Thinking of buying - Benimar ST

S

Sidders

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Jun 18, 2019
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61,754
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Hi all,

I’m a newbie on here?

We’ve had a couple of Campervan’s in the past and are now looking to get back into it, now that our twin girls are nearly 2. I was ideally after something with a bunk bed set up until this Benimar Europe Top ST 2.7 caught my eye.

It’s an older van, but seems well spec’d with the aircon in the back. No bunk but guess we could put the kids in the double at the back.

Any thoughts/advice or has anyone had one?

Many thanks

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Do you have a C1 entitlement on your driving licence? If not you will be limited to driving something with a maximum gross weight of 3.5t. I doubt that will apply to that moho, but if it does I suspect that you will not have the payload for your family and their stuff.
 
Hi Peter,

I do have C1 entitlement??
 
Had a benimar anthus sl on an 03 plate, first van I ever owned and rose tinted glasses aside was prob the best built of them all except my new rapido!
Trump heater decided to eat it’s way through the floor and waste pipe came apart at an elbow but apart from that all good.
 
Thanks Happy, that’s reassuring??
Is that your Rapido in the pic? Looks lovely and big.
Can’t decide on wether to buy privately as I do for all my cars/campers and stick around the 15-20k mark, or is it worth going to a dealer and upping the budget to around 30k. I’m just concious the kids are young and there will no doubt be an element of things being trashed?

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Looks a tidy van but I would be very wary about why the bathroom has been re-boarded. Definitely take a damp meter with you and prod all around the windows, vents,lockers and anywhere in that bathroom that you can,
The only reason that I can think of with the re-boarding, is that there has been a leak or damage. Sound the owner out about it and get as much info from them, especially if they have done the work themselves. Why was it done....?

Good luck (y)
 
Hi Terry, I appreciate your input??. I didn’t even realise from the pics it had been re-boarded.
I’ve decided against it, it’s last service was in 2014 and before that in 2011?. I’m a bit OCD with my stuff and have had my vans done annually, regardless of mileage.
The search goes on...
What a great forum???
 
Morning Sidders, don't be put off by my bathroom comments --it looks like a decent van apart from the bathroom.Use it more of a bargaining tool :D (y)find out why it was boarded over ? Around that time they used what was susposed to be waterproof boards that were not :D and I know of one manufacturer that started to vynil wallpaper the bathrooms on top of the "waterproof" boards for a cople of years :D
Plus points for the van are it's on a Merc automatic (y) and I don't think it is over priced but would be better with a couple of K off :)(y)Auto's always comand and hold higher prices (y) it looks very tidy.(pics can lie,so needs looking at ) It has only got 50,000 odd miles so if the owner serviced it every 10,000 miles it would take 3 yrs to reach the intervals - not best practice but I am sure no harm would be done if they used synthectic oils.
Alll questions to ask and investigate (y)
 
Fab, thanks Terry.
I’ll ask a few more questions.
Just find 5 years (mileage not so much I guess as it’s done around 13k in that time) for the last service a bit off putting, even though they’re offering to do one now. Just gives an impression that it’s not been very loved - poor thing lol
 
?Make sure you invest in a Damp meter

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Blimey that's my old van!

Sold it in 2007 and bought a Hymer S820.

Had about 15000 miles on it when I sold it.

Was a great van, the only problem I had with it was a leak from the Alde heating system in the over cab area.

Took a few trips to Camper UK to sort it out.

We had a matching mattress made up to make a permanent rear bed.

To be honest, if there are no damp issues it looks like a nice van and doesn't seem a bad price

Andrew
 
?Make sure you invest in a Damp meter ??
Alde heating ? another bonus ?
 
Wow Andrew - whats the chances..! Were you the first or second owner? It's had 6 in total.

Cheers Terry, got one today from Amazon - I'm armed and ready with my Brennenstuhl damp meter...hopefully it's up to the job. I asked the chap about the re-boarding in the bathroom and he had no idea.
 
It does look nice in the pics (and video) the owner sent me - I just can't get my head around 5 years since it's last serviceo_O
 
I was the second owner, bought it from RDH in Nottingham (now defunct) , it had 3700 miles on it when I bought it and I put about 11,000 on it. Bathroom has definitely been reboarded after me.
Thing is with the servicing, on my previous van, which was quite lightly used, I attempted to book it in at a main dealer (Mercedes Commercials) and the guy said "how many spanners is it showing?, I said none, and he said I was wasting my money then, because the vehicle monitors the oil quality and indicates when it needs changing.

Andrew

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Yep - Mercedes commercial just told me the same thing. I used to get both my old sprinter campers done every year at MOT time - though that wasn't at Mercedes Commercial.
Apparently the timing chain never needs done on these either according to Mercedes.
 
Hi again just to say with the damp meter you will get reading's on almost anything you touch, anything under 15 is ok ? anything between 15 &20 needs looking into? any higher is a problem
Terry
 
Fab, thanks Terry. Hope it works ok - it got mixed reviews and I couldn't ask for a recommendation yesterday on which one to buy as I apparently ran out of privileges on here and had no idea what was going on till I got home and signed up on the PC
 
Agree with what Terry says, I've got a decent meter and my kiln dried logs measure 16.2%, so probably anything under 20% should be OK


Andrew
 
So...after further discussions with the owner, I decided against it. There were a few areas of damp that had previously been fixed up and ongoing water issues with the larger door. Shame, as really liked the van

Have decided to up the budget and now looking at these...

The first one has been serviced every year along with habitation checks so seems to have a good history - current owner 5 years.

The second one not so much history - infact none - has no stamp in the book so assumed as unserviced (current owner has only done around 800 miles in 18 months and hasn’t had it serviced or habitation checked or timing belt changedo_O. Still on original tyres too).

What do you guys think and what sort of money should I be going in at?


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The Hymer is one of their more basic ones but it will be a much better buy than the Chausson as Hymer's always hold their value. Hymer use PUAL construction method which means there is no timber in the body construction. Also the insulation is PU foam so water can't penetrate it and it has a high insulation value.
A couple of places worth checking on the Hymer is the garage door seal and underside of the floor behind the rear wheels, any problems both easy to repair.
 
Awesome Lenny, thank you?? I didn’t even know any of that detail - knew the Hymer would be better built but that’s about it.
I do like the look of it and it seems very well kept servicing/habitation wise.
The Chausson is appealing for its larger size, payload and fridge I must say, but the apparent lack of any sort of service worries me.
 
The Hymer being based on the Ford would worry me with the security implication, so if you do decide on it, allow some money in the budget to beef up security

Andrew
 
androidGB said:
The Hymer being based on the Ford would worry me with the security implication, so if you do decide on it, allow some money in the budget to beef up security

Andrew
Click to expand...
Easy to sort.
When you consider same year, same price Hymer wins every time.
If you can live with the layout it's got to be the best buy.
 
Thanks for your input guys??
What about this...?

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