Thinking of straying into Motorhome territory soon. We want something with a fixed end bed, Alde heating, 3 or 4 berth, automatic transmission which is a low profile coach built and not van conversion (those sliding doors drive me mad!!), any ideas gratefully received - not new something maybe up to 2 years old.
I’m sure there are many people on this forum that will offer you advise.
If you are looking at European manufacturers then your budget will be a bit tight if you want to buy new, obviously used you have more flexibility.
There are only a few UK manufacturers and people’s views vary on the quality (although there have been some people not happy with their European manufacturers as well)
I have an elddis model and have been really pleased with it on my 4th year and just had a habitation service and it shows no damp.
I would also go to one of the Motorhome /caravan shows where you will get a good insight to what is available
Fixed end bed plus automatic transmission together will bring up quite a short shortlist.
I’d like to help but we actively discounted the end bed because a relatively short length of vehicle was one of our requirements for ferries and there don’t seem to be any sub 6m fixed bed MHs.
I think there are plenty of options for you, however.
Our former Motorhome had a raised fixed end bed above a large garage.
However,, the garage was great but the fixed bed a pain to make and an even greater pain if one of you had to use the bathroom in the night resulting that you probably both had to get out of bed depending on what side of the bed you slept.
When we changed Motorhome we opted for 2 single beds, easy to make up and no problem in the night.
The Bailey Autograph range will give you everything you want except automatic transmission as its not an option on Peugeot base models. Must you have Alde heating? Personally find the Truma system fine.
Hi David,
For a 55k auto and Alde heating only a couple of years old it may be worth looking at Rapido and Pilote models.
We have a Bavaria which is a re-,badged Pilote and are pleased with the specification and build quality.
We have an island bed over a good size garage separated from the kitchen & lounge by a full width bathroom. There is an additional drop down bed over the cab.
We would have liked Alde but have found the Truma 6 system to be suffice all year around although we take an oil filled radiator in the winter to dry towels etc. Some people do complain that Alde systems take too long to warm up.
We have a 150bhp fiat Ducato on a six speed manual which is perfectly fine.
I thought about an Auto but would rather have the clutch control when creeping up levelling ramps or doing a hiill start in traffic weighing nearly 4 tonnes and most of the miles we have driven have been in 6th gear on motorways anyway.
You may need to choose between Alde and Auto (or age of van) uto meet your budget - after 8 years of motorhoming I would say both are “would liked” rather than “ must haves” but you may have different priorities.
I would say that lay out is the most important thing to consider then consider how you will use the motorhome. If mainly in the UK inside lounge comfort is important if you plan on travelling to warmer climates good storage for outside furniture and cooking may be important. Ours is a a continental van with the habitation door on the offside and RHD I have not found this to be a problem in either the uk or Europe.
Happy hunting
Guy
------------- It's only an expensive hobby when it's parked on your Drive....use it, love it , live it.
Thanks chaps. We caravan all year round and would expect to do the same in motorhome. We have had caravans with blown air heating and I have to say it was crap.
Automatic transmission is now a must given my left knee! My last experience of blown air heating was a 2009 Bailey caravan - the space heater was fine but the blown air in the toilet was worse than useless as the pipes went outside and under the van and obviously the air in them cooled so was not even warm when it re-entered the van in the bathroom area.
I’ll take the boss to see Rapido and Pilote models. We did see a Burstner we really liked but it was very expensive - good quality, ticked all the boxes but a tad on the expensive side.
Your basing your experiences on an 11 year old caravan with blown heating
The Truma Combi boilers hadn't even been brought out then . I have a 2019 Pilote with Truma 6e combi boiler(6000watts) and on the eco setting its extremely warm even sub zero conditions and also very quiet . I also have a 2018 Bailey Unicorn caravan with Alde heating and i wouldn't say it was any better than the Truma Combi and is certainly slower to heat up
55k is a massive budget for a first motorhome ..... as for an automatic, get a knee replacement - i had mine done last May, not perfect but a damn sight better than it was !
check out uber leisure. we traded in a swift bolero in december and its for sale for 26K - it really is a great MH and we were sorry to sell it on as it had all the tosy and more, but we wanted one with a different internal layout ie 4 travelling seats !
The bed making and loo visiting are very valid points. It's why a friend got rid of their drop-down bed MH.
Another thumbs up for Truma. Our blown air heating is very efficient, we fall asleep if the thermostat is at 20 and it goes up to 25 or so. It keeps us as toasty as we want to be overnight. We have one of those pull out drying rack things in the washroom & it gets so warm in there that the wet towels are dry in no time; we've occasionally closed the blown air vent in there as it was turning into a sauna.
Other things to consider - do you want an underslung LPG tank? (We really rate that.)
Finally. It's a silly question, but why not keep the caravan & drive an automatic tow car? To get a MH that's as big as a big caravan, you'll need the licence for the weight.
we found the Truma on our last two MH's a bit noisy if you left it on all night, but the alde on our latest seems a lot quieter. the alde is a wet system with radiators that stay hot and keep the van warmer a lot longer than a warm air system does, when you turn the hearing off.
I've seen a few comments that suggest that opening a door to go out lets all the warm air from the truma escape and it takes longer to heat back up than it does with an alde system BUT i am not convinced there is much difference.
i havent noticed any real practical difference in the provision of hot water in either system.
the alde system needs draining down and replacing the fluid every five years (after replacing the original 2 year fluid) - its a lot easier to do than many would have you believe, lots of you tube videos to show you how,
finally, i wouldnt let they type of heating/hot water system be the deciding factor when choosing a van, i havent noticed that much difference between either.
there are different variations of fixed end bed, an island bed would be our next choice IF the rest of the layout suited us. for us the priorities were
fixed double bed
large fridge and separate freezer (or large freezer compartment)
decent size bathroom with usable a practical sized shower and comfortable toilet position (no scrunched up knees while on the toilet)
remis window blinds
four travelling seats (on the odd occasion we take the grandchildren)
low(ish) profile
nice to have were -
fixed lpg system - would have preferred underslung but only to free locker space)
oven
solar and two leisure batteries
cruise control
our latest MH has a separate flush tank for the toilet, i wasnt sure about at first as i though it was a gimmick, but have realised we can now travel virtually empty of water (we carry a 5l container for brewing up etc) so its another one on the nice to have list !
of course standard things such as hob, 12v lights, 240 power etc usually come as standard.
sat system
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Recommendations please
via mobile 14/1/2020 at 8:29pm
