booboo Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 hiya everybody brand new user of the forum so i thought i would try my first thread ,we bought a brand new roller team 600 in december our first ever motorhome ,fed up with package holidays and looking for a complete change weve only had one night away in it and also drove to essex in it to freinds at new year just to try and slacken off the engine a touch because the fuel consumption quite poor just now at about 16mls to the gallon approx.I suppose the advice im lookin for is more really just views and opinions of people that have more experience as im starting to wonder if i made the right decision with my choice of make and model starting to worry if the 7.24mtr length could become quite restrictive on where we chose to go ,as we live in east lothian scotland the weekend trips would more likely be up north and maybe the lakes,and hopefully our yearly trip to france.im travelling with wife and three kids so do you think anything smaller would of been foolish.Maybe just newbie nerves,iwould love to hear other peoples advice and opinions. cheers everybody KEITH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panagah Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Hi Keith and welcome. I think that you wil need to give it a bit of time to adapt to your MH to decide what is the best for you. We personaly like to tour with ours rarely spending more than a couple of nights in one place even with the kids. You live in a lovely part of the world so moving about in Escosse you should find plenty to do. It can take a while to find what suits you best. Your mpg does sound quite low but Im sure it will loosen up and give you better than that. Also remember it's not a race car so sensible driving makes a hell of a differnce. As for the length? welli ts a case of looking a bit harder for a parking space thats all. Keep the kids amused with plenty of incar entertainment and Im sure they will have a blast. rollerteam is a good solid budget make and IMO a good choice to get you started. We are off to the isle of skye easter weekend with a couple of other MHs so if we see you don't forget to wave :-D . Give yourself some time to find out whats best for you, you will soon learn what suits you and start to enjoy it. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Hi Keith: MMM April 2007 carried a test report of an Auto-Roller 600. The design is plainly aimed at family motorcaravanning and, I would have thought, just what you need. Size-wise, I have seen a family of five decant themselves from a traditional VW camper and sleep the children outside in tents, which was OK as the weather at the time was fine but would have been pretty miserable otherwise. (Depends on how much claustrophobia one can tolerate I guess.) I don't think 7.24m of length will be an issue - once a motorhome surpasses 5.5m long it's going to occupy two slots in car-parks, supermarkets and the like. The Transit's good turning-circle will be helpful when manoeuvring, though you'll need to be careful of the longish rear overhang. Excessive height and width (particularly width) can be restrictive, but the 600 is no worse than most over-cab designs regarding these dimensions. You'll just have to accept that it's impossible to squeeze a quart into a pint pot and guard against sudden urges to take your motorhome down single-track lanes with high hedges and overhanging trees! You may find that your Auto-Roller is a mite roly-poly cornering and/or sensitive to crosswinds (this is remarked on in the MMM report), but adding 'air assistance' (eg. an Airide or Driverite system) is easy, not too expensive and apparently works wonders. MMM's report gave no fuel consumption data, but I'd anticipate an eventual average thirst in the low-middle 20s. (Auto-Roller 600 has Transit 2.4-litre 137PS motor and twinned-wheel rear-axle LWB chassis - just in case someone's got something similar and can provide real world consumption figures.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usinmyknaus Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Hello Keith, Six months ago I was at the same stage as you. I found spending an hour or so a day working through the various topics on this site and making lots of notes in a loose-leaf folder split into various topics such as water, gas, equipment, sites UK, sites overseas, hints and tips etc helped me enormously. Now after 6,000 miles in a 7-metre van I am very comfortable with what I am doing and have a handy guide to take with me wherever I go. My van is loaded close to max 3500Kg all the time and returns 29.5 mpg so your does sound very low. Size of van is a very personal choice - there is just the 2 of us in ours and my wife would not consider anything smaller than 7 metres. She likes to be able to move about easily especially when the weather is poor - we camp all year pretty much regardless of the weather forecast. I found coping with the size of the van was helped by good prior planning in the early days especially looking at the width of roads I was likely to encounter on route. We use mainly rural CLs and CSs and the approach roads can be challenging so a good tip is to use the satellite photo facility on the on-line map sites or google earth to zoom in and get an idea of what to expect. Similarly if a site has an arrive after/leave before 12.00 rule it may well be to prevent 2 vans meeting head to head so if you need to vary that call ahead and ask for advice from the site owner/warden. We tend to avoid parking in towns although the excellent motorhome parking website can help you there - see references elsewhere on this forum. If we want to visit a town or city in the UK, We tend to stay on sites within walking or public transport reach. The Continent is much more welcoming as you will see when you work through the forum's topics. A key bit of advice I would offer is to take your time especially if you are unsure when getting round an obstacle, reversing etc. Don't hesitate to get out and have a look and if you hold anyone up for a few minutes that's too bad and better than having an expensive scrape. If you have not got a reversing camera then it may be worth considering. Hope you continue to enjoy your van and especially, enjoy the learning experience after all something 7.24m long and 2.3 metres wide and with a throaty diesel has to be a "boy's toy" and should qualify you to eat Yorky bars!. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cronkle Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 We've got the Auto Roller 500 but then there are only the two of us. Well made and handles well despite what we read in the mag reviews but then I suppose as long as we don't expect salloon car handling we can cope with most things. It's our second Autoroller- well made and our purse likes them. The first one has been on various trips across Europe for a month at a time and we are restricted to that by work, not the van. Our van has about 3000 on the clock and we are getting about 29/30 to the gallon according to the cab display but new it was still 25/26 so your return does sound low, however, ours is the 2.2 engine and the vehicle is lighter. I also seem to remember a thread on one of the forums talking about returns like yours. One of the forums also had a very well written thread started by a chap who was personalising his 600- you might find that interesting if you haven't found it already. You will get lots of good advice on the forums and I would repeat that bit about not being nervous about getting out and surveying the area if you have concerns about a reversing or parking. Just do it as if you've been doing it for years :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booboo Posted February 16, 2008 Author Share Posted February 16, 2008 hiya , i would just like to thank everybody for there replies i really appriciate it and find it a great help and very interesting hearing other users opinions and advice. CHEERS KEITH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booboo Posted February 16, 2008 Author Share Posted February 16, 2008 hi message for paul thanks mate for your advice i remember reading your article in mmm and really enjoyed it .I to have not long gave up my passion for riding motorcycles and sold my speed triple last year following a bad accident i had in 2004 ,and i remember reading that you to had motorcycles no bad mate ahe from 0-60 in 4.5 seconds to 0-60 in half an hour ,wife and kids alot happier now though ,anyway mate just thot i would say hi CHEERS KEITH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champstar Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Hi..we have found that weekend trips in our m/home around Scotland is fantastic....the main problem is getting used ti the new way of driving...it is not like a car...the travelling is part of the fun and you should remember that as long as you get there safely. We tried most of the CC&C sites mainly for weekends..especially at Luss to get used to the way of life and then ventured up north of Scotland and had a real adventure. Never be afriad to ask a fellow motorhomer on a site as generally they are very friendly and always willing to help...we did. have fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booboo Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 thanks for that champstar,ive really apprieciated all the advice ive been given,the way other motorhomers are willing to give help and advice on these forums is a real eye opener to me there great. CHEERS KEITH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Welcome to the forum Keith! I have a new Ford based camper as well (2.2 130 bhp FWD model) it has only done 4500 miles and I get around 25 mpg. so I would expect you to get a bit less then this. but you need to tour at around 60 ish to get resonable fuel consumption..... And and I would stick with what you have as they are good value family campers. You need to trust your instinct's more and not panic! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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