Considering a motorhome

[mcgtech]

Hi, my wife and I and our wee dog are looking to buy a motorhome. We live in Inverness and would like to use for as much of the year as is possible and travel to Europe at some point too.

Looking for beds (double or two singles) that are ready to jump into and don't need assembled every night, ideally with dividing door, toilet not near kitchen and bright & cheerful.

We had a look at www.highland campervans.com and really liked a 2012 Bailey approach 740 and an auto-sleeper burford duo, but as newbies we are dipping our toes in and don't want to get burnt so would appreciate any advice you guys can give.

Budget is £50K max.

 

[Sneds]

Peugeot 160 2017, Bailey autograph 794 has a belt.
We love our Bailey, they’ve been building caravans for years so know their stuff.

 

[Tim P]

Hi, Welcome to MHF, with your budget I would certainly look at an Elddis Autoquest 185, Twin single beds, rear full width wc and separate shower, open plan throughout, with a pull accross divider! All the usual fridge freezers, Hob and oven and seperate grill. Its built on the Peugeot extra-long chassis, comes in a ball hair under 7.5m long and sneaks in under the magic 3500kgs.
Yes I've got one, ( not for sale) and I reckon it ticks all your boxes and some.
At your budget you should get one under 5 years old with not too many miles on the clock.It should have a euro 5 engine with a cam chain (not belt). What's not to like! I suggest you go and look at one, you might be pleasently surprised at how good they are. The dealer specials come with most of the bells and whistles.

 

[mcgtech]

Thanks all for the very helpful advice .

Still can't seem to lay my hands on Jim's book about buying a motorhome, does anyone have a link?

 

[denisejoe]

The Motorhome Buyers Guide

This book will save you money, probably a lot of money. It will show you, step step by step, how choose the right motorhome and then show you how you can easily negotiate the very best price. This book is FREE to subscribers. Download it by...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

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[mcgtech]

The Motorhome Buyers Guide

This book will save you money, probably a lot of money. It will show you, step step by step, how choose the right motorhome and then show you how you can easily negotiate the very best price. This book is FREE to subscribers. Download it by...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Many thanks!

 

[Hobbyhorse]

Best bet is to hire one.

Yes, it might be expensive, but a lot less than realising you just can't live with the layout of the van you have paid out for, and need to trade in for another one, or worse still, you just don't get on with motorhoming.

We’re with Cab96. Hire a motorhome first. Some years ago after spending over ac18 months going to dealers and shows we were convinced we wanted a Swift Bolero. Nice van, nice layou lots of boxes ticked so we rented one for a week. When we came back motorhoming was not for us. The van was not what we thought. Uncomfortable, bad layout for our lifestyle and didn’t drive well. It put us off completely. But we continued to feel we ought to enjoy motorhoming. Anc some 2 years later we saw a good used Hobby. This one was completely different and seemed to fulfil all the negs we had about three Swift. After a lengthy test drive at the dealers we bit the bullet. It was s delight to drive, we’ll build & comfortable , good layout, bud fixed double bed and loads of storage. We loved it got from day 1. That ininitial weeks hirebof the wrong van saved us £thousands.

 

[Freo]

I also agree with CAB96 about hiring a Motorhome (MH) for a test trip before buying your first one.

Before that, I would advise that you spend a fair bit of time looking at as many MHs as possible - preferably ’in the flesh’ at dealers if you can. You can also do a lot of online research. The idea is to narrow your options down to a short list of different MHs, and then delve deeper into weighing up the pros and cons of each of these. This will form a guide as to which MH model you should consider renting.

A great tip I picked up years ago (might have been from Jim’s book - can’t remember) was to actually try the MHs facilities. That is;
1. Sit on the seats and actually lie on the beds. Are the seats comfortable? Are the beds long enough, wide enough, comfortable to lie on?
2. Sit on the toilet. Is it comfortable? Do you have enough space around you to ‘complete the paperwork’ easily?
3. Stand in the shower and do a mock wash. Is there enough space? If you drop something on the floor, can you pick it up without getting out of the shower?
4. Is there enough space and storage around the wash hand basin?
etc, etc.
In general, try to imagine living in the MH and go through the actual day-to-day activities.
Obviously, this would mean actually visiting a dealer but, in my view, it gives a very good impression as to whether the particular MH will really be suited to you or not. If it passes the checks and gets the thumbs up, then the next stage would be to rent a similar model and see how it matches up in a real live ‘in use’ situation.

Hope some of this is helpful. Best of luck with your search for a MH.

 

[The Wino]

I also agree with CAB96 about hiring a Motorhome (MH) for a test trip before buying your first one.

Before that, I would advise that you spend a fair bit of time looking at as many MHs as possible - preferably ’in the flesh’ at dealers if you can. You can also do a lot of online research. The idea is to narrow your options down to a short list of different MHs, and then delve deeper into weighing up the pros and cons of each of these. This will form a guide as to which MH model you should consider renting.

A great tip I picked up years ago (might have been from Jim’s book - can’t remember) was to actually try the MHs facilities. That is;
1. Sit on the seats and actually lie on the beds. Are the seats comfortable? Are the beds long enough, wide enough, comfortable to lie on?
2. Sit on the toilet. Is it comfortable? Do you have enough space around you to ‘complete the paperwork’ easily?
3. Stand in the shower and do a mock wash. Is there enough space? If you drop something on the floor, can you pick it up without getting out of the shower?
4. Is there enough space and storage around the wash hand basin?
etc, etc.
In general, try to imagine living in the MH and go through the actual day-to-day activities.
Obviously, this would mean actually visiting a dealer but, in my view, it gives a very good impression as to whether the particular MH will really be suited to you or not. If it passes the checks and gets the thumbs up, then the next stage would be to rent a similar model and see how it matches up in a real live ‘in use’ situation.

Hope some of this is helpful. Best of luck with your search for a MH.

I think I'd just say if you do try the toilet and shower don't do it for real!

 

[StephandJohn]

We didn't hire a motorhome and were lucky we got something that suits us perfectly the first time. The only thing we did do was have a holiday in a static the year before we bought the motorhome. We wanted to extend the holiday but couldn't stay in the same one so moved in to a different one. It was rubbish in comparison; quality, ferments and ease of use. It made us realise that motorhomes were probably the same and this made us do more homework before buying.
Incidentally, writing this made me remember that we stayed on a site at Polruan opposite Fowy and it was one of the best holidays we ever had. Went back two years ago and it was just as good.

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[Momac]

We bought an older van to work out what we wanted from a new one. We then traded it in and got the same price that we paid for it against a new one.

We did exactly the same. Bought a little Autosleeper Harmony, used it for a year and sold it for more than we paid! By then, we had worked out exactly what we wanted and have had our second van for six years. Much better than hiring for a week or two.