Which Motorcaravan - October 2005 Issue

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

I noticed in MMM's latest Buyers' Guide section that Which Motorcaravan apparently published in their October 2005 issue a report on a Hobby T550 FS. If anyone's got a copy of this magazine please can they satisfy my curiosity by saying whether the Hobby test vehicle was RHD or LHD and who loaned it to WM for testing. I'd also be grateful for a brief summary of any unusual or negative comments in the report.

[Guest petej]

Hi Derek, It was a right hooker loaned by Brownhills, Newark. minus points - no ignition on hob - table not secured for travel - small external door to underbed locker - cassette loo too high. Can't you order a back issue/reprint or have you got short arms and long pockets :-) ? pete.

[Guest David Leek]

Hi Derek, 1. The picture on page 45 shows RHD. 2. Supplied by Brownhills, Leisure World, Nework. - www.brownhills.co.uk 3. Minus Points: (quote) No ignition on hob, table not secured for travel, small external door to underbed locker, cassette loo too high. 4. From report text: (quote) This 2 litre is a real gem. It revs willingly and always impresses with its refinement. This could be the best power unit of all for small to medium-sized motorhomes. The spec of this Hobby includes anti-lock brakes, two airbags and remote central locking with deadlocks. (manual windows) Total lack of rattles from the living quarters. Up front, the cab chairs twist around surprisingly easily - though you must engage first gear and release the centre handbrake to turn the driver's seat. Not only is the substantial seatbelt mounting structure properly concealed so that it cannot inflict injury, but the upper mountings are height-adjustable. Lighting seems generally adequate. In the bathroom - no separate shower but its adequate - (no roof vent) - hand held showerhead. Hope this helps. - David

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

Thanks for the feedback, chaps. Petej: Miserliness is one of my more endearing traits. I was trying to decide whether I was sufficiently curious about what the test said to cause me to fork out for a reprint of the article. However, as the Hobby was RHD, there's a fair chance it will also get reported on by MMM in greater depth - so I think I'll hang on. (Incidentally, I note there appears to have been no mention that, for shorter drivers, it's virtually impossible to reach the foot pedals!)

[Guest David Leek]

Hello again Derek, It did mention the seats but not so graphically as you. Quote: I never find that Transit seats suit me very well. These – with swivels – made me feel as if I was too high up in relation to the non-adjustable steering wheel. (I suppose it meant the same) - Rgds. David

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

Thanks for the follow-up, David. I think current Transit seats are not bad shape-wise - a touch short in squab-length perhaps if I were being picky. But, for some reason known only to Ford designers, the 'seat-box' that supports the driver's seat is unusually tall. I'm 5' 6" and the current Transit's driver's seat is too high for me even at its lowest setting. Not that much too high, just fractionally enough to irritate. One can fiddle with the angle and height of the squab via the usual couple of levers, but such adjustments only result in raising the seat-height. This seems perverse as I would assume that, if the seat at its lowest is too high for a shorty like me, it will be much too high for tall people. Worth adding that, when the seat is moved rearwards, it moves parallel with the floor and does not angle downwards as on some vehicles. So taller drivers who have to move the seat back will not only be perched up in the air, their thighs/knees are likely to be in close contact with the steering-wheel's rim. Unlike the Boxer/Ducato/Jumper chassis, a lower seat-box is unavailable. Unsurprising this as the Transit's vehicle-battery is housed beneath the driver, so there's no spare 'head-room' under the seat. Putting a swivel on the driver's seat raises it at least an inch. For me this makes entering or leaving the driver's seat a real squeeze to get my thighs beneath the low-set steering-wheel. (You'll gather from my weight of 9 stones that my thighs are hardly elephantine!) The extra height also means that, for my feet to operate the foot pedals, I need to move the seat well forwards but, in so doing, my knees jam up against the plastic shrouding covering the steering-column. I've driven two Transit-based motorhomes with driver's seat swivels. On the RHD vehicle foot pedal positioning meant that locating the foot-brake involved a very unnatural movement to get round the shrouding and, having found the pedal, putting any pressure on it seemed impossible. This was on a short test-drive and I was very glad when it was over. Essentially, I rated the vehicle undrivable by short people. The LHD version was better and I was able to drive the motorhome (my own Hobby T600 FC) for over 500 miles back from Germany without too much trauma, though I was forever stalling it during that journey because of the non-optimum seat/pedal relationship. It needs saying that I knew about the high seat before I bought the Hobby (it's patently obvious when you first sit in a Transit with a rotating driver's seat that you're well up in the air) and, as soon as I got the motorhome home, I removed the driver's seat swivel. What I buyer (or at least a short buyer) needs to beware of is when a swivelling driver's seat is an essential element of the motorhome's design and removing the swivel to lower the seat-height compromises the layout. For example, Brownhills' RHD Hobby T550 FS has the driver's seat in front of the kitchen unit, so fixing the seat in a forwards-facing position won't matter unduly. Conversely, the driver's seat in an LHD T550 rotates to face the dinette-table and removing the swivel messes up dining arrangements big time. One semi-benefit of the high seat for me is that I rarely need to lower the sun visor. This is perhaps fortunate as its arc is partially obstructed by the guide-rods for the windscreen blind. Ironic this, as the visor on my previous Transit-based Herald wasn't deep enough for me and I added a cardboard extension, whereas the current visor is too deep and I can't do much about it. Interesting that the RHD Hobby T-Series has remote cab-door locking and a central handbrake as my left-hooker has manual door locks and a handbrake mounted in the door-well to the left of the driver's seat. Electric windows and mirrors, tinted cab glass, uprated cab heater, cab air-con, an audio system and wheel trims comprise Ford's optional Flex Package that added about £875 to the basic price of my Hobby. When I was exploring buying a RHD Hobby I wanted to delete the dashboard fake wood that formed part of the 'special UK specification'. I was told that British motorcaravanners adored the wood as they considered it gave the cab a luxury-car ambience. Experiencing difficulty obtaining a firm price for Flex Package on a RHD Hobby I asked the salesman whether any UK buyers had ordered T-Series Hobbys without that option and was assured that they had. It seemed odd to me then (and still does now) that, if UK buyers found plastic wood attractive for its car-like qualities, they wouldn't also be demanding the air-con, electric windows/mirrors, etc. that you find as standard on even the cheaper modern cars. Certainly, when I mentioned this to the German dealer from whom I bought the Hobby, he said he had specified Flex Package for all his demonstration T-Series motorhomes as he believed German buyers would be reluctant to purchase the vehicles without it. As the test report Hobby had manual windows (hence no Flex Package) it appears we may indeed have different tastes to our Continental counterparts.

[Guest Ruth]

I've lost your email address Derek. If you let me have it I might be able to help:-) Ruth

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

Thanks for the offer - it's derek.uzzell@talk21.com

[Guest hagu]

Hi I have a Hobby T650 fsc and I would like to read this report. Ruth, my email is hallurg@simnet.is :-) Hagu