hi I have just joined this forum as we are looking to get our first motor home and could do with a bit of advice. We have looked at lots of layouts and settled on autotrail Dakota or so I thought. Loved the end bathroom and the one we saw was 2011 and had half dinette and over bed cab. It seemed very nice quality and well built. After reading more it now seems that we could experience problems as van is just over 3m height (next classification on toll roads in Europe) but more than this is the weight which is over 3500kg and payload doesn't look great either. I'm getting quite frustrated trying to find our ideal ... always something not quite right haha. I would really appreciate some feedback from Dakota owners. We were also considering a new elddis 185 which is new for a similar price to 2011 autotrail so would also welcome comments on elddus as a make. Thank you
Autotrail dakota (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Dizzymare
- Start date
suavecarve
LIFE MEMBER
Cant help much but tell you that you are actually doing the right sort of due diligence.
Weight and payload are very important
Weight and payload are very important
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Paul an Jane MK
LIFE MEMBER
- Apr 20, 2016
- 435
- 486
- Funster No
- 42,608
- MH
- Elddis Encore 255
- Exp
- enjoyed the freedom over the last couple of years but still Wish we could have got away more often
Hello and welcome,
The Dakota was on our short list but the 185 is a completely different layout to Dakota with twin beds and rear bathroom rather than a French bed (one bottom corner missing.)
The Dakota layout you mention was my favourite but I only saw one like that, the rest seemed to have a parallel lounge and just cupboards above the bed.
The Autotrail with over cab bed rather than cupboards is only about 4 inches higher (if I remember correctly)
The Elddis do seem good value, although I worried whether the Whale heating on the Autoquest Range is man enough for really cold winter use although many on here say it is. The Dakota I think has the Truma combi (combined water and blow heating.)
The Autotrails do seem to be tight on payload, some of the 3500kg Imala’s are in brochure at around 200kg and generally it is considered the manufacturers exaggerate!
The Elddis is lower and newer which brings benefits. The Ellddis is on a Peugeot rather than Fiat which do seem to have a better selection of dealers, although The Elddis has approved repairers as well as dealers so that gives more choice.
Big decision and although newer has advantages, it will deprecate more so more critical to get it right first time and conceived wisdom says it can take 3 purchases before most get it right.
I think we were lucky and happy with our first Moho which was newest we could afford at the time and have only now just ordered a new Elddis 255 as we can now afford a brand new Moho.
Some will say a European Moho will be better quality and they could well be right although people can still get problems with premium European brands but personally the layout of the British vans work better for us.
Take your time and maybe hire one first, it could be money well spent.
Good luck looking
The Dakota was on our short list but the 185 is a completely different layout to Dakota with twin beds and rear bathroom rather than a French bed (one bottom corner missing.)
The Dakota layout you mention was my favourite but I only saw one like that, the rest seemed to have a parallel lounge and just cupboards above the bed.
The Autotrail with over cab bed rather than cupboards is only about 4 inches higher (if I remember correctly)
The Elddis do seem good value, although I worried whether the Whale heating on the Autoquest Range is man enough for really cold winter use although many on here say it is. The Dakota I think has the Truma combi (combined water and blow heating.)
The Autotrails do seem to be tight on payload, some of the 3500kg Imala’s are in brochure at around 200kg and generally it is considered the manufacturers exaggerate!
The Elddis is lower and newer which brings benefits. The Ellddis is on a Peugeot rather than Fiat which do seem to have a better selection of dealers, although The Elddis has approved repairers as well as dealers so that gives more choice.
Big decision and although newer has advantages, it will deprecate more so more critical to get it right first time and conceived wisdom says it can take 3 purchases before most get it right.
I think we were lucky and happy with our first Moho which was newest we could afford at the time and have only now just ordered a new Elddis 255 as we can now afford a brand new Moho.
Some will say a European Moho will be better quality and they could well be right although people can still get problems with premium European brands but personally the layout of the British vans work better for us.
Take your time and maybe hire one first, it could be money well spent.
Good luck looking
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