Leisuredrive Vivante review and photos

[Bav]

I would like to
Post a Wanted but I don’t know how ! I’m looking for a low mileage Leisuredrive/ Devon or Bilbo hotpot with fixed loo

Go here, click on "Post Thread", change the prefix to "Wanted", write your blurb and post it.

If you want to buy or sell anything you need VIP membership, but I'm not sure if this is a requirement for a "Wanted" thread.

 

[Deleted member 49718]

I think I need VIP as there isnt an option to post . I need to buy a VW van first !

 

[Newadventurer]

Part 3 - The Bed.

Do you remember those puzzle squares, the ones where you have to rearrange the tiles, and only have one empty space? This bed is like that!

These are the back seats, when upright.

View attachment 71834

To make the bed (or the sofa), remove the cushion (they are just held with velcro strips), lift the latch, and slide forward.

View attachment 71840

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This is the sofa; most of the Vivantes come with a fixed sofa, we wanted the option of a fourth 3-point belted seat.

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To make the bed, you flatten both seats. Swap the cushions; the seats make for a better pillow than the backs as they are slightly raised at the front.

You can have two singles, it's a good setup for that, but for a double you take the bed board from behind the sofa (having forgotten to take it out beforehand, when it was easier) and place on the flat seats; four plastic wedges locate it in the right place.

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Sofa bolster goes in the middle.

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Then the fun part. The front seats need to be facing forward. Take the headrests off, and place on the floor between the seats. Move the seat all the way forward, then lay almost flat. Wedge the back seat cushion against the top of the seat, then push down on both as you flatten the seat, and voila!

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Turn around, do the same on the other side, then clamber onto the bed. Put the cushion on top of the headrests that are wedged between the seats, and you have your bed.

View attachment 71839

Then realise that you have left your Duvalays in the footwells of the van, and have to climb out the back and drag them in!

It is a lot of work, you would need to be in reasonable condition to do this every night, and reverse it in the morning.

The bed may look awkward, but is actually very comfy. Add a topper, and it sleeps very well, no back-ache for me, and my wife sleeps well on it, which is not always the case at home. It's a very wide bed, we bought the widest duvalays and they fit perfectly.

The curtains wrap around the front; only a few minor gaps, which would probably not bother most, but were fixed by my wife. The blackout material is very good.

View attachment 71845

Bedding storage is an issue with this layout; we will put the duvalays on the O/S back seat when travelling, and then move into the passenger and driver footwells when parked up.


The wrap-up, and the odds and sods next time!

love your camper its great ! couple of questions do you have a curtain / privacy screen for the loo or found its not needed , also storage wise where do you store clothing ? many thanks

 

[CAB]

love your camper its great ! couple of questions do you have a curtain / privacy screen for the loo or found its not needed , also storage wise where do you store clothing ? many thanks

Hiya.

Curtain not really possible with the elevating roof, if necessary then open the cupboard door and hang a long towel over it, or put the Fiamma awning winder across the van and hang a towel over that, otherwise with just the two of us you learn to look the other way!

Clothes storage is an issue with the elevating roof, we pack very lightly using storage cubes, and find we can just about manage in the small cupboard. Coats roll and pack up and go under the rear passenger side seat.

 

[Newadventurer]

Hiya.

Curtain not really possible with the elevating roof, if necessary then open the cupboard door and hang a long towel over it, or put the Fiamma awning winder across the van and hang a towel over that, otherwise with just the two of us you learn to look the other way!

Clothes storage is an issue with the elevating roof, we pack very lightly using storage cubes, and find we can just about manage in the small cupboard. Coats roll and pack up and go under the rear passenger side seat.

thank you so much for your help and tips too

 

[The Wibbler]

Hi, we are about 10 months into vivante ownership. Ours has a roller blind fitted for privacy that sits across the aisle and behind the seating area. We also use storage cubes in the wardrobe and make use of the under seat storage for the bench seats.

 

[Newadventurer]

thank you so much , all this info at this stage is so very helpful , so glad you are enjoying your camper , have you been anywhere very exciting yet, and what is your longest trip so far, were you on site or off grid, oh so many questions, did you forget anything essential , any mini disasters etc etc what are the best bits of owning and using your camper?

 

[The Wibbler]

Blimey!

We have done a Chiltern, cotswold loop and also a run to Pembrokeshire. Also took it to a folk festival long weekend. Have a big 2 week tour this summer (yorkshire Northumberland, Scotland - Skye- Yorkshire and home.

Most overnights have been EHU but we have done two off grids so far (two nights in a rugby club car park for a Morris dance weekend amd one night in a field behind a cointty manor house). Nothing forgotten so far, but we were camped out in a storm on the Wales trip and woke up totally surrounded by water, which was different!

Best bit is seeing different places and cruising around in the van, finished off with a meal and bottle of wine under the awning. Worst bit is getting the bed sorted every night, but we found a routine.

 

[Newadventurer]

Blimey!

We have done a Chiltern, cotswold loop and also a run to Pembrokeshire. Also took it to a folk festival long weekend. Have a big 2 week tour this summer (yorkshire Northumberland, Scotland - Skye- Yorkshire and home.

Most overnights have been EHU but we have done two off grids so far (two nights in a rugby club car park for a Morris dance weekend amd one night in a field behind a cointty manor house). Nothing forgotten so far, but we were camped out in a storm on the Wales trip and woke up totally surrounded by water, which was different!

Best bit is seeing different places and cruising around in the van, finished off with a meal and bottle of wine under the awning. Worst bit is getting the bed sorted every night, but we found a routine.

sounds fantastic cant wait to get ours , hopefully should be ready to roll in June ( the storm sounds interesting, but you survived it eh ) the 2 wk tour sounds great too!

 

[CAB]

thank you so much , all this info at this stage is so very helpful , so glad you are enjoying your camper , have you been anywhere very exciting yet, and what is your longest trip so far, were you on site or off grid, oh so many questions, did you forget anything essential , any mini disasters etc etc what are the best bits of owning and using your camper?

Longest trip was 2 weeks around the Outer Hebrides, an unforgettable experience.

2 nights off grid. Battery power is not really an issue with the 3-way fridge, but best to squeeze a second gas bottle in the compartment for when you run out. The most draining thing would be the diesel heater, I imagine after more thean a few nights you could run the engine briefly when starting it up if you needed to.

Nearest to disaster was in snow in November '21. The camping was fine, even with a power cut, diesel heater kept us warm, but had to keep the gas locker door open to keep the Camping Gaz warmed up. The waste pipe froze, so had to work around that. But we had to be towed up the slope out of the site, made sure we had all-season tyres put on after that!

 

[Newadventurer]

Blimey!

We have done a Chiltern, cotswold loop and also a run to Pembrokeshire. Also took it to a folk festival long weekend. Have a big 2 week tour this summer (yorkshire Northumberland, Scotland - Skye- Yorkshire and home.

Most overnights have been EHU but we have done two off grids so far (two nights in a rugby club car park for a Morris dance weekend amd one night in a field behind a cointty manor house). Nothing forgotten so far, but we were camped out in a storm on the Wales trip and woke up totally surrounded by water, which was different!

Best bit is seeing different places and cruising around in the van, finished off with a meal and bottle of wine under the awning. Worst bit is getting the bed sorted every night, but we found a routine.

sounds like you've done a lot already the festival sounded good too, off grids sound good too . maybe not the storm and the water but different for sure and par for the course with camping I suppose as we will soon find out lol ! Wine sounds like an essential in my book too !

 

[ShrimpsDave.]

Conclusion

All of the above might sound a bit negative, but really I just wanted to point out all of the practicalities and potential issues for anyone who might be looking at this type of layout, and the Vivante in particular.

In reality, we are very happy with it. Yes it has drawbacks in comparison to a standard layout, the main ones being storage and the awkwardness of the bed setup, but we are very happy with it overall.

I'm not sure it would suit a family, you may be better off with a standard layout. We like the seats being close together, we can sit diagonally to each other (one on the passenger swivel, and one on the sofa) and each put our feet up. We like the separation of seating and kitchen areas, allows me (or Mrs CAB!) to sit and relax while the other potters around.

It isn't very blingy; we didn't buy direct, but I gather Leisuredrive are not geared up for custom bling / lights / chrome / custom leather / funky coloured kitchens. No idea if you could get them to do lowered suspension, but I suspect not.

Many will not like the Leisuredrive front seats; they are necessary to make up the beds, but I imagine they are not as comfortable or customisable as standard.

We like the side-elevating roof, full height for the full length and very airy once up. Again, it's not stealth!

Now that we have bought and lived with it for a while, I have looked back at the other rear-kitchen layout vans, and most have the same problems; in fact most of them seem to have even more issues with storage then this one. Most of them will have easier beds though, with the RIB seats that fold out and can slide together.

Anyway, it's our van and we love it! Happy to answer questions or expand further on anything I have raised. I hope someone will find this review useful.

Hello we are actually on our first expedition with our van . Our man concern is with the bed. We have found it to be quite uncomfortable. I just wanted to ask about the toppers you use do they really iron out all the bumps.. cheers.

 

[CAB]

Hello we are actually on our first expedition with our van . Our man concern is with the bed. We have found it to be quite uncomfortable. I just wanted to ask about the toppers you use do they really iron out all the bumps.. cheers.

Hi @ShrimpsDave. , welcome to the forum!

We use Duvalays.

We had the 4cm and now the 5cm; Mrs CAB was fine with both but I am a side sleeper, and found the thicker one much better.

 

[The Wibbler]

Hi, we invested in a pair of 77 cm wide, 50 mm thick Duvalay toppers after using a Argus sourced mattress topper. They take up a fair amount of space when rolled up but do make the lumpy beds more tolerable

 

[Spaghetti]

Hi @ShrimpsDave. , welcome to the forum!

We use Duvalays.

We had the 4cm and now the 5cm; Mrs CAB was fine with both but I am a side sleeper, and found the thicker one much better.

Duvalay memory foam topper for me too!

 

[CAB]

Linking to @oscar_van 's post on his Vivante high top.

Team Leisuredrive

Picked up our Vivante at the beginning of February, done two weekends away in it so far, a bit chilly so leaving it till warmer weather now. Lovely looking van!! Did you get the diesel heater?

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