Hobby V65 Optima O tour Edition 2022

[Lavender1]

Hello. Have not been on here for a while as sold our motorhome and bought a Swift Basecamp 2 which we found great coupled with car but, now, having decided to travel round France/Spain September, decided we would rather go back to a motorhome. So, are going with the Hobby. Looks great, fixed beds over lovely garage, satellite dish etc.
Has anyone got this model or even any Hobby? How have they found it
(Still time for us to pull out), what sort of mileage driving reasonably, how, if they had bikes, did they anchor them down in garage. Our dealer tells us, after taking it to a weighbridge that we have 600 kgs payload? Obviously this was empty apart from a bit of fuel. Can’t seem to ascertain what has been added to the van. I know previous owner added a towbar which would be around 40kgs. Hobby advertises payload as 575kgs? Who is telling porkies.
Any information gratefully received before we part with our money.

 

[The Coops]

It may have air assist rear suspension so would be a higher payload ask the dealer or check the spec. The only thing we found driving in ours abroad was travellers camps would try and wave you onto the encampment when passing! The bike(s) went on a towbar rack at the rear not in the garage

 

[Dall]

Hello. Have not been on here for a while as sold our motorhome and bought a Swift Basecamp 2 which we found great coupled with car but, now, having decided to travel round France/Spain September, decided we would rather go back to a motorhome. So, are going with the Hobby. Looks great, fixed beds over lovely garage, satellite dish etc.
Has anyone got this model or even any Hobby? How have they found it
(Still time for us to pull out), what sort of mileage driving reasonably, how, if they had bikes, did they anchor them down in garage. Our dealer tells us, after taking it to a weighbridge that we have 600 kgs payload? Obviously this was empty apart from a bit of fuel. Can’t seem to ascertain what has been added to the van. I know previous owner added a towbar which would be around 40kgs. Hobby advertises payload as 575kgs? Who is telling porkies.
Any information gratefully received before we part with our money.

Not an Optima but a Vantana, so I cannot reply for that specific model.
Hobby are one, if not then largest leisure producer in Germany, and their products reflect the 50 years or so in business. Ours is built well, at least nothing has fallen off and at 2 years old it all still feels solid.
German fittings and electrical stuff, all quality... They have as standard many things that are not even included in other German vans. We looked at Globecar and Hobby and found that where Globecar did not have a radio, just a blank hole, Hobby had a top of the range Pioneer unit as standard fit. Same for the Thule awning, nothing on a Globecar but a full length one on our Hobby and ours came in a Fiat with AT9 box, where as the Globecar was on a manual Peugeot, both pretty much the same price..
We've had some issues with things like the kitchen tap feeding a live to the sink unit and loose wiring on the Truma system. But Hobby GB and Ireland, who are based in Preston and are happy to talk to you, pulled us back in under warranty. It does take a month or two to get the bits over from Germany, but we got there in the end.
I don't think there is an extensive dealer network, but when we had issues with our dealer support (Vanworld Chesterfield,) Hobby transferred us to E S Hartley at Kendal, who are much closer to where we live. Hartley has been good to deal with for our warranty work.
You don't see so many Hobby vans in the UK, but go to the Netherlands or Germany and it's a different story.

 

[PlacidoD]

I have an LHD 2007 Hobby T500. I have only had it a few months but no problems (save for a leisure battery that gave up on me which has nothing to do with the make). Generally the quality of build is very high. I was happily motoring around France in it last week (and I am back for more in a month!)

Enjoy!!

Chris

 

[Mleabon]

I have an Optima T70 and it's great. Double bed in the back. I have a big payload based on a max weight of 4250kg. Good in the winter with inboard water tank and heated waste tank. Huge fridge. No Oven.What's your max weight? Do you have any specific questions?

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[BouncyBoatFolk]

It may have air assist rear suspension so would be a higher payload ask the dealer or check the spec. The only thing we found driving in ours abroad was travellers camps would try and wave you onto the encampment when passing! The bike(s) went on a towbar rack at the rear not in the garage

He just needs a Fendt Caravan on the back for full authenticity.
Mike.

 

[Lavender1]

I have an Optima T70 and it's great. Double bed in the back. I have a big payload based on a max weight of 4250kg. Good in the winter with inboard water tank and heated waste tank. Huge fridge. No Oven.What's your max weight? Do you have any specific questions?

It’s 3500kg. Hobby says it has a payload of 575kg. I asked Salesman to take to weighbridge before we paid. I have not seen paperwork from the weighing yet but he reckons we have a payload with just a bit of fuel in of 600kg. I find that hard to believe as previous owner had a tow bar fitted which would weigh about 40kg? He also didn’t get rear axle weighed. The only way we will know is to load up with all our bits and then get it weighed and hope we are ok. We did buy a new Knaus about 5 years ago but didn’t give it a chance and sold it but regretted immediately. This Hobby is the same layout and looks a good build as was the Naus.
We have not had a Citroen before and hope it will give good mileage, 30 plus.
Thanks for your reply. We pick van up Thursday.

 

[Lavender1]

I have an LHD 2007 Hobby T500. I have only had it a few months but no problems (save for a leisure battery that gave up on me which has nothing to do with the make). Generally the quality of build is very high. I was happily motoring around France in it last week (and I am back for more in a month!)

Enjoy!!

Chris

Thanks Chris

 

[Lavender1]

Not an Optima but a Vantana, so I cannot reply for that specific model.
Hobby are one, if not then largest leisure producer in Germany, and their products reflect the 50 years or so in business. Ours is built well, at least nothing has fallen off and at 2 years old it all still feels solid.
German fittings and electrical stuff, all quality... They have as standard many things that are not even included in other German vans. We looked at Globecar and Hobby and found that where Globecar did not have a radio, just a blank hole, Hobby had a top of the range Pioneer unit as standard fit. Same for the Thule awning, nothing on a Globecar but a full length one on our Hobby and ours came in a Fiat with AT9 box, where as the Globecar was on a manual Peugeot, both pretty much the same price..
We've had some issues with things like the kitchen tap feeding a live to the sink unit and loose wiring on the Truma system. But Hobby GB and Ireland, who are based in Preston and are happy to talk to you, pulled us back in under warranty. It does take a month or two to get the bits over from Germany, but we got there in the end.
I don't think there is an extensive dealer network, but when we had issues with our dealer support (Vanworld Chesterfield,) Hobby transferred us to E S Hartley at Kendal, who are much closer to where we live. Hartley has been good to deal with for our warranty work.
You don't see so many Hobby vans in the UK, but go to the Netherlands or Germany and it's a different story.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Lavender1]

It may have air assist rear suspension so would be a higher payload ask the dealer or check the spec. The only thing we found driving in ours abroad was travellers camps would try and wave you onto the encampment when passing! The bike(s) went on a towbar rack at the rear not in the garage

I did see a couple of posts where the odd site would not accept a Hobby. I have had 22 properties during my life, perhaps I am a bit of a Roma. Thank you for your reply.

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[Dall]

I did see a couple of posts where the odd site would not accept a Hobby. I have had 22 properties during my life, perhaps I am a bit of a Roma. Thank you for your reply.

Never had a problem being refused with our Hobby in two years and lots of nights camping.

 

[Mleabon]

I did see a couple of posts where the odd site would not accept a Hobby. I have had 22 properties during my life, perhaps I am a bit of a Roma. Thank you for your reply.

This

Never had a problem being refused with our Hobby in two years and lots of nights camping.

Nor us.

 

[Anchor93]

Hi, just joined up ! Got the Hobby On Tour, moved over from a swift. Really great van, seems well built, by comparison. We carry electric bikes on the back, with batteries removed, our bikes only weigh 16kg. We are having a great first season with the van, no real problems, Yet !!

 

[Emmit]

It’s 3500kg. Hobby says it has a payload of 575kg. I asked Salesman to take to weighbridge before we paid. I have not seen paperwork from the weighing yet but he reckons we have a payload with just a bit of fuel in of 600kg. I find that hard to believe as previous owner had a tow bar fitted which would weigh about 40kg? He also didn’t get rear axle weighed. The only way we will know is to load up with all our bits and then get it weighed and hope we are ok. We did buy a new Knaus about 5 years ago but didn’t give it a chance and sold it but regretted immediately. This Hobby is the same layout and looks a good build as was the Naus.
We have not had a Citroen before and hope it will give good mileage, 30 plus.
Thanks for your reply. We pick van up Thursday.

You aren't going to get far with, "a bit of fuel."
For every Lt. a kilo is lost. For every Lt. of water, kilo is lost.
What about gas? An 11kgs bottle weighs another 21kgs full.
You can be sure the driver wasn't in the van. You can guarantee that there was no passenger in the van when it was weighed.
Add, (or take away) what the salesman can show you. Not what the salesman said.