Motorhome choice
I’ve been a club member for 35 years. I now don’t enjoy towing for a lot of reasons. I love my caravan but now want to get a motorhome instead. I’m torn between Autotrail Imala or Bailey Advantage. I’m told the Autotrail is a better product because of the way it’s assembled, but I can’t see any difference. Anyone know something?
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Dave
I think you might mean Bailey Autograph? We are now on our second Bailey in seven years. Our first one was a 2013 Approach 740 and our second one purchased 15 months ago is a Bailey Alliance 66-2. I think you will find few motorhomes that don't have the odd fault, often associated with fitted equipment which makes having a reliable dealer worthwhile. I can't say that I have been disappointed with the build quality of either of my Bailey's. They have a good warranty which can be extended to ten years for an additional fee. I have looked at the Auto-Trail range but what put me off (nothing to do with quality) was the height as most of them are just over the three metres high and I wondered if that would cause me difficulties with using French motorways!!! I was rather taken by the smaller Tribute coachbuilts but in the end decided on another Bailey.. The Baileys tend to be lower to the ground that a lot of other makes, including Auto-Trail's because they employ the Al-Ko chassis.
David
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Perhaps Dave means the new mid range Bailey Advance?
Being totally new to motorhoming we bought a Bailey Autograph II 794 a year ago, and generally we've been OK. A few niggles, but have realised that this is the reality of the industry with manufacturers deferring warranty issues to the individual component manufacturers. We went for the 4 berth although most of the time it's just me and the OH but allows us to occasionally take the grandchildren.
Robin
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Autotrail use conventional coachbuilt building methods including a lot of timber in the habitation framing.I had a 2014 Savannah with 2 single rear beds.We loved the layout. But we had water ingress issues in the lower lockers at the front and where the floor and side walls joined. Supposedly fixed at 1st service but re-appeared at 2nd service in the same places.
By now the problems of using a 7.4 metre van in the areas we like to tour, Scottish Highlands and Islands and Cornwall had started to show themselves, we don't tour in Europe so the annoying height of 3.1 metres which trips the toll measuring costs into a higher level, didn't bother us, But the fact I had open heart surgery and was now over 70 and the Savannah weighed 3650kg did, so we traded it in for an Original Autotrail V line 600. Panel Van Conversion which we are very happy with...after 'teething problems' now fixed. I believe that Autotrail's Quality reputation relates to Van's produced 1998-2007, the present Van's are no better or worse than any other brand IMHO.
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Yes, indeed. Bailey Autograph. Looks good to me. Autotrail owners may have a sniffy attitude. Similar to the Waitrose thing.. I will see what deal I can get. Thanks.
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Sniffy attitude?😱 There's nothing special about AutoTrail or their owners. What a strange thing to say but no doubt Ray will forgive you!
I doubt there’s much to choose between any make in terms of quality. AutoSleeper had a reputation for great build quality. Pah, don't believe it. They just make things look pretty.
Simply buy what suits you best.
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Ha
I've never had a runny nose but I've had two Autotrails!!
JK
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Where does that leave me I am both a Waitrose shopper and a Bailey motorhome owner!!!
Seriously Auto-Trail have been around for donkeys years but Bailey only started selling motorhomes around 2012 so they have a longer history and longer brand loyalty. If you are on Facebook there is a good Bailey Motorhome Owners Facebook group which might be worth joining. Depending on what level of equipment you want it might be worth looking at the Alliance range as they are pretty good value and most have decent payloads.
David
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