Swift Kon-Tiki
The Kon-Tiki, the best performing, most luxurious motorhome range ever launched by Swift, now has two TAG axle layouts, taking the line-up to six. The new Kon-Tiki 679 features a raised rear double bed with garage space underneath and a second large and comfortable bed over the cab.
Swift Kon-Tiki Reviews
6 Reviews written for “Swift Kon-Tiki”
Review Swift Kon-Tiki
The Swift has been purchased in anticipation of either fulltiming or a minimum of six months away.
Base vehicle - The Swift is powered by the Fiat 2.8 on an Alko chassis. The cab area is equipped with CD player, electric windows and mirrors, power steering, seats that are adjustable to just about any position imaginable, steering wheel adjustment and adjustable seat belts. A cigarette lighter is provided, as is a second socket for extras - such as travel kettle or mobile phone charger. The CD player functions with the ignotion off and two additional speakers are fitted as standard in the lounging quarters. ABS is a standard fit as is a colour screen reversing camera. The Kontiki sits on the Alko chassis - which has been upgraded to 4000kg in expectation of a heavy load to bear. Cruising at 60 mph in top gear sees the engine revving at about 2100 revs per minute. This gives for minimal engine noise - a situation further helped by the standard fit under bonnet insulation. Early indications - 700 miles covered so far - suggest an average 25 miles per gallon. I would expect to nudge maybe 27 or 28 on motorway runs and possible increasing this figure even further once the engine has loosened up. 5th gear is however little use below 50 mph. The cab features central door locking whcih whilst not remote controlled from the keyfob, does include the habitation door.
The Kontiki - the standard spec list is high and includes bathroom with domestic style shower cubicle, dual fuel heating, 2 x mini hekis and 1 x heki 3 roof light, Stoves oven with 3 gas burners and one electric solid hot plate, Sharp Microwave, integral awning, 3 way fridge with freezer box and the Status 530 aeriel with booster.
So what do I think of this package?
The bathroom makes use of a Thetford swivel/cassette toilet, shower with sliding screen and sink. There is storage under the sink and also a wall cupboard. Also fitted as standard are two towel holders, toilet roll holder and soap dish. The under sink storage cup also has a unit attached to the door for the housing of tooth brushes and the like. Unfortuntely, the recess designed to take a toothbrush does not do so…..or is it that I have a large toothbrush? This standard feature has been removed and replaced with a B&Q version costing £2.99!
Towards the rear is a fixed double bed - very comfortable indeed. The bed base lifts up to reveal a large storage area - presently housing deck charis, silver screen covers and the usual array of motorhoming goodies. This storage area can also be housed externally.
Mid ships, sits a stoves cooker alongside the pretty much standard Dometic fridge. Above is the sink - but no draining board. The draining board is a removable type with dedicated storage beneath the sink. The lack of fixed draining surface does free up work top space. There is also a dedicated place for washing up liquid and cloths etc. At high level - possibly dangerously high for some is the microwave. I am over 6 feet tall so no issue there but I suspect that for some, using this oven and lifting out hot food stuffs could present a danger. A Dometic extractor fan is easily capable of taking away the smell of freshly fried smoked bacon, and is also fairly quiet in operation.
Forward are two sofas, these convert into a huge double although will remain as sofas for my own use. Lift up the base of the offside sofa - and a good sized storage area awaits. I have lined this whole area with rubber matting and then purchased four plastic storage boxes which fit beautifully.
The opposite sofa lifts up in the same manner and offers storage - this side can however be accessed from the outside.
An overcab Luton completes the living quarters - the bed here is a good size and has two opening windows.
There are eight overhead lockers, plus one housing the TV (not standard - purchased separately) and a further locker for the microwave. Swift fitted a lovely crockery holder as standard - unfortunately this does not hold very much and has been replaced by various accessories from O Leary Motorhomes.
Hot water is provided by a Truma system - on either gas, electricity or both. The blown air heating runs off the same system. The thermostat for this was however adjacent to the principal heat source and hence it was difficult to keep the heating on. The thermostat thought the room to be warm enough - when infact the room was cold but the immediate area of the thermostat was hot! Clelveland Motorhomes have removed the original thermostat and re sited it to a more suitable point. There are warm air ducts in the bathroom (1) living sleeping area (5) and Luton (1). Each one can be operated independently.
There are two pull out sliding drawer units - one is fitted with a selection of fixed wire baskets to hold your belongings but sadly - and given how this looks like being principally a food storage area - Swift have also placed a waste bin in here! This has been removed and extra wire baskets are currently on order from Swift. There is however a waste bin within the door housing and this is adequate, easy to remove and empty - lined with a carrier bag for ease. The second slide out unit again features wire storage and also a dedictated bottle storage facility. The recess for the bottles will hold standard sized 70cl bottles and not the 1 litre duty free types. I am adding more wire baskets here and will lose three of the bottle storage points, but I feel that two bottles in store, one on the table and one in the fridge should be OK.
The van feels cosy - with muslin curtains, heavy feel lined curtains and also blinds for convenience. I prefer to use blinds for speed but maybe on a cold winters evening will close the curtains and ‘cosy up’. Loose lays carpets - presently removed for the time being - sit on a lino floor.
Externally, the van is good looking with alloy wheels and attractive graphics. There is no rear window on this model - a feature I really like. A ladder will take the owner to the roof where a luggage rack system is in place.
Entrance to the van is via a single electric step - which retracts automatically when the ignition is started. The habitation door has an opening window and has both blackout and fly screens fitted.
External storage is good - under the bed space and under the sofa - both can be reached from outside. The under sofa space extends the width of the motorhome and is begging for some skis or similar sporting accessories to be kept there. There is a further locker which is accessable from the outside only and currently houses hose pipes, gas connectors, electrical leads and so on. This is an excellent feature and keeps all ’such items’ under one roof.
Optional extras - the van has been fitted with 2 x 11 kg Gaslow refillable cylinders, an additional coffee table and awaits satellite dish and roof mouted air con unit. Various smaller items have also been retro fitted - such as crockery storage, kitchen roll holder and so on.
I am in the very early days with this van and whilst we got off to a bad start - gas leak, external habitation door not closing, problems with heating thermostat, cupboard doors falling off, toilet door falling off and various other niggles, these appear to have been ironned out.
The list price for the van is not cheap. At £46,910.00 to include the chassis upgrade and occasional table, this motorhome has a lot to live up to. Given the poor initial start, I have rated the van 8 out of 10 although I would like to see this rise after a few more trips away.
I shall add more photo’s in due course.
Swift Kontiki 669
Full details of the 669 can be found on the Swift website. This van is the same as those with the exception of the previously mentioned left hand drive - I am left handed after all!
Internal spec includes dual fuel stove, gas oven, microwave, Thetford fridge, TV “station” at the rear with power point and DVD/audio connections, a double island rear bed, swivel arm coffee table ad so on.
I opted to have roof aircon fitted at the factory - this is a Dometic B2200 system and it was the star of the show last week in Italy. The aircon unit also had four inbuilt lights and these cast indirect and subtle illumination over the interior - perfect for a romantic evening in - I should be so lucky. A factory fit tow bar has also been added.
In addition, a few other items have been altered to suit my personal requirements. Notable, these are double power socket in the lounge area, double power socket by the TV, 12v and 230V power socket in the boot - perfect for ironing outdoors, plugging in the stereo or even the electric mosquito zapper! I have also had the Oyster self seeking satellite system fitted by Robert Jackson/TSC at Wakefield and this is, in my opinion, a valuable addition. A further spec alteration was made in the rear locker by the addition of shelving to carry all my clutter - yet still leaving space for “several” crates of Stella at the French cash and carry. Payload is very good - 835 kg AFTER the driver is on board, the gas tanks, water tank and diesel tanks are full. With Stella weighing in at 12KG per case, it’s a case of pile em high!
External storage space is good - the rear locker as mentioned, plus a forward locker which goes under neath the van. This houses, amongst other things, the awning poles/winding handle, various buckets, sponges, step ladders and the like. The gas locker currently holds 2 x 13KG Calor cylinders although this will be converted to a Gaslow system in the coming weeks.
Internal storage is a real strong point - 11 overhead lockers - some of which are empty, 2 x low level kitchen cupboards, one of which houses a lower shelf and two very sturdy pull out drawers, storage under both the oven and fridge, twin wardrobes and a very useful space under the lift up rear bed. The Luton bed has it’s own dedicated area for ladder storage and there are two good sized “cubby holes” here for other odds and ends. The kitchen area also has a drawer - yes a drawer - one of those things that is as rare as rocking horse manure when it comes to drawers in motorhomes. The drawer is a good width and worktop depth - room for the bread knife! Hooray!
Heating is provided by Truma in the form of a dual fuel combi boiler - providing both heating and hot water. The heating has had little use until arriving back in the UK - and I awoke in the wee small hours and had to turn it down.
In board entertainment is provided by a TV (not standard equipment) and this is also connected to the rear view monitor, meaning that you could in theory watch two different channels at the same time. The TV is linked into the Fiat audio system and so the TV sound can be heard through the eight audio speakers if required.
The loo is of a decent size with separate shower. Water pressure in the shower is good and the water drains away quickly. A standard fit wooden duckboard prevents and slips! One undersink cupbaord and two overhead lockers complete the storage space in the loo area. A nice little touch being a hook in the shower to hang up the shower gel etc.
Attention to detail is good - and the small things - like shower hooks, ladder storage and so on make motorhoming so much easier.
What went wrong?
Well, despite hammering out the miles on the lovely A25 from Dunkerque to Lille - for those that do not know this road, it makes a camel’s back look smooth, the van is very quiet in operation. During our short time together, faults are minimal, with only a reading light ceasing to operate. Closer investigation revealed that the bulb was loose - thanks to the A25 probably and so this is back in situ. There was a bit of an issue with the fridge - not cooling on 12v or 230v but working well on gas. Swift arranged for Thetford to look at this and the necessary action is being taken - almost as we speak.
Looking at the above reviews, I think we must have purchased the reject model of this. Purhased Swift Kontiki 679 in Nov 08 from new, looked very impressive at first as per the spec on Swift Leisure, only when we started to use it we encountered various problems, Habitational door did not shut properly, could see daylight out of top, 5 year old son leant on the shut door when parked up and fell out of it. Water leak underneath even when level was only half full, wheel arch flew off on motorway, side lockup on drivers side holds rain water, bed over garage on slope downwards when motorhome is parked up level and very uncomfortable (never had a good nights sleep on this bed at all),(cheap mattress also, you can feel wood underneath) Heat shield underneath for exhaust was broken which should have been picked up on inspection from Brownhills (newark)or Swift. Garage hinges twisted on one side, Habitational door has been modified but needs a new door or relaminating as when you now open the door, the seal moves allowing rainwater to get in between the seal. Seat can be a little uncomfortable and slope downwards but only on the back seatbelt side nearest the habitational door, feels like you’re falling off it onto the floor. Still trying to get the parts corrected by Swift and Brownhills at Newark, must say wheel arches (both) have now been replaced by Thompson Plastics coutesy of Swift, only took over a month to sort though, this was not Thompson Plastics fault, they were excellent in communication, travelling and workmanship. Just hope the rest manages to get resolved by the end of 2008!!!, oh before I forget, when you use the freezer, remember to put it on around 2 days before you go out, leave it any later, your food defrosts as we soon found out, apart from that, everything else seems ok at the moment, very easy to set up, extra large water tanks which can be filled up before you go which is brilliant, just arrive on site, put levellers on front wheels and basically connect gas/electric etc, ideal with impatient tiny youngsters who are raring to go
Ok, firstly I cannot imagine to recommend a swift motorhome again, or one from Brownhills for that matter, (sales staff excellent - poor aftersales which lets them down) We have a swift kontiki 679, constant hiccups arising all the time as noted on above review, Brownhills, Newark bodging workmanship (where we have water leaks, instead of resolving the actual problem of how water gets inside an external locker, they have just drilled into the floor to let the water out!!!) asked at Swift - Care Manager of other dealers where we could take it to and told my husband plainly to look on their web(very rude lady)as she obviously couldn’t be bothered on the phone. I thought Swift were there to help - obviously not and thats customer service for you.
Firstly I cannot recommend buying a Motorhome from Brownhills, their aftersales staff are absolutely appaling, Alison in Aftersales couldn’t even tell us if the new habitational door was in stock or whether it had been ordered or any other items either.
We picked up our Motorhome from Brownhills at Newark on 25 July 2008 for some repair works to be carried out, unsure what was exactly going to be repaired and what wasn’t, a bit like a game of roulette. We were told that it is “ready for collection”, they failed to notify us the state they had left it in. There was mastic/Silicone smears over all the seals and surrounding areas all over the van, they had cut off the heating and water pipes to try and repair the water leak, although the engineer still couldn’t get at the area in question, this was left all disconnected, although Alison told us that it would need to go back to Swift for the water leak to be fixed, nothing had been arranged for it to go back to Swift. She even failed to acknowledge to us that we had no water and heating pipes, there was oil and muck all over the laminate flooring, and after reading the work sheet for the water leak at home later that night which we requested for Solicitors, it dawned on us then and after inspection realised that we had no water or heating pipes so now we couldn’t even use it at all (we had previously used it with the water leak). We wrote to Swift and Brownhills forwarding the copies of the photographs we had taken of the Motorhome, we still tried to deal with Brownhills by the Manager there who led us up the garden path, saying he will try and get us a new motorhome to keep (replacement) and in the meantime a temporary one to use, but this was never to happen and the only other comments we received were “I’m on top of it” and “I’m really going to have to get my head round this one”. This was another complete waste of time for another month. We were unable to get in touch with the main Managing Director at Brownhills, so we went to Swift again direct, it was us that had to arrange for our Motorhome to go back to Swift Leisure to get the items repaired, we did eventually manage to get hold of the MD at Brownhills who really wasn’t that polite saying he didn’t need this hassle on the phone, well we have been dealing with his “hassle” as he calls it since beginning of the year and as we speak now. It is 20 September now as I write this review and we are due to collect our Motorhome from Swift on 22 September 2008. Swift, I hate to admit have been absolutely brilliant, they have stayed in communication with us,always rang when they said they would, arranged curtesy cars to get home and return back to swift to collect the Motorhome. They have also informed us there is still one outstanding problem with the garage door as they are awaiting stock from one of their suppliers and will replace this in due course. So unfortunately I cannot raise an issue with with swift until we have collected the motorhome from them and seen what works have been done.
Whilst writing this review, we have met several owners of Motorhomes who have acknowledged faults to brownhills and have got no-where with them, many have basically just given up with them and either tried to sort the faults themselves or just left them. Is this how Brownhills treat all their customers, I can only recommend to keep at them to repair the faults under the warrenty and any new buyers - NEVER EVER BUY A MOTORHOME FROM BROWNHILLS.
please help we have just purchased swift kontiki 665s 2007 motorhome and find the fridge will not cool on 12v and not so good on gas also we have had to have the fuel pump replaced at 11,000 miles not impressed
just out of warranty