What was the biggest single issue with your Motorhome

Joined
Jul 25, 2022
Posts
363
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449
Location
Newington, Sittingbourne, Kent, UK
Funster No
90,146
MH
Burstner
Exp
July 2022
As relative newbies to MH's, we were probably very lucky to have ended up with a model that pretty much meets our needs, despite it being an emotional decision and one taken at speed. We could very well have ended up with a MH that, having taken a few trips, turned out to be unsuitable. But that doesn't mean everything about our bus is great. Before I begin, a little context. We purchased our first MH in August last year; a new Burstner Lyseo Harmony Line, TD 680G with 9 speed auto. It's just me and my partner, no dogs or kids. The biggest gripe we have is the opposing bench seating. Don't get me wrong, it was one of the things that attracted us to the vehicle. We liked the fact that we could sit opposite each other when eating or just talking, and with the table adjustable (folds in half, moves up and down and horizontaly in both axis), it seemed a great place to sit....until you tried it for any length of time. There just isn't enough depth to the bottom seat cushions, and for someone like me, being nearly 6'3", I found the lack of support quite painful after any length of time. Even my partner, at 5'8", would get uncomfortable. It started to sour the overall positive impression we had of the Burstner.
 
Apologies, fat fingers....the title was meant to say "what was the biggest issue with your MH and how did you fix it! Also accidentally pressed 'post reply' early. I was going to say that our seating issue was solved by one of those eureka moments......we set the seat bottoms against the rear of the seat backs instead of having the seat backs sit on top of the seat bottoms. Suddenly we had an extra three to four inches of thigh support. Its a lot more comfortable now!
 
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I miss the bench seats we had in the caravan. We used to lie along them with our legs up and cushions behind us. Very comfy!

The captains chairs in our Hymer are not that great for lounging around. Very comfortable but they force you into one position.

Alas, you only find these things out in time.
 
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Two long settees…..bliss.
Our Hymer has the one long settee that makes a single bed and 3 Captain chairs, so one of us-me-sits on a chair all evening, I do find it quite uncomfortable sometimes but I put my legs up on the opposing chair and if I’m sewing or gaming I have my little corner with every thing in it!
 
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My biggest gripe is that all the electrics, water pump (this has since been moved by me and rectified on later models) heater etc, have ALL been put, behind panels, under or at the back of a wardrobe that is only as wide as my shoulders.

If working on anything, it is very dark in winter and very sweaty in summer but apart from that, I am contented.

(Answer: get someone else to do it which it what its sometimes coming too these days.)

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We have two facing settees and being an a class plenty of room around the rotating captains seats which we generally use, the settees are ok but if we need to use them to chill we slide the seat cushion out a little which helps comfort but this has not been a real problem for us.
The layout gives enough space to seat up to eight which is handy in a 6.5m van when having visitors.
 
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Lack of underfloor storeage only one big box and a smaller storeage, rest of the double fflood has pipe and wires running everywhere total waste of space.
The tank housings go down through the double floor reducing ground clearance which is a right pain on rough tracks.
 
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Apologies, fat fingers....the title was meant to say "what was the biggest issue with your MH and how did you fix it! Also accidentally pressed 'post reply' early. I was going to say that our seating issue was solved by one of those eureka moments......we set the seat bottoms against the rear of the seat backs instead of having the seat backs sit on top of the seat bottoms. Suddenly we had an extra three to four inches of thigh support. Its a lot more comfortable now!
I do that to make more room for me when the dog hogs the whole of the seat 😂

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We were lucky too in our first motorhome (a Swift 590 Firebrand) rear lounge. We bought it in 2007, full timed for three years, and have done lots of touring since then, and its still going well. We still look in motorhome distributors and go to the occasional show but have never found anything better (for us) than ours. Only main modification was to install Gaslow and an outside gas fitting so we can cook outdoors.
 
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As relative newbies to MH's, we were probably very lucky to have ended up with a model that pretty much meets our needs, despite it being an emotional decision and one taken at speed. We could very well have ended up with a MH that, having taken a few trips, turned out to be unsuitable. But that doesn't mean everything about our bus is great. Before I begin, a little context. We purchased our first MH in August last year; a new Burstner Lyseo Harmony Line, TD 680G with 9 speed auto. It's just me and my partner, no dogs or kids. The biggest gripe we have is the opposing bench seating. Don't get me wrong, it was one of the things that attracted us to the vehicle. We liked the fact that we could sit opposite each other when eating or just talking, and with the table adjustable (folds in half, moves up and down and horizontaly in both axis), it seemed a great place to sit....until you tried it for any length of time. There just isn't enough depth to the bottom seat cushions, and for someone like me, being nearly 6'3", I found the lack of support quite painful after any length of time. Even my partner, at 5'8", would get uncomfortable. It started to sour the overall positive impression we had of the Burstner.
We have a 690G with a very similar layout
Have you tried sitting in the reversed captains chairs? They are the most comfortable chairs in the van.
This is our third Burstner have always used the driving chairs and facing the TV of an evening.
My wife sits in the drivers chair and puts her feet up on the side cushion and I sit in the passenger chair often with my legs across the table reading.
Perfect :clap2:

My major problem with all my vans has been the Fiat airbag module failing for no apparent reason.
At a cost of up to £500 its a real concern, although that is a Fiat van problem.

IMG_20220728_111032.jpg


IMG_20200308_155617.jpg
 
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Ours is a great layout, but no bulky storage space and no outside storage. Cured by adding a bulk LPG tank and using the gas locker for external storage.
The gas lockers on the Elddis vans don't allow for anything bigger than a couple of Calor 6Kgs. MY previous Majestic 125 would only take a single 10Kg Safefill as I had to tilt it to get it through the letter box hatch. Niggling little design issue that just needed a bit more thought.
 
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Our first motorhome in 2003 was a Burstner low profile, bit of a disaster in many ways, captain chairs were okay on site but grossly uncomfortable on journey, fiat cab too drafty to warm up on winter journeys. Dinette seating was awful. But everything else worked okay and we had many enjoyable holidays.
Following that a Bessacar, couldn't get rid of that quick enough. Many quality and design issues.
Had several German vans since and no real issues.
I have read since that it can take two or three motorhome purchases before you find the one. That was certainly true for us.
 
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Many of those transverse bench seats are too upright to be comfortable.

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So far, and it's early days yet, getting our motorhome back from the dealers. They have had it longer than we have.
We paid for it on Jan 3rd, collected it on Feb 10th - they wanted a month to get it MOT'd, serviced, hab-checked and then use the rest of the time to sort out any issues it might have (allegedly)..................
Back on our drive, I cleaned the roof (that they "thought they had done"), worked through the electrics (all OK), water system (OK) and the heating system - works on electric, but not on the diesel heater. Also has a water leak on the hot water tank. Contacted the vendor as it has a 6 month warranty - they asked us to take it back to them for repair / replacement, which we duly did by arrangement on the 14th of February. A week later, the motorhome was still on their site, awaiting a slot at the diesel specialists who were / are "extremely busy at the moment". Several weeks have now passed and our motorhome is finally at the diesel specialists, but they are still too busy to commence work on it. We were due to have a trial run-out in the motorhome next week, joining some camper-van friends for a couple of days at Barnard Castle, but we have had to cancel that as we have nowhere to live! Fortunately, we hadn't booked anything. We have, however, already booked to go to France at the end of the month.
The vendor offered to retrieve our motorhome (with the heating problem still unfixed) so that we could go away next week, then we could take it back to them and they would take it back to the diesel specialists - we declined and said we want the van back, with diesel heater working and the water leak fixed, by next week at the latest.
We live in hope......................
 
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Had a major leak in our new van and it eventually got taken back to Germany to be repaired!!

Only thing I can moan about is our lounge seating as it is very firm and I can only sit on it for an hour before it gets painful☹️☹️
Driver and passenger seats are fine 5-6 hour drive no problem.
Sat on the seating in a new Swift at the NEC last year and that was very comfortable 😁
 
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So far, and it's early days yet, getting our motorhome back from the dealers. They have had it longer than we have.
We paid for it on Jan 3rd, collected it on Feb 10th - they wanted a month to get it MOT'd, serviced, hab-checked and then use the rest of the time to sort out any issues it might have (allegedly)..................
Back on our drive, I cleaned the roof (that they "thought they had done"), worked through the electrics (all OK), water system (OK) and the heating system - works on electric, but not on the diesel heater. Also has a water leak on the hot water tank. Contacted the vendor as it has a 6 month warranty - they asked us to take it back to them for repair / replacement, which we duly did by arrangement on the 14th of February. A week later, the motorhome was still on their site, awaiting a slot at the diesel specialists who were / are "extremely busy at the moment". Several weeks have now passed and our motorhome is finally at the diesel specialists, but they are still too busy to commence work on it. We were due to have a trial run-out in the motorhome next week, joining some camper-van friends for a couple of days at Barnard Castle, but we have had to cancel that as we have nowhere to live! Fortunately, we hadn't booked anything. We have, however, already booked to go to France at the end of the month.
The vendor offered to retrieve our motorhome (with the heating problem still unfixed) so that we could go away next week, then we could take it back to them and they would take it back to the diesel specialists - we declined and said we want the van back, with diesel heater working and the water leak fixed, by next week at the latest.
We live in hope......................

It may be frowned upon but, at this stage, I might 'accidently' be tempted to name the company involved. Are they extending your warranty, it's not your fault that the diesel people are 'busy'.
 
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We have a 690G with a very similar layout
Have you tried sitting in the reversed captains chairs? They are the most comfortable chairs in the van.
This is our third Burstner have always used the driving chairs and facing the TV of an evening.
My wife sits in the drivers chair and puts her feet up on the side cushion and I sit in the passenger chair often with my legs across the table reading.
Perfect :clap2:

My major problem with all my vans has been the Fiat airbag module failing for no apparent reason.
At a cost of up to £500 its a real concern, although that is a Fiat van problem.

View attachment 724717

View attachment 724718
Yep, we do that regularly, but it's better now we have 'modified' the bench seating. Even the Captain's Chair's can get uncomfortable after a frw hours.

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The biggest issue we have with the Autotrail is that the seat bases are not hinged.
 
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It just goes to prove that there is no such thing as a perfect motorhome.
Unless someone can invent one that is 5M long when driving and extends to 10m when parked up!
When we bought our first motorhome someone told us that there were only 3 things to consider
Driving.
Living.
Sleeping.
They said that you will get two of those to fully meet your requirements, but rarely all three.
You just need to decide which two are the most important.
 
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Two long settees…..bliss.
Our Hymer has the one long settee that makes a single bed and 3 Captain chairs, so one of us-me-sits on a chair all evening, I do find it quite uncomfortable sometimes but I put my legs up on the opposing chair and if I’m sewing or gaming I have my little corner with every thing in it!
Same van layout. We were dowwnsizing and found the smaller narrower vans were too constricted until we found this layout. There seems acres of space and seating options. I have always thought that the captains chairs were the best. To have three of them is bliss.
 
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Hire before you buy!

As others have said it takes 2-3 motorhomes before you figure out the layout that works for you best.
Rather than buy them, hire them.
We hired four before we bought one.
What we thought we wanted when we hired the first one was very different to our spec for the one we bought.
 
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Answering the question: We've had a few motorhomes so knew what we liked and not. The main thing I wanted in the current van was automatic gearbox and radio controls on the steering wheel. As it turned out we got neither but were delighted with the van so no great miss.

The main issue for us with this van was the price. We changed vans during covid and as a result got wacked aith the price.
 
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