Muswell Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 George Collings - 2015-08-18 9:13 AM Muswell, Balance the fuel cost against driving time or for me my own workshop time. At my age i grab every second as I must have used a high percentage of my allocation. Me too. I was just making the point that there's no point in saving fuel if it ends up in garage expenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timabob Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Regarding the comment that most motorhomes will not cover 140,000 - Fiat are building for the continental European market, with the UK as an afterthought. If you look in Germany at second hand Hymers, for instance, you will see many with 100k plus mileages, sometimes after only a few years. It doesn't take many trips to Southern Spain, Southern Italy or Greece to rack up those miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 timabob - 2015-08-18 11:07 AM Regarding the comment that most motorhomes will not cover 140,000 - Fiat are building for the continental European market, with the UK as an afterthought. If you look in Germany at second hand Hymers, for instance, you will see many with 100k plus mileages, sometimes after only a few years. It doesn't take many trips to Southern Spain, Southern Italy or Greece to rack up those miles. I think that the Op, is looking in the UK, for second hand vehicles? Here it is very unusual to find high mileage second hand Mototorhomes. Indeed I don't think I have ever come across a 10 year old van with more than 100000miles on the clock except at a very cheap 'bargain price'. UK motororhomes spend a lot of their lives doing absolutely nothing. The manufacturers need to build their vehicles to account for that type of use (disuse) and not constantly break down with 'Damp electronics 'problems. Plus other low usage blamed faults.They cost enough to purchase new, to be more resilient for all types of usage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Whether to buy a British or a Continental conversion often comes down to layout. Personally we dislike the continental favourites of fixed beds and half dinettes as they do not suit our style, but many love them, and there are of course pros and cons for each layout. Of the UK vans Autosleeper, older Autocruise and older Autotrail were in my view the better made of the species but as with all vans none are perfect and Hymer ,Burstner, Dethleffs and Rapido seem to be the more durable continental conversions. Find a layout you like and ask again for another mixed batch of views and entrenched opinions!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Rayjsj - 2015-08-17 7:59 PM Joe90 - 2015-08-17 7:08 PM Brock says his van is coming up to 14000 miles and hasn't missed a beat, good luck to him, but I'd be far more impressed hearing it had done 140,000 miles with the same good news, ;-). Very few motorhomes will reach 140.000 in their lifetimes, so, why are they so unreliable for the few miles they cover ? And 'low use' should be accounted for, blaming it as the cause of unreliability, is a 'Cop out'. For poor design. Does 80k miles count ;-) ...........Most expensive failure to date has been the fridge which failed after 24 years........Brand new state of the art fridge has packed up working on 12 volt after 14 months *-) .......... Progress eh? >:-) ........... I wonder how many of the euro 5 + vans will be around in 25 years?...... Considering all those expensive gadgets that can cause a van to fail the MOT :-S ............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 If you give your motorhome adequate preventative maintenance, the difference between purely maintenance costs (i.e. servicing and repairs) shouldn't be all that much more unless you buy an older MH which needs a lot of catch-up work doing. Whether or not this is true for a particular motorhome, depreciation is a far bigger annual cost than maintenance and repairs anyway, so buying an older motorhome should win overall, hands down. The exception to this argument might be that some MHs fail catastrophically because of water ingress causing damage which is economically un-repairable, so best to avoid that problem by not buying an old MH which might suffer that fate. (Dare I suggest this would exclude all motohomes built with softwood structural frames inside the walls or floors made of unprotected, rot-able material?) Buying a new MH often enough to maintain continuity of the manufacturer's warranty is extremely uniikely to make overall economic sense either. If you chose a MH whih was well built to start with and can live with the older internal styling and sluggish engine performance, there are some good-value buys to be had among older motorhomes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Collings Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Perhaps I have been lucky but we did a lot of research and took advice before buying our first 'van back in 98. The spec was it had to be big enough to live in for a month without us getting divorced. We bought a 92 VW t T4 based Auto-sleepers Clubman It was chosen on the basis that the seamless GRP body was a bit boat-like and likely to keep the weather outside and rode on a VW diesel powered fully independently sprung and therefore comfortable base. We kept it for eight years and put 65,000 miles on it mostly in Europe by that time it had 95,000 miles on the clock. I had replaced a set of brake pads and the injectors at about 80k as it was beginning to smoke under load. It never let us down although tracing the cause of what seemed like fuel starvation caused a lot of grief including removing the fuel tank. It was being starved of fuel but it was a loose electrical connection on the engine stop solenoid discovered almost by accident when I noticed it was wobbly. About nine months ago I did a word search on the Clubmans VRM and found it for sale on a dealers site. The price was the same as I got when it was traded in and it was already sold. The mileage by then was 124,000 miles and I phoned the dealer, supporting paperwork including some notes I had left in it suggested that it had been regularly serviced but no big bills incurred. It would seem likely the clutch and possibly the brake discs were original. It was traded for our current Autosleepers Medallion also on VW version of a Sprinter because our granddaughter wanted to come with us. In ten years we have put 55,000 nearly trouble free miles on it. The cause of increasingly heavy brakes was eventually traced to cracked vacuum pipes that were cheaply replaced. A subsequent check on the DVLA safety recall site revealed that The LTs sole recall was for this problem but it had like more than one motorcaravan been missed probably when stood on a dealers forecourt. I have seen nothing I want to replace it with. A bit more power to aid acceleration and hill climbing would be nice along with more powerful brakes but it is happy 70 mph and I have no qualms about touring in Europe. Do motorcaravans getting a telegram from BH when they pass the 100,000 mile mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 If I were in the market for a camper then a monocoque Autosleeper on a MK5 Tranny base, would be top of my wish list ;-) .............and a Essex V6 :D ........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 pelmetman - 2015-08-19 5:21 PM If I were in the market for a camper then a monocoque Autosleeper on a MK5 Tranny base, would be top of my wish list ;-) .............and a Essex V6 :D ........ Good choice Dave - a nice Autosleeper Amethyst or Leg-end would suit you sir! With a combined road and domestic gas tank you would be quids in too, although it might be easier to really go for it and install a separate tank for each ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Tracker - 2015-08-19 5:30 PM pelmetman - 2015-08-19 5:21 PM If I were in the market for a camper then a monocoque Autosleeper on a MK5 Tranny base, would be top of my wish list ;-) .............and a Essex V6 :D ........ Good choice Dave - a nice Autosleeper Amethyst or Leg-end would suit you sir! With a combined road and domestic gas tank you would be quids in too, although it might be easier to really go for it and install a separate tank for each ! I'm not so sure Rich about separate tanks, as you'll have the weight of two tanks taking up payload :-S ........Where as with one you'd have a large gas supply when on site, and still be able to use the petrol tank if you run out to go in search of a refill ;-) .............. Don't tell Horace :$ .....I've always like the Legend :D ........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Collings Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 It may have changed but at one time it was difficult if not against the gas regs to take LPG from the top of the tank as gas for the domestic supply and liquid from the bottom of the same tank for road fuel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monique.hubrechtsgm Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 i had a chausson ti 10 with a traverse electric bed and sold it very rapidly why? it stays still many times in full down position over the dinner table. the manual over ride with 5 cm long allen key near the window to get the bed up is areal nightmare to reset the system eletrically is very risky you can loose some of your fingers'so my new love camper has no l electric roof beds anymore just the old bascule by hand very reiable on the otherside every thing worked fine. the bed was project 2000 from italy they also make electric steps mine failed too when i entered the calais chunnel due to bad switch the step itselves is very trustfull ikeep you informed about my new burstner aviano. regards from belgium . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keninpalamos Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Rayjsj - 2015-08-17 12:19 PM Brock - 2015-08-17 9:44 AM The best van is whatever meets your needs when you buy. Old vans wear out but in the case of Hymer, those are likely to be the accessories which are fitted to most vans. The true Hymer bit will last for a long time as evidenced by the number still going strong. The Fiat part will show its age but that would be the same with any old vans, not just Hymer. Hymer have a good track record of not leaking. Newer vans will offer the latest in vehicle design and that is something seriously worth considering such as better crash protection, air bags, driving aids, more environmentally friendly engine. Better to work out what exactly it is you want from a motorhome and then buy the newest you can that gives you that. But make sure you work it out correctly! 'More Environmentally friendly Engine' DOES NOT EQUATE to a more reliable Engine, indeed in our experience of a 2012 'new' Euro 5 Fiat Ducato, it has been a reliability nightmare of DPF sensors, EGR sensors, Limp Mode, Etc., Our Previous X244 cabbed Autocruise, never missed a beat. Well overrated, and the electronics are simply not fit for purpose. Give me back my Euro 4. "More Environmentally friendly engine does not equate to a more reliable engine" It doesn't even equate to a more environmentally friendly engine my friend. Volkswagon! and how many more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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