When is a Campervan a Motorhome?

[Gwendolyn]

Reading all the replies to my question about staying on Aires in the “Hints and Tips” section has now raised another question for me. What, in your mind, constitutes a Motorhome as opposed to a Campervan? Being new to “motorhoming” but NOT new to camping / caravanning / trailer tenting, we regard our Autosleepers Symbol as a Campervan. True it has a small shower / loo; an oven; hot water….. but it is not the type of independent home from home on wheels that some on the ‘Sites v Aires’ thread have described. No sat TV – unless we take a dish…. And we seem to want to have ehu….

And all the Aires we have looked at [but not stayed on] have been populated by much grander vehicles than ours!!!

 

So, Campervan or Motorhome? You tell me!!!

 

[LordThornber]

Well Gwen, "in my mind", as you ask, I'd say your van is a motorhome as it has washing facs. Our first van, a VW Westfalia which had electric, a fridge and cold water pumped by hand, was to me a Campervan.

 

You certainly couldn't live in it, (well not to reach my personal hygiene standards anyway), so it was a camper.

 

Our Nuevo, which is a full facility van, with heating, shower, loo, oven, etc etc, can, and does, get lived in, so it's a motorhome. To me.

 

Hows that? Too simple for some and too elaborate for others no doubt.

 

Martyn

[Guest JudgeMental]

Its not, they are different but achieve the same purpose more or less...........A campervan is made out of metal and a motorhome of some composite material and normally a lot bigger.... :-D

[JamesFrance]

Maybe we don't all have the same high standards of personal hygiene, but we can all take a dip in the sea, so those of us who started with a Westfalia in the 70s, a blue one for us, have probably managed to keep ourselves from becoming too offensive to others whatever vehicle we have had. Of course a full services motorhome is much more at home on Aires, whereas a campervan really does need a campsite.

[Mel B]

Here's my take on it:

 

The name motorhome is used more often to describe a motorcaravan above, if someone says they have a motorhome, it is this that I usually think of, rather than a van based vehicle.

 

Campervan - regardless of what facilities it has, be they basic, or luxurious, to me a campervan is a vehicle constructed using a van (or similar type of vehicle) where the metal bodywork is kept virtually intact, with some having the addition of a rising roof, or fibreglass high-top added.

 

Motorcaravan - a vehicle where the majority or all of the original metal bodywork of a standard van is removed, leaving either the cab or just the chassis (as with an A-Class) with the rear habitation area derived from materials that are also used for caravan construction and/or replaced with other materials (eg fibreglass). Confusion can exist with some La Strada vehicles, as some look like they are the original base vehicle body (ie 'metal') but are actually fibreglass as they have had their metalwork replaced, but still look like vans, they would then fall into this category!

 

 

[How Much]

Id say a campervan is more a motorised tent than a house on wheels. Im not knocking 'em - its horses for courses, but they are not for me, our old tent was roomier. All modes of camping have plusses over the rest though.

[manwiththepsychoGPS]

Hello all.

I've often wondered if I was driving a motor home or a camper van.

Would anyone out there be able to knock up some sort of questionnaire with a choice of descriptions. Eg, a motor home is ..., a camper van is ... We could vote on and perhaps reach some sort of consensus.

Then I'd know what i was driving.

Regards

Colin

[manwiththepsychoGPS]

Hello all.

I've often wondered if I was driving a motor home or a camper van.

Would anyone out there be able to knock up some sort of questionnaire with a choice of descriptions. Eg, a motor home is ..., a camper van is ... We could vote on and perhaps reach some sort of consensus.

Then I'd know what I was driving.

Regards

Colin

[malc d]

manwiththepsychoGPS - 2011-04-26 8:12 PM

 

Hello all.

I've often wondered if I was driving a motor home or a camper van.

Would anyone out there be able to knock up some sort of questionnaire with a choice of descriptions. Eg, a motor home is ..., a camper van is ... We could vote on and perhaps reach some sort of consensus.

Then I'd know what I was driving.

Regards

Colin

 

I doubt if you would get a consensus.

 

If someone considers that they are driving a motorhome now, they are not likely to change that description because of what other people call theirs,

 

I've not really thought about it before but I would think that a 'motorhome' is a self contained vehicle and a 'campervan' is not, i.e. you would need to use facilities elsewhere.

 

 

 

:-|

[PJay]

When we told our ex sailing French friends, that we had sold the boat and bought a MotorHome, they did not know what we meant. In France they call them all Camper Vans.( Well the French do)

PJay

[How Much]

Id say their construction materials/method is a red herring. You say the word 'camping', and immediately think of a tent. There are some very posh tents nowadays, and with EHU can be kit up virtually to match a, 'campervan' - minus the engine. Both these modes of 'camping', as been said, require site facilities 99% of the time. Not so a 'motorhome'. Its a go-anywhere independent mode of camping vehicle. And that for me is the crucial difference.

That said, i refer to ours as 'the camper' - as i think the term 'motorhome' is pretentious.

[laimeduck]

Our Benimar is neither. She's called "Mabel" :-D

[tonyg3nwl]

Hi, My 2 pennyworth. We had a VW poptop campervan a number of years ago. We now have an Autocruise Stargazer Motorhome.

 

The motorhome has all onboard facilities for water waste toilet shower etc, where as the VW only had cooking and sleeping facilities, Water had to be carried in separate container, and site facilities were required for toilet use. (or as the french do, just face the other way.)

 

tonyg3nwl

[duetto owner]

we call our duetto a campervan, but it could be a caravanette,motorhome,motorcaravan are they not all the same thing.

 

at a wild guess i would say a caravanette is a vw with a push up roof, campervan a converted van, a motorhome the ones with the large white box on the chassis, and a motorcaravan those american RV monsters.

[Guest JudgeMental]

tonyg3nwl - 2011-04-27 8:19 AM

 

Hi, My 2 pennyworth. We had a VW poptop campervan a number of years ago. We now have an Autocruise Stargazer Motorhome.

 

The motorhome has all onboard facilities for water waste toilet shower etc, where as the VW only had cooking and sleeping facilities, Water had to be carried in separate container, and site facilities were required for toilet use. (or as the french do, just face the other way.)

 

tonyg3nwl

 

well my VW westfalia pop top had a toilet and propex blown heating....it did not have a shower. My latest Adria campervan has everything my Euramobil coachbuilt had plus some other features it did not have......

 

so I still say a camper van is a tin box :-D

[mel wood]

Gwendolyn - 2011-04-26 7:15 PM

 

Reading all the replies to my question about staying on Aires in the “Hints and Tips” section has now raised another question for me. What, in your mind, constitutes a Motorhome as opposed to a Campervan? Being new to “motorhoming” but NOT new to camping / caravanning / trailer tenting, we regard our Autosleepers Symbol as a Campervan. True it has a small shower / loo; an oven; hot water….. but it is not the type of independent home from home on wheels that some on the ‘Sites v Aires’ thread have described. No sat TV – unless we take a dish…. And we seem to want to have ehu….

And all the Aires we have looked at [but not stayed on] have been populated by much grander vehicles than ours!!!

 

So, Campervan or Motorhome? You tell me!!!

 

I'm not sure why you ask.

 

Does it really matter?

 

Surely we all buy the van which suits our requirements (don't we?).

 

 

As regards staying on aires, your van is equipped to do so. W e have a Symbol and have stayed on aires with no difficulties. The same applies to ClubTemporary Holiday Sites and CLs/CSs which only have a fresh water tap and an emptying point.

 

 

This really is a case where size (or grandness) doesn't matter.

Enjoy your van and take it where you want to go and stay.

[Gwendolyn]

mel wood - 2011-04-27 10:56 AM

 

Gwendolyn - 2011-04-26 7:15 PM

 

Reading all the replies to my question about staying on Aires in the “Hints and Tips” section has now raised another question for me. What, in your mind, constitutes a Motorhome as opposed to a Campervan? Being new to “motorhoming” but NOT new to camping / caravanning / trailer tenting, we regard our Autosleepers Symbol as a Campervan. True it has a small shower / loo; an oven; hot water….. but it is not the type of independent home from home on wheels that some on the ‘Sites v Aires’ thread have described. No sat TV – unless we take a dish…. And we seem to want to have ehu….

And all the Aires we have looked at [but not stayed on] have been populated by much grander vehicles than ours!!!

 

So, Campervan or Motorhome? You tell me!!!

 

I'm not sure why you ask.

 

Does it really matter?

 

Surely we all buy the van which suits our requirements (don't we?).

 

 

As regards staying on aires, your van is equipped to do so. W e have a Symbol and have stayed on aires with no difficulties. The same applies to ClubTemporary Holiday Sites and CLs/CSs which only have a fresh water tap and an emptying point.

 

 

This really is a case where size (or grandness) doesn't matter.

Enjoy your van and take it where you want to go and stay.

 

Why do I ask? It was a 'tongue in cheek' question as a follow on from all the replies I had in repsonse to my question re Aires......

 

Does it matter? Not a jot! Just a bit of fun.

 

We think of ours as 'campervan' - agree with the poster who said that 'motorhome' sounds pretentious - it does when applied to our outfit!!

 

Glad to hear that you have used Aires in your Symbol. I do like ehu though!

 

[Anyway, given where we have driven today, I am SO glad we have only a Symbol... saw the driver of one very large British motorhome being fined for entering a village where vans longer than 6 metres are banned. It was way over 6 metres long. Access was difficult too.]

[Brian Kirby]

PJay - 2011-04-26 11:32 PM When we told our ex sailing French friends, that we had sold the boat and bought a MotorHome, they did not know what we meant. In France they call them all Camper Vans.( Well the French do) PJay

Mais non, ils sont tous Camping-Cars en France!  Sacre bleu, vous Anglais!!

[Gwendolyn]

Brian Kirby - 2011-04-29 5:36 PM

PJay - 2011-04-26 11:32 PM When we told our ex sailing French friends, that we had sold the boat and bought a MotorHome, they did not know what we meant. In France they call them all Camper Vans.( Well the French do) PJay

Mais non, ils sont tous Camping-Cars en France!  Sacre bleu, vous Anglais!!

Anglaise? Pas du tout! Ne pas Anglaise. Je suis Galloise! Wrth gwrs - 'Camping-Car' yn Ffrainc.

[Tony Jones]

When the French call them "camping-cars," they're actually calling them "camping buses."

 

The one that really gets up my nose is "motorcaravan." It suggests someone has fitted an engine to a trailer, rather than converting a real, driveably vehicle into something you can live in (for a while)!

 

By the way, I'm back in the UK. Check out our blog:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/tonyssabbatical/1/tpod.html

 

[George Collings]

In the UK the only legally recognised term is motorcaravan.

 

As for anything else you want to call them when you are as bald as me its best to leave hair splitting to others.

[George Collings]

In the UK the only legally recognised term is motorcaravan.

 

As for anything else you want to call them when you are as bald as me its best to leave hair splitting to others.

 

 

Double send due to computer not responding to first send.

[Big Momma]

PJay - 2011-04-26 11:32 PM

 

When we told our ex sailing French friends, that we had sold the boat and bought a MotorHome, they did not know what we meant. In France they call them all Camper Vans.( Well the French do)

PJay

 

Generally in France they are known as Camping-cars, In germany a Caravan is a Wohnmobile and a Motorhome a Wohnwagen :D

[Clive]

As they say on the TV program Embarrising Bodies they are all the same. Call it what you like.

Its your choice. Personally I prefer to call ours a Tardis but frequently alternative names when I have to fill the fuel tank!.

 

The DVLA only have one clasification of Motorcaravans if that helps.

Camping Car, Campervan are not used although "Motorhome" is defined as a motorcaravan in the section about licenses to drive.

 

But what the heck, call it what you like.

 

C.

 

[Brian Kirby]

I think a campervan is a T3 (i.e. rear engined), or earlier, VW Transporter.  A slightly, to very, basic conversion with a rising roof.  Probably a cool box but not a fridge.  Porta Potty at best.  Very simple, no heater, no hot water, basic hob, rear seat converts to bed with end part above engine bay.  Probably no hab battery.  Think surf boards.

Anything with a washroom must, surely, be a motorhome?  With a fixed bed, definately a motorhome.  The present Westfalias, Bilbos and Murvis etc. VW conversions are a bit borderline for campervans.  Far too posh!  :-D

BTW, I think Tony's translation of camping-car a tad off the mark.  Should be camping-coach I think, autobus is a bus, car is a coach - so much more refined, don't ya know!  :-)