Those far "superior" continental vans. (1 Viewer)

Charlie

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Your last two statements illustrate another point: that a fault that is serious to one owner will be trivial to another. I enjoy working on my van and there's no part of it that I couldn't sort myself if it failed. I love working with vehicle electrics. So whilst I will mutter to myself continually about problems in the way it was screwed together and the faults that were built-in just to annoy me I'll rarely talk about them because they cause me so little difficulty. I'll moan like hell if they cost money though. (2005 Hymer B584) :mad::rolleyes:.

Pretty much the same for me.. My van was practically unused when we got it.. But it had a few squeaks and rattles. That is something I can't have in a vehicle.... Any vehicle.... So I methodically addressed every area.
I have my limitations though when it comes to electrics. Dyslexia means I darent mess with wires. I can test and fault find but installations will be left to the competent traders we are fortunate to have here on this forum.

I really do prefer to buy British. In doing so I hope it keeps jobs just that tiny bit safer. We pay taxes when we buy. I prefer the taxes to remain in this country. Why ? Well as much as we moan we do have an outstanding health service here in the UK... Something we all depend on . Plus a raft of other services we treat as taken for granted but these things take money... Ok my bit ain't going to make that much odds but it helps and I feel better for it..

To many people moan about kit made in this country... I ain't given up yet ...
 

pigginchilli

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Pretty much the same for me.. My van was practically unused when we got it.. But it had a few squeaks and rattles. That is something I can't have in a vehicle.... Any vehicle.... So I methodically addressed every area.
I have my limitations though when it comes to electrics. Dyslexia means I darent mess with wires. I can test and fault find but installations will be left to the competent traders we are fortunate to have here on this forum.

I really do prefer to buy British. In doing so I hope it keeps jobs just that tiny bit safer. We pay taxes when we buy. I prefer the taxes to remain in this country. Why ? Well as much as we moan we do have an outstanding health service here in the UK... Something we all depend on . Plus a raft of other services we treat as taken for granted but these things take money... Ok my bit ain't going to make that much odds but it helps and I feel better for it..

To many people moan about kit made in this country... I ain't given up yet ...
my avatar was all made in this country.(y)
 

scotjimland

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Our van was cunningly crafted not more than 3 miles from where We live in Broadway in the Cotswolds... Cant fault to be fair... Well once I took the thing apart and put it back together with the due care it should have had in the factory.... Still a cracking good van mind.

Having to rebuilt a van and you still think it's a 'cracking van' .. that is loyalty


To many people moan about kit made in this country

I think the exact opposite.. not enough people complain about shoddy workmanship and piss poor service.. the Germans and the Americans don't stand for it.. yet it's somehow built into the British mindset to suffer and put up with it.. stiff upper lip and all that ol' chap.. stop complaining.. you never had it so good..

By being loyal to British companies who dish out crap we keep them in business..
 
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Armytwowheels

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Oh and my bed collapsing? well I can only blame that on my superior activity between the sheets with my wife as the probable cause and not the manufacturer utilising screws so small that when they fell on the floor I needed a magnifying glass to find them
On the subject of screws - if the manufactures used stainless steel ones it would help. We are on our 3rd German van and on all 3 vans we have a constant regime of swapping screws for stainless steel whenever we find a loose or rusting one. Our first Hymer (1995) was held together with rusty screws.

Ok we do always buy oldish vans (depends on your perspective) and as a matter of course Colin will reveal skylights etc, but you really would think stainless steel screws would be used at the start. Our current van, a 10 year old Dethleff needs the screws changing in the kitchen sink but I cannot get one of them out it's that badly rusted.

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haganap

haganap

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Having to rebuilt a van and you still think think it's a 'cracking van' .. that is loyalty




I think the exact opposite.. not enough people complain about shoddy workmanship and piss poor service.. the Germans and the Americans don't stand for it.. yet it's somehow built into the British mindset to suffer and put up with it.. stiff upper lip and all that ol' chap.. stop complaining.. you never had it so good..

By being loyal to British companies who dish out crap we keep them in business..

I actually think it's embarrassment Jim.
People spend a lot of money on a product. Be it a van an awning ,sat system ,tv and simply think that admitting the product is wrong is some sort of tarnish against their ability.
If people were a bit more honest like @DavidG58 talking about his Hymer and superior Mercedes technology problems we might really see the true picture of the state of this industry..

Whatever happens I'll plod along doing the repairs here and there knowing that at the weekend I could be somewhere beautiful (if not wet inside) my wonderful van
 
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haganap

haganap

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and as a matter of course Colin will reveal skylights

I do love it when Colin reveals Skylights the way he pulls the curtains back and goes Dada is a sight to behold. ..

In seriousness though some 75 year old plowing their life savings in to a MH is going to get a shock when they have to get on the roof and reveal their own skylights. .
Buyers beware carry sealant and toolbox
 

Armytwowheels

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I do love it when Colin reveals Skylights the way he pulls the curtains back and goes Dada is a sight to behold. ..

In seriousness though some 75 year old plowing their life savings in to a MH is going to get a shock when they have to get on the roof and reveal their own skylights. .
Buyers beware carry sealant and toolbox
Oh you know what I mean - reveal, resell. Bloody spell checker RE-SEAL GRRRRRR.

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scotjimland

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I actually think it's embarrassment Jim.

yes, that is part of it.. particularly to friends and on an open forum, people are definitely reluctant to admit they bought a pile of poo...
it's all part of the 'suffer in silence and stop complaining' mentality drummed into us as kids .. 'eat up your gruel and be thankful, stop complaining, there are starving kids in Africa'.. etc

but there is no reason to be embarrassed about complaining to the company.. be they German, French or British

I will openly say what is wrong with my van.. when I find something ;)
 
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I was keeping my head down Paul, observing from the sidelines :)

At least you can take yours away (y) but we had the roof light issue earlier this year, infact it was on the way to Terry to get it fixed that the engine first went 'limp' :(

I am with you on the embarrassed logic, I cant really blame Hymer for the Mercedes engine issues though
 

zac

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Well i for one hear what you are saying, I have had more than my share of issues with out new AT Delaware, and i for one will NEVER by another british motorhome. I have now been bitten twice so for me thats it, I expect anything new and costing a considerable amount of money (68k) to be bloody perfect in every sense of the word. Not screws falling out, cupboards rubbing,decals peeling,paint rough,catches falling off and many many more. If everyone stood up to these idiots then i am sure things would change. Too many people dont say a word so they continue to get away with it. Yes some of these issues i could of sorted myself but WHY should I when it is new, i expect everything to be working regardless of cost and especially when brand new.

I realise this thread is not about a british motorhome but there are comments on here about british workmanship lol

Rant over.

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Charlie

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Having to rebuilt a van and you still think it's a 'cracking van' .. that is loyalty




I think the exact opposite.. not enough people complain about shoddy workmanship and piss poor service.. the Germans and the Americans don't stand for it.. yet it's somehow built into the British mindset to suffer and put up with it.. stiff upper lip and all that ol' chap.. stop complaining.. you never had it so good..

By being loyal to British companies who dish out crap we keep them in business..

I never Had to take it apart I choose to do so to improve what was already there. I likely would have done it no matter where or by who it was built. That's just me.. Pedantic.

I do not adopt the stiff upper lip stance but life's way to short to moan and groan.
 

DuxDeluxe

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I never Had to take it apart I choose to do so to improve what was already there. I likely would have done it no matter where or by who it was built. That's just me.. Pedantic.

I do not adopt the stiff upper lip stance but life's way to short to moan and groan.
In defence of Auto-Sleepers I did the same with my new one; took a few things off and put them back on again. It was and probably still is, a cracking** van.

Can't resist fiddling with things and have had a few bits to pieces in the Pilote as well, which is another cracking** van

** no Swift or Autotrail vans were hurt in the making of this post...........;)
 

Lenny HB

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Surely PVC's are a bit irrelevant to this thread, no structure to worry about, just a tin box as it was supplied from the vehicle manufacturer.

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Dave and Ginny

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@haganap

Paul, your opening post eloquently demonstrates the truism that the more we pay for a motorhome (or any other big ticket item) the higher our expectations are.. as you pointed out, it is also true that the VFM diminishes as the price increases.. The buyer who pays £5k for an old van has far fewer expectations.. than the one who pays £50k

and provided it keeps you warm and dry and gets you there ..the £50k van does little more than the £5k van..

Paying a high premium is no guarantee of quality.. it should be, but it's not always the case..

When I got my pension lump sum I could have bought an almost new Hymer.. but felt it was better VFM to buy an older one at £19k... and have money left to use for other purposes.... A new Hymer wouldn't have been any better than the one I have.. and it wouldn't have made any difference to how we enjoy our trips..

Probably the exact reason we still have, after 5 years of ownership our 2002 Hymer that we paid 21k for. It still currently exceeds our expectations :).
 

Charlie

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Surely PVC's are a bit irrelevant to this thread, no structure to worry about, just a tin box as it was supplied from the vehicle manufacturer.
Yeh.... We ain't got any cupboards , beds, fridges. Showers or washrooms and we Tom tit in hedgerows so long as them old VW owners have full occupation on the private hedge ( see what I did there) ...
There is more to a van than the structure. Anyway up Posh boogers demand equal rights ........

Any roads you wanna look out you do cos the Judge has got a PVC an he's my mate....
 
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Lenny HB

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Yeh.... We ain't got any cupboards , beds, fridges. Showers or washrooms and we Tom tit in hedgerows so long as them old VW owners have full occupation on the private hedge ( see what I did there) ...
Any problems with those bits are minor compared to bodywork problems on a CB.

Any roads you wanna look out you do cos the Judge has got a PVC an he's my mate....
A friend of mine too.

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Paddywack

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Any problems with those bits are minor compared to bodywork problems on a CB.
They may seem minor compared to serious damp issues but having spent a sizeable sum its just as disconcerting.

As others have said I think we are bad customers here, we don't complain enough when we are let down, there may also be an element of not wanting to own up to having paid a lot of money for something constructed poorly, I myself may be guilty of this but will now seek to put the record straight:

In 2014 we bought a Moto-Trek, a British PVC, the purchase saga is described elsewhere on MHF, but one year on how do we feel? Well we still have initial problems that have not been rectified by the manufacturer Moto-Trek, who have now started to ignore our emails and fail to return calls. So I am now going down the small claims court route to get redress.

The daft thing is that the van is generally very good and we have a lot of admiring glances from others, sadly I then have to caution what maybe potential customers and suggest the experience of dealing with Moto-Trek is too painful and that they should go elsewhere. Do I feel happy deriding a product that I have invested a lot in, well yes because I recognise that it is only if customers do speak out and alert the unwary to the way these companies behave that they will ever change their way, that or go bust.
 

Jaws

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@haganap ..

Paul .. not sure how to break this to you mate..

The Ci is Roller Team which is part of the Trigano group.. Which is French !
 
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haganap

haganap

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@haganap ..

Paul .. not sure how to break this to you mate..

The Ci is Roller Team which is part of the Trigano group.. Which is French !

Not sure how to break this to you mate, but mine was pre take over, it's actually Italiano, or should I say was...
Adria are Slovenian,

It's about all vans... be it British or Continental and the way we hold our Continental makes in such high esteem when they are IMO and IME no better that the trash we are being served up by all makes.

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funflair

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I don't mind complaining especially as now I am retired I have time to make someone's life a misery, just rejected 2 £50k BMW's in a row so you would think the 3rd would be perfect wouldn't you!!!.

Just for the record though our Flair gets top marks.

Martin
 

Paddywack

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I don't mind complaining especially as now I am retired I have time to make someone's life a misery, just rejected 2 £50k BMW's in a row so you would think the 3rd would be perfect wouldn't you!!!.

Just for the record though our Flair gets top marks.

Martin

Cooper BMW by chance?
 

Jaws

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Not sure how to break this to you mate, but mine was pre take over, it's actually Italiano, or should I say was...
Adria are Slovenian,

It's about all vans... be it British or Continental and the way we hold our Continental makes in such high esteem when they are IMO and IME no better that the trash we are being served up by all makes.

In that case, I aint sure how to break this to you but our Italian van was bloody brill too ! LOL !!!

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