Advice please on motorhome choice (1 Viewer)

jjacx

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Hi
We are looking at a motorhome as I will drive it as well as OH & have cut our choices down to these :-
Autotrail Cheyenne 634 u or l or frontier scout
Compass Avantegarde 180
Elddis Autoquest 180 or 145
Autostratus EB
Can you please give me any pro's & cons with them or any better ones, we need the layout of these as we can properly segregate the dogs from the cab area whilst travelling.
 

cmcardle75

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Hi
We are looking at a motorhome as I will drive it as well as OH & have cut our choices down to these :-
Autotrail Cheyenne 634 u or l or frontier scout
Compass Avantegarde 180
Elddis Autoquest 180 or 145
Autostratus EB
Can you please give me any pro's & cons with them or any better ones, we need the layout of these as we can properly segregate the dogs from the cab area whilst travelling.

One alternative is to use a dog harness with insufficient lead to reach the cab. Then you can choose a layout suitable for when you are stationary, rather than purely for travelling.
 
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jjacx

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true i could use dog harnesses but also with that layout I can leave the bed made up with a large throw on it & we would still have room in motorhome, also after about 500 yds we would probably have one lab barking the other whining & the boxer trying to eat the leads!.

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Allanm

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We have a lab and a beagle and worried that they would be unruly in the van. Initially, we put them in a large cage, but the Lab hated it and whined. So, we took the cage out and the dogs just go to sleep either just behind the front seats or between them.
We never bothered with harnesses. The Lab would eat through it in seconds
Allan

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Scout

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Hi
We are looking at a motorhome as I will drive it as well as OH & have cut our choices down to these :-
Autotrail Cheyenne 634 u or l or frontier scout
Compass Avantegarde 180
Elddis Autoquest 180 or 145
Autostratus EB
Can you please give me any pro's & cons with them or any better ones, we need the layout of these as we can properly segregate the dogs from the cab area whilst travelling.

can't coment of the others but if you go for a scout try to get one with a alko chassis as appossed to the fiat, its lower with a wider track dosn't roll so much on corners (will be better for the dogs), the newer ones with the new engine and facelift cab are slightly longer with a bgiger fridge, the 2.3 engine suffered from judder of the clutch when reversing on "some" units make sure the mods have been done.
 
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Scout

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maybe you need to look at an arapaho, same as scout bout about a metre longer

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MHVirgins

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We've just part exchanged our Autoquest 180 for an Autotrail Dakota.

Sadly we no longer have our dog, but there is no way I could have gone away in the Autoquest with even one dog, as there is just not enough floor space in the Autoquest for this. I'm thinking about the evening time mainly, when you are all sitting in the lounge area and have three dogs lying taking up a fair bit of space on the floor::bigsmile:

We went for the Autotrail because we wanted more lounging space, as well as external storage and other things. There is certainly more floor space in most of the larger Autotrails than the other models you have mentioned. The decision you finally make will be down to the layout that suits your needs with the three dogs though.

Good luck with making your choice :thumb:

Bill
 
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jjacx

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I have just had a look at an Apache they do look good I will add to my list :Smile: I also forgot to mention our dogs 'dont do floors' atm they are all on the sofas! so they would travel on the seating being soft gits. ::bigsmile:
Also forgot to mention hubby will also use it for dragging his autograsser about!
 
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Scout

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If you’re going to tow heavy car, plus max out your payloads with the dogs, you are going to have to watch your weights. The examples below are for the 2005 range brochures with examples for other years are available to download from autotrail here

http://www.auto-trail.co.uk/downloads/brochures

2005 examples
Cheyenne 632U: MGW 3400, GTW 5200, max payload 415

Scout: MGW 3850, GTW 5200, max payload 560

Arapaho: MGW 4500, GTW 5500, max payload 760

As you can see the Arapaho can carry more or pull more up to a gtw of 5500k and would probably be the better option for you

I was going to add a tow bar to my Scout this year to tow a 1000k trailer tent to France for my daughter, but the weight of the extra passengers plus the trailer would have put me over the top weight wise.

You might want to look at the Chieftain range there are some around with a low back bed and extra seatbelts in the lounge area, personally I like the rear lounge and that’s why I’m looking for an Arapaho but good ones are a bit rare.

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rolandrat

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There is plenty of floor space in an Apache 634 Rear Lounge plus loads of space in the overcab bed area. Also the outer lockers have plenty of room. I'm talking about the 634 that is built on the X250 chassis and fitted with the latest trouble free gearbox.
 
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jjacx

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thanks for the tech. data his 'grasser' weighs in at 330kg & the 3 dogs combined are 122kg.
looking at the Apache I see the max tow weight is 1050kg, the scout is 1250kg, could not find the max payload, the cheyenne 634 on the MB chasis has for the L got a max load of 850kg & the U 825kg, could not find towing weights. The Autoquest 145 has a max towing weight of 2000kg & payload of 415kg, the Autoquest 180 has a max towing weight of 1850 & payload of 630kg. This has taken me an hour to type as peeps kept bloody phoning me!. if it don't make sense its cause i typed whilst listening to phone. :Doh:
 
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cmcardle75

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thanks for the tech. data his 'grasser' weighs in at 330kg & the 3 dogs combined are 122kg.
looking at the Apache I see the max tow weight is 1050kg, the scout is 1250kg, could not find the max payload, the cheyenne 634 on the MB chasis has for the L got a max load of 850kg & the U 825kg, could not find towing weights. The Autoquest 145 has a max towing weight of 2000kg & payload of 415kg, the Autoquest 180 has a max towing weight of 1850 & payload of 630kg. This has taken me an hour to type as peeps kept bloody phoning me!. if it don't make sense its cause i typed whilst listening to phone. :Doh:

However, you shouldn't believe a word the manufacturers say. They are allowed a tolerance against the figures and that is on the empty weight, not the payload. The tolerance always ends up to youir disadvantage and the payload can be almost zero on some examples. Make sure the actual vehicle weight is taken before you accept delivery.

Personally, I think they should be quoting maximum empty weights and minimum payloads so you can plan. Then if it comes in lighter, it is a bonus. Rather than buying something with a book figure 600kg payload that only allows 300kg once you've weighed it.

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We have an Autotrail Scout and found that our 2 dogs travelled quite happily on the bed made up in the dining area.
 
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We have a lab and a beagle and worried that they would be unruly in the van. Initially, we put them in a large cage, but the Lab hated it and whined. So, we took the cage out and the dogs just go to sleep either just behind the front seats or between them.
We never bothered with harnesses. The Lab would eat through it in seconds
Allan
We have to Irish Setters that travel with us, they love I think they know that because of the restraints their quieter. I would be lost without themBill
 
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Allanm

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However, you shouldn't believe a word the manufacturers say. They are allowed a tolerance against the figures and that is on the empty weight, not the payload. The tolerance always ends up to youir disadvantage and the payload can be almost zero on some examples. Make sure the actual vehicle weight is taken before you accept delivery.

Personally, I think they should be quoting maximum empty weights and minimum payloads so you can plan. Then if it comes in lighter, it is a bonus. Rather than buying something with a book figure 600kg payload that only allows 300kg once you've weighed it.

Our Autosleeper has the premium option pack on it ( air con, camera, alloys, awning and some other stuff) and nowhere could I find out what the extra weight was. I even contacted A/S but got no response.
When I put it on the weighbridge, I found that I had about 80kg less payload than I thought. That's the equivalent of both our dogs and about 7 gallons of diesel!
Fully loaded, we were on our limit, so I up rated the max weight and we now have a couple of hundred kilos spare.
Allan

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booboo

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Just to say we too are looking to buy to cater for our three dogs, We have budget of 10000 but after recent posts I am beginning to think its too small. We live in Slovenia and want to get away from the cold winters.
 
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