Motorhome awards (1 Viewer)

Easyliving

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I am always a bit (okay, very) sceptical when it comes to motorhome awards, I think maybe the winner is influenced by which manufacturer spends most on advertising.

I notice that the 2016 MMM awards don't feature a single motorhome from a British based manufacturer.

Compare this to the equivalent Caravan Club awards for 2016. According to the small item in the MMM news pages this month Auto Trail won with their V-Line 540 SE, Imala 615, Imala 730, Tracker EKS and Delaware. The Tribute T670 (owned by same group as AT) also won.

I assume the 'experts' who judge these things are all looking for value for money, features etc so how come they all arrive at different conclusions?

I suppose the moral of all this is - read the reviews but make up your own mind.

Paul
 
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I would agree, It all depends on the point of view of the judge. Some like like more cabin space, some like pre made beds, etc etc. See what you require and like then you choose.
Phil
 

Jaws

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From my experiences in a different vehicle related world, I would have to agree.
The conclusion was forced upon me when a well known jorno in the field I speak of tested a bike (a Honda ) and had the audacity to tell the truth about it.. Basically tore it apart.

Two months down the line and said jorno revisits the bike and amazingly found it absolutely stunning in all aspects.

Now I am not gonna say anything other than when I slagged the bike off I was contacted by a person ( who I knew, had dealt with in the past, and was about middle management ) who suggested an extended test, perhaps in Japan with my family all put up at a certain well known hotel, might change my mind ?
Unlike others I stuck by my guns and have continued to tell it like it is..

So yes, I am fairly sure a lot of awards and praising articles in magazines are based entirely on how deep advertising and promotion pockets are

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Easyliving

Easyliving

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From my experiences in a different vehicle related world, I would have to agree.
The conclusion was forced upon me when a well known jorno in the field I speak of tested a bike (a Honda ) and had the audacity to tell the truth about it.. Basically tore it apart.

Two months down the line and said jorno revisits the bike and amazingly found it absolutely stunning in all aspects.

Now I am not gonna say anything other than when I slagged the bike off I was contacted by a person ( who I knew, had dealt with in the past, and was about middle management ) who suggested an extended test, perhaps in Japan with my family all put up at a certain well known hotel, might change my mind ?
Unlike others I stuck by my guns and have continued to tell it like it is..

So yes, I am fairly sure a lot of awards and praising articles in magazines are based entirely on how deep advertising and promotion pockets are


That's an interesting example, probably happens a lot.

In this month's MMM there is a gushing 'news' item on the new Hymer B class motorhome. I'm sure it's a very nice machine but the article could have been written by the Hymer marketing department.

Paul
 
Aug 18, 2011
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How can they judge a van just looking at it...It needs at least a years use to see if its any good. I had a brand new truck ,,early 80s,,,that was TRUCK OF THE YEAR,,very nice to drive but to own no no no. Always in the garage....BUSBY.

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Jan 31, 2016
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Shame they did not do some youtube videos like they have in the past :-(
 

Judge Mental

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I am always a bit (okay, very) sceptical when it comes to motorhome awards, I think maybe the winner is influenced by which manufacturer spends most on advertising.

I notice that the 2016 MMM awards don't feature a single motorhome from a British based manufacturer.

Compare this to the equivalent Caravan Club awards for 2016. According to the small item in the MMM news pages this month Auto Trail won with their V-Line 540 SE, Imala 615, Imala 730, Tracker EKS and Delaware. The Tribute T670 (owned by same group as AT) also won.

I assume the 'experts' who judge these things are all looking for value for money, features etc so how come they all arrive at different conclusions?

I suppose the moral of all this is - read the reviews but make up your own mind.

Paul

If they where seriously looking at VFM they would all be imported and German:D
 

Judge Mental

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That's exactly what I mean, why can't they get someone like you who is totally unbiased in to do the judging? :)
EXACTLY!!!!! I'm far to experienced and unbiased for that job:LOL:

Plus have never taken a bung in my career :)
 

jonandshell

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The Caravan Club judge all their winning motorhomes against caravans. Their idea of using a motorhome is to park it on one of their sites, on hookup, sitting watching the vans next door through the rain! When you get bored of the rain, they expect you to be able to cook a Sunday roast for a family of 6. What do you expect?
If you want to travel Europe (with the electrics in the back still working, so the kids aren't cold and have flat batteries in their smartphones) using Aires, then take the Caravan Clubs recommendations with a huge pinch of salt!:)
 

jonandshell

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Besides, the CC and all the motorhome press reviews are conducted with the influence of little brown envelopes of cash IMO!

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Aug 18, 2011
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The Caravan Club judge all their winning motorhomes against caravans. Their idea of using a motorhome is to park it on one of their sites, on hookup, sitting watching the vans next door through the rain! When you get bored of the rain, they expect you to be able to cook a Sunday roast for a family of 6. What do you expect?
If you want to travel Europe (with the electrics in the back still working, so the kids aren't cold and have flat batteries in their smartphones) using Aires, then take the Caravan Clubs recommendations with a huge pinch of salt!:)

Don't forget to close all your blinds by 6.0pm at the latest,,,BUSBY:):):)
 
Aug 18, 2011
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All awards run by magazines or clubs are "directed" by the amount of advertising revenue received.
Think thats why they are very slow to criticise Base Vehicles,,,look how long it took them to latch on to JUDDERING on new shape Citroen, Fiat Peugeot,,,I think MMM was the first magazine to mention it and that was because one of their contributors had a gear box fail (ANDY STOTHARD or STOPPARD) i believe...BUSBY.

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Jan 28, 2008
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i was told by a boiler rep the which best boiler award goes the the first company willing to pay their price starting with the one actually voted best and comming down the list
 

Judge Mental

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Perhaps they just got it right for once.:D

I take any British mags reviews & awards with a pinch of salt. There are some mags that are unbiased and state the truth the German Motorhome mag Promobil for one.

Yes and the the tear vans to bits with indepedent review into every aspect including payloads...its a different class of review then you get here!:cautious:

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Aug 18, 2011
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Yes and the the tear vans to bits with indepedent review into every aspect including payloads...its a different class of review then you get here!:cautious:

And they fiddle fuel consumption data big time there too,,,,,BUSBY:D:D
 

Adbt

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I used to subscribe to EVO magazine but got fed up with the constant arse licking of the Porsche brand , major advertiser in the EVO mag ? You guessed it ........
 

PeteH

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That's an interesting example, probably happens a lot.

In this month's MMM there is a gushing 'news' item on the new Hymer B class motorhome. I'm sure it's a very nice machine but the article could have been written by the Hymer marketing department.

Paul

and in the "today" market, of lazy journalism probably was?

Pete

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Judge Mental

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I did have a closer look at the German orange camp vehicle I saw, £28k for a brand new MH, not an 8+ year old UK one, it does make sense!
It's a different market...Young European family's can afford a motorhome....even the Scandavians can see a bargain and import German vans in the thousands
 
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If I am not mistaken, the CC awards were only made to vans that had formally entered their stupid "competition". By the looks of it only two or three companies bothered to do so, making the whole thing irrelevant and a complete waste of paper.

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Adbt

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After much deliberation and research I've discovered that these are the facts about ALL motorhomes and e bikes
1. ALL British motorhomes are shit
2. ALL continental motorhomes are absolutely and totally and utterly without question a gift from Jesus the one true messiah
3. ALL British E bikes are shit
4. ALL continental e bikes are absolutely and totally and utterly without question a gift from Jesus the one true messiah
 

ABZSteve

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The CC award won by the Autotrail Imala 615 was of course the correct decision. Why? well it's obvious, I own one and the rest of you own shit vans, isn't that how it works:reel: :boxing::boxing::boxing::boxing::boxing::boxing::boxing::boxing::boxing:;)(y):moon2::moon2::moon2::moon2::moon2::moon2::moon2::moon2::moon2::moon2::moon2:
 

Allanm

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I was always amazed when in January, you saw French and UK cars with Car of the Year stickers in the window, for that year!
How can that be? It wasn't German, and everyone knows German made goods are the best in the World!
Why, even my German made Truma heater lasted a whole year before it broke!

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Theonlysue

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Some journalists are told what to write, and not mention the ( very ) bad bits :rofl:
 
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I used to own a boat that was the first one built by the boatyard (ended up being the only one they built of that type but that's another story), and they asked me if they could borrow it for a magazine to test. I was quite happy with this, and looked forward eagerly to reading the review.

What a revelation! I apparently owned the only boat in the world that could change into a totally different vessel at the flick of a switch. Absolutely nothing in the review was true, all made up rubbish. They lied about the top speed, fuel economy, price, stability (one line in the review said that when stepping onto the boat the pontoon moved more than it did. I never owned a boat that moved more when boarding it) and whatever else you could think of. I told the builder how disappointed I was with the accuracy of the report and his only response was to say "that report cost me a lot of money so it had to be good". I cancelled my subscription to the magazine in question as I could no longer believe anything they said.
 
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Twas ever thus......the BSA Sunbeam S7 was launched to rave press reviews, this the bike that ate it's own worm & wheel drive in under 1000 miles on the prototypes. So the factory did the only sensible thing, detuned the engine to make the drive last longer :Eeek:

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