Build quality question

[SueRL]

Morning all

For those of you familiar with these makes, what order would you put them in overall in terms of build quality and/or reliability? 1 - 6 with 1 being best.

Pilote
Chausson
Fleurette/Florium
Rollerteam
Bailey
Burstner

Thanks!

 

[daveclare]

Have to say we really admire our friends daveclare ’s Florium Black Pearl

The interior is beautiful and they like it as well

He’s also made some great improvements

Can't beat a nice French van can you Al?

 

[CazPaul]

We’ve had a 2005 Murvi Morello good quality apart from the peeling paint on the Fiat side and minor issues.

Had x2 Hymers 2006 and 2004 all excellent quality now a Concorde 2005, the best build by a mile, like a little tank.

The key thing is look at all the years ive mentioned , all before 2007, when quality went down throughout the industry.

They just offer a lot of bling and fancy gadgets that aren’t required and don’t stand up to much use, who the hell wants electric this, electric that, electric pull down beds, electric windscreen blinds, what’s wrong with nice curtains on a track that you could take down, wash or dry clean, fabric of your choice when ordering.

Fancy electric complicated central locking systems, some Concorde owners have had to have complete new habitation doors because the central locking has gone faulty, what’s wrong with a good old fashioned sturdy lock and a couple of keys.

Double glazed A class side windows groan, some have replaced at thousands of pounds because they’ve blown, the replacements only last a couple of years. I’ve seen some lovely van windows with 2 panes of glass, not double glazed but a hatch to slide open to clean the inner pane.

Electric steps are often going wrong give me a manual one any day, in fact we mostly carry a caravan step in the garage.

All manufacturers should concentrate on build quality and the general construction from a users perspective, not showroom gadgets.

If I was buying new it would be a small manufacturer like RP or Murvi and sit down with them ask them to do the build to my design to some degree.

I can fully understand the newer engine designs, more complicated, less reliable but they are forced to do that to meet the standards so that’s inevitable, plus they have to try and make motorhomes lighter to get within 3500kg.

Our van is 6.48 metres and 4900kg GVW, imagine that today.

All manufacturers should have seasoned Motorhome users involved in their designs.

 

[Dorwyn]

Having been a member of FUN for 9 years I've read countless horror stories from most manufacturers.
We spent 2 years looking at vans and reading of thousands of members experiences before throwing our life savings at our current van, an Elddis Accordo 105 Prestige despite hearing bad things about Elddis build quality. Most peoples main fear is water ingress but the fact that Elddis gave a 10 year water ingress warranty showed their confidence in their product.
In 7 years of ownership the only issue we've had was our fridge wouldn't stay lit on gas which raised its head in the first month. No other issues at all. We may just be lucky.
On the other hand my brother in law bought a new Dethleffs and had nothing but trouble with build quality related issues. He got rid of it less than 2 years later.
He came across it in a dealers in November and made some enquiries and was shocked to hear that it's had 3 owners since he sold it 5 years ago!
I've long been of the opinion that motorhome build quality is a bit of a lottery. You pay your money and take your chances unfortunately.

Happy with my Elddis 115 too

 

[Al n Val]

Can't beat a nice French van can you Al?

I have to say we’ve had loads of issues as you know Dave but most have been Dometic and Alde.

All now hopefully sorted, the rest of the build is as good as i’ve seen tbh

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[rolosroller]

Funny no one has spoken about value for money.
I've seen vans which are nearly identical . But the price difference can be huge .
All for a name. Just like a t shirt with a certain logo will cost a lot more than another brand,
So for me ill stick with value over logo every time.

 

[Dean14]

Morning all

For those of you familiar with these makes, what order would you put them in overall in terms of build quality and/or reliability? 1 - 6 with 1 being best.

Pilote
Chausson
Fleurette/Florium
Rollerteam
Bailey
Burstner

Thanks!

Just make sure it's a wood free construction.

 

[HUSKY 499]

2016 I bought a 2009 Burstner 727 A class ,which I still have,it has been a excellent van and very good build quality, July 24 we upgraded to a 2016 ,10.000mile
Swift Kon-tiki tag, we like the lay out ,with decent size of oven, /alde heating/ storage etc,but it has broke my heart with lot of problems,I have managed to sort them my self,but if paying a dealer to sort out the fridge/water leaks/reverse camera there wouldn't been any change from £800, and there's still a small damp issue to resolve,
Getting back to the original post,
older German vans have a better build quality as far as I am concerned.

 

[jerryz]

look at Adrias they are well made ,, and Winter insulated

 

[jerryz]

My British van is as good if not better built than all German vans!

Adria is Slovenia/Austria manufacture not German

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[GMLS]

My 2006 Autotrail cheyenne is still like new

Sorry to hear that (ex AT owner)

 

[ken D]

why do people persist in saying german engineering is better I am a time served engineer and have worked on lots of german engineered produts the spin says they are better but then again you probably believe the volkswagon emission figures believe me they are not

 

[Al n Val]

Because they like to think it is

 

[SueRL]

OP.Hope this is helping lol

In this mad world of motorhome ownership ,I think that has nailed it but also the responses have highlighed the challenges of very different experiences shared and thats before you add it another massive variable of dealer selection

Haha, yeah it is helping, kind of All opinions are valid and welcome - I don’t have much experience to go on myself!

 

[Chris Summers]

Morning all

For those of you familiar with these makes, what order would you put them in overall in terms of build quality and/or reliability? 1 - 6 with 1 being best.

Pilote
Chausson
Fleurette/Florium
Rollerteam
Bailey
Burstner

Thanks!

Pilote 1
Chausson 6

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[WESTY66]

Only this morning our friends friend px’d their 12mth old Adria at a loss of £30k because no one wanted it for a Dethleffs

Good Luck to them

Frying Pan - Fire comes to mind

Blummin Eck, I wouldnt swap a Sonic for a dethleffs
I would however swap it for a Carthago………

Oh hello, I did 3 years ago

 

[CazPaul]

why do people persist in saying german engineering is better I am a time served engineer and have worked on lots of german engineered produts the spin says they are better but then again you probably believe the volkswagon emission figures believe me they are not

The older ones are before 2007

 

[SueRL]

Funny no one has spoken about value for money.
I've seen vans which are nearly identical . But the price difference can be huge .
All for a name. Just like a t shirt with a certain logo will cost a lot more than another brand,
So for me ill stick with value over logo every time.

Honestly, I’m all ears so if you have any suggestions please throw a few my way - 7m max, lounge with drop down elec bed over, garage space and room for my fat backside on the loo. I don’t ask for much

 

[GMLS]

Honestly, I’m all ears so if you have any suggestions please throw a few my way - 7m max, lounge with drop down elec bed over, garage space and room for my fat backside on the loo. I don’t ask for much

If ok with an A class, depending on budget, how about the Rapido 854f?

 

[Tony50]

why do people persist in saying german engineering is better I am a time served engineer and have worked on lots of german engineered produts the spin says they are better but then again you probably believe the volkswagon emission figures believe me they are not

I agree we had all Miele home kitchen appliances dish washer packed up new pump £400 , we dumped dish washer , bought A cheap for £160; one was great, combi oven inside glass door from new damp ingress, and walls of appliance dimpled impossible to keep spotless , wouldn't buy another Miele

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[bobnick]

Baileys are on a par with Bentley and Rolls Royce for build quality.
Oh by the way i have a Bailey for sale on classifieds,
Signed
Pinocchio

 

[DandG5515]

I had to repair a few Miele ovens, they only came with 2years warranty and at 8 years old Miele repairers didn't want to come out to them as spares were no longer available. Still repaired them using old school techniques rather than replacing parts.

 

[SueRL]

If ok with an A class, depending on budget, how about the Rapido 854f?

Absolutely! Haven’t seen one in the flesh but having got used to the joys of an A class I’d love to get another tbh. Didn’t think I’d find one under 7m with a suitable bed though, so I’ll go and look ‘em up now. Thank you

 

[SueRL]

Is the 'order' of the 6 based on buying a certain model of each at a set price point...in which case you may be able to buy a brand new 'lower' model or a 6 yr old Burstner? Does 'expectations' come into it? I have pretty moderate expectations of our first moho...a lowly Chausson...but so far, 18 mths in, it is exceeding them.

To be honest, I just chose those 6 makes because each has at least one model that fits my criteria (sub 7m, lounge, electric drop down bed, decent size bathroom and garage) and I’ve seen them either online or in person but don’t know enough about them in terms of any known problems, quality issues etc.

 

[Jon Stewart]

Just make sure it's a wood free construction.

Carthago wasn't on the original list!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[daveclare]

Buy a Carthago and spend the rest of your life fixing the dodgy electrics .

Ask Lenny.

 

[Al n Val]

Buy a Carthago and spend the rest of your life fixing the dodgy electrics .

Ask Lenny.

We went to the NEC last year to look at and buy a £263k Liner for 2, headlight surround dropping off and door handles coming off in my hands did not fill me with confidence at all.

One chance to fill you with pride and they blew it.

They had another chance.

The one at the factory in the showroom in Germany was stoved in on the rear panel, these are supposed to be premium motorhomes on show to the public.

not for me thank you

PS. and they’ve got bloody china cabinets in them for f’s sake

 

[Coolcats]

why do people persist in saying german engineering is better I am a time served engineer and have worked on lots of german engineered produts the spin says they are better but then again you probably believe the volkswagon emission figures believe me they are not

All I can say is: the Germans still have a motor industry and thrived even when Japanese imports started to decimate the market....‘vorsprung durch technik’ as they say

 

[ontheroadagain]

He told me only yesterday Lennie that most dealers simply didn’t want it and all offered him £85k which was a £50k drop after a year.

I think the main problem is that dealers currently have too many secondhand motorhomes in stock. They just don’t want another one. They really want buyers with no trade in.

 

[Super Spark]

My 1989 VW Westfalia California is VERY well made!

1990 ci auto home(2nd hand) 1993 eldiss auto Stratus (2nd hand) 1996 eldiss autostratus (new) 2005 auto trail dacota (new) 2007 kontiki 669 (new) 2014 kontiki 669 (new) still got it. Some minor faults with all of them but for us the kiotiki has been the best 66500 miles on this one and no thoughts on changing

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Al n Val]

I think the main problem is that dealers currently have too many secondhand motorhomes in stock. They just don’t want another one. They really want buyers with no trade in.

I think the main problem is they are too expensive in the first place