aljen Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Hello all im hoping someboby on here could give me their verdict on Hobby 650,s 750,s. Are they a good buy 2nd hand? Thanks Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Lovely looking stylish vehicle with not a single straight body panel. Sort of a "Curvy Motorhome". Wife loves the look outside. Inside the facilities in the models we looked at recently (Peterborough) were not suitable for us who like full ovens, etc. If it were a few years old second hand then I would have serious concerns about the gearbox, 5th gear etc. Lots of posts on Sevel gearboxes on several forums. With 6 wheels and drive on the two with the least weight traction is a bit limited on slipery off road surfaces. Those who have them love them. Even the bloke who invented the original Sprite Caravan has one. (We bumped into him filling his French plated 2CV at a French petrol pump, he now lives there. As we were filling our Motorhome we nattered on the topic. I stated in poor French saying good morning and he answered in northern UK!) Small world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aljen Posted May 1, 2006 Author Share Posted May 1, 2006 Thanks I dont see many up here in the north of scotland and havnt seen any on the road as yet, only just started this motorhome malarky. I must admit they look good, curvy body, well that should help with hiding a gentle knock Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suethedriver Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Hi. We bought a 750 fmse `W` Reg second hand privately last year and after many months of looking at different m homes found the bar version the best layout for us, fixed bed and large setee for me and very comfy captains chair which sits to the dining table & swivels for tv watching. The w reg doesnt have a seperate shower but we have not found this a problem as the toilet /shower area is very well designed and the sink in the bedroom is MASSIVE . Ours has got a full size oven with seperate grill & 4 hobs and the kitchen area is very spacious, a selling point for us as my hubby loves cooking,often full roast dinners ! One niggle (no draining board) but we have devised one that we can just put away when travelling. Storage is brilliant with very safe cupboards that don`t come open when driving. we can never fill all the space. We can wild camp for 3-4 days without any problem. We spent christmas in scotland and were toasty warm. Ours is left hand drive which we wanted as in this country when you are close to the kerb you can see exactly where you are on narrow lanes and when we go abroad it will be easier to drive in a strange place. My hubby was a mechanic and finds the engine & vehicle build very good in fact we have to watch our speed sometimes as it just rides so easily. Not good on wet grass or boggy fields but NO front wheel drive is. We just take some boards with us to park on. Anyway as you can tell we love it and are looking foreward to two weeks in Scotland later in the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aljen Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Hi Sue What do u think the mpg is with them. They are pretty heavy beasts. Il just have to keep looking up here in the north to find one Thanks for the reply Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suethedriver Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Hi. We get about 26 mpg which we don`t think is too bad, we have an old mitsubishi pajero/shogun which does about the same or less. We are in York where are you ? There are a couple of other people in our local area have hobby`s but they are quite rare . As a guide we paid around 28,500 for our w reg LHD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aljen Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 hi Sue im in scotland, im afraid, inverness. only one dealer near me, in dundee about 150 mls away. What are u running just now?, iv got a Compass Cruiser 740 alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 If I could afford one i'd have it tomorrow. They are beautifull and so classy looking. Have you seen their Caravans? huge classy bedrooms, no wonder the Pikeys love e'm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aljen Posted May 8, 2006 Author Share Posted May 8, 2006 hi sue is the hobby fully winterised then? alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 Me again being thick no doubt but what's/who's a Pikey??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 Pikey - A full time "Traveller". Sort of a Gypsy without the pedigree!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suethedriver Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 Hi Aljen. I reckon our hobby is fully winterised, the roof insulation is very good and thickly padded. We didn`t have any problems when we satyed up in Scotland last christmas the pipes are lagged i think. We didnt keep the boiler on in the night and it fired up no problem in the mornings. Didnt remember to drain the boiler when we got back either for a few - temp days and it was luckily still fine. Hopefully it will be a bit warmer when we come up again in June !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 It's interesting that nobody has mentioned Hobby's reputation for problems with their motorhomes' pretty paintwork. These problems (flaking, cracking, bubbling) appear to be well recognised within the motorhome trade and were (so I was once told) addressed a few years back by the use of different paint at the factory. Unfortunately not a totally successful cure it seems, as one UK Hobby owner has recently reported that the paintwork on his motorhome (a Ford-based T-Series) has begun to bubble. He also claims that other T-Series have been similarly affected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 We were at Brownhills over the early May bank holiday weekend and looked at the paintwork of a couple of the new Hobby motorhomes, the overlay 'blue' along the bottom was already cracking where the body met the cab, how long it would be before it started peeling off I don't know. It's such a shame that such lovely motorhomes as these suffer from such a stupid fault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 Mel B: If my memory isn't deceiving me, I believe it was you who mentioned on the forum some considerable time ago that you'd seen unimpressive paintwork on Hobby motorhomes being exhibited at shows. In fact the blue 'paintwork' on the latest Ford-based Hobbys is exactly what you've called it - a sticky-backed plastic "overlay". Because of this there will be visual evidence of where one section of plastic stops and another begins. I'm not sure that this can be termed a fault as such. as it's an inevitable result of the decorative technique Hobby has chosen to employ. (Whether the plastic will remain attached to the bodywork is, of course, quite another matter!) I'm not aware whether the blue finish on Fiat-based Hobbys is also an overlay, but it seems likely. Historically, it's been proper 'paint' faults that Hobby has been criticised over and that's what the chap I mentioned says he has got, with bubbling appearing in the silver paint finish of his motorhome's vertical rear mouldings and in the paintwork of the overcab moulding. (Fuller details can be found in the Hobby-related section of the MH Models forum on the MotorHomeFacts website and it makes interesting reading.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 Derek I did mention the issue of the bad paint jobs on Hobbys in the past, you're memory serves you very well! However, earlier I wasn't on about where the normal "joint" would be, I accept that decals etc will have joins somewhere. The problem I saw was this decal 'cracking', it was breaking as it if had been stuck on too tightly and the stretching was causing cuts etc to appear in it - where it was under stress I assume - they were random cracks at all angles and sizes, nothing at all to do with a proper join. Whether the fault is real 'paint', decals, or the motorhome finish generally, I don't think it's something that should be accepted on new vans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 So now Hobby buyers apparently need to beware of the paint bubbling AND the decal overlay cracking - happy days!!! On my own Hobby a small bubble formed beneath the decorative blue plastic on the 'caravan' entrance door (just like a bubble can form under vinyl wallpaper) - fortunately, piercing the bubble with a needle and smoothing it flat seems to have cured the problem. There was also an large dull rectangular area on the blue section of the door that I overlooked at hand-over. I've no clue to the cause of it (paint over-spray?) but luckily it polished out. I'm ambivalent about Hobby's motorhome exterior design philosophy. On the one hand I can understand that it differentiates the vehicles from competitors' blander efforts and, based on admiring comments from other motorcaravanners, the Hobby 'look' seems to be judged ultra-stylish. On the other hand I'm very aware of the techniques involved and the potential difficulties if faults to the finish occur or there's accident damage. When it comes to the appearance of motorhomes I'm a Luddite. I just want a simple white one with no tarty embellishments. One of the best looking motorcaravans in my eyes was an unidentifiable-at-first-sight UK-registered vehicle we encountered in France last year. This turned out to be an Autocruise owned by a kindred spirit who had specified that his 'van be decal-free. I once mentioned to a Hobby dealer that I was interested in the T-Series range because it was built on a Ford chassis, but I'd really like the option to delete the 'powder and lipstick'. He laughed and said, "People buy Hobbys for the look inside and out, and few of them will give a hoot about the base-vehicle element." One man's meat... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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