German qu4L1ty? and a size surprise.

[daveclare]

Our German made Truma heating elements went at two years old.
Our German made indicators filled with water at two years old.
One of our German made house clamps failed much sooner.

However to address the balance, I needed to take this light out of our French made van.

It has two screws holding it up. It's only a 'light' light so as expected the first screw I took out was small

However, the second screw......

Is somewhat longer than the first one and possibly longer than any other screw in the van.

So that's 3-1 to the Germans.

 

[Winger]

What light?

 

[Bolti]

Whoo that a whopper.

 

[daveclare]

What light?

The one in the photograph.

 

[jongood]

Are they actually German made? Or as s much stuff these days " German designed and Engineered" does not mean actually made there. So many companies are now run by accountants with a brief focused on delivering g returns to shareholders, so making your own widgets or buying something from the forecast that sort of looks the same is a no brained for them. Unfortunately family owned firms like Truma have to compete with them so it drags everyone down.

Ultimately its our own fault.

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[donkey]

What is a 'house clamp'?

Geoff

 

[dazandandrea]

Its a clamp that fits to a house . Stops it running off

 

[AlunandFelicie]

What is a 'house clamp'?

Geoff

The bailiffs use it if you don’t pay your poll tax

 

[AdrianChen]

Are they actually German made? Or as s much stuff these days " German designed and Engineered" does not mean actually made there. So many companies are now run by accountants with a brief focused on delivering g returns to shareholders, so making your own widgets or buying something from the forecast that sort of looks the same is a no brained for them. Unfortunately family owned firms like Truma have to compete with them so it drags everyone down.

Ultimately its our own fault.

Some of the poor build I have seen on two new vans has been indicative of a lack of care/supervision of the folk building the vans. Added to that is the poor quality of some screwed in parts. Perhaps the normal factory build processes have been disrupted by the lower build numbers, that coupled with the need to maintain sufficient income/margin to cover overheads has put the builders under pressure I suppose. I agree though - ultimately the markets preference for low cost (together with increasing regulatory constraints) has and will continue to drive down quality until there is sufficient consolidation of the manufacturers to improve the economics sufficiently.....

 

[funflair]

Some of the poor build I have seen on two new vans has been indicative of a lack of care/supervision of the folk building the vans. Added to that is the poor quality of some screwed in parts. Perhaps the normal factory build processes have been disrupted by the lower build numbers, that coupled with the need to maintain sufficient income/margin to cover overheads has put the builders under pressure I suppose. I agree though - ultimately the markets preference for low cost (together with increasing regulatory constraints) has and will continue to drive down quality until there is sufficient consolidation of the manufacturers to improve the economics sufficiently.....

I think the industry has for a few years now suffered from a distinct lack of quality control, this certainly shows itself on the more expensive vans who you could argue should be getting it right so I image it is generally the same throughout the ranges. Talking to the a sales director of one of the big German brands about 5 years ago he was saying how difficult it was becoming to attract the right workforce from their small geographic area, 2 big motorhome factories in a rural part of Bavaria was putting strain on the employment infrastructure, the last few years have only exasperated the problem as demand for motorhomes has rocketed and the factories have all been expanding to try to cash in on this demand but without adequate quality control things can only get worse.

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[GrahamnSue]

Are you sure that the long screw wasn't securing something on the outside of the van At least the light shouldn't fall off!

Regarding the comments on quality, most manufacturers are part of a big group, the only motorhomes we have owned with few faults were from small manufacturers.

We own the same make as the OP now (Florium) and in the first four months of ownership and a lot of use, nothing has gone wrong (I know I'm tempting fate saying that).

 

[Larrynwin]

In six years with my Hymer, wipers played up in first month and immediately fixed by supplying dealer and last year waste pipe to domestic sink detached which was easily sorted.
I would say that I do not like the sliding flyscreen to the domestic entrance door, it comes off the track too easy, unless it’s me

 

[donkey]

Our German made Truma heating elements went at two years old.
Our German made indicators filled with water at two years old.
One of our German made house clamps failed much sooner.

However to address the balance, I needed to take this light out of our French made van.
View attachment 713686
It has two screws holding it up. It's only a 'light' light so as expected the first screw I took out was small
View attachment 713688
However, the second screw......
View attachment 713689
Is somewhat longer than the first one and possibly longer than any other screw in the van.

So that's 3-1 to the Germans.

Hi

I would still like to know what a house clamp is?

Geoff

 

[Rollingwheels]

I think he meant hose clamp

 

[AndyPK]

The one in the photograph.

I still haven’t seen the light……….??

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[daveclare]

Sometimes you don't know whether people are being awkward or trying to be funny. It's pretty obvious that I meant hose clamp and using a process of elimination, there's only three things in the first photo, a socket, a glass guard and a silver round thing in between. I wonder what that is?

 

[Lenny HB]

Sometimes you don't know whether people are being awkward or trying to be funny. It's pretty obvious that I meant hose clamp and using a process of elimination, there's only three things in the first photo, a socket, a glass guard and a silver round thing in between. I wonder what that is?

Touchy.

Well I can't see any hose clamp in your photo, there is a round chrome thing that looks like a knob.

 

[AndyPK]

Nope - still can’t see it……
Is the ‘silver round thing’ the actual light then daveclare ….?

 

[donkey]

Sometimes you don't know whether people are being awkward or trying to be funny. It's pretty obvious that I meant hose clamp and using a process of elimination, there's only three things in the first photo, a socket, a glass guard and a silver round thing in between. I wonder what that is?

Thanks for clearing that up about the clamp. However, your original photo has a 13amp outlet, a glass shelf bracket and a round shiny thing? No sign of a hose clamp.

Geoff

 

[Cookieboy68]

Not sure if I read it on Fun ,that a moho came out of the factory with the kitcken window installed upside down

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[Lenny HB]

Not sure if I read it on Fun ,that a moho came out of the factory with the kitcken window installed upside down

I remember that one, the owners were a bit green and didn't realise it was in the wrong way until it was out of warranty and the manufacture refused to do anything about it.
It was a Burstner.

 

[Cookieboy68]

That's the one

 

[PaulOH]

Sure don't we all remember 'vorsprung durch tecnick' and Golfs and Polos being dropped from a height?!

Sure progress was made through technology, but in my experience with Skodas and VW, it doesn't necessarily last any longer. There was something to be said in the past for that 'teutonic' quality that German products had - functional, not much fun, but durable. I remember Car Magazine giving out about the Golf GTi that it was a great fun car to drive but no fun to look at or be inside with the hard seats and a not very well equipped coal-hole interior. You could say that less was more, but did it last?

I bought a mk1 VW Polo from a friend who seized the engine driving it without oil. In the end, I had to get my money back by trying to break it for parts as I couldn't source any engine for a price I could pay (God be with Gold-seal A-series), and quickly had 6 people at the door wanting the window winders that had worn out on their cars - as they had on mine - and the lady who needed to replace her rusty bootlid, but we discovered mine was worse than hers - and this was when VWs weren't supposed to rust! I had to pay to get the hulk removed in the end and my dad reminded me he'd predicted that it was a basket case.

An Octavia, Seat Arosa and Passat later, I have not had my faith in durability strengthened - in-built obsolescence with the interior trim, failing door locks and central locking, body trim falling off, problematic relays and service indicators, airbag failures, alternator failures, water ingress, clutch problems and even consuming lots of bulbs for some unknown reason. The cars have been quite reliable but no more than the norm and I wonder do people trade up to the newer cars before quality issues become problematic?

In fairness, anything I've described could affect any vehicle, but when you pay for a name, you hope to avoid certain problems, and hope not hear the mechanic say 'well you have to get a VAG genuine part so it's quite expensive'....

That being said, I'm in an LMC, and I've not had any major issues - in some senses they screwed it together too well as I'd some issues taking it apart to deal with age-related rot!