mitty Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Hello All Myself and Hubby are new to this forum, this being our first thread. Were looking to buy our First Motorhome and to be honest don't no where to start, we intend travelling around the uk first then move across to europe, weve bought the WWW Magazine for the last four months to Research anything and all , and so far were favouring the American Motorhome B Class. Looking for any advice on wether we should go American or should we stay British with our first motorhome.? Regards Mitty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Hire one for two weeks first. Its loads of cash to spend on a purchase and it may not suit you. But hopefully you will be smitten and join the rest of us mad people. Good luck Clive When you want to LOOK at motorhomes the the biggest dealer of European and American motorhomes is Brownhills in Newark. They also own Westcroft Americal Motorhomes. What you do after that is look around as you have no trade in you are in a good bargaining position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel E Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Agree with Clive. Also, it may well be worth your while to visit the International Caravan and Motorhome Show at the NEC later this month (17 to 22 October). Virtually all the main brands will be on display, you will come away even more confused, but you'll get to see ALL the options and then have some understanding of what choices you have to make. If you click on my name and send me a message with your email address, I'll email you a copy of the Fact Sheet on choosing a motorhome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olley Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Hi Mitty, we used to own a European and last year we changed to an RV. so I have tried both. Basically Europeans are made for holidays while RVs are made for living in. Before anybody starts shouting I said "made" :-D To my mind its a compromise between comfort, drivability and fuel economy, if like me you like your comforts and are prepared to accept that certain sites and roads may be difficult if not impossible to negotiate, and you can accept that a C class petrol RV will struggle to do 15mpg then its an RV. If on the other hand you want to be able to go the most destinations with the least trouble and maybe 25+mpg then go for a European. Having said that, some of the latest Europeans are approaching RVs in size, and I think this trend will continue, with more sites making more pitches bigger to accomodate larger M/Hs. Olley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitty Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 Hi Olley At the moment were wanting something to cater for monthly holidays, and yes i to like my comfort,what girl does'nt! Were thinking on the lines of a B-Class American with a slid out , not to sure on the length do you have any suggestion? Although i have been looking at the small Rv's like the safari trek 24 ft , do you no what the fuel consumption would be on this or any other Rv of this size. also would this size Rv be excepted on sites. Thanks Mitty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madguy4 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Hi. just thougt i would say..i live near Newark and i have found that you get a little more for your money if you go to Lowdem Lesuire, Gunthorpe,Nottingham.. May be worth your while checking it out befgore you commit.. Hope this is usefull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Not all people are the same, so recomending a van is difficult. I have allways liked the look of american B class vans, but after hiring a couple of Dodge Ram's, one in states other in canada, I would not buy one. The one's we hired where equiped with all the gadgets but they did not compare to a european van. There is very little foot room in cab, especialy passenger side, which makes long journeys for passengers uncomfatable. They drink fuel like there's no tomorrow, and handling is appaling. When talking to hire company person at end of canadian holiday about van his view was they are designed for weekends away not months holiday. Before you commit large sums of money hire a van in British Columbia, great holiday and you find if van suits you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitty Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 Hi madquy4, I will give them a look thanks. Hi colin To be honest we originally started of wanting a Pilot, had set our heart on one, but then we went in a Lexington B Class and everthing changed, we like all the extra's that comes with American Motorhomes, we don't want anything to big, but we do want something comfortable when we've had a hard days walking on the hills! just not sure at the mo what size to go with, it's either the 23ft slide out or 27ft, the 27ft doe's do 18miles to the gallon! as do a lot of europen vans. If only european vans offered the same as the American all would be solved. We are still looking and havent yet made our mind up , still researching and gathering any info from the experts, ( yourselfs). Thanks Mitty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike.wittamore Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 We bought our first proper Motor Home in 2002 (I had converted a van in the 70, but that doesn’t count). We bought it on Wed. Packed on Thurs and left for Greece on Fri. I wouldn’t advise it. I didn’t pay enough notice to the hand over instructions so didn’t realize that motor homes now have immersion heaters. I only had two 4.5K gas cylinders in the garage so they were empty when we got to Greece. Getting them filled in Kalamata is a story in itself. We needed to be in Greece to sell a boat so it wasn’t completely stupid. The good points were, we learnt a lot about the van, (like never buy a swift), we experienced “sleep on board” on the Italy-Greece ferries before it stopped, and we got completely hooked. We have now covered several thousand miles, travelled in almost all EEC countries and managed to get a Hymer. Good luck. If you can buy privatley you will save enough to pay for a lot of fault fixing and most of the bugs will have been corrected already. Mike W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Hi mitty As you will find - the choice of which motorhome (or even which type) is a very personal thing and requires a great deal of thought as to how you intend to use it before making the final decision. We have had two american RV's - a 32' damon and a 22' winnebago Rialta - but now have what we consider the best M/H for our needs - a Knaus Sun Ti 650MF. The americans were great but, for us, there are more drawbacks than Ollie finds in using his. For instance, the damon had quite large tanks but we sometimes find it much easier to be able to empty the cassette toilet than find a suitable place to empty a large black water tank when you are in a place that doesn't have good facilities for such tanks. But again, this is largely a matter of personal preference and related to how you intend to use the van. I can't agree with the assumption that a european M/H isn't comfortable though. We have the choice of sofa, twin dinette or two very comfortable armchairs in the lounge and a lovely fixed bed at night. It is truly 'low profile' at under 2.7m so gives us excellent economy (presently 29 mpg and improving) with low maintenance and other running costs such as servicing. One of the biggest drawbacks we found with both RV's was selling - no one wanted them (and at 3 year and 6 years old respectively they weren't old) especially not in part exchange for a european van. But, as I say, it is a very personal thing and my best advice, other than try hiring first, would be to make a list of things you would like to have in the van - eg. maximum length, number of berths, fixed beds or not, etc. Don't forget to think about things like what size water tanks/ battery(ies) and so on. When you have yoyr list put the items in order of 'Must have' Should have' and 'Could have' as you will be hard pushed to find everything you may want on any vehicle so compromises may have to be made. Then, see as many vans as you can, talk to other motorhomers and do consider hiring first - although one problem with hiring is you may not be hiring the motorhome layout you eventually want but it will give you a better idea, having used one for a while, what factors are important for you. Finally, when you have narrowed down your choices, try everything out in the vehicle you are looking at. Step in the shower and try it for size, try the beds out for size (and make up if they are not of the fixed variety), go through the routines of living as you may find that a layout that looks good just doesn't work for you. Having said all that, relax a little and enjoy the search - it's all part of the fun too. Good luck, david Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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