nuevoboy Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Thought I'd celebrate my century of postings by having a moan. >:-) Reading the new 'van reviews (mostly in Which Motorhome mag) has got me thinking about my position in society. Lots of the reviews lately seem to be saying you'd be mad or extremely mean not to fork out an extra £3500 for the comfort pack, consisting of say, aircon, cruise control and alloy wheels, or £1800 for the slightly more powerful engine complete with electric mirrors. Now, I've worked 39 years in order to scrape enough money to buy my pride and joy 5 year-old 'van for £25,000. Given that I enjoy pootling about the wonderful lanes and countryside of this sceptred isle and not hurtling down motorways, I don't think I'd ever want any of the above items particularly. Whether I'd happily pay for them if I won the lottery (which I don't subscribe to) I don't know. However, would the actual testers themselves fork out their own good money if they had to buy their own machine? I suspect they're turning into pseudo Top Gear journo's, not content with anything less than the equivalent £300,000 supercar. So, mad?...yes I'll admit to that, but mean? OK, perhaps it's because I was mean enough to subscribe to both mags in order to get a "free" accessory worth £45. *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 I think you are taking these reviews too seriously nuevoboy. ;-) Always remember that they are written by, or for, magazines that rely on advertising revenue from the manufacturers of vans and accessories so it's no surprise that they 'push' all this stuff. It's entirely up to you what extras you think are needed in your van, that's if you need any at all. Don't be led by the marketing men - do your own thing ! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjmike Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 By coincidence I was having a peruse of The Tribute Motorhomes extras list today and thought that they seemed to be a lot of money for not much gain. For instance one of the packs was an upgrade boiler to gas + electric (about £50 extra when elsewhere purchased new), cab blinds (say £100 for arguments sake ), 2 scatter cushions and something else trivial that escapes me at the moment. The price of this pack, a bargain at £490. What has to be remembered is these testers generally only have the van for a night or two so their opinion should be taken with a pinch of salt. Depending on brand sometimes its almost impossible to buy them without the "extras" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 If you cover lots of miles cruise control is worth having in my view because it saves me a lot of ankle ache. If your anatomical disposition is such that your chosen chariot's throttle pedal does not cause ankle ache on long hauls then you may well not need cruise control? If you holiday in Scotland I doubt you will gain much benefit from aircon! We don't have aircon but oh boy how I wish we did when we go anywhere warmer than England - which is quite often - and even on the one warm day per year in the UK the cab can get pretty hot! Alloy wheels I wouldn't pay extra for out of choice - it's a ruddy van after all - not a bird puller! We don't use EHUs so a combined boiler is pointless! However it must be said that if the gas/diesel part fails as they often do then having the choice to go on a site and use EHU would be a real benefit in colder climes - ie a normal UK summer! Scatter cushion really make a van and can look so chic! Yeah right! Anything else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 I am willing to admit that I am the "anti christ" to big business, even though I am a member of the great unwashed (self employed), but I am a bit of a romantic ie, people work to make/do something for each other, and we all get a fair share of the pot :$ .................but it will never happen, the older I get then the more cynical I get *-) Hopefully Eygpts winds will have enough puff to blow this way :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Ooop's off topic again :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 pelmetman - 2011-02-16 8:18 PM Ooop's off topic again :D Not at all - the art of conversation does this as it explores diverse viewpoints - as well as paranoia! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
How Much Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Id say a bigger engine is always handy, but then why not buy a van with one in to start with? Leccy mirrors - i have them, and theyre handy as well. Wouldnt mind air-con, if i was abroad a lot - which im not. Cruise control??? Woudnt trust one. Prefer to drive the bus myself, thanks. Alloys... 'Comfort'? Hows that? Ok if they are fitted, but id never fit them myself. Put me down as 'mean'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 How Much??????? - 2011-02-16 8:26 PM Id say a bigger engine is always handy, but then why not buy a van with one in to start with? Leccy mirrors - i have them, and theyre handy as well. Wouldnt mind air-con, if i was abroad a lot - which im not. Cruise control??? Woudnt trust one. Prefer to drive the bus myself, thanks. Alloys... 'Comfort'? Hows that? Ok if they are fitted, but id never fit them myself. Put me down as 'mean'. That's not 'mean', that's pragmatic. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 When ordering our van we wanted aircon, our cars have it so why not the van? As it happens we have to order 'all in one pack' at £1465 this includes all sorts of other things that we're not that interested in but guess may be usefull. I also specced cruise control because my ostioarthritis isn't getting better as I age! have used it in US and Canada to good effect not sure how well I'll like it in UK. Many things we did turn down, such as carpets, rubber mats in cab and vynal in back are fine by us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackfingers Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 I must be both mad and mean - I bought a new van with nothing in it (i.e. empty!) and I've spent 3 years putting what I want in it! And to make matters worse - it's Red! Ian L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Our van is a special edition & came with neatly all these extras as standard apart from Gas+Electric heating we also don't use EHU, but we still managed to spend another 3 grand on extras. We are not well off we just decided we wanted a nice comfortable well speced van so we blew most of the life savings. It's our first van and the difficulty is going to be able to afford to replace it with a similar speced one as after getting used to the luxuries we wouldn't want to go down market. Lets face it most of us don't drive cars without aircon, electric mirrors & cruise controls are now the norm (fitted cruise control to my car myself). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna miller Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 How Much??????? - 2011-02-16 8:26 PM Leccy mirrors - i have them, and theyre handy as well. They are not so handy when you get a bill of £400+ to replace ONE of them. And as the majority of motorhome drivers will know, mirrors are being broken with ever increasing regularity. It might be a tiny bit more effort to adjust them manually, but I'd rather pay £40 to replace the standard mirror on my van than the £520 my mate had to pay Hymer to replace his electric one, which was stolen while we were parked up at Perrenporth last year, obviously some scumbag motorhomer had decided they didn't want to pay to replace theirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dikyenfo Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I got a lot of extras in the pack and because the later model was out it was free and electric mirrors was included and windows. Steering wheel and engine was also included.The point of this is I got something I never asked for and it has been useful but once I have set the mirrors thats it is'nt it I dont grow or shrink a foot every time I get in the van! One thing after 4 years i n the thing was I said one day to the xyl that what this bloody button with the back windowsymbol on it for so she pressed it and it lit up and I noticed that the rainy mirrors all cleared-magic. May be worth a check if you have such.Also the written word in mags is what I did for 30 years and I would write whatever the employer wanted to hear.Does anyone remember reading my glowing reports of the much hearelded full power hydraulic brakes for commercial vehicles. Thought not as the were the biggest nightmare ever concieved for lorry braking. I knew this when I wrote it but the bosses did not want to know.Our American owners called the chief to a meeting in the USA and marched him ip to the rostrum and was told to his face that HE would not waste his piss on our units and then sent him home. So blame the writers all you want but look to the man paying the wages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 You're being a bit 'mean' to the writers ... many of whom do own a motorhome so have experience, however, when they write an article or do a review, it is based on THEIR opinion at the time of writing, and as with all things, opinions will vary. On our previous van we had electric windows which were useful, manual mirrors which were fine, and aircon as standard and radio controls on the steering wheel. We didn't have cruise control though and oh how I wish we had had it when I had to drive 400km or so back up through France with severe sunburn in a few days - painful just doesn't cover it! Guess what we gladly paid to have fitted by Dave N when we got the opportunity!!! The van already had a great engine (2.4 Duratorq, 135 bhp) and went like a rocket. :-D On our current van we have electric windows, electric mirrors (which are heated so keep clear in bad weather), aircon, radio controls on the steering wheel and cruise control too, all as standard. The van has a brilliant engine (2.2 Duratorq 140bhp) and goes like a supersonic rocket!!! (lol) The engine was an upgrade as was the aircon but that's all the dealers were ordering in the UK so it was already included in the price of the motorhome anyway. If we'd had the choice, we would have ordered the bigger engine, but probably not been too bothered about the aircon as the dogs prefer to have the windows open! *-) As for alloys - no thanks, I'll stick to good old fashioned steel wheels. Forgot to say, we didn't get habitation carpets, just a cab carpet, which is nicely tucked away in the attic to keep clean! We also got a couple of scatter cushions, again they are packed away until the time comes to sell the van! :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Mel B - 2011-02-17 5:00 PM Forgot to say, we didn't get habitation carpets, just a cab carpet, which is nicely tucked away in the attic to keep clean! We also got a couple of scatter cushions, again they are packed away until the time comes to sell the van! :-S Now this is something I really don't understand? It won't make any difference to the trade in price and no doubt the next owner will be very grateful for new mats so why not use and enjoy the extra luxury of carpets/mats yourself? Unless of course you are allergic to carpets! Scatter cushions I can understand as rarely does the converter's choice of design suit anyone normal's taste - but then again who is normal???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corky 8 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I think those buying / thinking of buying a new Motorhome MUST put every conceivable extra on as they can afford ,then enjoy it for a few Years ( Running it in for me and other,s sorting out all the niggles) then do the same Again ,I Very much Appreciate them doing that, Like Rich , I couldnt do without Cruise control , tch, But Had to pay to have it put on our Latest acquisition. Keep Safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corky 8 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I think those buying / thinking of buying a new Motorhome MUST put every conceivable extra on as they can afford ,then enjoy it for a few Years ( Running it in for me and other,s sorting out all the niggles) then do the same Again ,I Very much Appreciate them doing that, Like Rich , I couldnt do without Cruise control , tch, But Had to pay to have it put on our Latest acquisition. Keep Safe. good job I didnt double click Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T8LEY Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 What do you need aircon for when you've got a 'fridge following you? It takes a long time for that big void behind to warm up (even longer in the winter.....but that was another thread). A white 'van helps too; probably the least heat absorbant colour. Cruise control is fantastic, if you can get into top gear for a few miles (can't think of anywhere you could do that in the UK). It improves your distance judgement. Try pulling out into traffic at 65mph, to pass a wagon, without touching the accelerator. I ,also, find it very economical. If I'd had the choice I would have had alloy wheels for the weight saving alone and a second air-bag would have been good, for obvious reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 T8LEY - 2011-02-17 10:37 PM What do you need aircon for when you've got a 'fridge following you? It takes a long time for that big void behind to warm up (even longer in the winter.....but that was another thread). A white 'van helps too; probably the least heat absorbant colour. Obviously you have never travelled through France & Italy when it's been 44 deg (lol) If I'd had the choice I would have had alloy wheels for the weight saving alone and a second air-bag would have been good, for obvious reasons. That's the reason we shelled out for Alloys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Tracker - 2011-02-17 5:25 PM Mel B - 2011-02-17 5:00 PM Forgot to say, we didn't get habitation carpets, just a cab carpet, which is nicely tucked away in the attic to keep clean! We also got a couple of scatter cushions, again they are packed away until the time comes to sell the van! :-S Now this is something I really don't understand? It won't make any difference to the trade in price and no doubt the next owner will be very grateful for new mats so why not use and enjoy the extra luxury of carpets/mats yourself? Unless of course you are allergic to carpets! Scatter cushions I can understand as rarely does the converter's choice of design suit anyone normal's taste - but then again who is normal???? When you have 2 dogs who just love going to the beach and bringing loads of sand back into the van (and one that occasionally drinks sea water as she belts out to retrieve her ball from the waves ... I don't think I need to explain the consequences of that in a motorhome!), it's much simpler to have 2 or 3 rubber backed mats in the front cab area which can be easily removed and shaken and the sand on the floor swept out - better than wrestling with a large cab carpet which attracts dog-hairs like a magnet! We also have 3/4 non-slip mats in the habitation part too for the warmer months, or a larger rubber backed 'dirt grabber' mat (which fits snugly and is a nice shade of green ... like an indoor lawn) for the colder months use, so we do have the benefit of nice warm carpet under our tootsies! Do alloy wheels REALLY make THAT much difference to the overall weight of a motorhome???? If my payload was so low as to need me to do that I'd have to think very carefully about owning the van in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 I don't go in for posing tackle either. Electric mirrors is the only extra I would order because they are so useful when you are joining a road from a slip road on the continent, you can move the passenger side one out to see the traffic, then move it back when you have joined it. In my experience you get little if anything for extras when you are trading in. Dealers don't like them, its just another thing to check, demonstrate to the buyer, and to guarantee, made particularly difficult when the extras are not familiar to them or easy to repair or replace when the new customer finds fault with them. The new buyer may not want them, and be discouraged from buying when he thinks he is paying extra for stuff he doesn't need. Far better for the dealer to sell a basic van, and then sell extras new from his accessory shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 I should add they we only buy what we want to use, and we buy for long term we're not for swapping vans every couple of years. One thing that won't be on the new van is an awning, if we ever feel the need to start using such things we might as well get a caravan ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 When we changed vans on 19 April last year the only extra the dealer put on FOC was a Status 'through the roof' aerial, we had already bought a bike rack (little used second hand) which we took with us and they kindly put on for us, they also transferred the solar panel, our gaslow bottle, and our 2nd leisure battery too. We had purposely decided not to have a wind out awning put on as, quite apart from the cost, we weren't sure if we'd really use it much to warrant the expense as we hadn't used it on our previous van a massive amount. However by the end of the week at the Peterborough show as it had been so hot (yes in April!) we decided to have an awning put on by Johns Cross who were doing a very good price for the awning and free fitting. During other holidays last year we were very pleased we had had the awning put on as at times it was very, very, very hot and being able to sit out in the breeze in the shade was lovely, the dogs appreciated it too!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Slightly 'off topic' but i get annoyed when i see adverts for motorhomes that state cost £xx,000 when 'new' and £xxxx worth of extra's fitted, then find that the asking price for the 'used' van is way,way above what it should be, of course they rarely sell at the price asked. But don't they realise that the original 'new' price is well known(and checkable), and although the 'Extra's' are desirable (some are anyway) they don't make the van any more valuable, just possibly easier to sell. A 'good' warranty is worth any amount of 'Extra's'. *-) Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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