Today's episodes all about flexibility
I'm reviewing the 2019 Leisure Travel
Vans Unity FX and we're starting right
now! What's going on
Neil Balthaser here and welcome to Ultra
mobility the channel where you vote for
the RVs that you want reviewed and
compared. It was a close one this week
neck and neck between the Travato 59KL
and the Leisure Travel Vans Unity FX but
the Unity supporters poured in at the
last minute pushing it over the finish
line with a final vote tally of 55 to 45.
So that's the review we're doing today
No worries lithium lovers the 59 KL
review is coming out next week. Let's
take a quick look at some exterior shots
the Unity is about as good-looking as a
huge box on the back of a cutaway
chassis can look. At least Leisure made
an effort to try and give this thing a
kind of streamlined look. Mayb? Sort of. I
mean come on it's a lot better looking
than the bread delivery vans or airport
shuttles you get from other manufacturers. Who said it? I said it!
It's got 34 cubic feet of exterior storage but there's no pass-thru
storage.
Don't cry for me Argentina you do get a
slide-out
which includes two compartment drawers
that come out with the slide-out so
that's kind of cool. Built on the
Mercedes Sprinter 3500 cab chassis this
rear-wheel drive 3 liter v6 diesel
engine sports a five-speed transmission
and delivers a hundred and eighty eight
horsepower and 325 foot-pounds of torque
you can expect to see around 16 to 18
miles per gallon. That's pretty good
mileage for a house. Let's briefly talk
about hookups. No I'm not talking about
that kind of hookup.
How old do you think I am? I'm talking
about utility hookups and on the Unity
FX they're located on the driver side
near the back. The good news: the cable TV
and Shore power plugs are up higher. The
bad news: water and the optional
macerator control switch are located way
down low. Alright let's head inside and
see what all this flexibility talk is
about.This is the layout of the Unity FX
you've got a lounge up front that has
all these crazy configurations and we'll
get into that in a minute.There's a
Murphy bed that drops down to convert
the lounge into your bedroom and we'll
also get to that. Mid section you've got
our galley and in the back there's a
second lounge and your bathroom. Okay
let's talk about this front lounge since
it's the star of the show.
I will admit there's a ton of different
configurations you can do with this
lounge. Let's just run through them so
you can see for yourself: You can have
two individual chairs with a small flip
up table between. You can move the seat
backs to face each other and flip down a
larger table for dining. You can fill in
the middle section and have a large sofa.
You can extend out the base of each
chair grab some cushions from the rear
lounge and have matching Ottomans. You
can extend up the armrest to add support
for the back cushions and create a
chaise lounge. Or you can drop in the
armrest / drink holder and create
theater seats. Also the two cab seats
swivel around and there's a pedestal
table they can be set up between them as
well. So that's a lot of flexibility and
I do have to hand it to Leisure travel
vans the concept is really cool but I
also have to point out some things that
bother me. First there are no three-point
seat belts other than the two cab
seats this is a two-person RV max and
that's a shame because the Unity FX
would be more flexible if it could carry
four passengers. Also to seat four people
at the table you're gonna have to
perform a little furniture yoga. It goes
something like this: you pull out the
extensions from each chair base then
remove the larger seat cushions from
each side and find a place to stow them
and then you run back to the rear lounge
and get for smaller cushions and use
them as new seat bottoms two on each
side then you raise the arm rests on
each side to provide support for the
backrest and then you move each backrest
center so the two people can share part
of it... Don't worry there'll be some kind
of instructions that you can follow
I'm sure. Finally when I tried these
configurations out myself I thought they
were better in concept than execution.
The biggest beef I have with many of
them is that the seat cushions and backs
are just kind of sitting there. They're
not really attached to anything. Yeah you
can see that there are some places to
snap the seat backs into place but
they're not available in all
configurations and so I kind of felt
like things were sliding around. I'd
rather have less configurations that are
better thought out. Okay let's talk about
the Murphy bed. It's pretty simple to set
up. You need to make sure you have the
seat cushions in place and the table
tops folded away. Then you just unlock a
couple pins and drop down the bed. It's
pretty straightforward. The bed's 68 by
76 inches and if you're over 6 feet tall
you're going to be okay. I'm 5'10" and you
can see that I have plenty of room. A
couple standout features are the built
in back rests
that are adjustable so that you can sit
up and watch TV and the bank of awning
style windows above. Keep in mind that
the slide-out has to be out for the
Murphy bed to
have enough room to drop down. If Jenny
Craig's working for you you'll have just
enough room to squeeze between the bed
and the kitchen counter to get to the
bathroom at night. And I know if you're
as old as me you're running to the
bathroom at night. Let's talk quickly
about some standout features on the
Unity FX.
First there's ducted AC and full water
filtration standard also there's the
Truman aqua go comfort Plus instant hot
water heater and I love the comfort plus
model because it constantly recirculates
hot water in the lines so you're never
waiting when you turn on the hot water
and and Leisure Travel ops for the
upgraded Mercedes chassis with all the
driving safety assist features like
blind spot and collision detection. There
are also a couple upgrades
worth a shoutout: I wish every coach
builder offered a Wi-Fi cellular
extender. It's one of those things every
modern camper needs on the road. And the
power stabilization jacks are only for
stabilizing and not for leveling but
they will eliminate that wobble that you
see in some of my videos as I walk
around. Alright let's head into the
galley where we're also going to talk
about the FX's electrical system. I love
the modern and sleek look of the galley.
Shown here is the glamour decor package
with Bianca white matte finished upper
cabinet. Ewwwww weeeee! Very sexy! A clean-looking
Corian counter and beautiful curved
radius cabinet doors below the sink all
complement each other and work well.
You've got a big window with awning
style lower windows that open and a
dedicated fantastic fan above so
ventilation is great in this galle. Also
CamperDude one of my subscribers
pointed this out and I agree with him: a
stove's placement should be away from any
furniture so that when we guys cook we
don't mar the furniture with our epic
cooking failures. Good point
CamperDude. Ysou and I are safe to cook
in this galley. About the only ding I
have is that there's no counter
extension so that limits your prep space
to what you see here. As far as storage
you've got loads of it. The upper
cabinets are 12 inches deep so your
plate should fit up there fine. You've
also got a tall and deep pull out pantry
and on the other side of the galley
you've got a 6.7 cubic foot three-way
refrigerator with a separate freezer and
above a convection microwave. Both the
refrigerator and microwave doors are
positive locking - bonus points Leisure
Travel Vans. One last thing of note: look
down. You've got plenty of aisle width even
with all those drawers open. If you're
standing at the stove someone can easily
get past you to get to the rear of the
coach. Let's take a look at the FX's
electrical system. First off it's just
lead-acid batteries no lithium upgrade
available here. Time to step into the
21st century Leisure Travel Vans and
offer a lithium upgrade. Also the 1000
watt inverter is lacking by today's
standard. We need at least 2,000
watts to run things like the microwave
without needing to start the generator.
Speaking of generators both are options
here. You can upgrade to a 3.6kw 218 00:10:31,260 --> 00:10:38,070 LP generator for $3,900 or
for a whopping $7800
go for the 3.2kw
diesel generator. You can get up
to four hundred watts of solar for
$2,800 so as electrical system go I
think Leisure Travel Vans can do better
at the very least they should include a
generator as standard. Time to move on to
the back of the coach where we're going
to take a look at this rear lounge and
the bathroom. Keeping in mind that we're
in an RV
that's 25 feet long. It's kind of
cool that we have such a spacious second
lounge back here. It's an L shaped
configuration tucked in the corner which
makes it cozy and private.There's a
second 24 inch LCD TV facing towards the
back and once again demonstrating its
flexibility there's a stowaway ottoman
under that seat we're facing which can
also function as a workstation table or
dining tray. If you have grandkids or
you're shorter this area could also be
made into a small bed but I'm 5'10" and
you can see it's not big enough for me.
Let's take a look in the bathroom. This
is a dry bath which means the toilet and
shower are separate. Speaking of toilet
I'm a little squished on this toilet my
shoulders are scrunched in my head is
hitting that thing above me. I've been in
Class B vans where I haven't been as
squished. Turning to the shower there's
pretty good height here thanks to the
skylight plus the shower components are
recessed which gives me a bit more elbow
room. As far as tank sizes are concerned
we've got really generous tanks on this
Unity FX. Okay it's judgment time
should you avoid the Unity FX? Consider
it? Shortlist it? Or buy it? I think you
should consider it. There are other Class
C coaches out there that are more
practical than the Unity FX
including some from Leisure Travel Vans
itself. Having two lounges is great but I
think trading a less flexible lounge for
a permanent dead setup is a better way
to go. Finally you know I can't close out
this episode without saying something
about Leisure Travel Vans short two-year
coach warranty. The Leisure Travel Vans
brand is synonymous with quality and you
know what their coach warranty
needs to also reflect that. All right
thanks so much for watching. If you enjoy
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Alright that's it for now we'll
catch you next time. Remember vote for
the RV's that you want reviewed and
compared - check out the link in the video
description below see ya!
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