Just sometimes its all too much..... (2 Viewers)

Dawnbreak

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Aug 30, 2009
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Oh I just don't know anymore.....I know its all down to personal preference and £'ssssss etc but what is one to do when lots of the time there seems to be so much much to take in on here.......ok....people ask questions

which engine
which chassis
which make etc etc etc and on it goes.....don't touch a fiat/peugeot engine for reasons as put......buy a merc engine....thats ok but where would one find a M/H with merc engine for around £35,000:Eeek:...nowhere me suspects. So one can buy 2nd hand, but me and hubby don't want 2nd hand...we wish to buy brand new. Then one reads "merc engine blows up"...so that blows that out of the window:ROFLMAO:sorry giggly at my own quip:Doh:. Then of course theres the chassis go for "alko" whatever that is...so off to goggle....£50k vans eeeeeekkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!.....I wish. So hubby and I tentatively looked at 2nd hand ones.....for some reason it just doesn't do it for us, heaven knows why....but strange to relate we have always purchased new cars.

So it would seem that one pays ones money and takes a chance....but it does get very confusing when reading everything, especially when reading the Swift and Bessacarr forums etc that purchasers are very pleased with their purchases and advocate said M/H which strange to relate are Fiat.....and one wonders why we are still CONFUSED.COM.:cry:
 

hilldweller

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why....but strange to relate we have always purchased new cars.

You seem to have more money than sense.

Had you bought near-new cars you could have bought a more expensive MH.

People *care* for their mobile homes, so a used one can be even better than new if the original, shall we call them mugs for want of a better word, did all the hard work, running them in, fixing the inevitable problems and then parted with them.

Guess who is a Blunt Northerner and Proud Grumpy Old Man.
 
May 22, 2008
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Obviously you have to read as much as you can from other motorhomers posts ,listen to other Motorhomers tales of woe, listen to other Motorhomers tales of joy, bite the bullet , make a considered judjement on all the info you have gleaned and follow your instincts,spend what you can afford to lose ,buy a van and good luck with that.:thumb::thumb::thumb:
 

lunarman

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I tend to agree with the grumpy old northerner.

As one who has bought both new and used MHs I have had better value out of the used ones. There are a lot of MH out there that are less that 12 months old that represent good value. I would add the caviate that with Juddergate I would beware buying a nearly new Fiat without rigorous testing the reverse ability. Better to go for a late 2.8jtd

Lunarman

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hilldweller

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I tend to agree with the grumpy old northerner.

Lunarman

You are on dangerous ground there !

I should add, our first ever MH purchased two years ago was 4 years old on the "good" Fiat chassis ( though I did not know this at the time and could as easily bought a juddergate ), had done 4000 miles and the oven had never been lit. The only defect a minor crack in the rear bumper. It just looked right with sound build quality and saves us thousands over new cost. 20,000 miles later it is still in good condition and having been under it during MOT I am delighted in how well a Fiat chassis lasts.

Some people buy unwisely, some people must have new every year, this means that there are big savings to be made.

These days too many look "flash" using much plastic and light weight build just for sales purposes. I hate to think what they will be like a few years on.
 

jomel

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Jul 31, 2009
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Dawnbreak you sound how I feel with it all.
I thought we had our dream MH sussed last week but got bogged down with all the technical stuff.
I felt exactly like you too, wanting to buy a new MH to be the first owners etc but given that they are so hugely expensive, and there are so many good bargains out there, Im not leaving any leaf unturned.
I have written in a small notebook the absolute definate must have features and the practical reasons why, it gives me a grounding to come back to when I get lost in the sea of it all.
We started with the ceiling price and anything below that meets requirements is worth spending an hour or so of our time, just sitting in it, and pretending to live in it for that amount of time. Getting to the stage where we dont give a hoot what the dealers or anyone else thinks. Its a lot of money and you might as well pay for what you are happy with than unhappy with.
 

Peter JohnsCross MH

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A pre-owned Motorhome is always a better buy than a brand new one as far as cost goes.

A number of our customers change their van every year, sometimes circumstances change and they want a different layout or they just fancy the new model.

Obviously we are happy to oblige and the next owner will be a happy bunny saving thousands over new cost.

Peter

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bazfergy

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Apr 20, 2009
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I have had new and second hand,my current van is a pilote on a merc base it is an 03 plate and it's the best van ive had.I would never buy new again,more problems than used.For 35k you could get an excellent used van that would do everything and more, that you want,but the choice is yours,you are the one who will be parting with the hard earned cash,so unless you have money to burn choose wisely,and whatever you choose enjoy:thumb:
 
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Dawnbreak

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Aug 30, 2009
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You seem to have more money than sense.

Had you bought near-new cars you could have bought a more expensive MH.

People *care* for their mobile homes, so a used one can be even better than new if the original, shall we call them mugs for want of a better word, did all the hard work, running them in, fixing the inevitable problems and then parted with them.

Guess who is a Blunt Northerner and Proud Grumpy Old Man.


Bl..dy rude too.....:ROFLMAO:but getting gist of your postings...I would not dare to be so blunt........a Soft but polite Southerner. :winky:
 

Home&Away

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Aug 21, 2009
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Hi Dawn

I know exactly how you feel and I agree with Jomel too. The grumpy old northerner is probably right if blunt.

However, I'm on my third new car in a row and I know why. I like to know exactly what my car has done, how it's been driven and treated. I'll probably end up keeping this car when I retire for a long time but if not I'll do what my son has done and buy good, cheap, old cars at auction and run them into the ground.

So I'm the same about MHs and keep being dragged towards a new one but I do recognise what people say that others can run them in for you and they do much less mileage so let them have all the problems and save loads of cash. Also, might I get a better machine second-hand than new?

We're sitting here thinking second-hand German or new Escape. £35k sounds about right for us and we've seen Mercs and Ivecos plus, of course, Ford which means I can avoid any threat of juddering new Fiats (someone now can explain if 2.8JTD automatically means pre-judder but presumably if it's pre-judder it's also cambelt rather than chain so still raises questions, at least in my mind?) I really like the modern styles so maybe I'm being seduced by the outer look rather than the inner quality.......

I'm sure a lot of people will take me to task for saying it but I do also think that the market is vastly over-inflated. Small production lines must mean greater mark-ups but the second-hand market doesn't seem to depreciate at the rate it would in other sectors of the motor trade. How else do you explain ten year old vans at 50% of initial value when my Saab 93 was valued at 20% after three years when I recently changed cars? And no-one is going to tell me that my Saab chassis will be shot in seven years either!

Dealers must keep prices up because of relatively low turnover, I guess (Johns Cross to comment?!?) so the private market follows suit. Does volume at the lower end help to keep prices up? Is that why there are shedloads of ancient, tired, grimy vans still on offer in dealers for £10k? What state is the market really in? Certainly there seem to be several people looking in every dealers we visit. But who is buying those van which are still £30k plus and look like they've had a hard life even though they're on on 02/03/04 plate?

We're going to go to the NEC and go down the hitlist. If the right new one comes along then we may buy otherwise we'll be scouring the websites over the winter! See you in Birmingham on the Saturday? Maybe we should have a Funster Day Out or does that already happen???

Mike

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Dawnbreak

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Aug 30, 2009
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Dawnbreak you sound how I feel with it all.
I thought we had our dream MH sussed last week but got bogged down with all the technical stuff.
I felt exactly like you too, wanting to buy a new MH to be the first owners etc but given that they are so hugely expensive, and there are so many good bargains out there, Im not leaving any leaf unturned.
I have written in a small notebook the absolute definate must have features and the practical reasons why, it gives me a grounding to come back to when I get lost in the sea of it all.
We started with the ceiling price and anything below that meets requirements is worth spending an hour or so of our time, just sitting in it, and pretending to live in it for that amount of time. Getting to the stage where we dont give a hoot what the dealers or anyone else thinks. Its a lot of money and you might as well pay for what you are happy with than unhappy with.

Seems we are kindred spirits at the moment.......happy hunting and learning.
 

Geo

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Jul 29, 2007
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One thought that has been touched on by Peter at Johns Cross Motorhomes and just to reinforce that

Your £35k motorhome will only be new for a week and loose aprox 4-5 K in value that same week:Eeek: so if you dont like it after a year you will have to find extra cash to go up market and that extra cash will be plus the 5k you lost straight away
Or buy a two year old van well at agood price and you will get all your cash back if you then trade up in a year later, now thats free Motorhoming, beat that:thumb:
 

sedge

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We just went with the one that felt right when we walked into it.

Okay, in the couple of weeks we were just looking, I couldn't remenber 'which one was it that had...'

The one we chose had a large rear lounge for us both to lounge in simultaneously and a decent size fridge and a full cooker. And lightish wood and upholstery - all absolute pre requisites. OK it hasn't got cassette blinds nor AC or cruise control. And we did have teething problems with certain bits of equipment - some of them were user-error; some weren't.

We've just spent nearly 4 weeks in France in it. (Bit drastic as a maiden voyage you may say but that's what it's sposed to do LOL) Did anything about the van spoil and HOUR of our time there? - no except for me when I couldn't identify the noise it kept making every half hour during the first night ensuring I got NO sleep but this was sorted when the French bloke in the car banged on the door next morning for us to move. We'd parked next to the jolly old Gonflage machine ...... whose compressor replenished itself 24/7. What a relief!!! Then the couple of hours on the campsite when I couldn't get the gas on the cooker to light. Experienced MH's next door even came and looked and they even checked out the Gaslow system. Apparently it makes a HUGE difference not lifting the glass lid to 90 degrees LOL - you would have assumed a woman who'd had a domestic cooker that does exactly the same thing since 1984 or thereabouts, might have caught onto this wouldn't you?

My handy better half spent a little bit of the holiday utilising a screwdriver for a few short periods for different odds and sods and we did have to purchase a pack of screws from M. Bricolage when the bit of floor over the screw top for the fresh water tank jumped up whilst driving yet again - eventually it drove us so potty we invested in the screws 'they' had omitted to put in. The pilot holes were all there ready! and the remainder of the screws were subsequently donated to a couple from Leicestershire to mend the floor in their van ..... we already knew there wasn't an ironmongers in this partic place, we wanted a Hozelok type screw-on fitting for our water hose and had already looked - just as we were a wandering, nothing pressing.

We do have one prob we need to take up, but as we haven't spoken to the suppliers yet, I'll say nowt about that. But nothing 'functional'.

At the moment I think we would say other than the latter we are quite happy with what we bought so far - just over 2000 miles on the clock. I spose I will work out the diesel consumption when I get round to it - or maybe I won't. You have to have fuel if you want to get from A to B, if it's not desperate you do shop around to some degree but not if it's just when you need it, you stick it in, cough up and look happy!!!!

Anyway all the homework you do may serve virtually NO useful purpose - as you say if you have your heart set on a certain engine and then cannot afford it - what is the point? (I used to want more Bruno Magli shoes and such, I can't have em. Well I could - but WHY???) Until you USE the thing you will have absolutely no idea whether it suits you or not - if summat 'grates' on you or annoys you within 5 mins of walking into the vehicle - you will never like it - tolerate it at best.

Last thing I'll say is my daughter works for a company which runs a huge fleet of vans from depots all round the country (LOL no not white ones!) They have (she says) shedloads of trouble with Mercs (esp gearboxes LOL) and very little with Ducrappos. I dunno whether that is 199% true or not. She doesn't lie normally, and she's said this for years. I have no way of knowing. Neither have you or anyone else!!!!

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hilldweller

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..a Soft but polite Southerner. :winky:

Soft indeed. Work out how much you've wasted in the past, bear in mind the oft quoted "the third motorhome is the one that worked" and dip your toe into the water economically.

I have to say, in fact have said, we got it reasonable right in the first place. Quite amazing since it was an impulse buy. The thing is there is no "right" because of size and weight limitations there is always a compromise. We would like more lounge space, to create more lounge space we'd lose storage space and storage is at a premium in a small van. Buying bigger is an option but that brings parking problems and across the board running costs.

I have wasted loads of money on new cars in the past then I stumbled on to demo machines. Not old, not high mileage but so much cheaper.

Well you've had the blunt advice, nothing in the rule books says that you have to take it. Good luck with your search.
 
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Dawnbreak

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Aug 30, 2009
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Soft indeed. Work out how much you've wasted in the past, bear in mind the oft quoted "the third motorhome is the one that worked" and dip your toe into the water economically.

I have to say, in fact have said, we got it reasonable right in the first place. Quite amazing since it was an impulse buy. The thing is there is no "right" because of size and weight limitations there is always a compromise. We would like more lounge space, to create more lounge space we'd lose storage space and storage is at a premium in a small van. Buying bigger is an option but that brings parking problems and across the board running costs.

I have wasted loads of money on new cars in the past then I stumbled on to demo machines. Not old, not high mileage but so much cheaper.

Well you've had the blunt advice, nothing in the rule books says that you have to take it. Good luck with your search.

Blunt indeed......but as far as new cars are concerned you assume to presume we have had numerable but the fact is we have not. Our current car is coming up to 9 years old.....serviced each year, looked after and loved....and previous cars the same.
We have had such pleasure out of owning and driving it and will do for the next few years.......so we indeed look on the purchase of a M/H the same way....it will be serviced/habitated each year/preened/used and we intend to keep it for a long long time. Which is why we are not rushing into it, we are looking, making beds up, and lounging around in them to see how we feel, if we walk into one and it makes us feel claustrophobic we immediately walk out.......and as far as 2nd had ones are concerned.......they were all new once weren't they:thumb:...even if we looked at 18 months old. So when we purchase after 18 months... any niggles we will have had will have been sorted out by us same as. Anyway each to their own eh!.....we just don't want someones elses use.....oh by the way our cars a Beemer::bigsmile:......and anyway like everything else, if people don't buy new, tell me what happens then. Does production grind to a halt and loss of jobs and livelihoods? hmmmmmm....
 

hilldweller

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if people don't buy new, tell me what happens then. Does production grind to a halt and loss of jobs and livelihoods? hmmmmmm....

This is very true.

So, OK, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, my next van may be subsidised by you. You know how good it will be, I know how good it will be, great deal.

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Dawnbreak

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This is very true.

So, OK, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, my next van may be subsidised by you. You know how good it will be, I know how good it will be, great deal.


Brian darlink:winky:........your more than welcome......so we'll both be happy.:thumb:
 

Brisey

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Excuse me while I have a cold shower.....

Just pop on down to Millau, I am sure Ryan & Mel the Active Campers can provide one for you.

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