Help with motorhome choice (1 Viewer)

[guyholsten]

Hi. I'm looking for some advice as to which motorhome to buy. There are so many makes/models out there that I don't know where to start.

We are a family of five and have a budget of around £12k. I've been looking at coachbuilt motorhomes with a double bed over the cab. The main problem I'm having is trying to get information from adverts as to how many seatbelts are fitted as I will need at least five.

Can anyone recommend any makes and models in this category?

Many thanks.

 

[Jim]

Hi Guy, there are motorhomes with 5 or six belted travel seats but you will be looking at older motorhomes so some of those seats will definitely be just lap restraints rather than 3 point belts. To recommend a particular model is difficult as there are very many. Go to as many dealers as you can and look around but with your budget, eBay is your best bet. Best of luck:thumb:

 

[guyholsten]

5/6 seat belts

Thanks Jim. Yes I've been looking at motorhomes on ebay, but it is sometimes difficult to establish just how many seatbelts are fitted.

I've seen quite a few CI Carioca and Autoroller models with 4x 3 point belts and 2 lapbelts fitted, usually around 10-12 years old for aronund £12k. These seem like good value motorhomes but I wonder if there are any other obvious models that I should be looking at.

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[Terry]

Hi Guy, try looking on Autotrader as well you can select berths to save searching through lots
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terry

 

[slobadoberbob]

welcome from us also ..

A warm welcome from us also to MHF.

There are so many motor homes on the market...European and American.

All I would say is look and look and look.... can take a long time to find the right vehicle. Think how long you might own it and if you will have the same people in it... our children grew up going away most weekends, even in winter on an American motor home... but these days they have flow the nest and we travel in a smaller American rig (RV) .. we have 7 lap belts in ours.. and we only sleep 4.

You need to see as many vehicle as possible and not buy the first one you see... add a reasonable amount to the buy to get all those extras... they add up.. think about what sort of camping you are going to do.. the mileage you think you might do... diesel v petrol... most motor homes are diesel.. except Americans which are often petrol.. more expensive to run, but often cheaper to buy.

As Jim says ebay is as good a place to look at as any... do a search on motor homes and also try American RV motorhomes.. then you see a wide spectrum of what is about.. do it over a few months and you may well find something to suit.

Think about storage and insurance.. also we have no idea of your age.. so licence entitlement is a must to know.. have you got a C? C1? or a B licence... depends on when you passed your test... a lot of older motor homes are under 3.5 tons .. a lot of American motor homes are 3.5 tons up and a lot below that magic 7.5 tons for the C1 licence and a lot are HGV type i.e a C licence.

Anyway.. ask questions on here.. you will get a lot of advice.

But the best advice I can give you is pay the £10 subs.. best £10 you will ever pay.. those 5 free posts soon run out.

Bob, Sue and Ezzie the St Bernard.:thumb:

 

[Terry]

Had a quick look and these stand out as good value
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GOD I cannot believe I am saying this but the last one is a RV oh: but it has gas conversion so should not be bad on fuel and at 24 ft is small by there standards
terry
edit forgot to say never pay asking price

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[aba]

Had a quick look and these stand out as good value
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.
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GOD I cannot believe I am saying this but the last one is a RV oh: but it has gas conversion so should not be bad on fuel and at 24 ft is small by there standards
terry
edit forgot to say never pay asking price

is the 3.5 ton gross weight right for that fleetwood???? i would have thought it would be heavier than that empty it cant have much payload.

 

[SWOOD]

Good evening Guy and others. I am also looking for a motorhome at the moment with exactly the same budget and similar requirements (2 children rather than 3) and I have been struggling with the same issue. The reason I sought this forum was to ask: How easy/expensive is it to fit lap and diagonal seatbelts to a van which currently only has lap belts? They would need to be fitted to a coachbuilt from say 1995-2000.

I have found that the autotrader search function is very useful, however, you often find that if you leave the 'belted seats' option as unspecified, many motorhomes appear which have 4 or more belted seats (so I assume the seller has just forgotten to tick the box).

There are some decent dealers near where I live, but I'm not sure if I can mention them (I have no affiliation with any) - perhaps someone in forum land can confirm? Anyway, good luck.

 

[vwalan]

hi. well you could give something like this a think .get a tow vehicle with seat belts is easy .
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could even be able to sleep the three kids in the front .just have to make the dinnette bed for the adults .

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[Gunner29]

beds

slightly off course but!!! when you sourse a van>
Make sure you ALL try out ALL the beds. We know a friend who changed his van and didn't and found the bed too high for his wife to get into safely Now they are stuck with a van they don't like and can't afford to change. Its the small things that get over lookedoh: Also try the driving position Good luck:thumb:

 

[wivvy's dad]

www.preloved.co.uk

and

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are a couple of others to try.

 

[Terry]

is the 3.5 ton gross weight right for that fleetwood???? i would have thought it would be heavier than that empty it cant have much payload.

Surely you are not suggesting that some RV owners lie about weights as well as MPG
terry

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