Sandy Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Hiya, apologizes if this is a repeat - the BBC has nothing on me - only I did post this afternoon but cannot find it anywhere. I was wondering if any has or has had dealings with French Autostar motorhomes. We looked at a second hand Aryal and while not too impressed with the layout were quite impressed with the quality of actual vehicle, would appreciate comments. Ta! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 So that will be a no then!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakaleg Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 i guess the whole forum must write no then? pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Such impetuosity and impatience Sandy. Not the most common make of motorhome on the market, and it may take time for someone to reply. In the meantime let me say that regardless of the quality of the the vehicle itself, you have expressed doubts over the layout, so why take a chance by spending a small fortune on something that may prove totally inadequate for your requirements. Plenty of shows coming up and time to look at whats on offer before commiting yourself, and I hope you find your perfect van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 We did discount that one because of the lay out but there are plenty of other designs within this range. We are planing to go to the East of England show later this month where we are hoping there will be a trade stand for them, I was just hoping a 'real' person not a sales man could throw some light on this little know makes, but thank you anyway!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Personally I would steer clear of little known makes as you may have a job shifting it at trade in time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Fair comment Peter, but Autostar does seem a pretty big concern over in France. Just had a look on the web by typing in "autostar motorhomes"and UK MOTORHOMES have a independent review on the Aryal 9 A class. Certainly looks a quality van, and should give Sandy plenty of information to go on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share Posted April 19, 2007 We too have looked at the French site, there is now apparently a dealership in Kent I believe. They certainly do look good quality, well finished and lots of extras. Found at least four places to store your bottle of booze in upright position - a real must *snigger*. We have read all the argument for and against left hand drives, but feel as it is going to be a long term thing, and I would be totally unreliable as a second pair of eyes when over taking etc (due to probably being half asleep most of the time) a left hand drive would be better for us. We had noticed an awful lot of Autocruise motor home going second hand with ridiculously low mileage and wonder why! they are obviously well tried and tested and we love the layouts in a lot of them, is it perhaps just the new models that people are not getting on with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Sandy - 2007-04-16 7:13 PM Hiya, apologizes if this is a repeat - the BBC has nothing on me - only I did post this afternoon but cannot find it anywhere. .................Ta! :-D It's in Motorhome Matters. Use the search facility, enter the keyword "autostar" (without the quotes), set time to one month, leave the location as "search all forums". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Sandy - 2007-04-19 12:02 PM We had noticed an awful lot of Autocruise motor home going second hand with ridiculously low mileage and wonder why! they are obviously well tried and tested and we love the layouts in a lot of them, is it perhaps just the new models that people are not getting on with?Hi Sandy. The above applies to all vans, and I suppose there,s plenty of reasons why this happens. With such a big outlay on todays motorhomes you would imagine a lot of thought and research goes into any prospective purchase, but time and again we seem to get it wrong. "Buying the dream" may be one of the reasons, where you see the adverts in a glossy magazine and think this is the life for me, only to find the reality of motorhoming entirely different. Most vans are low mileage with some owners in a position to change every year or two, but I guess there,s quite a few who only discover to late that this lifestyle is not for them after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Posted April 20, 2007 Author Share Posted April 20, 2007 Guess your right, I was just a bit suspicious that perhaps they were not all they were cracked up to be, but when you see one going with something daft like 5000 miles on the clock and barely a year old and it has dropped £1000 off the original price it makes you cringe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Sandy - 2007-04-20 9:44 AM Guess your right, I was just a bit suspicious that perhaps they were not all they were cracked up to be, but when you see one going with something daft like 5000 miles on the clock and barely a year old and it has dropped £1000 off the original price it makes you cringe! Choosing motorhomes is far more difficult than appears possible! I think many of these are just "mistakes": expensive ones at that! We spent three years reading magazines, catalogues and specifications, and visiting shows, to choose ours, and we thought we'd got it all just right. We even hired an identical van, and still we managed to miss a critical feature. So, now we're in the process of trying to change vans! However, that doesn't mean the research was a waste of time: we were 100% right on the layout, but wrong enough with the size that we can't comfortably get to where we want to go!It has to function satisfactorily: you live in it, so it needs to be aesthetically pleasing and comfortable: and you drive it, so it has to be relaxing and comfortable on the road. It is very difficult to assess how successfully all these demands come together in a given van, until you use it "in anger". Even hiring won't reveal every aspect of how well it will work when you try living in it, and travelling around in it, for several months on the trot."Buy in haste, repent at leasure" is very true with motorhomes. Take your time choosing, and make sure you've worked out where you think you'll go. Almost any 'van will be fine if you intend cruising down motorways to coastal sites with all facilities and a good shop, and then sitting fairly static admiring the sea views.However, if you want to get to remote mountain villages, explore scenic corniche roads, or just to do your travelling on minor, instead of major, roads, you do need to consider the physical size of what you buy. That, in a nutshell, was our mistake. We just assumed that because most motorhomes are much about the same size, they'd have been designed to be suitable for all types of roads. This doesn't mean they can't negotiate the smaller roads, they can. However, if one tries driving 150 - 200 miles per day down minor roads (the equivalent of UK "B" roads, not country lanes), the level of concentration one need to maintain leaves one (me!) just a bit wrung out by the time one stops. So, for a relaxed drive, in preference of having to build the routes around the 'van, we're changing. So was it worth hiring before buying? Definately. It's just that we were a bit cautious with the hire vehicle (mainly because of the uninsured damage provisions on the roof and underside!), and the roads we travelled weren't that narrow, so we never found out how much narrower they can be elsewhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Just caught up with your reply to Sandy,s original posting Brian, and while he/she seems set on a A class motorhome your comments on size and accessibility is something I agree with you entirely. Always a compromise, but the inability to visit those secluded out of the way places in our previous large coachbuilt made us realize that we too had made a mistake in our otherwise ideal van, No idea what Sandy has in mind, but in this respect something that should always be a major consideration when buying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Posted April 20, 2007 Author Share Posted April 20, 2007 Well we think we have solved the visiting out of the way places, we are planning on taking a motor scooter, this will enable us to scout the area and see if the road are suitable for us to take the MH down them. However, this will mean either buying a motor home with a garage or having a proper rack fitted which will mean making sure what we choose will have a strong enough chassis to take the extra weight - probably about 120 kgs. It is a daunting task and I thank you all for your advise which both hubby and I are taking on board as there are always things you never even considered , until some one having 'been there and done that' points it out to you. You can listen to sales men till the cows come home and be hypnotized by all there patter, but nothing beats listening to people who have been where you are at the moment and learning by their mistakes!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Sandy - 2007-04-20 8:08 PM You can listen to sales men till the cows come home and be hypnotized by all there patter, but nothing beats listening to people who have been where you are at the moment and learning by their mistakes!! Too true, Sandy The Salemen can usually only give the glossy side (normally extracted from the manufacturers brochures) Very few appear to have any actual experience of using the product they are trying to sell. Keep this in mind when they are going through their sales patter . We found that visiting shows and wandering around amongst the Visitors vans a good way of getting the low down. Aapproaching visiting owners of vans we were interested in was very informative and quickly reduced our options, especially the pro's & con's regarding layout. Flicka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Posted April 22, 2007 Author Share Posted April 22, 2007 I would love to know just how many of these salesmen/women actually go motorhoming! I wouldn't mind betting it's a very low percentage!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 It's almost inevitable you'll be right. If the firms only recruited salesmen who motorhomed, there would be precious few salesmen! Their main job is to sell and create turnover for their employers and, since most seem to be on commission, for themselves. Remember "caveat emptor", and make sure you buy with your eyes well and truly open.All the salesman can really be expected to do is pick up on what you think you want, find the nearest available match he has, and try to persuade you it is exactly what you were looking for. He won't advise you about things you don't ask about, he's not a consultant; and besides, many people get stroppy with salesmen who try to guide them, so the easiest route to a quick sale is to serve up just what you seem to be looking for. Daunting, isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forester Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 If they employed salesmen who do own MHs they would never be at work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Posted April 22, 2007 Author Share Posted April 22, 2007 and I bet it would be becuase they were off in another make of vehicle!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Sandy - 2007-04-20 8:08 PM Well we think we have solved the visiting out of the way places, we are planning on taking a motor scooter, this will enable us to scout the area and see if the road are suitable for us to take the MH down them. However, this will mean either buying a motor home with a garage or having a proper rack fitted which will mean making sure what we choose will have a strong enough chassis to take the extra weight - probably about 120 kgs. It is a daunting task and I thank you all for your advise which both hubby and I are taking on board as there are always things you never even considered , until some one having 'been there and done that' points it out to you. You can listen to sales men till the cows come home and be hypnotized by all there patter, but nothing beats listening to people who have been where you are at the moment and learning by their mistakes!! SandyDon't forget the weight of the rack has to be added to that of the scooter. Also remember to allow for the downforce on the back axle exceeding the combined weights of rack + scooter, because it/they will be carried behind the axle. These weights will act on the back axle through a lever.I think your van just got a bit bigger, and just went over 3,500Kg MAM, so as to get the necessary carrying capacity! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Posted April 23, 2007 Author Share Posted April 23, 2007 I think you may be right, but we do not want to restrict ourselves by getting a 'silly big' size. So much to think about. Wondering if one with a built in garage may be the answer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thai Bry Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Sandy Brian's right. But also if going for anything with a large garage- then you need to look at the overhang from the back wheels, as this also has a bearing. The other way around it is with a "tag Axle" or double rear wheel base vehicle like a Iveco, Transit or Mercedes. This like others have said, is going to push the price up, and you're also into the bigger vehicle scenario. Maybe a smaller van with a trailer for towing your bike could be one answer. But again beware your max train weight. Hope we have'nt confused you too much. Decisions, decisions. Good luck anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Posted April 24, 2007 Author Share Posted April 24, 2007 Hubby suggested a trailer but I am not keen, I think they restrict you, make reversing a nightmare and just put you back i'n the bracket of being too long to get into some places! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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