Hi,
Anyone experienced this aftermarket 'Mistral' roof in comparison with AFT? I've got AFT at the moment and am thinking about a newer model that unfortunately lost AFT option, so conversion for manual roof will be my only choice. I've been in garage doing it and it looks like the manual option is kind of lower, see photo from that garage's website showing both the roofs: (pre-facelifted) AFT at front and 'Mistral' at back. My wife got concerned if the new alternative is going to be less convenient than AFT to which we all got used to? And if yes, then how much? What point is going to be the most inconvenient in your view?
http://www.autoweb.co.uk/media/images/1 ... el-mpv.jpg
P.S. I'm talking about this sort of conversion: http://www.budgetbongos.com/showroom/ma ... ooter_link
'Mistral' manual roof
Moderator: Doone
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jone_it
Re: 'Mistral' manual roof
The one on that photo certainly looks lower.
The AFT on your photo looks to be the low version too. When I was looking at mine I realised that the facelift bongos have a higher AFT. There was a line of about 10 bongos. On your photo you can see the tent looks like it is in 2 parts - on the facelift there is another part above the first 2 so it opens even further.
I imagine that the manual one would be a bit restrictive? Perhaps lower though as if it was to high it would be tricky to put up manually?
The AFT on your photo looks to be the low version too. When I was looking at mine I realised that the facelift bongos have a higher AFT. There was a line of about 10 bongos. On your photo you can see the tent looks like it is in 2 parts - on the facelift there is another part above the first 2 so it opens even further.
I imagine that the manual one would be a bit restrictive? Perhaps lower though as if it was to high it would be tricky to put up manually?
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Simon Jones
- Supreme Being
- Posts: 9341
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- Location: Salisbury (ish), Wiltshire
Re: 'Mistral' manual roof
Most of the aftermarket roofs reduce the height of vehicle which helps when getting under height barriers and parking. They generally don't go up as far either but that may not be a great problem. Are you planning on using the roof for sleeping, storage or just for extra headroom? Most roofs don't have window/skylight or the panel that unzips for extra ventilation.
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jone_it
Re: 'Mistral' manual roof
@sotal: Yes, it's certainly lower. Rear end is a bit higher though (AFT has just an angle connection) but I'm in doubt it'll compensate. I currently own pre-facelifted AFT, hence looked for the photo with this specific model to know what exactly I'm losing.
@Simon: Yes, they pointed me that overall height will be less than 2m, which is quite a big deal to me (I do remember horrible time last month of finding workaround of 2m section of A86 around Paris w/o any working internet in my hand...) My main usage of the roof is sleeping (either adults or children) while being camping, and restring while driving long routes. I.e. mainly "textbook usage". Do you think light and ventilation might be a problem? I will enquire the garage what they'll do for sorting both points.
@Simon: Yes, they pointed me that overall height will be less than 2m, which is quite a big deal to me (I do remember horrible time last month of finding workaround of 2m section of A86 around Paris w/o any working internet in my hand...) My main usage of the roof is sleeping (either adults or children) while being camping, and restring while driving long routes. I.e. mainly "textbook usage". Do you think light and ventilation might be a problem? I will enquire the garage what they'll do for sorting both points.