4x4 motorhome or not?

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PeteCr

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A question - should we aim for a 4x4 motorhome?

We drive a Land Rover Discovery and love that for driving on the snow when we go skiing.

Soon (1-2 years) we will buy a motorhome. In the winter it will be used for month+ long skiing trips. What is it like driving a two-wheel drive motorhome on a skiing holiday?

There are a few 4x4 motorhomes available which I was thinking we would target, but there is much more variety available that aren't.
 
I wanted one but couldn’t justify the price and I wouldn’t dare take it off road at that price. Decent tyres,snow chains and waffle boards and 20k plus in your pocket.

I looked at the obvious sprinter and lesser known transit AWD but now the VW crafters and MAN TGEs are 4motion.
 
If you are buying a 4x4 van and converting it yourself(Or paying someone to do it to your design) then it would be much cheaper.
 
We’ve been skiing and spent months above the arctic circle in winter in our MH. It is rear wheel drive with snow tyres. We never had any issues. We carried snow chains but never had to use them… snow tyres are brilliant as is rear wheel drive!
 
Isn’t drifting compulsory if you have a 4x4 I know I do every time I can get my hands on one………you know you want to…….

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Southdowners said:
We’ve been skiing and spent months above the arctic circle in winter in our MH. It is rear wheel drive with snow tyres. We never had any issues. We carried snow chains but never had to use them… snow tyres are brilliant as is rear wheel drive!
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100% agree. Snow tyres plus RWD, skied 6 seasons. Never used chains.Yomped up hairpin to Solden when several vehicles couldn't make it past the ice.
 
As a Landy owner for many years, if money were not the primary limitation, I'd have bought the 4X4 version of my van (Hymer MLT on a Sprinter base)
 
IMV if you don't have 4x4 then you have to have RWD.
FWD is an absolute no no. Totally useless.
Wanted a 4x4 van to convert when we did our conversion but Rocking horse shit comes to mind.
So ended up with next best thing and got a dual RWD.
 
Are you running winters on your 4x4 or just normal all season tyres?

Ian

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Ground clearance and good tyres will take you to most places you would want to take a motorhome without emptying your cupboards and ruining everything in your fridge. The vario im building will have a lift kit fitted to enhance its already good ground clearance and then good chunky tyres fitted. Ive taken 2 wheel drive through fairly challenging places with very few problems. But i do think rear wheel drive is far better than FWD.

The price of 4x4 vans is eyewatering at times. Even second hand ones.
 
bigtwin, we don't have a motorhome yet, but it will have winter tyres for skiing, firstly because it's sensible and secondly because in some places it's a legal requirement.

Brains, Thanks but not going that extreme - only snowy roads in Europe!

Lots of useful replies thanks everyone.
 
poppycamper said:
IMV if you don't have 4x4 then you have to have
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"IMV if you don't have 4x4 then you have to have RWD.
FWD is an absolute no no. Totally useless."

An awful lot of us with totally useless vans then!
Sure 4WD would have been perfect, or RWD would have been nice, but compromises have to be made sometimes. The massive premium in price couldn't be justified for us.. Could have had our van on a RWD Tranny, but you lost so much headroom inside, and it felt totally claustrophobic compared to the boxy Fiat. When I win the lottery maybe.
 
Northernraider said:
Ground clearance and good tyres will take you to most places you would want to take a motorhome without emptying your cupboards and ruining everything in your fridge. The vario im building will have a lift kit fitted to enhance its already good ground clearance and then good chunky tyres fitted. Ive taken 2 wheel drive through fairly challenging places with very few problems. But i do think rear wheel drive is far better than FWD.

The price of 4x4 vans is eyewatering at times. Even second hand ones.
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Fitting 245 75 16 tyres on my transit next week!

Lipstick on a pig comes to mind!!

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Like many others, 4 x4 too expensive, rear wheel drive + chains, (winter tyre have to be fitted to ALL wheels + spare) spend the spare cash on front mounted winch? :giggle:
 
bigtwin said:
Are you running winters on your 4x4 or just normal all season tyres?

Ian
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PeteCr said:
@bigtwin, we don't have a motorhome yet, but it will have winter tyres for skiing, firstly because it's sensible and secondly because in some places it's a legal requirement.
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I was asking about your Discovery. 👍

Ian
 
I’ve always run on winter tyres.

Our 416Cdi sprinter with twin rear wheel axle and high chassis was the best ever. We went high up towards the artic circle in Norway in winters.

Next was a Frankia on a 518Cdi Sprinter. That was great for traction, but could not handle deeper snow as it was a low frame chassis .

Third Sprinter motorhome was a La Strada Nova M. Single rear wheels but still handled snow and ice well.

We stopped motor homing for 6 months.

We now have a 2000 Fiat Ducato FWD. I was a bit worried about Snow and Ice. But was quite surprised. A lot of the weight, Gas, Diesel and water tanks are over the front axle. Along with Engine, Gearbox and usual Driver, passenger. So traction is good. We have been to.

The Pyrenees
Austrian Alps
Swiss Alps
Scotland

All In Winter with snowy access roads.

So, depending on the Chassis, I don't think you would need 4x4.

I drive a RWD Sprinter 7G-Tronic Daily. I have to visit very remote farms and other places. Ive never been stranded and I do carry snow chains.
 
Skez said:
"IMV if you don't have 4x4 then you have to have RWD.
FWD is an absolute no no. Totally useless."

An awful lot of us with totally useless vans then!
Sure 4WD would have been perfect, or RWD would have been nice, but compromises have to be made sometimes. The massive premium in price couldn't be justified for us.. Could have had our van on a RWD Tranny, but you lost so much headroom inside, and it felt totally claustrophobic compared to the boxy Fiat. When I win the lottery maybe.
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Skez Your comments are taken out of context.. my comment "FWD totally useless" was regarding the OP's heading, 4x4 motorhome or not.
I was not saying (as you appear to think) that a FWD motorhome make useless motorhomes just that they have useless traction in snow conditions . As you stated traction or headroom.

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We live in Norway and even here I don't think I've seen a 4X4 MH, we have a USRV and although we use it all year round we generally only keep to main roads in the winter. Snow seems not to be the main issue but ice roads are worse, studded tyres and not mandatory but only help on ice roads, also anything over 3,5t must carry chains, if you're involved in any RTA then there is a good chance it will be checked. On another getting to the ski lifts a 4X4 may help but from 30+ years experience, a shorter drive on snow chains would be better, also looking at costings, also cheaper.
 
Brains said:
Here you go
4X4 Motorhome porn ....

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More money than sense in my humble opinion - why on earth would anybody want to take what must surely be £100k motorhomes with huge rear overhangs through conditions like that?

And I'm quite an off-road fan, having owned 2 Land Rovers and a Discovery in my time.

Just seemed a mostly pointless challenge. :unsure:

Thanks for posting, however! (y)
 

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