Hymer caravan - opinions welcome
Thinking of buying a new/used Hymer after years of buying UK caravans. Has anyone any experience of Hymer caravans? Is the German build standard any better than UK manufacturers? Your opinions recommendations (or not) are welcomed. Cheers.
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We purchased a Hymer in 2002 being convinced they were better built than anything the UK mass builders could offer. Throughout its ownership to its replacement in 2008 with our current Hymer it gave no reason to doubt the soundness of that decision.
The 2008 Hymer though better in styling has not quite lived up to the earlier one in quality of build; the use of wretched ABS albeit only cosmetically being its Achilles heel.
I feel Swift now they have finally dumped ABS major panels have in their Smart HT technology raised the game, even for Hymer to aspire to. Swift's pitiful payloads will for me probably be its undoing.
On Hymer weight, they as said don't do light. But before condemning them on that score consider the very high payloads they can be purchased with. Mine have been just each side of 300 kgs using the old system, though including the factory supplied batteries
in the MIRO. With such generous, though for us near essential payloads, it is inevitable they can have high MTPLMs. They now can't be purchased in the widths that are more UK CL friendly. As near exclusive user of small sites that has held back its replacement.
Its door location only seems an issue to some forum users, not to the van owners.Still a super van by any standards with ideal layouts for us, accepting life has to have compromises living in any box 6 x 2.3 metres.
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All three of our Hymers have been supplied as British specs so not grey imports.
Probably the first one had the most continental layout, as the Dinning area was at the rear and it had parallel benches at the front these could be used as either twin singles or a massive double bed. The door was on the "wrong" side. The most obvious continental compromise was the oven it was obviously an after thought.
The second one was a 2007 Nova 570. This had a standard British layout Front lounge side dinette rear shower room. SI'm liar layout to the Bailey Madrid. The door is on the correct side.
The final one is a 2015 Nova 590. Rear shower room central transverse island bed front lounge not exactly a radical layout these days. Door on the wrong side.
Adressing the door for us having an offside door has never presented a problem it seems to have as many advantages as disadvantages to us.
Build quality and equipment. First thing the installation is really neat it all runs in conduit, there are no electric wires running across lockers for example. The sinks have traps in them and run to a single drain points outside. In my opinion the first van had a better build quality than the second, obviously it is too soon to say what it will be like on the third
Weight the Elephant in the room. They are heavy vans no doubt but a lot of that apparent weight is due to the fact that they have much bigger payloads than Brittish vans. iirc the declared of the current 590 is 1565kg the mptlm is 1900kg Which I would say is a realistic payload for a 4 berth van unlike the 150kg you see quoted for many uk vans.
Like most vans you tend to see similar fittings dometic fridge Alde or Truma heating etc but it does tend to be will fitted and the "heavy duty" version for example the Truma fire in the 570 was the 5kw not the 3kw that was fitted to all British van afaik and it heated up much quicker on a cold Friday night. Similarly with the Alde system in the new van. One of the vents near the living area is fan assisted to aid heat up. Also I couldn't understand why the draw above the alde boiler is sited got so warm I assumed it was heat leakage from the boiler. In fact there is a radiator below this draw. So you can use the draw for warming plates of towels as far as I can see this feature is completely undocumented but is for us superb.
So all in all we are very happy with them, but like everything else nothing's perfect.
So if you have specific concerns just ask. I, and I suspect a few others will try to give honest opinions.
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Thanks for your comments so far. I had no specifics in mind. I have seen them around the network and they look like a nice well-built van. However as looks can be deceiving I thought I would ask for opinions. Weight not so much of an issue for me as I tow with a Discovery 3. Seen a 2009 Nova 570 SL on the tinternet which looks good? Seems from comments so far that the newer ones are not as well built as slightly older ones!!
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Hi just to give you a perspective about the build quality. Reduced quality is relative, by reduction I mean that some of the very best built British vans might come close. Specially about the 570 we have a 2007 570 (we haven't sold it yet) A couple of
watch outs. Some 570's crease above the door. I am not sure if this affected the newer ones which 2009 is. But Google it and you will see this problem. That said we haven't had this problem with ours. As far as I know this only affects the 570 no other
vans in the nova range. The gas locker The abs can crack this fault is as oscid states mainly cosmetic. But it is unsightly and annoying.The third bed is a bit short according to my 21 year old daughter The double bed we found comfortable Our van which we use 12 months of the year is warm and heats up quickly
A plus point I have found. Is spares availability is very good And I never had to wait very long for Hymer specific parts. Most of the standard parts seem to come from the Dometic group.
Hpoe that this helps
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If Hymer wanted to reduce weight. Then all they would need to do would be to reduce their mptlm to 150kg like most Brittish makers do, I honestly can't remember what the payload of the 570 is the mptlm is 1700kg. The swing declared MIRO of 1190kg and the
590 MIRO 1565kg mptlm 1900kg.What ever else I never got the feeling that Hymer build down to a price.
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I can only as far as build quality is concerned relate the German family next to us at Hillhead the year before last with a Hymer M/V who had had numerous problems and wre having to take it back again on their return with more damp issues
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Trouble is these things can go arround in circles. And a pm facility might be more usful to the op maybe he is on another forum if he is please feel free to tell me your forum name and I will pm you.
i guess my position is as follows
Are Hymer's perfect? No.
Are they well designed and well built? In my opinion yes.
Are there any British vans of equal or better build quality? None that I have seen including high end like vanmaster
Is parts availability a problem? No
Would I buy another? We bought our third 6 weeks ago
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We had a Hymer 530FB and loved it. The fixed bed was a full king size at 5ft wide and 2m long. The build quality was superb and perhaps most importantly if you caravan all year, the insulation was brilliant. We caravanned in -7C in Northern Spain one winter and were still cosy and warm.
We have now changed to a motorhome again. Guess what? Another Hymer. The fixtures and fittings are the same high quality and the insulation is again second to none. Plus, it has a double floor which improves insulation more and also provides oodles of storage space. I would thoroughly recomment. The only difference between our two vehicles is that the caravan had a fairly small bathroom with a footwell as the shower tray. Our motorhome has a full size shower and a HUGE wardrobe.
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Over the last 47 years we've had 8 UK c'vans (6 from new) but now we have a Fendt caravan and a Burstner motorhome, both from new with negligible problems. I'm sorry to say that I would never go back to a UK model. There is really not comparison. You will
not be disappointed with your German Hymer.0
