Pilote P746 - reply to question
downhill222 - My wife and I were very impressed in the NEC show the Pilote range and we liked the P746 range.
We bought our Pilote Reference at 6 months old, it had been used on a long term test by MMM families, with about 5,000 miles on the clock.
There have been very few faults, except rattles and squeaks which were easily rectified, and it is now running and performing very well.
I have owned and driven other makes of Motorhome but can honestly say the Pilote is a better 'drive' than any of the others.
There were minor issues with waste water disposal, no spare wheel and the shower door not closing properly which have also been sorted out.
The main issue I have with the Pilote is the payload, or lack of it, which was blithely quoted as 485 kilos by the Salesmen but certainly wasn't that high when weighed.
The payload figures for any Motorhome seem to be worked out on the back of a fag packet or wildly optimistic at best.
The Pilote is no exception and whether you buy a Pilote or any other make check the payload before parting with your money or it will be too late afterwards.
It is just about sufficient for our needs, two adults and a dog, but extra passengers will almost certainly take it above the legal 3500 kilos limit.
The Pilote P746 is about half a metre longer than mine and it may struggle to get under the 3500 kilos limit if it has a full compliment of passengers and equipment.
There was no spare wheel when we acquired the Reference MH and with an experience of a tyre problem in France a couple of years ago I bought one as soon as possible before we went away.
If I was you I'd make sure the Dealer supplied a spare wheel and consign the virtually useless tyre repair kit to the dustbin.
If you buy new I would suggest you ask for and make sure you get fitted Smoke and CO alarms, a Fire extinguisher and a Fire blanket as I believe they should come as standard rather than extras that you have to buy.
Overall I'm happy with the Pilote, we've put on about 9,000 miles so far, and had no problems with any of the equipment in the habitation or the Ducato cab area.
We do tend to drive at or very near the speed limit, 220 miles of Motorway, on our way to and from the Eurotunnel Terminal and the vehicle has never been affected by winds and gives a smooth ride whatever the road surfaces in both the UK and France.
We would quite happily purchase another Pilote when the time comes to replace it and the help and advice on any questions we've asked at the Dealers have been very good and I can't fault them in any way.
Hope this helps.