Murvi Pimento or morello

Just started to look for a quality panel van conversion. I see Murvi now have an option to use the new Ford Transit base. Has anyone any experience with either Murvi as a company or the new transit base vehicle. Not made up our minds as to 5.5m or 6m. Is
the difference in length noticible when driving and parking. Are there any other converter's using the new Ford Transit. Your help and experience would be very much appreciated. 

Write your comments here...I too have been looking at short conversions onto Ford Transit chassis, but must have a fitted toilet cassette.Apart from Murvi,  Devon do one called a firefly, Well house leisure do one called a terrier,  the terrier needs to
be the XL high top,  to get the fitted loo.  Don't  know of any others unless others can help ?  

Murvi are a very well respected company,who have been converting for many years.My only hesitation is that almost everything fitted is an extra, and the final price for a usable van works out far more expensive than a lot of competitors.But for the price
you get a personalised van, and good afterservice. And good residuals. Hmm. 

have been considering making the change myself and as someone who like you appreciates quality I have been speaking to owners of quality vans that I have seen.

Of them the only one that has unique and rock solid owner support is Murvi.  Owners seem to insist that they would not now consider any other make.  The interesting thing is that you never seem to be able to find a second hand one. They all seem to be passed
on by their owners to someone else in a private deal!

TF

For build quality, design innovation, quality of components  and service its ENC Fifer for me.

have been considering making the change myself and  .....

Do they do a V6? 

The website is dated because they are too busy building vans. It gives a false impression. I have seen the new vehicles in freshened 2106 spec build on the X290 and they look great. No Ford and based on a Citroen Relay or optionally I think Fiat. The Murvi
and the Fifer have a "dated" design in common. Evolution not revolution. But there is much clever stuff in the Fifer. Diesel heating compressor fridge huge battery solar panel. Much cheaper than a Fifer especially as nearly all the options are there as standard.
No V6 engine but why would you want one. Have done 100mph on autobahn with the 130bhp so its definitely got enough power. 

 ..... No V6 engine but why would you want one. Have done 100mph on autobahn with the 130bhp so its definitely got enough power. 

From another thread  .... there ain't no substute for cubes 

MM  --Naughty Naughty!

 The very fact that they're Citroen or Fiat based would be enough to make me think again. SWMBO's 60 plate 25000 C3 hasn't exactly been trouble
free (best part of £1000 spent on it in the last 18months) and Fiat Fix It Again Tomorrow .... doesn't inspire confidence.

We find the 5.4 ideal for our needs. Sufficient space for an 8 week trip to Europe. Of course the space IS more limited than some vehicles and a smaller van needs a degree of organisation and discipline but for drivability and ease of parking (we go to some
remote places) it is perfect for us. On the other hand the 6 metre Fifer has greater verstility (rotating seats) and even more storage including underfloor in the cab area. The engine in the Citroen is actually a Ford Puma derived engine. (The 3 litre would
be a Fiat). You can't reject a brand on account of a bad experience with one vehicle one vehicle especially one which is not the same vehicle or even a a van.

A commercial vehicle is designed for a hard life being driven long distances at motorway speeds so compa

MM  --Naughty Naughty!

Write your comments here...Perfectly legal in the section in question and I was barely keeping up with the other traffic.

rison with a C3 is not a reliable guide. For what its worth (probaly not a lot) we did about 26K in our last Van (a Ford) and 28K so far in our Fifer. We had a suspension problem (manufacturing defect) with the Fifer which cost about £100 to fix (paid by
convertor) and an alternator pulley failure and leaking sump on the Ford. None of these were major issues so I would guage reliability to be about the same.    

 .... You can't reject a brand on account of a bad experience with one vehicle one vehicle especially one which is not the same vehicle or even a a van.

.....    

Let's face it, neither the French nor Italians have a fantastic reputation when it comes to electrics 

Nothing specific against Sevel made products (Fiat,Peugeot, Citroen) just that my last three motor homes cabs have been made by them, and all have had vehicle problems of various types and ALL have had very poor electrics/electronics. So, want a change, either a VW or a Ford, and Ford look the most promising, for us at least, we will be spending more time driving it than using the habitation, so, ease of parking is important, it will be our only form of transport & must have a fitted cassette loo.No pop- tops,high top only,  any suggestions?  .   Max 6 metres length. The Autosleeper Duetto would have been perfect, but is no longer made unfortunately.The Murvi is looking more attractive by the hour.

My only experience of French electrical engineering comes from 12 years in the Helicopter Industry and with a company that specialised in French and German Helicopters.

Our own engineers much preferred the rock solid German engineering and described the French built machines of having a tendency to suffer from "Wiggely Amps"

TF

Unfortunately VW based (T5/T6) campers tend to be very expensive, latest Autosleeper Topaz is 56,000 pounds !! As we say in Wales, that's  Beyond that is !     Other converters are not much cheaper, Bilbo,Danbury even Devon. And I'm  afraid I am not quite
so convinced about German efficiency  having worked for BASF for some years.  It's a bit of an expensive myth. Put about by the Germans themselves. But back to Murvi.....any owners out there ? 

I had a similar problem in getting to see one. The solution for me was to wait until a saw a relatively up to date Murvi on site somewhere and approached the owner and asked him about it.

He was so proud of his MH that he insisted on showing me. He was very appreciative with their attitude and helpfulness, not as he made it clear, that he actually had any faults, just getting used to it!

TF