Criteria for Selecting the Perfect Motorhome

[Shrimp]

When you decided it was time to change the van how long did it take to find the right used/new one and what was your criteria.
LHD or RHD?
Which bed arrangement?
Oven or not?
Separate shower to washroom or not?
What did you decide you really couldn’t live without in your next van?

 

[WESTY66]

GARAGE
LHD
Twin beds
Winterised
Separate shower
3.0L engine No adblu
Lots of toys

 

[TheAleMan]

Didn’t take us long to decide on a new one Mandy after we made our decision to do so. Spotted what we wanted, got straight on the phone, and after a fairly lengthy discussion we put a build slot totally refundable deposit down straight away. Within a few days we made arrangement to visit the factory and the rest is history as they say.

Really wasn’t bothered if left hand or right hand drive, would’ve excepted either tbh. As it turned out it’s going to right hand drive.

Rear single beds arrangement to make good use of Duvalays. It’s seconds to make up a double if need be.

No separate washroom, but as explained in another thread, we can lift and remove our separator toilet from the bathroom to utilise fully the big shower tray.

A large garage (for a PVC) was a must. An elevated lounge on the van gave us this facility.

Quick edit.. Just realised I missed the oven bit. No oven as we love our air fryer…it does everything the oven does with so much more.

 

[Littlewheels]

Good choice and genuine people to buy from.

 

[Bill-H]

Drop down double at front
Double over grage at rear
No oven - (rarely use it at home)
Smaller combined shower/toilet, I prefer to have more usable living space
3.0 ltr as I tow a car trailer quite often
LHD - prefer it, not really an issue for me in UK and 75% of my driving is out of UK and I cover around 6k miles in Europe each year.
A Class for more space 'up front'
Fortunate in that this motorhome came up for sale within the first few days of me looking, I can't afford new.

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[maison]

About three weeks research plus 40 years experience of motorhomes.

Compact width
Under 7m length
Twin beds permanently made up.
Both cab chairs had to turn fully, not be blocked by a wall.

We were lucky that we managed to get the 9 speed automatic gearbox as a bonus for only £500 more than the manual at the time. I didn’t consider it essential then but would now having driven over three years in all terrains including the Alps and Pyrenees.

 

[barryd]

Blimey!! Anyone who remembers me of old will know I started looking for our second van nearly 14 years ago. I finally found it early last summer!

My ideal Motorhome doesnt exist?

At some point I may change my Swift Kontiki 640 which is a 1996 model. I love it to bits and we did well to find a first van that we have loved everything about. So much so that my next van has to be as good if not better with the same layout. I am hearing reports that some of the newer...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

My main issue was I wanted the exact same rear lounge front Dinette as our old Kontiki from the last century but with enough payload to take the rack and scooter we had on the old one. There seems to have been a period throughout the noughties where payloads went down so I never found one but I had my eye on the Swift Esprit 496 when it came out in 2014/15 as it had nearly a ton of payload. Finding one was nigh on impossible though. One got sold underneath us before I had made up my mind in 2022 and finally I got one last summer which just happened to be a private sale on my doorstep. 14 years has to be a record although to be fair it was on and off for many years.

 

[dunnah01]

Heading towards 2000 nights on board and nothing I would change
End bathroom
Twin beds
Big engine
Real world payload

 

[pandas]

When you decided it was time to change the van how long did it take to find the right used/new one and what was your criteria.
LHD or RHD?
Which bed arrangement?
Oven or not?
Separate shower to washroom or not?
What did you decide you really couldn’t live without in your next van?

RHD even though 90% of our driving is in the EU. LHD in the UK would be a nightmare with the traffic density we have over here
Rear bed facing front to back not sideways - haven't got self levellers so less hassle.
Oven important
our combined shower/loo works well and means we do need a longer van or compromise elsewhere
Garage to fit two bikes in
good sat nav system
electric front blind
aircon although only occasional use
Double floors
magic uphill and downhill buttons
180 bhp auto

 

[Lenny HB]

On our 4th van, last 3 have been similar layout, big garage with single beds. Preferred the layout of the last van with separate shower & loo and L shaped kitchen but wanted to go smaller so compromises had to be made.
1st Van without an oven as didn't like where it would have been installed.

Current van is RHD as our order for a LHD got cancelled, it's OK driving abroad but don't like it much in the UK I've been driving LHD for 10 years and find them easier in the UK.

If we changed again which is unlikely, it would be the same layout, big garage single beds, German build, automatic.

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[DandJ]

This is our first...so not a replacement but we had a few 'essentials'
LHD as we live in France
Twin rear beds over a decent garage (two bikes fit but we remove front wheel and turn bars to make more easily accessible space for some stacking plastic boxes)
Sub 7m with a short and high overhang due to a short steep element of our drive.
After much searching, we found quite a few now do this set up....ours is a slimline (6.6m x 2.12m) which is fine by us and makes manoeuvering much easier.
A nice to have would have been auto but we're fine with the 6sp manual.
It was cheap

 

[TheAleMan]

On our 4th van, last 3 have been similar layout, big garage with single beds. Preferred the layout of the last van with separate shower & loo and L shaped kitchen but wanted to go smaller so compromises had to be made.
1st Van without an oven as didn't like where it would have been installed.

Current van is RHD as our order for a LHD got cancelled, it's OK driving abroad but don't like it much in the UK I've been driving LHD for 10 years and find them easier in the UK.

If we changed again which is unlikely, it would be the same layout, big garage single beds, German build, automatic.

Think I agree with you Lenny regarding LHD in the UK. It helps immensely if you have a good wide angle wing mirror attached of course.

 

[Shrimp]

We would like a LHD but will probably end up with a RHD.
Not really bothered if I get an oven or not-not a deal breaker.
Maybe an Island bed or twin singles, again not bothered-won’t be a deal breaker.
If the batteries are not brilliant will probably change to Lithium.
A separate shower, we are used to in our present van but not essential.
This is fun trying to work out what we want.
Now we just we need to see these vans in the flesh, easier said than done!

 

[Fulham Dave]

Took us over a year to find our first van.

We wanted winterised, double floor as fulltiming and big enough so we could have our own space if needed.

First thing we tried out when inspecting was whether I could stand up in the shower, I'm 6.3. If I could we would move on to other 'needs' we had

 

[NR]

Our Kon-tiki 649 was so good, it wasn’t an easy choice, the Morelo is one of few that can take four bikes in the garage so decision made. Probably could have got a cheaper bike carrier but oh well! However, it’s a nice place to be.

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