RACER101
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| posted on 6/7/11 at 10:13 AM |
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What Motorhome - Advice Please
Hello
My wife and I are considering buying our first motorhome and would welcome some advice please. Intended use is UK holidays, attending car &
motorcyle race meetings & (with luck!) the odd trackday.
Our budget won't stretch to buying brand new but we are aiming for one that is less than 5 years old.
Are there any chassis/engine combinations that are especially good..........and any that we should avoid like the plague?
What kind of fuel consumption can we expect in sensible real world mixed driving?
What engine size offers the best compromise in terms of performance and fuel consumption bearing in mind that we will sometimes be towing a 7 type kit
car to trackdays etc.
Hopefully chassis rot & corrosion won't be an issue with the age of vehicle we have in mind but are there known weak spots we need to be
aware of?
Are there any known/regularly occuring mechanical issues we should be looking out for?
We intend to invest in a damp test meter because everything I have read so far suggests that damp/water penetration is the No.1 motorhome
killer..............is damp ingress a regular problem or a rarity these days?
What kind of annual insurance premium might I expect (middle aged old fart, clean licence, rural location)?
Our plan is to start looking around seriously during (what I assume will be) the winter dead zone to get the best deal.
Any other advice or wisdom from people who have trodden the same path would be very, very welcome.
Thank you,
John
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stevegough
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| posted on 6/7/11 at 10:53 AM |
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I can only offer you one piece of info on this one, after our experience last year hiring one (a sprinter) for a fortnight in Western Australia. We
found that the biggest drawback was finding that once we got to the campsite, we needed to get around and having 'set up camp' we
couldn't use the camper - Ideally you need to tow a small car.
Having said that, if we had had one it would have been fantastic.
Go for it and happy hunting.
 
Description
Luego Locost C20XE.
Build start: October 6th 2008.
IVA passed Jan 28th 2011.
First drive Feb 10th 2011.
First show: Stoneleigh 1st/2nd May 2011.
'Used up' first engine may 3rd 2011!
Back on the road with 2nd engine may 24th
First PASA mad drive 26/7/11
Sold to Mike in Methyr Tydvil 19/03/14
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MikeCapon
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| posted on 6/7/11 at 11:11 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by RACER101
Hello
My wife and I are considering buying our first motorhome and would welcome some advice please. Intended use is UK holidays, attending car &
motorcyle race meetings & (with luck!) the odd trackday.
Sorry but the above question just made me think.......
[img]
 
motorhometrackday
[/img]
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ReMan
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| posted on 6/7/11 at 11:16 AM |
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Welcome to the club
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=156176&page=1
Still looking myself, having looked at a few, got a feel for what we want it's just waiting for the right one to come up.
www.plusnine.co.uk
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Humbug
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| posted on 6/7/11 at 12:16 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeCapon
quote:
Originally posted by RACER101
Hello
My wife and I are considering buying our first motorhome and would welcome some advice please. Intended use is UK holidays, attending car &
motorcyle race meetings & (with luck!) the odd trackday.
Sorry but the above question just made me think.......
[img]
motorhometrackday
[/img]
Like this, perhaps? 
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Snuggs
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| posted on 6/7/11 at 12:30 PM |
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What sort of budget do you guys have ?
My neighbour is selling his Burstner A747.
Very low mileage, loads of extras. I think he wants around £44K.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/snuggstcb
Spider pig, spider pig, does whatever a spider pig does.
I doubt therefore I may be.
Luposlipophobia : Fear of being chased by wolves around a freshly waxed kitchen floor, while wearing only socks on your feet.
My mind not only wanders, sometimes it leaves completely!
http://www.venganza.org
http://www.jesusandmo.net/
http://www.snuggs.co.uk
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ReMan
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| posted on 6/7/11 at 12:39 PM |
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£44k
Are you sure its a Burstner and not a Boeing?
www.plusnine.co.uk
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Surrey Dave
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| posted on 6/7/11 at 12:50 PM |
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Insurance
We've recently bought a Compass Cruiser 2001 Peugeot 2.4 td , returns 25 - 29 mpg, the insurance was about £250 fully comp 2 drivers.
Takes ages to get anywhere ,we keep stopping for a brew up!!
[img] [/img]
[Edited on 6/7/11 by Surrey Dave]
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RACER101
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| posted on 6/7/11 at 01:00 PM |
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Thanks for the replies so far 
The F1/Motorhome piccy certainly made me chuckle. Kinda reminded me of the thing Top Gear did with motorhomes being raced (crashed?) by of some
British Touring Car drivers.
In terms of budget £44K is well out of my league I'm afraid. Sub £30K is my maximum with £25K-ish being ideal............the more I spend on the
motorhome the less I will have to buy/build a trackday weapon!
I am still very interested in hearing from anyone able to supply facts & figures as per my original post . Thanks.
One thing that has already become clear is how relatively slowly these motorhomes seem to depreciate (at least when compared to luxury car
depreciation). Already I have seen dozens of 10 year old+ models for sale at over £20K which seems bonkers to me.
That said, it also strikes me that determining the value of secondhand motorhomes is nowhere near as easy as it is for cars. Motorhomes seem to have
far less model standardisation and there doesn't appear to be a Parkers Guide to offer guidance. Consequently asking prices, for at least
outwardly similar models, can be wildly different. As a motorhome vigin this definately worries me when it comes to laying out a great deal of hard
earned cash...............how the hell do you decide what represents a fair price and how do you choose one that gives you a fair chance of recouping
a decent percentage of your original outlay when you subsequently sell it on?
Thanks again,
John
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BobM
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| posted on 6/7/11 at 01:36 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by RACER101Are there any chassis/engine combinations that are especially good..........and any that we should avoid
like the plague?
I don't really feel qualified to comment on this. I think most of the turbo diesels are pretty good although there are
issues around the reverse on some of them, can't remember whether it's the Fiats or not. Mine's a Chausson Flash which is Transit
based and I got it new 2.5 years ago and have had no trouble with it.
quote:
What kind of fuel consumption can we expect in sensible real world mixed driving?
Mine manages no more than about 22mpg when towing the
race car but I do tend to have a lot of kit in the back. If I were a bit less lead footed I could probably eke it out to 24.
quote:
What engine size offers the best compromise in terms of performance and fuel consumption bearing in mind that we will sometimes be towing a 7
type kit car to trackdays etc.
It's all a compromise. I think mine's about 140bhp which copes OK with the hills etc. A less
powerful one would be more economical but slower of course.
quote:
Hopefully chassis rot & corrosion won't be an issue with the age of vehicle we have in mind but are there known weak spots we need to
be aware of?
Are there any known/regularly occuring mechanical issues we should be looking out for?
We intend to invest in a damp test meter because everything I have read so far suggests that damp/water penetration is the No.1 motorhome
killer..............is damp ingress a regular problem or a rarity these days?
Unable to comment.
quote:
What kind of annual insurance premium might I expect (middle aged old fart, clean licence, rural location)?
About the £300 mark
depending on the model, value and mileage.
quote:
Any other advice or wisdom from people who have trodden the same path would be very, very welcome.
Think carefully about what layout you
want in terms of the living accommodation, the sleeping berths and storage space. I felt I needed one with a 'garage' at the back to stick
tools, spares, wheels etc. in. Mine's also fairly compact which means I can keep it on the drive at home but it's more cramped inside, not
a problem as I'm usually on my own. Do you want to have to dismantle your bed every morning and make it up every night?
If you're buying second hand get one that already has a towbar fitted. some are very difficult to fit towbars to as there's a huge
overhang at the back and the chassis often ends several feet forward of the bodywork.
Mine's got one of the diesel burning heaters which is invaluable and costs virtually nothing to run, I wouldn't want one without that.
Mine only has a locker for a single gas cylinder, some accommodate 2 with a switchover valve. I have to keep an eye on how much gas I have left.
HTH
Not very Locost but very BEC
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Surrey Dave
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| posted on 6/7/11 at 02:33 PM |
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Price
Yes they do hold their price very well it seemed to me that the price related more to the age than any particular model,obviously if you buy from a
dealer you pay more but have some backup , we bought privately and saved approx 5k over dealer prices ,although we have had a few things to sort
out.
There alot of different layouts , and you need to think about how many travelling seats you need with regard to seat belts and the law, no children
under 12 can travel in the rear without seat belts, seat belts can't be fitted to sideways facing seats.
I think after a certain year nobody can travel in the rear without seatbelts.
We went for the rear lounge setup.
[Edited on 6/7/11 by Surrey Dave]
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RACER101
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| posted on 7/7/11 at 08:54 AM |
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Thanks for the additional information that has been posted Much appreciate you taking the time and trouble........you have certainly added a few
useful extra items onto my list of things to consider which is helpful.
Fuel consumption at 22mpg is fairly disappointing tbh. Is this a Ford characteristic or simply a reflection of your racing driver right foot BobM?
With the race car unhitched does the consumtion improve much? (or perhaps get worse because you peddle even faster without the trailer behind!!)
Squeezing out 29mpg sounds much more attractive and was around the figure I was hoping to hear but I don't want to kid
myself................does this require you to drive ultra carefully with total economy always in mind?
The common engine sizes nowadays seem to be 2.0L, 2.3L and 2.8L. Despite what the official consumption figures might say I wonder whether the bigger
capacity engine might actually be more economical (or at least no less economical) than the smaller variant because you don't need to thrash it
mercilessly to make progress. Plus the added torque and horsepower will make the whole driving experience easier than it would be in a relatively
small capacity gutless wonder?
Thanks again,
John
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