Criteria for Selecting the Perfect Motorhome

Shrimp

Funster
Joined
May 27, 2015
Posts
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Location
Bedfordshire, UK
Funster No
36,573
MH
Hymer B584
Exp
Long time
When you decided it was time to change the van how long did it take to find the right used/new one and what was your criteria.
LHD or RHD?
Which bed arrangement?
Oven or not?
Separate shower to washroom or not?
What did you decide you really couldn’t live without in your next van?
 
Didn’t take us long to decide on a new one Mandy after we made our decision to do so. Spotted what we wanted, got straight on the phone, and after a fairly lengthy discussion we put a build slot totally refundable deposit down straight away. Within a few days we made arrangement to visit the factory and the rest is history as they say.

Really wasn’t bothered if left hand or right hand drive, would’ve excepted either tbh. As it turned out it’s going to right hand drive.

Rear single beds arrangement to make good use of Duvalays. It’s seconds to make up a double if need be.

No separate washroom, but as explained in another thread, we can lift and remove our separator toilet from the bathroom to utilise fully the big shower tray.

A large garage (for a PVC) was a must. An elevated lounge on the van gave us this facility. 👍

Quick edit.. Just realised I missed the oven bit. No oven as we love our air fryer…it does everything the oven does with so much more.👍
 
Last edited:
Drop down double at front
Double over grage at rear
No oven - (rarely use it at home)
Smaller combined shower/toilet, I prefer to have more usable living space
3.0 ltr as I tow a car trailer quite often
LHD - prefer it, not really an issue for me in UK and 75% of my driving is out of UK and I cover around 6k miles in Europe each year.
A Class for more space 'up front'
Fortunate in that this motorhome came up for sale within the first few days of me looking, I can't afford new.

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About three weeks research plus 40 years experience of motorhomes.

Compact width
Under 7m length
Twin beds permanently made up.
Both cab chairs had to turn fully, not be blocked by a wall.

We were lucky that we managed to get the 9 speed automatic gearbox as a bonus for only £500 more than the manual at the time. I didn’t consider it essential then but would now having driven over three years in all terrains including the Alps and Pyrenees.
 
Blimey!! Anyone who remembers me of old will know I started looking for our second van nearly 14 years ago. :LOL: I finally found it early last summer!


My main issue was I wanted the exact same rear lounge front Dinette as our old Kontiki from the last century but with enough payload to take the rack and scooter we had on the old one. There seems to have been a period throughout the noughties where payloads went down so I never found one but I had my eye on the Swift Esprit 496 when it came out in 2014/15 as it had nearly a ton of payload. Finding one was nigh on impossible though. One got sold underneath us before I had made up my mind in 2022 and finally I got one last summer which just happened to be a private sale on my doorstep. 14 years has to be a record although to be fair it was on and off for many years.

IMG20240804092830.webp
 
When you decided it was time to change the van how long did it take to find the right used/new one and what was your criteria.
LHD or RHD?
Which bed arrangement?
Oven or not?
Separate shower to washroom or not?
What did you decide you really couldn’t live without in your next van?
RHD even though 90% of our driving is in the EU. LHD in the UK would be a nightmare with the traffic density we have over here
Rear bed facing front to back not sideways - haven't got self levellers so less hassle.
Oven important
our combined shower/loo works well and means we do need a longer van or compromise elsewhere
Garage to fit two bikes in
good sat nav system
electric front blind
aircon although only occasional use
Double floors
magic uphill and downhill buttons
180 bhp auto
 
On our 4th van, last 3 have been similar layout, big garage with single beds. Preferred the layout of the last van with separate shower & loo and L shaped kitchen but wanted to go smaller so compromises had to be made.
1st Van without an oven as didn't like where it would have been installed.

Current van is RHD as our order for a LHD got cancelled, it's OK driving abroad but don't like it much in the UK I've been driving LHD for 10 years and find them easier in the UK.

If we changed again which is unlikely, it would be the same layout, big garage single beds, German build, automatic.

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This is our first...so not a replacement but we had a few 'essentials'
LHD as we live in France
Twin rear beds over a decent garage (two bikes fit but we remove front wheel and turn bars to make more easily accessible space for some stacking plastic boxes)
Sub 7m with a short and high overhang due to a short steep element of our drive.
After much searching, we found quite a few now do this set up....ours is a slimline (6.6m x 2.12m) which is fine by us and makes manoeuvering much easier.
A nice to have would have been auto but we're fine with the 6sp manual.
It was cheap
 
On our 4th van, last 3 have been similar layout, big garage with single beds. Preferred the layout of the last van with separate shower & loo and L shaped kitchen but wanted to go smaller so compromises had to be made.
1st Van without an oven as didn't like where it would have been installed.

Current van is RHD as our order for a LHD got cancelled, it's OK driving abroad but don't like it much in the UK I've been driving LHD for 10 years and find them easier in the UK.

If we changed again which is unlikely, it would be the same layout, big garage single beds, German build, automatic.
Think I agree with you Lenny regarding LHD in the UK. It helps immensely if you have a good wide angle wing mirror attached of course. 👍
 
We would like a LHD but will probably end up with a RHD.
Not really bothered if I get an oven or not-not a deal breaker.
Maybe an Island bed or twin singles, again not bothered-won’t be a deal breaker.
If the batteries are not brilliant will probably change to Lithium.
A separate shower, we are used to in our present van but not essential.
This is fun trying to work out what we want.
Now we just we need to see these vans in the flesh, easier said than done!
 
Took us over a year to find our first van.

We wanted winterised, double floor as fulltiming and big enough so we could have our own space if needed.

First thing we tried out when inspecting was whether I could stand up in the shower, I'm 6.3. If I could we would move on to other 'needs' we had
 
Our Kon-tiki 649 was so good, it wasn’t an easy choice, the Morelo is one of few that can take four bikes in the garage so decision made. Probably could have got a cheaper bike carrier but oh well! However, it’s a nice place to be.

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Took 2 years to find my first and current N&B Arto 16 years ago. Not many around in UK and they are 'keepers'

Criteris were and still are: -

'A' Class, space and light.

Double over garage - now would prefer longitudinal

Drop-down double overcab, usedul but not essential

LHD or RHD, no preference

Winterised

7 - 8.5m

Combined shower/toilet , more space elsewhere

4 - 8 years old, run-in, better value

Our Arto at 22yo still fits the bill - glad I spent 2 years searching.
 
Maybe an Island bed or twin singles, again not bothered-won’t be a deal breaker.
Unless you are going for a quite large van, an island bed compromises the garage which can make storing bikes awkward.
Not really bothered if I get an oven or not-not a deal breaker.
If you fit Lithium an air fryer can do most of what you would cook in a oven.
 
How would comfortmatic come in to decision , yes or no
 
How would comfortmatic come in to decision , yes or no
Ran two vans with them for 10 years without a problem but now have the 9 speed auto, I wouldn't go back.

Moved my friends/neighbours van last week (just had an op on his foot) same van as mine but with a Comformatic, after the 9 speed it was horrible.
Having said that anything is better than a manual.

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Cost was the main consideration

We had our perfect to us va but needed to go up to A class because of my back and reclining position.

Same layout of garage with single beds which can be made into the swingers bed then put about 7K into it to get it up to the equipment we wanted. Getting it dirt cheap helped significantly as we werent really looking that hard
 
Took 2 years to find my first and current N&B Arto 16 years ago. Not many around in UK and they are 'keepers'

Criteris were and still are: -

'A' Class, space and light.

Double over garage - now would prefer longitudinal

Drop-down double overcab, usedul but not essential

LHD or RHD, no preference

Winterised

7 - 8.5m

Combined shower/toilet , more space elsewhere

4 - 8 years old, run-in, better value

Our Arto at 22yo still fits the bill - glad I spent 2 years searching.
Agree with most of the above.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, interesting.
 
Think I agree with you Lenny regarding LHD in the UK. It helps immensely if you have a good wide angle wing mirror attached of course. 👍
Mine's LHD without windows on the off side behind the passengers seat and I often travel alone in the UK. I have placed a freznel lens in the rearmost part of the passenger window which vastly improves vision in the blind spot along the off side, most useful when needing to look to the right on some angled junctions and roundabouts.

*freznel lenses are usually sold to place in the upright back window of estate cars to give a wider angle of view for reversing up close to parked vehicles and other obstructions.

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Didn’t take us long to decide on a new one Mandy after we made our decision to do so. Spotted what we wanted, got straight on the phone, and after a fairly lengthy discussion we put a build slot totally refundable deposit down straight away. Within a few days we made arrangement to visit the factory and the rest is history as they say.

Really wasn’t bothered if left hand or right hand drive, would’ve excepted either tbh. As it turned out it’s going to right hand drive.

Rear single beds arrangement to make good use of Duvalays. It’s seconds to make up a double if need be.

No separate washroom, but as explained in another thread, we can lift and remove our separator toilet from the bathroom to utilise fully the big shower tray.

A large garage (for a PVC) was a must. An elevated lounge on the van gave us this facility. 👍

Quick edit.. Just realised I missed the oven bit. No oven as we love our air fryer…it does everything the oven does with so much more.👍
Do you know, that sounds like our perfect van! What did you buy?
 
When you decided it was time to change the van how long did it take to find the right used/new one and what was your criteria.
LHD or RHD?
Which bed arrangement?
Oven or not?
Separate shower to washroom or not?
What did you decide you really couldn’t live without in your next van?
Alde heating!
 
We’d been hankering after a Consort Oslo for a couple of years. We’d nearly bought one when Scot first started Consort but the storage wasn’t quite right so we bought our 2nd IH630RD (Friday afternoon job that one was!).

We kept looking at them but didn’t want to order and wait 18 months plus! That was essential for us after reading some of the stories on here. I am far too impatient.

last May the website said Autos in stock for Summer delivery! We were off to Newbury show that Friday as day visitors and ordered the last 6.4 m. Collected 1st August and no regrets.

We have a small oven, use it quite a bit, have always had an oven so do like one.
Minimum 3 rings . We have 4 .
Minimum 90l fridge Now have compressor, would not go back, do not miss that horrible draught on my bottom when I’m cooking!

We like a Ushaped lounge, cosy. Also gives lots of storage. 2 dukdalf chairs really do fit nicely.

Nice bit of worktop in the kitchen.

Both seats must swivel at front as this gives a mini seated area . Sometimes if we’re doing a lot of long days driving we can leave bed made up. Some PVCs only the passenger seat swivels, very annoying.
 
Firstly I don’t think there is such a thing as the perfect motorhome.

Top priorities for me are:
Quality of construction.
Proper fixed beds with comfortable mattresses and suspension (no climbing over the other person).
Weight.
Storage.
Automatic.

LHD/RHD is purely a matter of personal choice and perhaps where you plan to tour. Oven is not important to us, would rather have more storage space and a Remoska works fine for most purposes. Separate shower and washroom is a waste of space but the combined one has to work properly.

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