"Just Looking......"
We did something rather out of character yesterday, went to a dealer and had a look around at Motorhomes! New and nearly new ones. We wanted to check out different layouts, see what they had on offer. Two new Hymers were very nice, although one was way to
big for what we need, the other however ticked a lot of must haves, and a good few desirables!
We were less impressed by the Swifts, Bessacars, Chaussons and Knaus however. Not quite what we expected. Perhaps not what we need. But this has prompted us to have a look at a good few other makes that are out there, especially as we are in no rush to replace
what we have at the moment. It was quite good fun though, poking around and seeing all the kit some of them have nowadays.
We ended an interesting and informative day not too heavy on the pocket, spent a total of £2.88!
Nice to browse though!
Comments
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We have always gone for very old and quirky, so completely out of character for us! We gave the vans a miss, all except a lovely brand new Eriba. That just oozed quality. OH would have one like a shot, always been something he liked. Too small for us now
with two big dogs, plus have to say we love the MH, used a lot more than our van nowadays.0 -
Before we bought our motohome this year we probably spent several years occasionally looking - NEC, Dealers etc.. We were always attracted by Hymers and I even looked into buying an ex-rental one from Germany.
Eventually we decided that the Hymer was a typical continental design which favours a garage against lounge space. We decided that rather than filling a garage with stuff we didn't really need (loungers, bikes etc.), and rather than not being able to sit up in bed, we would stick with a typical UK parallel bench seat arrangement. Although we don't tolerate bad weather (we move on) there are times when it can't be avoided and there are times when you are parked in less attractive surroundings and the interior lounge space is an advantage.
Continental versus UK design motorhomes has been discussed endlessly but I can only comment that, based on this year's experience, the quality of our Autosleeper is as good as any Hymer. Time will tell. 2000 miles and 4-5 weeks away is not a lot.
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HG, you must be a mind reader! We have an Autosleeper now, a lovely little monocoque Gatcombe. Suits us down to ground at moment, built quality and interior very good, on a VW base. It is the Autosleepers that we really want to have a look at, as having
seen one owned by friends, much newer than ours, we were very taken!0 -
Ah! We have the Broadway low profile on a Peugeot base. Would have liked the Mercedes but they compromise on locker space and fresh water capacity also a few thousand more which was difficult to justify.
The Broadway layout of course is just like a standard two berth caravan so easy to get used to. The big change for us was buying Duvalays and using single beds which makes the whole bed make-up thing much easier. We also have 5cm memory foam and luxury quilts
(not the Duvalay rubbish) so very comfortable.The built-in LPG tanks is another big advantage. Every time you stop the fridge switches over to gas automatically - no gas valves to worry about.
Good luck!
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We're on our third German van in 16 years. None have suffered damp. The lack of damp is the first thing we consider when buying and rules out all UK vans except perhaps AutoSleeper which, in 21 years, hasn't made a van with a layout that suited us. I might
be doing Swift and Elldis a disservice as they have both moved to new construction techniques. Always look at AutoSleeper vans though when we get the opportunity. One day ...0 -
We like the Hymers too, good soild build, however no dealers near us, but we've recently been very interested in the Burstner vans they have one range that has 3 models the front end of the van is the same in all 3, but the back end is differant, one has
high twin beds and a garage, another has an island bed, but the one we have been interested in is rear bathroom, with twin fixed beds, the beds are not high ones, but not really low ones either so there is really good storage underneath, the galley is good
with plenty of storage, the lounge is the usual continental style. We like the idea of the fixed lower single beds and end bathroom as the van doesn't have the cramped feel of the garage style so you can sit up in bed, infact the bed has a back support that
can be raised to aid sitting up. Really like this model.0 -
Not seen any Burstners yet TG, but would like a look around some. Our AS has the bed behind the cab seats, quite long benches, and they can be made up as singles, but with two big dogs, not easy. Kitchen and bathroom are at rear. As I said, we had a look in a friend's and the rear lounge got us thinking. We don't want to go any larger than 6 /6.5 metres, so that restricts our search. The small Hymer was very impressive, ticked a lot of boxes, and had the raised beds at the back, up two steps. Could be used double as well. Had a tall, slim fridge, oven, decent kitchen, good bathroom. What did impress us was the quality of the fittings and finishes.
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Hymer make lovely MH and caravans....they really are well put together...the quality goes much further than skin deep, with little of the bling that some manufacturers mistake for quality.
Definitely should be on anyones shopping list, if only to appreciate really good design integrity, executed properly.
the latest model of the architypal Hymer, the B-class, is a slimmer version (Dynamic Line) and they have a 6m model....decent lounge, huge L-shaped rear corner kitchen (the reason to choose this specific model), pretty good garage under the rear kitchen worktop, nice bathroom and a large drop down bed over the cab seats....compact 2 berth with loads of room...
OH want us to check one out....see Travelworld for their fully loaded example...
oh yes.....the compromise.....? £84k i think......
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Yes we noticed a good few now have drop down beds. A good compromise for those who fancy it, but we decided it wasn't one of our selling points. We did like the twin singles at the rear, with two decent steps up, will keep the blasted hounds on terra firma
if nothing else! I like them because I often like to retire early and either read or watch something on IPad, while OH will sit up for hours reading. Hence I get grumpy if I can't go to bed! Compromise is the lounge area as you step in of course, nice but
not laid out comfort. It's good to look around though, and lots more makes and models to try out. Will be a few years until we change ours, but quite enjoying looking!
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BB we are not keen on the dropdown beds, lot of weight that we wouldn't use, can see how useful they are as an occasional 4 berth but don't need it. Friends who fulltime have a Frankia 2 berth that has a big dropdown bed with a large lounge underneath it, rear bathroom and kitchen is kind of in front of that, really roomy van they like the drop down bed as its easy to push it up out of the way during the day giving them lots of space. We prefer the rear lounge with 2 single couches that can be used as twin beds or king bed, this gives us loads of space during the day.
We looked at some Hobby M/H's recently but can't say I was impressed, not as good as Hymer/Bursner IMO. Shame as their caravans are good.
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yes, the Frankia you describe is very much like the Hymer in my post....we saw this very Frankia a couple of years ago at the NEC, thought it was great.
yes, the front lounge with bed over, is a similar concept (i guess) to the rear lounge that can be converted to beds...in that it is a single space being used for two functions...
we used our drop down recently for the first time (gave our rear beds to daughter and SIL when at Sandy Balls) and it was great....1.6m wide and room to sit up for a cuppa...slept like logs.
i dont 'rear lounge' as i prefer a cab seat to support my (worn out, apparently...) lower back, and low backed sofa-type seats dont give me enough support...most rear lounge designs seem to leave the cab out of the 'whole' design and this, to me, is a waste
of a metre or so of space...i dont want to be sitting in a cab seat that has the bathroom wall immediately in front of my face....i like to put my feet up on the adjacent side seat...
a one box design (especially an A-class) with a drop down bed over the cab seats does give a great use of space (as your friends have discovered)....they even do one now that allows lengthways sleeping, effectively as singles, but on one bed.....clever these
germans....
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We wanted a seperate bed area as Mrs T retires early and gets up early wheras I go to bed a bit alter and get up a bit later so only havig an overcab dropdown bed that makes the lounge area unusable was out of the question.
We like the continental lounge area and like you BB love to swivel teh cab seats and put feet up, if you do not use the cab area as you say its 1m wasted.
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We wanted a seperate bed area as Mrs T retires early and gets up early wheras I go to bed a bit alter and get up a bit later so only havig an overcab dropdown bed that makes the lounge area unusable was out of the question.
We like the continental lounge area and like you BB love to swivel teh cab seats and put feet up, if you do not use the cab area as you say its 1m wasted.
the drop down bed in an A-class cab does not actually make the lounge unusable...
the bed eases forward towards the windscreen as it decends, meaning only the two cab seats cannot be used....these have to be folded anyway....the remaining lounge seats are free should they be required...
obviously, this is different for a transverse dropdown in a non-Aclass coachbuilt as it sits further to the centre of the van, covering the whole lounge...
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but there is still not a seperate bed area (bedroom) so the person in bed still gets the noise/disturbance from TV, lights, kettle etc.
ah, i see what you mean....yes, ok for someone to be reading quietly, i guess.
i reckon, even in our van, if i had the tv on in the lounge, it could be heard in our bedroom....obviously depends on how loud the tv is and how good OH's hearing is
another advantage of the drop down bed is that bedding stays in place on the bed, no extra storage space required..
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but there is still not a seperate bed area (bedroom) so the person in bed still gets the noise/disturbance from TV, lights, kettle etc.
Not bothered about a separate bedroom, just to be in comfort and in bed does me, we use headphones so that we don't disturb each other, and subdued lighting isn't really an issue.
We never personally saw the benefits of towing a huge fixed bed van around, and would want to keep to a small MH so that parking isn't an issue. This is more important for us than having a separate bedroom area. Just our preferences at the moment.
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but there is still not a seperate bed area (bedroom) so the person in bed still gets the noise/disturbance from TV, lights, kettle etc.
Not bothered about a separate bedroom, just to be in comfort and in bed does me, we use headphones so that we don't disturb each other, and subdued lighting isn't really an issue.
We never personally saw the benefits of towing a huge fixed bed van around, and would want to keep to a small MH so that parking isn't an issue. This is more important for us than having a separate bedroom area. Just our preferences at the moment.
Write your comments here...and that's why they make a plethora of sizes, layouts, equipment levels, furnishings etc. it's not a one size fits all we are all different and want different things. We have looked at some very expensive vans but some we would
not want even if given one (well maybe) as the colour of the wood in our opinion is awful all orange but a lot of people seem to like them.0 -
It can be costly! We started "Just looking..." earlier this summer, and ended up a couple of weeks ago with a brand new motorhome, despite our now previous 10 year old one having nothing intrinsically wrong with it, other perhaps than being the age it was.
Our preference is for a two berth layout with full length single bed/settees and as close to 6 metres LOA as possible. We found that there are surprisingly few out there which meet this simple spec, and they are mostly found in entry level ranges rather than the more up-market ranges.
We looked at continental vans with fixed singles, but to meet our length requirement (to fit on our drive) would have had to accept a cramped lounge area. So the only viable options were UK built, but amongst these we found some strange design decisions, for example an end kitchen layout where the sink position was right above the low step just inside the habitation door.
Inevitably what we bought involved compromises, the ideal motorhome for us does not appear to exist. The new one is slightly longer than our old van, but is still a proper low-line, with Alko chassis, so both our (ageing) dog and our (ageing) selves can get in and out easily. With the extra kit thrown in and the fairly heavy discount we got (dealers clearing their forecourts for next year's models?) it has most things that we had on our tick list.
Still, it would have been a lot cheaper not to have gone "Just looking..."
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another advantage of the drop down bed is that bedding stays in place on the bed, no extra storage space required..
Write your comments here...so does ours on the island bed
of course, as you say, it does on any fixed bed van.
my point was that you can have a van without a fixed bed (just one drop down bed) and still not have to find a place to store your bedding.
the thing is, you wont get an island bed van in 6m...
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"Our preference is for a two berth layout with full length single bed/settees and as close to 6 metres LOA as possible. We found that there are surprisingly few out there which meet this simple spec, and they are mostly
found in entry level ranges rather than the more up-market ranges.We looked at continental vans with fixed singles, but to meet our length requirement (to fit on our drive) would have had to accept a cramped lounge area. So the only viable options were UK built......"
....the reason being is that the continentals dont do twin sofa front lounge vans, which is the only real design that allows non fixed twin singles.....their twin singles are likely to be fixed, as you say, and this can only result in a small lounge in a
6m van, wherever it comes from.even UK rear lounge vans (giving twin singles) are rare at 6m, if you want any sort of decent washroom/kitchen. generally these lounges are shorter and give a transverse bed, whereas to get decent length singles the van is likely to be over 6m.
some shorter vans even use the cab seats as a lounge extension to the beds....
to get longish single beds in a 6m van, along with a decent lounge, it has to be a front lounge layout....probably from the UK....as you have discovered
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Wanting a rear lounge with twin seatees/beds in a 6.6m van is why we bought a Bailey 625se. The A line vans with seats that turn do give a comfy upright seating, but when ive been sat in it all day travelling, I like a change. The problem with most fixed
bed vans is they are over 7m and even at that they feel cramped to me, hardly any floor space, we like the open feeling of our van, and while we don't use the cab seats to sit in, the space is not dead space as we use this for putting other items in while
parked up on site. There is no requirement to use cab seats as we have 2 x 6ft settee's for just the 2 of us..
when we caravaned our last
van had fixed singles, we loved this van but at 7.4m too big, we now feel that a smaller van is preferable that wasting 2m just gor beds that only get used for 8hrs a day. As has been said we all like differant things, thankfully there is plenty of choice.0 -
"Wanting a rear lounge with twin seatees/beds in a 6.6m van is why we bought a Bailey 625se."
TG, exactly my point, your layout (which might have also been right for the OP) is just not doable in 6m...hence the OP's acceptance of a front lounge, twin sofa solution..
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There was a MH out there that would have fit our criteria perfectly, but out of production now. Might be able to find something similar. At the moment, our top priorities, given the price of MHs will be size for ease of parking, but as comfortable as possible.
Reliability, (base engine and fittings), build quality and specifics such as decent kitchen and bathroom are on the list as well. Most UK built will be off the list, we have not been impressed with anything home produced yet, and I don't accept shoddy workmanship
and poor quality service under any circumstances. I can be as welcoming as a Dire wolf if something goes wrong!But we have plenty of time yet, thoroughly enjoying little Gertie Gatcombe!
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Euro MH dont 'tend' to do as comprehensively equipped kitchens as the UK ones...
however, they tend to major on storage, usually with nice deep drawers for low down siting of tins and pans etc...
many wont have an oven, but more are now including one for the UK market, either as std or as an option.
fridge freezers tend to be larger, again the storage thing....more to do with eating outside, i imagine.
washrooms are likely to be a mixture of separate shower/toilet in the bigger vans and wetroom type in the smaller vans.
personally, i dont have an issue with a wetroom....we have one and use it most of the time we are away as its plenty big enough for us (not together, of course
).as for 'looking'....Im always 'looking', just to keep abreast of the rapidly changing market place and to check out the latest ideas
I'll almost certainly be at the NEC later this year.....but my wallet might stay at home
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There was a MH out there that would have fit our criteria perfectly, but out of production now. Might be able to find something similar. At the moment, our top priorities, given the price of MHs will be size for ease of parking, but as comfortable as possible.
Reliability, (base engine and fittings), build quality and specifics such as decent kitchen and bathroom are on the list as well. Most UK built will be off the list, we have not been impressed with anything home produced yet, and I don't accept shoddy workmanship
and poor quality service under any circumstances. I can be as welcoming as a Dire wolf if something goes wrong!But we have plenty of time yet, thoroughly enjoying little Gertie Gatcombe!
Well you get what you pay for and many British vans are a compromise giving many features at a budget price. As I said earlier, from what I have seen Autosleepers quality matches Hymer but both are top end and some Hymers are very pricey especially if you
start adding leather etc. If you come down to something like an Adria I don't think there is much to choose in comparison with a similar price UK unit.0 -
OH is still keen on a MH, but as I said on a previous discussion, I am not so keen, but trying to keep an open mind.
Having made a list of what we would like in a MH, we have realised that it does not fit with what I now have the licence to drive, or with what we realistically have space for on the driveway.
We also decided we want the possibility to be able to take the grandchildren along, so 4 belted seats and 4 berths, and a model that our daughter and husband could use, so under 3500kg.
We have therefore decided that a compromise is necessary, have abandoned Alde heating as a requirment, and OH is now looking at up to 7.5m (but preferably only 7m), under 3500kg models that still have most of what we would want.
Looking at the rear fixed bed models with the split toilet/shower arrangement, there are several under 3500kg and 7.5m, but the big compromise is in kitchen space, and in the island bed types the storage space in the bedroom.
Have not found any UK built ones that combine our preferred size/layout with the under 3500kg requirement.
She now has a "shortlist" (actually quite long!) which includes the Hymer Exsis 598 models (very nice), also (so far) similar ones from Rapido, Chausson, Burstner, Knaus, Adria and Dethleffs.
One that we also found interesting is the Burstner Ixeo it680G, which has a drop down bed as the main bed, rather than a fixed bed, so therefore more lounge and kitchen space, a good rear bathroom, and good storage. 2 additional berths can be catered for by only partly lowering the bed. However, it is somewhat heavier than the fixed bed models, so limited payload.
The "basic" models are probably just a bit too basic for us, and adding the various things we would want is going to add weight, and ££££s. It is all rather bewildering!
Hoping we may be able to see a few in the flesh in September when we head south.
Meantime, perhaps a MH owner could advise on engines?
Is the 130hp Fiat engine going to give a reasonable performance on hills?
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I'm no expert on motorhome engines but having driven a 3 litre X5 diesel for many years I was convinced that the 2.2 litre Peugeot diesel (150 bhp) in our 3500 kg Autosleepers would be totally useless. In fact, engine design has improved enormously and the modern turbo boost diesels are very efficient and powerful. It is more than adequate and feels actually "nippy" so I would not worry too much. Shouldn't think that 20 bhp would make too much difference.
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