Buying First Motorhome -Advice Please (1 Viewer)

[philstoke]

Hi, I am buying my first Motorhome and have found a 1998 Auto Compass Calypso VW Transporter for sale which looks in good condition for a reasonable price.
The only thing is it has a 2370cc 5 cylinder engine and says it is 74bhp.
I don't know much about engines but 74bhp doesnt seem very powerful to me.
Do you think it would struggle up hills even though it is about 2.4l and are there any potential problems with this engine.
Thanks for any comments
Phil

 

[davejen]

Hi, Phil, welcome to the club, I can't answer your query but someone will be along soon to help. 74bhp does sound low- is it a turbo engine? if so should be quite a bit higher I would have thought.
Cheers, Dave:thumb:

 

[philstoke]

It doesnt say turbo so i imagine not, does seem a low bhp for a 2.4l.
I will probably keep looking for a newer one though as I would want it "London Emission Zone Compliant" and it seems that most after 2001 that I have checked the reg. no. online comply.
I am going a bit dizzy searching online and going around dealers, lol.
We only have 19 feet of space for it at the front of our house so I have to find one the right length as well.
Still looking

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[busby]

Check where the wooden floor joins the coach built body. Very prone to rot. BUSBY

 

[ourcampersbeentrashed]

Jim does a motorhome buyer guide, well worth every penny and not too expensive, cant find the link but I am sure another helpful funster will post it.

 

[hilldweller]

It doesnt say turbo so i imagine not, does seem a low bhp for a 2.4l.

BHP does not get you up hills, torque does. BHP is a measure of how fast it will go, foot to the floor. Some engines are tuned for high torque and lower power, they are very user friendly. So don't give up without a test drive.

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[philstoke]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.
Is it just that make and model prone to rotting, Busby,
I expect its the same as different makes of cars, they all have their own individual faults that might appear
It will be the first time I have had a diesel so having to learn about torque etc, not quite the same as just screaming a petrol through the gears to get up a steep hill.
Going out tomorrow to look at a few, I think its a case of the right one will jump out to us and say "buy me", sooner or later

 

[chaser]

Phil, have you seen this on eBay, looks a bargain to me and its close to, 300925654877

 

[philstoke]

Phil, have you seen this on eBay, looks a bargain to me and its close to, 300925654877

It is cheap but I'm after a Coach Built one really with plenty of windows so I can sit in the back and admire the views (layby at the side of the road, lol).
I also want a more recent model so it will be London Emission Zone compliant.
I did look at conversions first, but they are just not in the same league as ones built specially.
I have just increased the range of ones I can look at now though, the wife and I have decided to use a local secure storage site for it, which means we won't be restricted to getting a motorhome that fits in our drive.

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[4matt]

Welcome to the forum.

We are new to Motorhoming too and although having owned a caravan have found there is no comparison to how easy it is to holiday with a MH.

We didn't dive in and took our time finding the "Right" one for us. We looked around for six months before finding the one that "jumped out" at us. We were limited to length as we wanted it on our drive. This has proved useful as we can get everything ready before we set off. Also the van battery died on us and we were able to plug in and charge from home before we set off. So were only delayed a few hours. The on board charger for van and caravan is a real bonus as was having the MH here at home. We ended up with a eleven year old (see my Picture in my profile) Rear lounge plenty of windows and very comfortable.

I do feel sometimes when hill climbing ours is lacking a little grunt and the cab seating is a little high so we have to duck our neck a bit when the sun-visors are down. This is because of the swivel seat mechanism, not really of any use to us as we only travel as a couple and ours is a two birth anyway. We also selected our van because it had bags of external lockers, Hose pipe housing and levelling ramps need some where to live and easy to access.

You say you need one that's compliant with the LEZ in London. Any van can be mad to be complaint and you may find it more cost effective to have the mods done to an older van than buy one that's new. Prices for New and nearly new MotorHomes are very high and some say build quality isn't as good as they were ten years ago. It's that old thing though isn't it different things suit different people.

Hope you find just the right van for you. Happy hunting, we enjoyed our weekly visits to the dealers and looking on line. Its quite amazing the difference in vans.:thumb:

 

[rainbow chasers]

98 transporters were well known for gearbox issues as they had the 'leisure' box. This apparently is designed to cover the pathetic distance of 60,000 miles. Look at around 3.5k to replace, and ensure you have at least two years warranty on the replacement as they never tend to last much longer.

I can't tell you why - it is one of lifes' little mysteries...they can engineer an engine that goes on forever, so why not a gearbox?