We are talking down the value of our investment I hope no potential buyers read this

Our investment in an Eriba is not just monetary. It's also an investment of love and care, into something that brings excitement, fun, and a sense of freedom. I ride several old Vespas, and they can be bloody infuriating, but would I ever give them up? We're very tolerant when we're passionate about something special.

Of course we have chosen an Eriba for a reason, but I think you should compare a new one with a new Vespa.

It's sad to hear of new vans with long list of faults. I've just bought as 2007 Troll and it appears pretty much perfect - and I've checked everything. At the time of purchase I'd have loved to buy a brand new Eriba but just couldn't find the extra cash. Now I don't feel like I've lost out by buying a 2007 model.

Having said that, I was also thinking about a Swift Basecamp at the time of purchase but I'd not seen one in person. I had the opportunity to look around a Basecamp this weekend and I have to say it is very plasticky in comparison to an Eriba. It feel like a mobile budget hotel room and the entire interior is made of very thin MDF panels which do not look durable at all.

Overall I remain happy with my decision to buy an Eriba - and my thinking was based on the quality of the product. I hope you owners of new vans get your issues sorted out promptly and I agree with a previous poster that this should not be acceptable in a new van. If I bought a new car with similar problems I'd be really peeved. Thankfully Eribas are endearing enough to allow owners to (just about) put up with the foibles.

A new Vespa runs like clockwork. It meets stringent emissions, it's automatic and has a four stroke engine........but it's not half as much fun, and it's pretty anonymous. My comparison between an old/classic Vespa and an Eriba (of any age), is that things go wrong with them, and from what I'm reading and experiencing, on a regular basis.

I absolutely think that recurring build quality problems with a new Eriba are unacceptable, but somehow owners are tolerant. If these things happened to a generic caravan or a brand new scooter, we'd probably get rid of them as quickly as possible.

Just in case any prospective Eriba owners are reading, we have had ours for 6 months and we're delighted with it so far, apart from a few little niggles, and it's 13 years old.

Hymer I’m sure did not fit the iffy touch lights on a purpose the samples that received from their supplier would have perfect, the problems would have started when the order was placed, this can be said of probably every other component fitted to a Eriba.

For me the problem is with Hymers response, the time it takes sort out the problems we come across I’ve been wanting for a gas locker lock for over two months.
The first new WWB we bought had to go in after 6 months of ownership for water ingress, kitchen area lights falling off blow air heating noisy.

This is our first Eriba and we love it easy to tow more stable on the road stands out amongst the standard WWBs it got us back out enjoying it again.

Swa49
In the 60s I had a Lambretta TV175 that I loved with a passion like you seem to have for your Vespas, but reliable it was not. When we got our Troll 540GT 2016 I posted on the Forum that it's two-tone reminded me of one of the resprays that I gave the TV175.

Thankfully our Troll has so far proved to be so unlike my TV175 and everything seems to work and fit OK.. Every time I read of someone with a problem on their Eriba I go out and check ours but touching lots of wood ours seems fine so far.I hope I don't end up eating my words in the next few years.

It reminds me of the quality issues with cars in the 70's and 80's when you used to get "Friday afternoon cars" that seemed to have lots of little things go wrong with them. My first car was a Triumph 1300TC which must have been built at 5.55 on Friday afternoon. When it went it was fabulous but most of the time it didn't but the leather seats were nice!

later I had a VW Golf which was their equivalent of a Friday car and dispelled for me once and for all the myth of Germanic efficiency and build quality. I wonder if we have some Friday afternoon Eribas - we would all hope not.


Our only Eriba quality issues were with :

A non-return valve not being fitted to our water tank - factory issue resolved at first service
The screw fixing on our side splash back fell out. ALV fixed one during service and then AL had to get us some spare fixing from Hymer that I fitted.

I wonder if we Eriba owners are more tolerant than we should be because of how much we love their quirkyness? MikeT

PS We have just come back from holiday and have not read the offending article yet, but will dig it out no and have a read..

We picked up our new 542GT 60th Edition at the end of April , so far so good, this is our first Eriba and we are over the moon with it.Everything works and operates as it should or at least to our knowledge. We waited a long time for it to arrive and wished we had done it years ago . The only gripe is the bathroom door keeps catching on the top fixing which AL are aware of.so I took it off. We had two Motorhomes in the past , the last one being a new Bailey Autograph 745 in 2015. So many things went wrong with it , every time we went away we expected it to happen ,no hot water many times , fixtures falling off, doors hard to close , battery warning buzzers, waste tank issue , flat Leisure battery , the tyre warning light flashed and had a mind if its own etc etc , yet it was and still is I believe one of the best selling models and much in demand ! The first one we had was so damp after four years that the whole body needed to be taken off and a new floor fitted, at our cost ! , so it was sold for the Bailey.
In our opinion our Eriba build quality is outstanding and compared to what we have had to put up with in the past an utter delight but only time will tell if we will have any of the issues with lights , doors and lockers etc as some of you have had ,but at the moment we cannot praise it enough and are looking forward to many adventures in it .

The bathroom door in our 2014 Triton was always a bit of a nightmare. We had lots of issues when we bought the Triton, but all were resolved quickly apart from the bathroom door. In our brand new this week Troll 535 there are 180 degree hinges but no better strength to the hinges themselves - a stronger handle though. I think I am going to do what I said I would do in the Triton, and that's put a proper curtain for the bathroom on the canvas rail (we get rid of the canvas as it serves no purpose - privacy? when your partner is like 1 foot away?) to replace the door altogether. The problem of the hinges would be solved and we also won't have the door opening into the van space, which we find annoying. Why can't Hymer incorporate a curved or concertina sliding door that many motorhomes have? where the door slides back into the bathroom wall. Other than that, we have two flickering downlighters, which are easy to fix.

We're going to tour Wales for 3 weeks next week so will report back any apparent defects when we get back. If the bed doesn't collapse I'll be happy!

I can't tell you how happy I was to have an Eriba back on my drive this week
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Regarding the bathroom door flying open and coming off whilst in transit, my own theory is that it is more prone to the island type bathrooms. The Familia 320 and the Triton 420 bathrooms are firmly fixed to the kitchen area/bulkhead as well as the wardrobe on the opposite side. The island bathrooms are more liable to flexing as one side is next to the additional seating, the little locating lug on the top corner of the door is there to tie them together whilst travelling. If the lug is not engaged correctly it will allow the door to pop open.

I’m sure you’re right BUT if the door is located in the lug thingy then any flexing of the whole structure is putting strain on the rather weak hinges.
Many owners have reported hinge failure.

I have to agree with Tinhead. Our last Elddis caravan, bought new in 2013, had such a catalogue of big faults that we finally gave up on it, sold it on, saw the light and bought our Troll 540. I don't mean to ridicule the faults experienced by Eriba owners (which still shouldn't happen), and we have had to tighten a few screws, but against our horror story with the Elddis they pale into insignificance - new front and back panels due to severe cracking, rooflight letting in so much water that the roof had to be stripped back and replaced, worktop coming away from the base unit, shower cubicle cracking, water leaking through an exterior hatch - it got to the stage that we couldn't use it for fear of the next problem emerging. And we had a lot of little niggles too. We adore our Eriba, and are currently in France on a three week holiday. I have a screwdriver in the cutlery drawer and just check things periodically.