UK Built Motorhomes
I do keep being drawn back to motorhomes and probably will remain so in the run up to us having to make a decision on our next car. If we stick with a twin axle caravan then our next car has to be something bigger and slightly heavier than the current towcar. If however we went down the route of a motorhome then the need for such a towcar wouldn't be necessary.
Obviously there are a huge amount of factors to consider and it's not a decision to be made on a whim. At the moment I've been pondering layouts and quality of construction. We currently have a Lunar Delta RI, which fingers crossed continues to be what can only be described as a "good un" but we know there are "bad un's" out there too.
So when it comes to build quality, are the european built vans definitely better? Which of the UK built van's are best avoided or are they all like our Delta and a mixed bag?
I do have a preference for UK Motorhome layouts, primarily because it seems I can get one that is closer to a caravan with long lounge seats.
I'm quite taken by vans like the Elddis Encore 275, but then worry when I look at their low price point and start to wonder about quality even though they are now part of Hymer.
Anyway I look forward to hearing all your thoughts.
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It's been discussed quite often on here Catherine, we've had two good UK vans which we bought because they suited us not because of anything else. It's really up to you on the layout you want, whether you want door openings uk side, kitchen equipment, type of van engine etc etc. You also need to look at weights, lengths and what you get as you move up or down the size scale. Our present van is based on a Mercedes sprinter, it's an automatic and apart from one or two niggles with the lay out (I really don't like the swing wall shower) we've been happy with it.
Happy van hunting if you decide to go ahead.
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Catherine, if you download a UK manufacturer's brochure and the Hymer brochures, you will see where the difference is. The content emphasis is different and reflects the design and build preferences of the manufacturers and the market in which they primarily operate. If you want to dream, download the Niesmann & Bischoff brochure and see what you get for your pot of gold.
What is build quality for you is not necessarily the same for others. Quite a lot of good design or poor design is hidden. Looking at the brochures and crawling over the van will help you decide what is quality at your price point.
The UK no longer makes A-classes so because space is a premium for me, I will never buy a UK built van until they do. Oh, and none of my three German vans had/have damp issues in 17 years which is the first requirement for me on build quality.
The other factor for me is the relationship between the manufacturer, dealer, and me as a customer. Sometimes dealing with a european manufacturer is difficult for the dealer/customer, some european manufacturers only stay in the UK market when it is buoyant, and manuals are not always in English.
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catherine, before we get into another long thread about the general and specific differences between MH from the continent and thise from the uk, i was interested in your comment..."I do have a preference for UK Motorhome layouts, primarily because it seems I can get one that is closer to a caravan with long lounge seats"...
have a really good think about WHY you are 'drawn back' to MHs...yes, they can look impressive at a show, or on a forecourt, but it is the different style of usage that will (should) be the biggest influencer...and with this, it will be the fact that you wont have a car (yes they can be towed but thats a different matter...)...
so, have a really good think about your recent touring and try to imagine what this would have been like without a car...
your immediate reaction would likely be 'disaster' but MHers tent to do things differently than caravanners without a car...
again, describing much of this different style would take a little time but, perhaps later in the thread some MHers can illustrate that some things are even easier with a MH when touring...
so, good luck, think hard....its a different kind of mindset...not just a diferent vehicle.
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just to add, you currently have a TA caravan which probably ships at close to 8m....large lounge, fixed bed(s), rear washroom....
MHs add another 1.5m to accommodate engine/dashboard etc, so to get something similar in internal size youre looking at 9-9.5m which (for many) is pretty impactical...driving, parking, pitching....
so, the next big size influencer will be fixed bed, or not?
this will add (or take away) 1.5-2m....
some manufacturers have managed to squeeze in twin singles or even island beds into a 6.5m van but these will not allow for a spacious, sprawling lounge..
OTOH, if you're happy to make up the beds and share them. with the seating area, then both front and rear lounges could be big enough for your needs...include decent washroom facilities and this could be acheived in vans from 6-6.6m...
then you need to consider storage....your towcar provides ypu with a great place to 'chuck everything'....depending on layout, not quite so easy with a MH, especially if you are limited to 3.5t...this will also influence overall size....
vans with 'make up beds' tend to be smaller than fixed bed vans, but require decent storage for bedding, yet dont have the underbed storage that fixed beds have...
often, underbed storage is taken up with batteries, chargers, PSUs, heater etc...ok if you have space to spare but remember, everything that currently goes in the towcar will,need to be stored, plus the bedding if youre used to leaving it on a fixed bed.....
then, as part of the 'getting about' thing, you might think about bikes (or ebikes) and again these will need to be carried somehow....
so, not even touched on your 'quality' question yet but im guessing theres plenty to think about in helping you with your 'hankering'.
good luck...
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Following on from a couple of points BB made, we found it helped clarify a lot of things when, away on our last holiday with the caravan, we imagined the scenario of being on each site with a MH and no car. We quickly realised we wouldn’t want to be pitched at each site for so long and that we would do our tripping around, shopping, eating out etc en route between sites.
We, too, prefer the layout of UK models for the very reasons you mentioned, Catherine. It is possible to find end lounge models, or parallel bunks/seating in vans of 6 to 6.5m but you will compromise greatly on space, particularly in the washroom department. It’s all a question of what is most important to you and my advice generally is, if in serious doubt - don’t.
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Layout and Bells and Whistles are generally in adverse proportion to build quality.
It is the Buyer's choice.; You pays your money and live with the consequences.
Both our Motorhomes were British built as have been all our caravans. . They suited us just fine. But I was under no illusion that the build quality was such that I would not keep each for a very long time, as those who buy German made Hymers tend to do.
K
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Some great posts here thank you all. Lots to consider.
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Some good advice Catherine. If you like space, and want a MH similar in size to your van, it could bring a whole load of issues, as big MHs tend to be more "park up and walk/cycle/bus/hire car" in use over here. Which for us personally defeats the object of having one, because our fun comes from taking our MH out and using it as a mobile cafe, lounge, bird hide, beach hut, bike station, etc......
It does require a lot of thought. They need to be used regularly as well, keep the mechanics, engine sweet, even if it is just a day out somewhere. Weeks, months of being laid up doesn't suit them. They still suffer from many of the issues that caravans do in terms of build quality, depending on what you buy. Matching a layout that suits, to build quality that you can trust is possibly the biggest conundrum in touring at the moment!
We have solved it for us, but down a route not many would consider, that of buying something older of quality, without some of the gadgets and bling of the more modern stuff. Luckily for us, prices are holding up very well, and we seem to be part of a quirky little group of happy motorhomers with few build quality issues. I hope you make the right choice for yourselves.
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Since we changed to a M/H 2 years ago, we "holiday" in a completely different way ,we used to tow to one site a then go out from there ,but now we use 2 or3 different sites for the same "holiday" and see more of the country , we all do things differently and only you will know when you see the right van
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Catherine
We came to motorhome ownership from a similar route that you are coming from. Whilst we didn't have a twin axle caravan ours was over 7 mts long and I preferred to tow with a 4x4. We were getting to the stage that our tow car needed to be changed and I was rather shocked that to get what I wanted was going to cost in excess of £30000. We had been thinking of a motorhome for some years and that was the spur to change. Like you we wanted to replicate what we had in the caravan in a motorhome which resulted in us buying a Bailey 740 SE Approach. We have had it for the last five years and have been very pleased with it.
As others have said you really need to think about what you want from motorhoming as it is different from caravanning. If you go for a larger motorhome it could restrict you in terms of getting out and about. On the plus side there are many,many sites that are within easy distance, by foot, by bike or public transport so you have no need to worry about getting around assuming you are both reasonably fit.
As to whether you buy UK made or Continental is entirely up to you but like you we rather favour The UK design as it suits our use more. We like everything at low level. So many Continental designs have high beds either over a garage or via drop down beds. These do no appeal in the least to us and I do have, at our age, serious doubts about the safety of such designs. Younger more active people may well be able to manage. As someone suggested up thread I would also suggest you get to the NEC where you can see all the models in one place/
David
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I don’t normally look at MH reviews, but in a club review to get a score that low must mean the wheels must have fallen off.
Imagine my surprise when I check the part of the article titled Build quality, there is no mention of any problems. The only slight negatives mentioned that I can see, are the height of the vechicle, and the lack of a window in the door. Both of which are design charactistics not related to build quality.
I wonder if the original review had to be edited for reasons of space or perhaps the rest of the review is continued on p125?
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I have never had a Continental built van, its never been a practical proposition for us. The two caravans and two motorhomes we have owned have been British built and we have been happy with them all. Yes there have been a few teething problems with the motorhomes but once sorted they have, and are fine vans.
peedee
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I found all this interesting as we have sold our caravan and are planning on a motorhome. We are restricted by our essential which is a proper automatic; i.e. a Mercedes Sprinter. We have looked at all the non UK designs and excluded them from our list as they have a fixed seating/dining area which seems a waste of space to us. We far prefer parallel lounge seating which converts simply to a double bed. The conclusion, for us, is an Auto-Sleeper Stanton.
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Yes I found the 70% figure perplexing in some walks of life 70% is OK e.g. a maths exam but if a pharmacist was dispensing 3 out of 10 prescriptions incorrectly they would soon be in trouble.
Without an indication of the scoring method the figure is meaningless except perhaps to use to compare the score against the scores of other vehicles. However if I was marking this exam paper I think I would be saying "must try harder" and my feeling is that caravans and motorhomes compare unfavourably for built quality with even the most modest of cars.
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You have forgotten to mention drop down beds. In our view the perfect solution. We have a 6m motorhome, the whole of which is available to us during the day. At night, press a button and the bed drops down from the ceiling, already made up.
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Im a fan, too....we have one in the front of our van...
funnily enough, only this afternoon i was reading a review of the Burstner 640 with longitudinal drop down....a great all rounder..
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You can't just press a button and the bed descends in an a-class which uses the cab area. You have to fiddle about with the seats, sometimes the adjustable steering wheel and sometimes the handbrake. There are numerous other disadvantages as well.
On the upside, the whole of the main body of the van is available all the time which means one can stay in bed whilst the other brews up 'downstairs'.
Wherever the drop down bed is located, it is a good solution for people like me who have limited space for a motorhome [ours is 6m like Blackdeath's]. It's the equivalent of having an extra 1.5m of motorhome. This benefit overrides all the disadvantages.
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Personally I prefer beds at a "normal" level and I like having an easy choice of singles or a double. Singles allow for anyone to get out without disturbing the other occupant, nice and easy for the tea maker in the morning (me...
) I'm not a fan of climbing up steps to bed either, with very little room to sit up in bed. It all needs careful thought about comfort and ease of use.I think the van shows are worth visiting to really get the feel of different designs and layouts.
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I think the main thing you should think about is how you will use a MH compared to a caravan and the layout you want. We changed to a MH in 2016 and thought carefully before we bought it, we knew from reading blogs and posts in forums that we would be using it differently and rather than set up on site and travel out for days we would travel out for days and then stop the night at different sites, doing a more circular tour rather than a hub and spoke tour. We only spend 1-3 nights on site now then move on, its the fun in MH'ing.
Layout we decided we definitely did not want a caravan style layout as it would waste too much space, we wanted captains chairs to make use of the cab but we did want a fixed bed. Remember if you have a 8m caravan now to get the same space in a MH it would be 9-9.5m long, maybe not practical for touring.
Are continental vans better built, IMHO yes but they are also better designed, the base price with nothing in is the same as a UK van with all the bells and whistles so you can tell where the money goes!
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If you want a top quality Motorhome with parallel beds then in the UK you can’t do much better than an Auto-Sleepers. You will get the same parallel bench as a caravan but as others have said you will need to compromise on the internal space and the lifestyle is very different to a caravan.
We have had our Broadway for 2 years and I am extremely impressed with the quality which I would argue matches the top European makes, but of course at a price. I like that the design has been fixed for several years so you get incremental improvements without the risks of a prototype. Plenty of models to choose from either Peugeot or Mercedes based and a large dealer network (Marquis plus others).
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I'm in the same mind as brue, we like beds at normal height, not climbing steps or drop down type.
We have a British built van, end lounge just like a caravan lounge. Make up bed at night either 2 singles or a king size. We have plenty of storage for bedding etc. and a good payload that allows us to carry 2 ebikes on a rack on the rear of the van. A full washroom not wet room, and both cab seats swivel. Good sized full kitchen for use in UK
we've had it just over 5 years now and very happy with it. Like all makes its had its issues but nothing that a good dealer can't fix. By the way its 6.6mtrs.1
