Must haves.

[Meg55]

What is on your must have list when buying a new Motorhome.
I am thinking Cruise Control, Tracker, Awning and rear Camera.
Ideas please.

Cheers M

 

[Just smiffy]

Solar...??

 

[mike mcglynn]

No problems .But it’s highly unlikely .

 

[Just smiffy]

Refillable gas bottles/tank....

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Each will have their own desires, but fundamental for everyone is the right layout. How many travelling seats do you need and how many must you sleep. Then comes mid or rear lounge and whether or not you seek a dinette. After that you might look at what toys you'd like and whether you can afford them. And then also build quality.

Once I had the layout, then it was the right fit out for the home part of the van, and the driver aids.

Oddly the home part I wasn't that fussed, but perhaps as I hadn't owned before. The very little experience to date suggests I will work with what I have, but I should have given more consideration to physical storage space / layout - where did I expect to keep some of the fold up chairs and other longer things when I had very limited length under seat stowage and no garage space in a 5.4m length PVC.

But for the home, and if you hope to be offgrid for any period look at battery capacity, solar, water and waste tank size, and whether you are happy with gas bottles or need an onboard tank / refillable bottles. You can look too at the fridge and if you are happy on battery / hook up or do you need gas (3 way). Are you a culinary whiz needing multiple gas hob rings and oven. A microwave is almost useless unless you have a good capacity site hook up. Do you need electric off grid so must have an inverter of what capacity. The list goes on and widens.

Are you wanting to tow a car, carry bikes, or even a scooter. How? Is a rear rack sufficient or are you looking at a tow bar carrier?

For driver aids, reversing camera is becoming a must (insurer's like it). I'd suggest a speed limiter rather than cruise control is important for all those average speed zones. Are you into dashcams? What about satnav. I like an autogear box. For some their priority will be what goes under the hood as power is king.

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[pappajohn]

Suitable payload.
No good having loads of 'must haves' if you don't have the payload to carry them.

 

[JohnJan]

Air conditioning in the cab, particularly for warmer climes. There appears to be a large amount of nearly new vans for sale without it.

 

[SteveJulesMontycame2]

Payload. Payload. Payload. Don‘t rely on the brochure weights and remember the weight of your passenger(s) & pets also comes out of payload, before even adding any accessories. Payload is king. (If you want to stay under 3.5 tonnes).

 

[jollyrodger]

Diesel

 

[marpool]

A reputable dealer with a good record of after sales service.

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[JJ]

Wheels.

JJ

 

[Apache]

A reputable dealer with a good record of after sales service.

Does that exist ?

 

[138go]

A good dealer is brilliant. We’ve experienced horrendous after sales and it drives you nuts! We bought our Laika from Southdowns in Portsmouth and they are excellent.

Other things that I especially like include, fixed beds, awning, a large garage and refillable gas bottles.

Mrs QFour

 

[Rockcrawler]

Solar...??

+1

 

[Tincataylor]

Buy private
Payload
Layout
Re-fillable gas
Gaffer Tape

The Tincas

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[Lenny HB]

Large garage, double floor, at least a1000kg payload. Cruise, aircon etc., are either standard or in the basic pack so don't need to think about them. Most other things I can fit myself.

 

[Podney]

Build quality.

 

[Lenny HB]

Build quality.

As most of us can't afford Morelo's & Concorde's etc., that goes out the window.

 

[Rapido925M]

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned a licence allowing you to drive it!

You probably appreciate that a MH over 3.5T will require something other than a car licence.
AND, as some have pointed out, getting a decent payload on an under 3.5T van can be problematic.

Gordon

 

[WillH]

Layout, layout, layout!

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[TheAleMan]

Layout got to be the big one, then big garage and solar. Oh, and bottle opener is very important to us also.

 

[mitzimad]

i would say layout weight and watertight all three are difficult to change everything else can be added

 

[Bognor Saint]

I've always found that a passenger (wife) who doesn't argue with the sat nav useful ?.

 

[GPW]

What is on your must have list when buying a new Motorhome.
I am thinking Cruise Control, Tracker, Awning and rear Camera.
Ideas please.

Cheers M

Reflllable gas, reversing camera and radio - mostly dealer fit options or later fit. I found it useful to have all three from the start - especially gas as it saved me sourcing and moving bottles and the worry about running out isn't there.

Ordering with the van I wanted Cruise and AC, and for me 16" wheels as I wanted the bigger tyres and upgrading sizes is not very possible on the Sevel base.

Layout was easy as I was going for a European dinette, but I wanted a dinette that was actually comfortable to sit in with a usable table and a bathroom that I could also fit in within 6m or less. Simple things but only the 6m Adria Twin and Globescout could deliver those.

I got a tracker, it saves on insurance but you pay the difference in tracking fees - but if it does get stolen you may be able to get it back and carry on your holiday.

I decided an awning was pointless and a source of worry and work, not much use against a hot sun and not much use in rain as often you get wind with a storm too. On a PVC it's a bolt-on addition anyway so driving in sidewinds may be worse afterwards, plus it's weight high up.

What I found is that if you add in all the possible options you want the bill goes skywards and it's very confusing as many of the websites have missing info and muddled options. In the end I got a Globecar 'plus' model: factory already added the useful bits and SMC added some more useful ones on ordering for stock. The Knaus option list was totally baffling and Burstner was odd too, although they had tried harder.

 

[SpeedyDux]

I've always found that a passenger (wife) who doesn't argue with the sat nav useful ?.

We both argue with the satnav.

The previous satnav would get quite stroppy sometimes if ignored.

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[Landy Andy]

Garage. A lot of stuff listed above (solar, refillable gas etc) can be added later

 

[M-J]

Alcohol.

 

[SpeedyDux]

My must haves probably would not suit some Funsters:

Diesel fired heating / boiler (gas only needed for cooking)
Compressor fridge (more reliable for cooling beer)
Cab aircon - this should be standard IMO
Auto gearbox
Reversing sensors
Spare wheel - see other threads on this topic

 

[scotzsue]

admit to not having read through, but seatbelts for all who will be travelling was my priority.

 

[Apache]

Agree with most of the previous input , and to expand on layout - We have to have a nice big lounge area to get “Spragged “ ( laid out in order to watch tv / sleep off afternoon ale , etc ) . Hence our current van an Autotrail 700 and our “Dream “ a Rapido 8094df which we hope to be able to upgrade to eventually.

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