bought this van 4 months ago and done a couple of trips now. This van is faultless! Everything works perfectly. The cabinets are better quality than 99% of homes. The fittings and everything on the van is all brand name and not cheap chinese copies. The layout is well thought out, the independant suspension comes from a quality supplier, the… Read more ·  2

Marine BBQ works great (done the odd roast in it now) the full size ensuite with that great 3kg front loading washing machine has my wife excited!

The only thing we might alter is to fit a grey water tank.