Help us decide- please (1 Viewer)

[AnnTone]

Hello, we are Anne and Tony, we do not own a motorhorhome yet!!! We have a dilemma, we have 2 girls and decided that a caravan would be ideal for holidays, neither of us has camped before. When we went to look at caravans we were lured to look at the motorhome section, I do not know why, but the motorhomes just looked more attractive, and then we saw the price

Why are they so expensive? A caravan that has as much living space (or more)costing sometimes as much 3 or 4 times less than the motorhome!!

So we are drawn to motorhomes, but can't really explain why. Inside they are much the same (in looks any way) but I am having trouble justifying (to myself) is the extra £20,000 is worth it, this would by us a nice tow car.

So please tell me, why do you spend all that extra, and is it worth it?

Anne

 

[highwayman]

Hi folks
For us it's one-word...convenience
We go out the front door with milk eggs etc (fridge stuff) start-up and go
When we arrive it's level-up and kettle-on in five mins or less.
If however you intend to go somewhere and stay on site for two weeks then
a caravan is probably the better way to go. But for staying a couple of days here
and a couple there m/homes can't be beaten in my opinion.



regards....nige

 

[gillr49]

We find the motorhome easy to drive and park, imagine going shopping towing a van.
As Nige says just drive on or off site, plug in or not, level up and the kettle is on. If you dont like site or area move on.........bliss
We love touring Europe and they are very friendly toward camping cars over there, I think that was the decider for us.
Sorry I cant be more specific, why dont you try hiring one for a holiday or just a long weekend and see what you think?

 

[wildcamper]

Hello Anne & Tony,
For us its the same as highwayman - convienience.
We don't always use sites, must be the traveller in us but with a caravan your more restricted.
We use ours for days out as well as weekends or long trips abroad.
We have been motorhomeing for 17yrs & have never been able to justify buying a brandnew motorhome, we've always bought a used motorhome, as they do the same job and cost alot less:Blush:
Its each to their own & whatever suits you best, whatever you choose goodluck & happy camping:thumb:

 

[Digger Driver]

I find its a lot easier to wildcamp in a motorhome saving you plenty on fee's:thumb:
Plus motorhomes are self powering and don't depreciate in price as bad as caravans do!
You can legally do 70mph in a moterhome too saving time on your journey!

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[Supertractorman]

I have had Caravans and they were great when the kids were young, and you went on a Campsite for a week, and set the awning up, and only went out for a few days.
Nowadays with the M/H we tend to tour and not necessarily go back to the same place each night, but move on.
Comparing them both, it is lovely to pull up on site on a wet day, connect the electric and make a cup of tea while watching the Caravanner back into position with the other half giving directions, then winding down the legs, fetching water, setting up the waste water, and then when soaked through plugging in the electric, before even thinking about erecting an awning.
Motorhome for me:thumb:

 

[AnnTone]

Thanks for your responses, I'm still have problems choosing. I can see some of the benefits you describe but I am wondering if they are worth the extra cost. Have most of you progressed to owning a motorhome from caravans?

 

[Harley Dave]

Hi AnneTone - I have progressed from tents, throught trailer tents and caravans and, having hired a MH I am now just waiting for the one I have chosen to come available.

As mentioned before, try hiring one for a week to see if it's for you.

I found that I could tow my motorbike behind the MH which wouldn't be possible with a caravan and that was what swung it for me

Your circs are different of course with your daughters to considerand it might be interesting to find out how many MH'ers are couples without kids in tow.

Anyway it's your choice after all but the idea of self sufficiency without the need to depend too heavily on campsites is another major plus for me - basically you can geta MH into and out of places where you would struggle with a caravan

Cheers

Dave

 

[mandjhumph]

Hi

We have progressed through from tent to trailer tent to caravan to twin axle van to motorhome and are currently going on to American RV

The thing we have found you get with a motorhome is spontaneity, we have got up on a wet rainy saturday morning and jumped in the motorhome driven to the lake and had a fry up (in the warm and dry) whilst looking out over the wet and windy lake.

We have pulled up on a camp site looked at each other and gone "no way" and moved off again. These are things you just can't do in a caravan also with a caravan theres much more setting up (waste masters need to be put out, water tanks filled after stopping on site (even the onboard ones can't be full when towing). With a motorhome you just park and switch on the gas, its so much easier.

We did hire one for a week to make sure it was for us. We took it to Weymouth and went along the south coast only staying a night at each site, we have never looked back :thumb:

Martyn and Jane

 

[Geo]

I agree with all of the above and to answer one of your questions
Take a £15 000 caravan and put it on a £20 000 engine and chassis/cab and you have your £35 000 motorhome, thats why they cost so much more, simple arithmaticoh:
Go for the Motor Home you know it makes sense and your neibours will turn green with envy
Geo

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[Xoxoc]

Hello, we are Anne and Tony, we do not own a motorhorhome yet!!! We have a dilemma, we have 2 girls and decided that a caravan would be ideal for holidays, neither of us has camped before. When we went to look at caravans we were lured to look at the motorhome section, I do not know why, but the motorhomes just looked more attractive, and then we saw the price

Why are they so expensive? A caravan that has as much living space (or more)costing sometimes as much 3 or 4 times less than the motorhome!!

So we are drawn to motorhomes, but can't really explain why. Inside they are much the same (in looks any way) but I am having trouble justifying (to myself) is the extra £20,000 is worth it, this would by us a nice tow car.

So please tell me, why do you spend all that extra, and is it worth it?

Anne

We have never had a caravan, we went straight to a motorhome (an american RV actually).

A caravan and car could be cheaper than a motorhome especially if you can use an exisiting car as there is no extra outlay.

BUT...

In my opinion the cost should not be the deciding factor (as with most things, actually).

What will you use it for? How often? Where will you go? How will you use it?

The only thing I know about caravanning is the 'setting up' factor. I have a colleague who is a caravanner and to hear his tale about setting up when he gets on site makes me overjoyed that we don't have to do what he does.

Consider this:
Caravanner - Arrive on site, reverse onto pitch (or manhandle caravan as some people can't reverse well). Sort the steadies. To even get in the caravan you may need to empty the aisle, take things off seats etc. Then erect the awning. Most caravanners have them and they are typically huge and are the equivalent of a large frame tent. Two man job, can take quite some time to put up. Take the aquaroll to fill with water and setup the fresh and waste water systems. Setup the contents of the awning - which can include the microwave, beer fridge etc. I'm sure you have seen them. Oh, don't forget the BBq, now is that on the floor of the caravan or in the crammed boot of the car?

Setting up a motorhome varies as there are european motorhomes etc. and american RV's. As we have an RV I will detail what we did last Saturday when we went to a meet in Southport.

RV - Arrived on site, reversed onto pitch. Flicked a lever to empty my air suspension. Moved a joystick to put down my levelling jacks and level/steady the RV. Pressed a switch to extend the slide. Went out and mingled with my fellow motorhomers. Oh, and pulled out a 20' sun/rain canopy from the side of the RV.

We carry 78 gallons of fresh water, have seperate waste tanks built in for the greay and black water which we empty now and again and everything is already in the RV to use upon arrival. Because the storage is much better in a motorhome than a caravan, everything is already in it's place.

We tend to go away most weekends and stay on site. BUT we often tow a little Smart car and so can leave site and do as we wish.

Finally, with a motorhome you are more carefree. With a caravan you are basically operating with the mindset of 'We tow the little house to the pre-booked site. We setup camp. We go off for days out in the car. We return to camp. We tow the little house back home'. In a motorhome you feel more...free. You can change your mind as easily as changing direction. You can pull up in a layby for a night. You can up sticks from a site and just...GO!


These are just my ramblings, please consider/ignore them as you wish.


Caravans have their place, but motorhomes win everytime as far as I'm concerned.

HTH

Bryan

 

[Sweet Chariot]

Personal view if I had young Kids I would go for a Caravan, yes they are a lot cheaper and Kids generally soon get fed up of driving to the location. Once the Kids have grown up get a Motorhome.:thumb:

 

[BJ]

I've had Caravans, i would never go back to them. All the hassle of towing, having to have a bleeding great tow car that is less economical on fuel than my motorhome, then there's the cost of storage, in fact they even charge you an extra fiver just for towing it out of the compound or putting it back.
The expense and hassle of taking a caravan away for just a few days, is just not worth it, so you dont bother.
My camper is always ready to go, all i need to pack is a few clothes, beers and food, and im good to go. You can park them outside your house or on the drive. Its dead easy to stop at a supermarket on route to stock up, you try to do that when towing a caravan.
But the biggest plus for me is being able to Wildcamp in a motorhome.

 

[Rainbow]

Our reason for choosing a motorhome was that we didn't want to tow and you can stop anywhere. When the children were young we have towed my sisters caravan. If you don't mind towing, my personal opinion would be that a caravan is probably more suitable. With children you tend to stay on sites for a full holiday and not move from place to place; and you need a larger car for a family anyway.

Jean

 

[motoroamin]

I agree with many of the points here and Rainbow's post touches on my own experience.

To some degree it depends on the ages of the children and what they will be happy doing - unhappy children on holiday means stress, which is not what the holiday is about.

When ours were very young, we tried hopping around to see places of interest to us, but all they wanted to do was play on the sites' (usually very good) play areas. The caravan worked for that and once we accepted as parents that sitting relaxing, while the kids were playing safely and happily, was less hassle than travelling around, that was fine.

As they got older, they wanted to do more exciting and adventurous things and it can be a job to keep them occupied - the motorhome works better then because you can travel more easily and carry more sports/interest gear etc or, if they are into dancing competitions, sports matches or whatever up and down the country, you have your accommodation sorted.

You can find one or two other example scenarios in my Link Removed

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[The Poor Relations]

hi Anntone


We have the same issues as you, we have a 4 year old, and are very new to the camping game. We at present have a folding camper, which we love, well we did till we met this lot on a meet, we love thier motorhomes and RV's and some are amazing it has to be said. We would LOVE to get one but aas you say the cost is a lot more. We are going to work our way up slowly and are hoping to upgrade to caravan for next year to enable us to go to a lot more meets.

It is a hard decision when youngsters are involved as mentioned before it depends on the children, and whether or not you like the ability to go off site with your car for day trips.

Either way, whichever you decide, and it is all down to personal choice, ah, and finances of course, camping is great no matter what you are in

and this lot here? well they won't mind what you turn up in and will always help

 

[peterandbetty]

Help to decide

The reason we chose a motorhome was easy we had a really bad accident after towing for over 30 years with no problems ,a lorry hit us from behind and didnt stop and wrote both car and caravan off .We were lucky and unhurt but now weve got a motorhome because i will not tow again even though it was'nt our fault and they are safer ,but we had great times caravaning so good luck with what you decide Bettyoh:

 

[The Poor Relations]

ok, now we are really stuck

We went today to look at caravans, and they just do not do it for us, once again we ended up inside the motorhomes!


So, after looking around Pioneer in Peterborough and thinking that the Motorhomes there were really over priced (second hand ones that is) thought I would ask you lot

for you that do not know us, 2 adults, 1 child (4)

we are thinking, ok what about a second hand one, any advice? what would you say was a reasonable price for one up to 10 years old?

what should we be looking for?

Maybe there is a thread somwhere already that covers this?

 

[roadtraveller]

Motor Homes 4 us

We progressed from tent while the kids were young and we did'nt have a lot of money, then we tried a caravan, what a lot of hard work that was, making sure it was packed up inside properly, unhitching, levelling up, putting the awning up, in all weathers, :rain: getting the waste water tank fitted up, fetching the water, etc., etc., now we just drive up in our Motor Home, level up, switch on the kettle, and sit all watch allthe hard work the caravan people do, we even have a fixed bed, so we don't even have to make the bed up. They hold their price better too. I think its the traveller in us. Its really up to you, only you can decide what suits you both best. When we go on holiday we do a round trip, more fun finding interesting places to visit, and cheaper on fuel, it costs more, if you have to keep going back to the same camp site. Hope you reach a happy agreement. Happy Travelling. :thumb:

 

[tofo]

Hello, we are Anne and Tony, we do not own a motorhorhome yet!!! We have a dilemma, we have 2 girls and decided that a caravan would be ideal for holidays, neither of us has camped before. When we went to look at caravans we were lured to look at the motorhome section, I do not know why, but the motorhomes just looked more attractive, and then we saw the price

Why are they so expensive? A caravan that has as much living space (or more)costing sometimes as much 3 or 4 times less than the motorhome!!

So we are drawn to motorhomes, but can't really explain why. Inside they are much the same (in looks any way) but I am having trouble justifying (to myself) is the extra £20,000 is worth it, this would by us a nice tow car.

So please tell me, why do you spend all that extra, and is it worth it?

Anne

just think of the motor home as a second car that you can go anywhere have a kip and anything else that you desire(carfull now no naughty thoughts )
on the way home call in at b&q pick up 4 x8 plasterboard
for the decorating or extension


and a caravan needs a bigger car thats nearly antisocial


in conversation i was told an old caravan is worth£ 3-500
an old van £2-500
but put the two together £5000 - sky is the limit
me i paid £10;and am building my own#

if the mods dont mind have look at www.sbmcc.co.uk
just to seewhat can be done