Disappointed with New Motorhome Quality Standards

[Paul F]

But unless you are an extremely small builder no one pays that price buying in bulk,

How much do Autotrail pay then? - Any discount they acheive makes no difference to the point I was making

It only leaves 30 k less the dealers margin delivery costs and vat on the uplift in value as well so it's not going to have a lot of love and attention when built

Add maybe £5k or even £10k to the above and its not enough to make a significant difference to the build quality that can be acheived at this price point

 

[Mr porky]

Since COVID all manufacturers costs have spiralled, lead time for parts has quadrupled, they are all cutting corners on build quality and design. The general consensus is dont buy a new van, get a good quality pre covid built mh.

We all expect better wages yet if better wages are paid it has to either into a company's profits or passed on to the customer. Unfortunately since covid the world has become a bit more expensive in every aspect of life.

 

[pappajohn]

Youve obviously never looked behind the facia of an american RV.
The wood behind the nice frontage still has the names of the fruit plantations etc on it where they reused the boxes and pallets.
And they are costing in excess of £100,000.

 

[adi4]

Youve obviously never looked behind the facia of an american RV.
The wood behind the nice frontage still has the names of the fruit plantations etc on it where they reused the boxes and pallets.
And they are costing in excess of £100,000.

Well I must admit I have never seen that, and I work on American RVs for a living and have done so for 14 years now!
Some of the lower end RVs are not as well-built, however they do use real wood.

 

[enark]

Since COVID all manufacturers costs have spiralled, lead time for parts has quadrupled, they are all cutting corners on build quality and design. The general consensus is dont buy a new van, get a good quality pre covid built mh.

Not heard that “general consensus”?

Technology moves on, and i certainly wouldnt swap my fiat 9sp box for a pre covid comformatic….

And Burstner soft floors - MY 16 - 18? Pre covid….um

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

 

[The Wino]

I

Not heard that “general consensus”?

Technology moves on, and i certainly wouldnt swap my fiat 9sp box for a pre covid comformatic….

And Burstner soft floors - MY 16 - 18? Pre covid….um

I think it's like lots of " things aren't what they used to be" ideas people remember good bits from the past.

 

[rosalan]

Well I must admit I have never seen that, and I work on American RVs for a living and have done so for 14 years now!
Some of the lower end RVs are not as well-built, however they do use real wood.

Real wood? Is that a good thing? Swift and others are keen to claim they do not use real wood.

 

[The Wino]

Real wood? Is that a good thing? Swift and others are keen to claim they do not use real wood.

I seem to recall a video on here of them building American caravans it was pretty shoddy stuff.

 

[adi4]

Real wood? Is that a good thing? Swift and others are keen to claim they do not use real wood.

Yes real wood, RVs don't have the weight restraints that motorhomes under 5 ton do, let alone 3500kg ones.
I own a 38foot quad slide diesel pusher and it actually has 1356kg payload lol and it is designed to tow nearly 5000kg ( not in the UK that is limited to 3500kg )

 

[adi4]

I seem to recall a video on here of them building American caravans it was pretty shoddy stuff.

There is a Big difference between an American caravan and an American RV

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

 

[Mr porky]

Youve obviously never looked behind the facia of an american RV.
The wood behind the nice frontage still has the names of the fruit plantations etc on it where they reused the boxes and pallets.
And they are costing in excess of £100,000.

A friend of mine worked on Teesport and we got loads of packing wood used for coco beans (cacao) my god it was good stuff. The amount of terrace houses in thornaby that myself and my dad used in the refurbishment really shouldn't be mentioned.

 

[rosalan]

Wood = wood rot, damp and decay e.g. Swift floors.

 

[adi4]

In an RV there is no wood exposed to the elements, the wood that is under the floor is in the top of the belly lockers which are steel framed and made out of moulded plastic as can be seen below

And the floor inside is real tiles lol, here is a YouTube clip I took for a friend

 

[HugoBNB]

Our 2024 Hymer wasn't also quite as expected. Must have been at least 5 weekend trips after which I didn't find new fails. Starting from screws coming loose (10mm out!) up to bench seat seat belts of which one was completely unavailable and the other not usable before some warranty work. And the Smart Battery System oh my god. Dead on arrival. Now 3 months waiting for replacement and the latest ETA being 13 weeks from now.

Makes me think one or two years old used one might be closer to a buy & drive than a new one.

Our 2023 has now done just shy of 12k miles. Creaks and rattles are starting to rear their heads. It was silent when we got it. The dealer did next to nothing to help apart from saying that "motorhomes do flex a bit." The front dashboard Cowell, the bit that bridges the Sprinter dashboard to the windscreen has developed a fair old creak. So, sitting on an aire with nothing to do, I got my tool kit out. All of the self-tapping screws beneath the windscreen blind had a good half-turn in them. The blind runners a good quarter on either side. So, having found this, I set about sorting the squeaking from the fifth seat. On the screw into the floor nearest to where the noise is coming from, the screw turned as many times as I wanted to do it for as it has obviously been over torqued when built and has stripped the hole.
Has anyone on here got suggestions for a product that will fill the existing hole and allow me to re-fit the screw please?
When we get back, I am going to check every single fixing possible.
Thanks in advance.
BnB

 

[The Coops]

Try a helicoil insert on the thread

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

 

[eddie]

Youve obviously never looked behind the facia of an american RV.
The wood behind the nice frontage still has the names of the fruit plantations etc on it where they reused the boxes and pallets.
And they are costing in excess of £100,000.

May be once upon a time

£200K buys you entry level

 

[Neil S]

Recently been looking at new motorhomes especially Auto trail excel range.
However after popping to a dealer I was really shocked at the build quality.
We all know that these things aren't cheap why should we accept shoddy build quality on something 65k +.
The fabric window surrounds had fallen off in the first one l looked at the glue had become detached from a crappy bit of wood which was used to attach the surround to the wall..on a brand new van, checked another and the plastic sheet around the sunroof had also become detached...glue again on another crappy bit of wood.
Seats poppers on a bit of elastic to keep them upright were positioned so that seat fabric was constantly under stress..it will rip the seat material eventually.
Checked under the seat cushion to find cheap bits of wood screwed together to make the seat base.... really.....65k +
Cheap shelves on plastic clips in cupboards.... bits trim with rough cut edges.....it goes on.
4 mm thick shelves to hold what....a sock????
These are brand new vans
Is it me or do manufacturers just not care as long as they sell and people are left sorting shoddy workmanship.
Look long and hard when buying a new van.

I was really shocked and disappointed at what I found.

if you want quality and new up your budget to 120k or more , £65000 is the budget end

 

[HugoBNB]

if you want quality and new up your budget to 120k or more , £65000 is the budget end

Ours was a fair bit above your top figure and there have been a good few niggles. We are awaiting replacement window struts and a drivers seat arm rest ATM.

 

[herald_400rl]

From Lincoln show it's obvious to us that we will not be looking at a Roller Team for our next van - they seemed really shoddily put together.

 

[The Wino]

From Lincoln show it's obvious to us that we will not be looking at a Roller Team for our next van - they seemed really shoddily put together.

Probably rules out chausson, autotrail, bennimar etc etc as they're all the same group! That being said possibly less likely to leak than some of the makes were before being taken over.
If you search "Trigano group" you will be surprised how many they own!

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

 

[herald_400rl]

Probably rules out chausson, autotrail, bennimar etc etc as they're all the same group! That being said possibly less likely to leak than some of the makes were before being taken over.
If you search "Trigano group" you will be surprised how many they own!

Do they apply the same manufacturing techniques, technologies and material quality across the brands? We had a nosey around a few and there was something wrong with every roller team we looked at - doors not closing, latches not working, veneer peeling off, etc.

 

[Flairy]

I think many would be better off paying the same money for used quality rather than new poor build,and have many years of use out of them.

 

[The Wino]

Do they apply the same manufacturing techniques, technologies and material quality across the brands? We had a nosey around a few and there was something wrong with every roller team we looked at - doors not closing, latches not working, veneer peeling off, etc.

There will be differences but I suspect that brands at a similar price point are going to have similar construction and materials

 

[WESTY66]

I think many would be better off paying the same money for used quality rather than new poor build,and have many years of use out of them.

Spot on, I’m on my third van now, first was a 3 yr old Elddis, whilst it didn’t have the quality feel of the next two vans it never had anything go wrong. Second was a 6yr old adria sonic this was better built and again nothing went wrong with it. Now I have a Carthago which is now 8 yr old, the build is on another level and other than operator error has had no problems, it just works, that said it is used and serviced regularly, I do think of getting a newer van, but as soon as I think of adblu, cambelts and money saving shoddy builds, I soon realise I have got a cracking motorhome

 

[herald_400rl]

I think many would be better off paying the same money for used quality rather than new poor build,and have many years of use out of them.

I suspect our next van will be around 2013 reg

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

 

[The Wino]

I suspect our next van will be around 2013 reg

I think I've been on here long enough to have heard people say in about 2016 that ones that new weren't as good as ones 10 years older! Are older ones actually any better or is it people conning themselves into thinking that?

 

[Northernraider]

Yes real wood, RVs don't have the weight restraints that motorhomes under 5 ton do, let alone 3500kg ones.
I own a 38foot quad slide diesel pusher and it actually has 1356kg payload lol and it is designed to tow nearly 5000kg ( not in the UK that is limited to 3500kg )


View attachment 939237

I've a German van with 1580kg payload and can tow 3 tonne but without the gas guzzling American engine and size inconvenience.

Admittedly some rvs are nice to look at but many interiors are like grannies parlour from the 80's

 

[Northernraider]

I think I've been on here long enough to have heard people say in about 2016 that ones that new weren't as good as ones 10 years older! Are older ones actually any better or is it people conning themselves into thinking that?

I've not owned one newer than 2008 but I've been in plenty newer and seen enough stories of newer ones on here to have established that yes many older vans were better built.

Even if I could afford it I doubt I'd ever buy a brand new motorhome as they all seem to have issues , some minor but some najor.

 

[herald_400rl]

I think I've been on here long enough to have heard people say in about 2016 that ones that new weren't as good as ones 10 years older! Are older ones actually any better or is it people conning themselves into thinking that?

For me it wouldn't really matter - budget is my constraint.
Saying that, our current one is 24 years old and the only thing that doesn't work is the fuel gauge (bit of an average rather than a reliable reading).

 

[beachwomble]

I wonder if the costs of production, especially labour, is why Adrias are produced in Slovenia?

Slovenia is the world's biggest producer of leisure vehicles per capita. Cost of production apart, there is a large pool of skilled workers and a large forestry industry. Other than Adria, Carthago/Malibu has two factories. There are other Slovenian brands such as Robeta, MegaMobil and Tourne. All are renowned for the quality of their products. MegaMobil are launching in the UK at the NEC.

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