Ownership Diary - Knaus Boxdrive 600XL

Bit of an update - we've now just clicked over 6,100miles on the odometer, which isn't bad considering we've only had it 9months! Average over that time is 25mpg. That figure has been driven by some usage as school run vehicle where it goes from cold on a relatively short journey which drags the figure into the high teens/early 20s. What also drags it down is the fact when I've been wilding, upon start-up the B2B charger pulls 50aH from the alternator to recharge the leisure battery, which is a huge drain on fuel consumption until it's charged. Regens also knock 10-15mpg off on the motorway. In the best operating conditions, I see 35mpg on the motorway at a constant 70mph. Over the trip from Connemara to Dublin I saw 29mpg for the full 350km. Which leads me on to the most recent trip...

We're just back from six days in Ireland for half-term. A bit of a different half-term to normal given my wife is now 34wks pregnant and clearly snowboarding was out this year! So we decided to have a last hurrah in the van as a family of four. My other half's family all live in N County Dublin and despite having been there over Christmas, we decided to drop in for a night after getting off the Holyhead/Dublin ferry to quickly see the MiL and before heading over to the West Coast. I've never been to this part of Ireland before and I wasn't disappointed.

First stop - Galway - my Wife's former University City. We actually ended up in a hotel that night due to the fact Galway is famously unwelcoming of campervans; everywhere has height restriction barriers and no campsites locally out of season. In the end, it wasn't too bad - the hotel had a safe enough parking spot and it allowed me to rest easy, us to get the bus into town and have a few pints of the black stuff in the Latin Quarter with some live music before heading back to the hotel for a good kip & breakfast the next morning.



We then headed the following day in the direction of Clifden, which is sort of the spiritual capital of Connemara. Itself, a pretty bleak and uninteresting town from what I could see. We stopped half way for lunch at a beautiful spot off the main road (shame about the power lines!).



And once in Clifden, we stopped for a pint in Lowry's which has been voted as the most traditional Irish Pub in Ireland for a few years in a row. A nice place and a good pint, but difficult to see why it was different from any other, TBH!!



Next stop was Eyrephort Beach about 20mins away. I had found it online as a suggested park-up for the night. The road over there from Clifden was nothing short of a carbon copy from some of the best roads around Applecross & Torridon. When we got to the end of the winding ribbon of tarmac over the undulating hills overlooking the archipelago of islands, we found a small harbour wall with sufficient room for us to park, overlooking a soft, white, sandy beach with turquoise water. Absolutely beautiful. The weather mind, was something different. Although we had a relatively calm sunset (but biting wind), the rest of the night was spent in galeforce winds (so much so I had to move the van into the wind as I thought we were going to be rolled over), hale storms and thunder and lightening. But curled up all toasty in the van (21C whilst awake and 16C overnight), everyone had a super nights sleep and woke in the morning to the same beautiful views and the chance to head out for a walk on the beach before heading back to Dublin.



It was a shame we didn't have longer, but given my Wife's condition, it was difficult to suggest doing much longer with a small-ish double bed and a massive baby bump. My daughter and I are off, however, on Friday this for a short weekend get-away at Ullswater (Quiet Site) for a bit of bonding time and some hikes. A long drive for just two nights (600mile return trip) but will be worth it as the proper last hurrah before newborn, sleep deprivation amd enforced lockdown for a few months.

 

So barely a few days rest before "Freddy" was out on the road again. It was funny, just as we were coursing towards Dublin 10 days or so ago, I remarked that the Odometer had turned 6k miles. Just as I parked up yesterday, it's just shy of 7k!!!

Last Friday saw me scurrying around, desperately packing up the van with provisions, water and fuel during what was supported to be a day off; unfortunately a few things cropped up at work and I ended up doing more work than prep. So by 15:00 when I set off to collect my 11yr old daughter from school, I could feel my blood pressure absolutely ramped. More than anything, I needed to get away.

15:40 we left the small village school and headed to the M11. My daughter isn't a fan of long journeys these days, but she is a super DJ, having been schooled in an eclectic mix of Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Counting Crows, Reef, Stereophonics, Bryan Adams, Dire Straits etc. so the next 5hrs (relatively speaking) flew by. Aside from a bit of traffic around Cambridge, the M11/A1/A1M was pretty easy and we stopped at Wetherby for a quick loo stop and to pick up something for dinner and were on our way within 20mins.

All was going well until we hit the A66 and climbing up over the Eastern Dales/N Pennines, the weather started closing it. Sleet quickly turned to snow as we climbed higher but all was passable. The only issue really came when we got to Penrith - by this time the snow was coming down thick and fast. We got to the first roundabout on the A66 off the M6 to turn off to Pooley Bridge and the road down to the Lake looked impassable. I don't know what went through my mind, but in a split second I made the decision to continue on the A66 to drop down later to The Quiet Site. What an egit?! Firstly, this snap decision turned into snap steering, which made for a heft understeery slide and secondly, if that main-ish road was going to be impassable, what about the smaller, single-track ones off the A66 heading down to the campsite. Heyho. I was committed. Things became worse when the dual carriageway turned to snow. My daughter asked if Lane 2 was normally a grass verge and was surprised when I replied it was still part of the road given it was buried under about a foot of snow.

Anyway, we turned off towards Hutton with a mixture of trepidation and terror. At this point I was kicking myself for not swapping off the Conti Summer Vanco tyres the van came with for Conti 4Seasons for Michelin CrossClimates. The cost of the Disco tyres had left such a big whole I didn't fancy buying rubber again anytime soon. I wished I had. Nevertheless, with the transmission set in manual mode (getting to grips with VAG's insistence the tiptronic is up for down and down for up! ) we threaded our way carefully through the remaining 4miles to the campsite before the illuminated sign came into sight....most welcome! Now just the challenge to scale the very steep slope both into the site as well as onto our pitch.

Now I know I've always been a big advocate of winter tyres versus transmission. However, given I had summer tyres on, I had to rely on the AWD. And I can confirm it did its job with little fuss at all; a bit of wheel slip here and there to show it was doing the job, but otherwise very easy indeed. Unlike a few cars/units which had to remain at the first level.

Parked up, all the remained was to plug in, get some boots on and head to the Quiet Bar (barn with an open fire) and soak up a well deserved pint (and coke for the little one) and revel in the magic of being miles away on our own little adventure in a place where my daughter had never been before (she had, but couldn't remember it) and the excitement for the day to come.



Back at the van, a wonderful night sleep was had. A bit chilly around 4am as there was a power cut on site and I woke to find the van a bit cold because the heating hadn't been ticking over as set. I swapped it over to diesel heating mode, set for 15degs C and then slept like a baby until 8am. Little one was so cosy, she even slept through the Nespresso machine as I sat with my morning coffee admiring the view outside from the comfort of 20C inside.


Once up and dressed we had some yoghurt, muesli & fresh berries and headed out all togged up for my daughter's first Wainwright - Little Mell Fell - which overlooks the campsite is imposing enough but not impossible for her.

By this time the weather had changed from bright sunshine to overcast and a bit moody. The higher we climbed up the road parallel to the site, the more heavy the sky looked. As we got onto the fell in thick snow, it began to snow lightly. The higher we got, the worse it got but without any complaint (my daughter normally lacks a bit of resilience when it comes to walking/cycling uphill) we got to the stone top-marker in a complete white-out! We cleared a bit of snow, hunkered down with our downjackets out of our bags and under our waterproofs and pulled out a Yeti mug full of steaming hot tea which we shared with some oatcakes & rice crispy's mallows! Perfect. I reckon we stayed there for 20mins before I got a little concerned the snow was so heavy we might loose our track off the top, so we set off back down.



Back at the site and it was time for a spot of lunch (pesto pasta - a Campervan staple!) and then a shower in the superbly renovated new bathrooms. Individual shower & WC closets.


Then back to the van for a few game of Connect4 before heading back to the bar via their superb pizza takeaway for dinner & drinks. Unfortunately the site was so busy and it was early when we went for dinner, that we were unable to get in front of the fire or the main part of the barn, so given the lack of atmosphere where we were sat, we decided to head back to the van and watch a film on the iPad. Opened a bottle of wine, tin of Dr Pepper and settled into 3hrs of Titanic!

As night came, so did the rain. It was just above freezing outside, but suitably warm inside and the sound of the rain on the roof had us fully asleep within seconds of the head hitting the pillow. A solid 9hrs of sleep, we were up, breakfasted, toilet emptied and away from site by 10:30 for the drive south. We had a cheeky stop at Yeadon (nr Leeds/Bradford Airport) for the family favourite of Fish & Chips from Murgatroyds and then another 3hrs south to get home at 16:30.

I booked this originally when my daughter wasn't living with us full time. This was supposed to be a weekend where she was with her Mum. So I anticipated an indulgent solo trip prior to the new baby arriving. That said, doing it with my daughter was an absolute pleasure and I can't imagine now having been alone or having had nearly as much fun. It was real quality time. She's grown up so much recently; partly due to having to given what's been going on in the background, but partly just due to being a young lady who is growing up. We had so many laughs and such a great combined experience getting up the Fell in such bad weather. Was truly a trip to remember for both of us and memories made!

564miles @ 25.2mpg

 

Thanks mate. Yeah, really enjoyable and memorable for us both.

I remember you saying about Yeadon & Murgy’s so thought about you whilst I was there. Thing is, when I was backwards and forwards in the late 80’s/very early 90’s I don’t remember it. We used to use the Little Fisherman on the High Street between Murgy’s and the Albert Square pub or Westfields over the other side of town. When did Murgy‘s first open? Do you know?

The AWD has definitely paid for itself a few times now. So pleased I went for this van over one of the cheaper, higher specced but FWD vans which were available at the time.

 

Haha - no worries, I’m glad it’s not just me not able to work out when it first arrived without the help of Google!

I’d have been 15 then when it opened and that’s when my memories of it align. It’s become a regular fixture of any visit since then (or indeed since my Gran died in 2004) of any trip which is within 50miles of Yeadon!

 

So astonishingly, we've just passed the 11month mark with the motorhome - still as loved as ever. But as a result the admin heavy period has just begun.......

Last week saw the reminder (and payment) of the VED - £165 for the year since it's classed as a Private HGV. No luxury car tax here, which is helpful!

This week saw the TGE/chassis side of things get its first service. I was unsure from reading around what the procedure was. In certain circles it looks like 12m service intervals, in others 24m. Anyway, to be on the safe side, I decided to book it in and get some fresh oil & filter popped in. I took it to Manchett's Commercial Vehicles up in Newmarket (a c. 25m drive from me) - they are an official MAN dealer. I got some strange looks in reception when I told them the mileage was "just" 6,980miles when some of the vehicles they see do that in a week! Not a bad experience though, comfy enough waiting area and personable service plus a cup of coffee. For the pleasure, however, I was relieved of £530 which I concede did include a set of rear mudguards (supplied, not fitted). But expensive nonetheless. Service book stamped and noted the next service is due in 24m or 20k miles. We'll see if I get there in my ownership.

Next stop is Premium Motorhomes in the next couple of weeks (still trying to nail down a date) for the mandatory Water Ingress & Habitation Check which you have to do each year to maintain the warranty. There's another £500 there I'm sure. Whilst it's in there's some niggly warranty work needing doing, so as long as the parts are in by then, I'll get it all done at the same time. Unfortunately, they're up in Doncaster so I'll be trying to keep the trip to one overnight on their site rather than leaving the van and getting train back & forth.

In preparation for the van's 1st Birthday, I gave it a solid detail over the course of two days (basically wherever I could fit in the time around nappies, feeds & school runs). In total it got 8hrs of TLC; mainly focussed upon decontamination, particularly from the lowers quarters since it's seen a lot of salt (Holy Island & Lake District snow) plus seemed to have picked up a huge amount of tar in the wheel arches. Anyway, with a little bit of help from my eldest daughter who did some polishing with me, the van came out looking super. I decontaminated with IronX, Oblitarate and then clayed then used AutoFinesse Tripple polish & wax in one to finish. I didn't have time to do a further coat of wax but I have some glisten spray wax which I'll use once I've washed it again (it got dirty on the trip to MAN).



Once all that's done, we'll see what the insurance cost looks like for the year. Have my suspicions we'll be over the £1k mark given how costs seem to have risen.

In terms of future; well it has been hanging in the balance. I suppose in some ways, it's still on a knife-edge. Overall we (certainly my daughter and I) adore it. Wife loves it but finds it a little too compact to be enjoyable. That was with 4, let alone 5. I have done some research in terms of getting a double bench fitted, swivel kit and everything retrimmed. We're looking at c. £7k On the other hand, it's cheaper than replacement vans which would be at least as expensive as this (c. £100k) plus then I would need storage (£1.2k pa) and an additional car plus running costs. So it actually doesn't look too bad.

The plan is to use it a couple of times as a glorified caravan in the coming months; drive to a site locally in both Disco & campervan and all bed down in the van and see how we go. If it works, I'll spend the money on the seat, if not I'll save it and just keep the van for another year or two and use it for my solo adventures in due course or just as a long weekender van for myself & the eldest kids until my youngest is old enough to properly enjoy motorhoming. At that point, we'll look at getting something a lot bigger to assuage my wife. Hopefully by then, I'll have the mortgage almost done so the budget will be more generous too. Let's see. For the moment, Freddie is staying with us and he looks great!

 

Yeah, I won't lie - it was a bit of an effort / indulgence getting it tip-top. But then I console myself that once it has that level of attention and protection, it's much easier to clean in future. I think once a year for that sort of work is manageable.

It's getting less use more recently as the Disco is the go-to car. When we first got the van, I preferred driving it sometimes over the X1 somehow our usage patterns were slightly different. But now the Disco does at least 230miles a week in various capacities. The van fills in the gaps; if my Wife needs the car then we plan it properly and I take the van as she hasn't got a C1 entitlement and is restricted to driving the car. It's also become more difficult to use at the station since a bit of a rejig and height barriers but that's only served to force me to walk to a more local station (the trade off is a longer overall commute but better movement). Otherwise it does probably 1 return school run per week (c. 25miles) and bits and bobs as necessary. Our local town (Saffron Walden) has only one car park which is height restricted (Waitrose) but plenty of other places so it's really not a problem to get around locally. My daughter has a weekly appointment in town and I tend to drive down in the van, drop her off where she needs to be and then sit in the van reading/working/drinking coffee, until she returns. It feels like a mini-adventure outing each time.

Overall, it's a very easy van to drive. The only issue is the narrow country roads we have, which means the nearside mirror cap has taken a few branches but thankfully not the side of the van. You have to be mindful of the height (3.2m) with any overhanging branches but otherwise it drives very smoothly, lovely commanding view of the road. Not so huge that you take up too much space when parking and does c. 23mpg locally. Not horrific either.

 

A little update - only another few hundred miles since the last update but last week saw the van head back to Premium Motorhomes in Doncaster for its annual Water Ingress check (required to maintain the either 7 or 12yr warranty in respect of damp etc) plus I had them do a full Habitation Check for another £300 in order to ensure all the gas & electrical systems were fully safe too. A slight bit of strategy around that - of course I want a safe van, but spending that extra £300 will pay dividends when/if I come to sell. It shows of course I've looked after it and rectified anything which was spotted on the check.



The van got a clean bill of health apart from the snagging bits which I was already aware of. For instance, the rear windows have a tendancy to get stuck in an open position and the blind on one of them has sagged a bit since pretty much day one. On the cab side of things, the 12v sockets in the cab haven't worked since new. Whilst the window issues mean a warranty claim and then a return visit post-summer, the 12v sockets were traced back to installer error - they had to move the habitation battery from the engine bay when I upgraded to LifePo4 and an inverter and they forgot to reattach the 12v socket feed to the vehicle battery. All now sorted.

Otherwise all good and compliments from both the Habitation Workshop chaps as well as the Salesman who originally sold it to me - evidently one of the closest to new condition they'd seen back after a year on the road. Evidently, although the market is softening a little, the Salesman thinks with rarity value (there aren't many BoxDrive's let alone 4x4 ones on the road) and the condition it's in, I'd get close to original purchase price if I were to sell in the next 12m.

As it stands, it's with me for a while yet. I really enjoyed the nip up and down the A1 - returned close to 30mpg on each leg cruising at 70mph indicated. I'm back sleeping in it full-time through a mixture of new baby and Covid19 this week And heading away with my daughter back up to the Lake District in 10days time for a long weekend. Can't wait. I'll do that plus another trip with her and the eldest boy in August and then it'll be back to base vehicle for mtbing expeditions through the tail end of the year.



I have to confess, it's definitely a huge indulgence but then so would a 911 be, which would be the alternative if I didn't have the van. For now. the Porsche is relatively far from my dreams. This thing is fab!

Whilst i was there though, I did allow myself to dream a bit. I was on the hunt for a 5 berth, 5 belt van. The only thing I came across was this. What a super bit of kit! Would need to do my C class license though with an empty weight of 11.3t and all up weight of 15t. But focussing on that is ignoring the slight difference in price too. A cost to change of £400k!

 

So realised it was due a bit of an update here.

Summer holiday just done - a big change from last year when we were trogging around Normandy in the van we a family of four. This year we were in the Loire as five in the Disco.

Prior to that, however, the van enjoyed another trip up to the Lakes (usual Quiet Site) just myself and my daughter for a long weekend over the Euro Finals. And was then deployed as overnight guard at my daughter’s camp-out to celebrate her end of Year 6 and leaving Primary School. Initially felt somewhat out of place in the camper when most other parents were in tents, but delighted to when we were joined by one set in their horse box camper!

Van has now ticked over 8k and in need of another deep clean inside & out over the coming days. But nothing a few hours won’t sort to bring it back to “as new”.

Yet again, its future is under the microscope. My eldest son is going through a strong Mummy phase and doesn’t want to go away with me solo. My daughter is with us fulltime so no chance realistically of solo trips and therefore it’s parked at up a lot more than driven given the Disco is the go to vehicle.

Realistically, I can’t see me using it hugely for 6-12months in serious anger and we still have the issue of it being four rather than five seats. Mrs Spuff and I are off to the NEC Motorhome Show in October to see what the else is around which would suit us. She doesn’t want to stuff a huge amount of money into a van (>£130k) as she’s rather fond of hotels too. So I can see us being at a bit of a cross roads. We either sell up and rent as needed or stick and it becomes a Daddy thing rather than a family thing. I’m not that keen on the latter either. Seems a bit of a zero sum game currently.

Let’s see what October holds…

 

And just when I thought the writing was on the wall for the van, the generosity of my Wife puts the cat amongst the pigeons….

I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy some quite extraordinary Paternity Leave since my youngest was born. Unlike the other two where I had to take Annual Leave when they were born, I’ve actually this time got 14wks of leave on full pay. I took 4wks when he was first born but the challenge was taking more given I’m heading a team and a relatively new business. I hoped that the Summer period would quieten and all indications in early July were that this would be the case so I booked 6wks of the leave to coincide with my eldest kids School Holidays. I’m now staring down the barrel of my final week and beginning to come to terms with going back to work - it’s going to be a shock to the system and knowing this and how anxious it was making me, my Wife offered me one night away from the kids to get some proper R&R.

Have just rediscovered my passion for MTBing, she insisted that whatever I did involved my bike. It didn’t take much persuading. But “only” having one night, I had to be sensible with what I did. My Wife suggested I head to Thetford Forest which is 40mins away. But as much as this appealed, I ride there 2-3x per year and it’s easy enough for me to get to whenever I have a free morning or afternoon and nothing new. It’s also relatively flat and although the trails are fun, their Reds are more like tough Blues elsewhere.

The Lake District was too far - I’d spend the vast majority of my time driving rather than relaxing or riding. I love Grizedale & Whinlatter, but I had to concede they were out of reach on this trip. Wales; likewise, I’ve always wanted to do Wales Bikepark or Dyfi but slightly out of reach. But looking at the map for both of those places, Cannock jumped out at me….. Back in 2005, Cannock Chase was one of the first proper, purpose built bike trails “Follow the Dog”, a 10km Red trail looping out from the Forest Visitor Centre. Since then they’ve added “Monkey Trail” which is another 10km and even more gnarly that the original. I’ve always had it in my mind but never managed to get there. At just over 2hrs from home (on a good traffic day), it was do-able.



With my Wife’s sign off, I set about getting the van ready, Mainly focussed on filling with water, fresh towels, MTBing clothing and fresh change of clothes, food for 48hrs and the all important MTB gear. Otherwise I always keep the bed fully made up, basic foodstuffs, toiletries, medicines, coffee pods and crockery.



I set off at 06:45 on Tuesday morning and had a really good run up the M11, A14 and M6 with arrival at the Visitor Centre just after 9am. I had booked a campsite called Tackeroo which was allegedly fairly close by, but not knowing the area, I decided to head out from the Visitor Centre first. As I arrived, it started tipping with rain. In a frantic search around the van, I found I’d left my MTBing waterproof shell at home!! A quick wander down to the onsite bike shop and £150 later, I got myself and end of season jacket for 40% off (£240 RRP). Must admit that although I hadn’t set out to get a new jacket, my old one is old and has seen better days so not all bad.



Whilst in there, the guys explained that Tackeroo is actually on the Red Run (Follow the Dog) so I would easily be able to ride from there. Nevertheless, I decided to stay put where I was and head from there. It was throwing down with rain still for the first hour which made the trail very sketchy indeed. The first 4km is largely built around significant rock gardens which were very slippery and overwhelming on a relatively new and heavy e-bike. I had one off which shook my confidence initially but as I got into the groove, the weather brightened and when arriving at the decision point for extending to the Monkey Trail, I decided to go for it!



Without going into too much more detail (I also don’t have any photos of the trails themselves), following completion of both trails (22km) I spent the rest of Day 1 moving the van to Tackeroo (it is actually part of the Red trail) having a spot of lunch and a stretch, then doing another 10km focussed on Follow the Dog. The afternoon was spent having a lovely hot shower, change of clothes, loll around on the outdoor beanbag I’d bought with me and watching the sun go down.


My thoughts then were focussed on ensuring that the bike had enough juice for the mornings activities. There was no Electric Hookup at this site - it's very much back to basics; just a fresh water tap and an Elsan point for disposing of toilet waste - all camping units (there were only six on site in total) have to be self-contained, which strangely a lot of folk don't like and prefer to use campsites. I love this kind of place; almost feels like wild camping but without the fear of getting turned away. I paid just £20 for the night but topped up with £5 for late checkout (until 17:00) for the day of departure so that I could ride up until I left. With a relatively small 90aH LifePo4 battery on board but with a mighty 2kW inverter (mainly for my Nespresso machine!), I didn't want to take any chances running the battery down significantly by charging the bike, so I brought my Anker 1200 Powerbank with me. This proved perfect at giving the bike 2x charges plus charging my various other devices (phone, mosquito repeller, camping latern etc) with 20% remaining after 2 days.



I needn't have worried about the motorhome battery either. In spite of using the heating a fair bit in during the night & early morning (it got down to 8C overnight and I keep the van at 15C) plus a couple of hot showers and running the fridge, there was sufficient solar to ensure it never got below 56% during the trip. 30mins on the motorway and the B2B charger had it back full again. Anyway, for dinner, I cooked up some vegan sausages in a bap on the BBQ, washed down with a glass or two of Rose. Then a fabulous night sleep to do it all again the following day.


The next morning, I got up at 06:00 to watch the sun rise over the campsite through the forest. Then retired to bed for an hour of reading before getting up to do some stretching & Yoga outside the van before cooking up the last of the sausages for breakfast. About 09:30 I set out on another loop of both red trails followed by one final loop of the original to bring the KM up to 33km for my second day and 66km overall.

Back at the van, I indulged in another hot shower and change of clothes, a quick bite to eat for lunch and then reluctantly set about heading home to Cambridge/Essex at 14:00 so as to be home for 16:30. Sadly, an accident on the M6 put pay to that and ended up in a longwinded diversion around the A55 and home at 17:30. Tired but totally refreshed from what felt like way more than just one overnight, the value of the van has been highlighted once more. My indulgence - even if never used by the family (unlikely). The fact that it facilitates this kind of getaway several times a year means it still very much has a place in my heart (and the fleet).

For stats interested folk - I did 250miles of driving at 28mpg. And riding-wise, 66km (although Strava reckons 63.4km) and 1,400m (c. 4,200ft) of climbing.