Looking for our first motorhome- advice please. (1 Viewer)

[Molly A]

Hi everyone, we are looking to buy a motorhome and would appreciate advice and input from you people. We are buying one to use to get to our boat in Greece, and have some fun on the way. Our sons and young family will use it out of season, so will need 4 belts and upwards of 3 berths. As we will be transporting boat bits out to Greece we like the idea of a garage or decent storage, and so payload is clearly an important factor. Our budget is up to £25k but could be tempted to go up a little for the right van. Have been looking at Hymers, Burstners, Eura Mobile, Dethleffs, Pilotes and Rapidos.
My partner and I are old enough that we can drive over 3500 kg, my son is not , but if the right van was over that, he would take a test. We are not fussed what side the wheel is on.
A big consideration is seat height. My partner is 6ft 2in with a long back and is susceptible to back pain. We love some of the smaller Dethleffs with transverse bed and big garages but understand that the Ford transit cab has a very low eye line, which would be difficult for him. I have also discovered on this forum that the Fiat isn't much better- is the Merc any better? So is the answer an A class ?
I would get very grateful for your ideas and feedback, so let me know what you think!

 

[Realist]

Hurry up prices are going up with demand but..........

Write your needs down on a bit of paper and compare with what’s out there and within your price range.

Best of luck with your search and welcome.

 

[nicholsong]

Congratulations on being one of the few people putting a similar Q about a first MH who specifies its use, seats, berths, no prefernce for LH/RHDrive, the sort of vehicles you have looked at and your licences and your son's willingness to do the C1 test.

We usually have to extract that information out over several posts, which I get bored with.

Hopefully, with that spec you will get some sensible responses.

My immediate suggestion is to look for older high-quality German MHs, preferably which could be within your budget - ours would be if it were for sale.


Geoff

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[Molly A]

Hi Nicholsong. Thanks for your reply. Yup, yours would be the kind of van I would like! There are a couple for sale, but one is up in Scotland and we are in the New Forest . Have looked at a ford based Burstner and the driving position for my partner was challenging, as his line of sight was pretty much above the sun visor. Going to try to find a Fiat based one to try, to see if it's the same. If not, it'll have to be an older A class, I suppose.

 

[DangerMousy]

Have looked at a ford based Burstner and the driving position for my partner was challenging, as his line of sight was pretty much above the sun visor. Going to try to find a Fiat based one to try, to see if it's the same. If not, it'll have to be an older A class, I suppose.

It probably will be I'm afraid. Until recently we had a Peugeot-based coachbuilt (effectively the same van front as the Fiat) and I always found the top of the windscreen was too low. Not enough to give me neck ache, but enough to be annoying. It doesn't affect the driving view really but it was sometimes a challenge to read overhead signs quickly enough before they went out of sight. I was looking from the passenger side so it was even worse when it was raining because the windscreen wipers didn't clear most of the top corner. Another problem for the driver we found was that it could be quite difficult at times to see the dashboard instruments because you are sat higher up than the dashboard designers originally intended.

Its the seat swivel boxes that raise the seats up so high and I think you can replace them with lower ones (and still keep the swivel?) - its something I'd have looked into if we'd kept that MH, but we changed to an A Class instead (nothing to do with the windscreen!) but the view is much better.

 

[Realist]

I have a Fiat based MoHo and I’m 5ft 8” and find the view excellent so how tall are you guys?

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[DangerMousy]

I have a Fiat based MoHo and I’m 5ft 8” and find the view excellent so how tall are you guys?

I'm 6' and hubby is 5'11"

 

[Molly A]

I'm a short person so I would probably need a booster seat but my partner is 6ft 2in with a long back, so it's not going to be easy, I suspect! Anyone got any feedback on the Merc cab on coachbuilt vans?

 

[Realist]

The seats go up and down quite a way on the Fiat Ducato based vans so plenty of scope.

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[Kannon Fodda]

The seat height, which as noted above is distorted from the standard commercial vehicle base as most manufacturers raise them for a swivel. Don't just think about the windscreen vantage point, but also check the view through the steering wheel to dials and even the viewing angle of the side mirrors and if those mirrors have enough of a range adjustment relative to your seating position (only just on mine). But also look at whether there is enough front - rear travel of the seat. A lot of MHs will have will have interior fixtures behind the driving position and the taller driver may find they can't get back / tilt the seat back quite far enough. Stuff close to the seat may also restrict the swivel too.

For the shorter driver, the swivel causes opposite issues - are legs long enough to reach pedals comfortably for a lengthy period of driving?

Swivels can be removed, but a bit of a faff and might affect MH seating flexibility when parked up. If you don't make similar adjustment to the passenger seat it could all seem a bit odd with seat alignments out of kilter. Alternatively there are some lowered bases available, but that could affect underseat storage.

 

[Molly A]

Thanks for the advice above guys...still interested in the views of anyone with a Merc cab...I suspect we are just going to have to try a few. Doing anything creative with the Transit seems unlikely as they appear to have the battery under the driver's seat, so you would probably have to move it elsewhere to get any real gains.

 

[Molly A]

And this is before I start thinking about whether my 6ft 8in son would squeeze into one... but he's used to folding himself into vehicles, so not such a priority!

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[Emmit]

Even though we've got a coach built, from what I've read, my choice, we're I you, would be an A class.
I would like to give info re the seat height etc.
I'm 5ft 8 and a scrape and we got our Fiat front ended Hobby I couldn't see out from under the top edge of the windscreen.
That wasn't helped by a little pelmet because of the front windscreen pleated blinds.
I was able to replace the original front seat boxes with lower ones, reducing the overall height of the seat by 3".
The seat itself adjusts up and down as well as fore and aft (perhaps, before travelling to see a particular 'van, you could enquire whether your target has that facility) Not all seats do this.
Because your "other half" is tall with a long body, the above info is of importance.

Oh! Welcome, and keep asking questions.
There's masses of info held in the recesses of the minds of us Funsters. Some of it occasionally is allowed to escape.

 

[Molly A]

Funnily enough we have been contemplating Hobbies...look like a quality van! Interesting info about replacing the boxes. Does this still permit the swivel? My partner isn't particularly long in the leg, but yes, a broad range of directional movement in a seat is pretty key! Rapidly coming to the conclusion we had better start looking at A class vehicles.... and thank you, I will shamelessly plunder the invaluable bank of knowledge available to me via you good people.

 

[Emmit]

Funnily enough we have been contemplating Hobbies...look like a quality van! Interesting info about replacing the boxes. Does this still permit the swivel? My partner isn't particularly long in the leg, but yes, a broad range of directional movement in a seat is pretty key! Rapidly coming to the conclusion we had better start looking at A class vehicles.... and thank you, I will shamelessly plunder the invaluable bank of knowledge available to me via you good people.

An answer regarding the above.
We have the 600/650 of 2005 vintage (the ones with a single rear axle) . Whilst they are beautifully built, because of their quality, there isnt a very big payload, particularly @3500kgs. Uprating the weight is a necessity.
The 700 series of the same vintage probably ticks all your boxes. It has a tag axle at the back which can carry huge loads. The extra metre +in length when compared to my van makes a big difference.
It's been said that Hobby stopped making the curved body because it was too expensive to create. All I know is that there is a certain solidity about them that instils quality.

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[Molly A]

Thanks for that Emmit, saw an older Hobby 650 near us and was tempted...love the 700, the internal finish is pretty sumptuous but it is a bit of a beast and bigger than we really need for our purposes....and sounds like we would need to do the seat thing too! Very much appreciate your feedback!

 

[Molly A]

Ok, guys, what are your thoughts on a Hymer B524 sl. Or a B644?Pretty much on the money, one 3 , one 4 berth. As an A class, the visibility would be good, not too huge , garage for our stuff. Anything we need to look out for? All feedback gratefully accepted.