Hymer - Pluralistic Ignorance or Fallacy?

Sidney

Sidney

Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Posts
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Location
Stamford
Funster No
24,452
MH
Benimar Mileo 282
Exp
Seven plus years
So I had a bit of shufty round at the NEC saw a Frankia I really liked with excellent styling, great use of space and some awesome features.

Looked at two Hymer motorhomes and had to laugh at how badly they had nailed them together.

So in all honesty I ask have Hymers they always been a bit ropey? :whistle:
 
Owned by Pilote.. a French company ..;)

In May 1990 Pilote take over as sole shareholder of FRANKIA.
 
Have to agree the newer ones are pretty poor especially compared to the older ones. Every time we look around the new vans at shows we're always disappointed at the quality compared to ours.
Not just Hymer though most brands suffer the same quality problems.
Sign of the times I think built to cost nowadays.
 
I have a 2001 Frankia and built like a brick shit house, beautiful wood inside and still looks like brand new!!!!!!!!!!!! would never have anything else now after this craftsmanship and on a Mercedes chassis to. It seems that new vans of today are not built to the exacting standards that they was in this era!!!!!!!!!!!!. But Frankia seem to be able to use all the room inside and out to the best possible use and convenience in my judgement, but hymers pre 2004 seem to be excellently good in workmanship as well, but alas not the new one's :-( in my humble opinion.
Regards Garry Flatpackchicken
 
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I purchased a swift motorhome in 2013 new every week something broke or fell off so swaped for a hymer last year so much better than the British made swift not had one problem in six months of ownership so my vote goes to the German built motorhome still built well in my opinion
 
due to driving license restrictions, the trend today is to get them as light as possible , no more than 3.5t
but at the same time, people expect more and more fancy appliances and gadgets.. TVs Micro waves, Sat Dishes etc etc ..

something has to give and I'm afraid it's the weight and quality of the furniture and fixtures that is being downgraded..

build quality is also sufferering due to employing cheap labour .. it's very competitive market, and labour is where money can be saved.. why employ a tradesman to fit furniture when you can employ a un skilled person off a migrant boat,and train to put screws in but who quite frankly don't give a rats ass about your future pride and joy..

the US RV market suffers badly from this problem.. giving many makers a bad name..
 
I chose my B584 based on the fact that 2006- models changed the internal furniture for the pressed stuff. 2005 was apparently the last year of cabinet-built furniture (or at least not the 'Tecnoform' variety).
 
On my second Hymer current one is 9 months old build quality on both is excellent.
One of the reasons we went for the first Hymer was we went to Dusseldorf on the last day of the show and of all the vans there with thousands of people going through them the Hymers had less parts broken and falling off than any other make.
If you want a shoddy van just look at the stuff they turn out in the UK, I wouldn't go near it.

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I personally love the quality of the fittings and build on my 2002 B544. When it was in for a service at SMC in Newark we had a look around new Pilote and Frankia models. Particularly on the Pilote I was disappointed to see so many cheeply produced fixtures and fittings.
 
We bought our new Hymer in Sept 14 after a 5 month wait of ordering from the factory.
We love it. The best motorhome we have ever had!
Previous new purchases were Autocruise and Autotrail, both had never ending build problems.
 
My 2006 hymer is quite solid, but I agree some of the newer ones not as good referring to all vans. Guess it's building to a price.

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I bought my 08 Hymer following a rush of blood to the bits that don't think enough, it was love at first sight

Soon after kept reading that since 05 Hymer build quality has gone down massively, I cant say that has applied to ours, but I don't have experience of an older one to compare to, nice and solid, quality fixings
 
When I read threads like this it leaves me wondering if we should even bother buying a new motorhome....if build quality in newer vans is so bad I can't see it being worth the hassle.

Bailey were comprehensively rubbished in another thread, along with other british vans and now I read Hymer are crap now too.....
 
MJG1959 said:
When I read threads like this it leaves me wondering if we should even bother buying a new motorhome....if build quality in newer vans is so bad I can't see it being worth the hassle.

Bailey were comprehensively rubbished in another thread, along with other british vans and now I read Hymer are crap now too.....
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How about this for another slant on it

Back in 05 a top spec Hymer might have cost £120K +, having paid that and losing probably 75% or more of its value over the next 10 years, the current owner faces a price to change for a new version of what they already have around £90K, is it any wonder they think theirs is lovely and too good to change (y)

That's my logic anyway :)

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It's all subjective, we've owned a British built 2011 Autosleeper, great van, nothing went wrong, well built, lots of Funsters loved it! But wrong layout for us and it made me feel 20 years older than I am and had me reaching for some beige slacks. :reel:

We now have a 2008 Hymer, great van, nothing has gone wrong (all being well, God willing, fingers crossed etc) well made but with a fabulous (for us) layout. It's a joy to use and we love it.
 
I think that maybe you have to 'stand outside' and look in, without letting emotion clog up your train of thought. And so. Questions:-
This Hymer was built in 1992. It has clocked up around 170,000 KM. It still runs well, and is in good condition. Does that say anything about Hymer build quality?
It will go just about wherever a new one will, abet a tad slower. But it cost 7K, as opposed to 57k. Is that a fair trade off?
It will sleep six at a push, has seat belts for four, has a blown air heating system, roof mounted vaporiser, great really thick shower tray, but no oven. Is an oven worth 50K?
It returns 28/30 to the gallon, has a turbo, power steering, but no CAT, and no ECU. Is that a disadvantage?
And lastly, it looks old fashioned, has 'dimpled' body panels, tinted windows, and a factory fitted rear ladder and roof rack, but no SOG or internal 'computer'.Does that matter?

So, I think that the older Hymer's are timeless, are really at no great disadvantage unless style and modern looks are your bag, and they are almost bombproof. Decided not to spend the extra 50k. :)
 
DavidG58 said:
How about this for another slant on it

Back in 05 a top spec Hymer might have cost £120K +, having paid that and losing probably 75% or more of its value over the next 10 years, the current owner faces a price to change for a new version of what they already have around £90K, is it any wonder they think theirs is lovely and too good to change (y)

That's my logic anyway :)
Click to expand...

Not sure that full picture but possibly partly so.
We bought our van nearly 5 years ago it was nearly 9 years old.
We paid £34000 I think and have covered approx 40 or 45000 trouble free miles in the ensuing years and the quality is superb even now.
We have all the original receipts from the first owners purchase including articles from motorhome magazines at the time which heralded it as the best motorhome available at that time Cost £105000.00. plus extras. More than a house at the time.
Now nearly 14 years later you can buy a top of the range Hymer for about £115000 according to Travelworld website, only 10 % increase.
Doesn't add up that they can build the same quality for virtually the same price 14 years down the line when everything else in life has gone up ten and twenty fold at least. The obvious answer is that quality has been compromised whether it be materials design or skilled labour.
Obviously manufacturing techniques have improved but that much really!!.

Having said that I'd love a new shape B544 when we downsize but it would definitely be secondhand, let someone else sort out the first years agro. After our last experience of a new van it'll be a long time before we make that mistake again.
 
DavidG58 said:
How about this for another slant on it

Back in 05 a top spec Hymer might have cost £120K +, having paid that and losing probably 75% or more of its value over the next 10 years, the current owner faces a price to change for a new version of what they already have around £90K, is it any wonder they think theirs is lovely and too good to change (y)

That's my logic anyway :)
Click to expand...
Doesn't tie up with my facts my 2008 Hymer depreciated at 5% per year (23% over 5 3/4 years) when I changed after nearly 6 years went from a Low Profile to an A Class a vehicle that was around 15% dearer than the latest equivalent of my 2008 model, cost to change lest than 25k, if I had gone for a Low Profile again would have cost less than 19k to change. I don't buy in the UK which helps a lot as you have about a 12k head start.
The depreciation was less that what holidays would have cost without a van.
 
lennyhb said:
Doesn't tie up with my facts my 2008 Hymer depreciated at 5% per year (23% over 5 3/4 years) when I changed after nearly 6 years went from a Low Profile to an A Class a vehicle that was around 15% dearer than the latest equivalent of my 2008 model, cost to change lest than 25k, if I had gone for a Low Profile again would have cost less than 19k to change. I don't buy in the UK which helps a lot as you have about a 12k head start.
The depreciation was less that what holidays would have cost without a van.
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Great figures, possibly you have had a record breaking lack of depreciation or you bought particularly wisely in 2008, or both, I did hear it was a good year to buy at big discount due to the 'recession'

My finger to the wind figures were based on my own MH, we got very lucky buying 'used' at 3 years old, original list price £135K in 2008, original owner bought it in 2009, we paid £68K and have had it 2 years and doubt we would get £50K today, so we have lost nearly the same as you in 2 only years, and the MH has lost close to my theoretical numbers

My point really was when the price to change is such a big proportion of what you already have as in our own case it takes some justifying, we were looking at having to pay £70K plus give ours back to come with a MH not quite as well specced as we already have costing £120K
 
Tootles said:
So, I think that the older Hymer's are timeless, are really at no great disadvantage unless style and modern looks are your bag, and they are almost bombproof. Decided not to spend the extra 50k. :)
Click to expand...

I loved our old Hymer. We sold it as we were moving and there was nowhere to keep it, just one more problem that, at the time, we couldn't cope with. I did regret selling it BUT looking back now it would have been far too big for us in our present circumstances so we probably did the correct thing. It is still registered (but SORNed) so we hope that someone else has had a few years of fun with her.

We are happy with our Chausson. The fittings and furnishings may not be as solid as in the Hymer but the technology has moved on leaps and bounds. If we were to have the Hymer back I would want a lot of refitting and finishing - but with the savings over new(er) you could do that.
 
DavidG58 said:
Great figures, possibly you have had a record breaking lack of depreciation or you bought particularly wisely in 2008, or both, I did hear it was a good year to buy at big discount due to the 'recession'
Click to expand...
It actually cost us 7k more than we planned for, between putting a deposit down and paying at delivery Euro went from 1.45 to 1.25. Current van went the other way Euro 1.17 to 1.21 pity not paying for it now nine months later would have saved another 7k.
Buying in the UK you will effectively loose a lot more. Despite Hymer saying the prices are the same in the UK I still think buying a Hymer in the UK is financial suicide.
 
Our 2006 B564 was immaculate when we bought it 2 years ago and it is still immaculate now. In 20k miles nothing has broken or fallen off. The build quality is superb and the Alcatel (? ) shell is a bonus. We looked at 100s of vans of all makes, shapes and sizes and we think we got the best of the bunch. But that is only our opinion. We've also looked at the newer ones and feel the quality has gone down.
 
I have said this before in other threads, but much as I love our Hymer it really is too clever for its own good, I am dreading something going wrong in the electrics

Even the tap we have been told is £1000, truly bonkers

Just wish we had stuck out for the island bed we were looking for when we bumped into this MH, that is the main reason I would swap

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