Giving up Caravan for Motorhome

Hi

Totally agree with LLM & and some really good advice from fellow members.  Because of our experiences I also suggested hire before you buy to several friends, one hated it & bought a static caravan instead.

We caravanned for 20+ years then a sabbatical for 10 years then purchased a 2nd hand Motorhome 2017 before returning back to a Caravan in 2020.

This is what we found:

Unfortunately we had several bad experiences with our Motorhome it was an 8m long hi-line but I still found it cramped with two young children but don't let our bad experiences put you off as we had some fantastic times with our girls but if I was looking for another Motorhome I would be making sure the layout was exactly what we needed, it would have to be a low line because of the buffeting we experienced and difficulty in accessing the hi level lockers (buffeting was not through incorrect loading or bad driving).  We would buy from a dealer as close to home as possable (although we don't have any around us) our MH was back & forward to the supplying dealer more times than we used it for holidays. 

It would have to be a good base chassis as on ours the paint started to flake off the cab but it was 8 years old at that time, this was very common on a certain build years of this manufacture as the converters did not add any extra paint at build time, most importantly it would have to have a good warranty as our MH must have had well in excess of £10k warranty work in three years not all the problems were covered under the warranty but thankful it was supplied with a 3 year warranty. Ours was a 6 birth but only had 4 seat belts, the fridge was not really that big so we could only really stock it with enough fresh food to keep us going for no more than two days really.  it would have to have an island bed as the rear lounge created a massive double bed but needed a mattress topper as it was the most uncomfortable bed I have ever used plus you needed to an expert to get out of the bed if you were the unfortunate one on the inside especially if you suffer with occasional cramp. The bed over the cab had very little head room and the dining area bed was only suitable for any body under 4' 6"

The dining area was cramped with two adults & two children, you could not use the swivel drivers seat to its full extent as the back of the dining are seat was behind it 

A lot of people have reported that they have not lost much money when it comes to moving the MH on weather it be trading in or selling privately, we lost £12k in three years if we traded it for the caravan it was going to lose £13.5k.

We used to hire a car from Enterprise for a few days if were away for a week or more usually requesting a small car which on several occasions was upgraded at no extra cost due to availability, don't know what the charges are now but pre Covid there were very reasonable especially with the club discount.

We were going well up North of Scotland & had been driving for several hours so pulled in to a car park near Luss at Loch Lomond, there was no space to park so pulled into a coach bay, a warden came right over to me "if you don't move now you will get a ticket" there were no where else to park he also said if I did park up I would have to buy two tickets (which is fair enough) but there was nowhere else and there we no coaches in at that time either.

There are many reasons why you should swap but I would hire one and try living with it for a few days first before you buy, as previously said we had some fantastic times so good luck & most importantly when you do get one enjoy it. 

PS

A real positive is you don't really need to get out (& get soaked through) when you pitch up 

"The dining area was cramped with two adults & two children, you could not use the swivel drivers seat to its full extent as the back of the dining are seat was behind it "

To me, this is a real problem with 6 berth design...in order to try and give a 'proper, together, dining area' and 4 extra belts to go with the cab seats, the end result always seems to be a full dinette....this then forgoes the cab, pushing the layout about 1.5m further towards the rear of the van...

a typical 4 berth continental front lounge layout will have a half dinette, where both the cab seats swivel to become integral to the lounge/dining area, avoiding the cramped dinette of the typical six berth.

In effect, for four people, a four berth actually gives far more room than a six berth due to the use of the cab space...

again, a typical A class 4 berth will have a decent lounge/diner, a proper island (or twin singles) bed, proper garage storage for four people's paraphernalia and a full sized double drop down over the dashboard.

Along with a split washroom (sink/loo and separate shower) across the whole width of the van and ahead of the main bed, this should be easily achievable in 7.2 to 7.5m, giving washroom access to front or rear passengers independently.

While I get that a Cathago maybe a "proper" outfit, what you describe is probably at least double or more than the OP's stated budget.

JK

Wrong end of stick, JK.

I said "a typical 4 berth continental front lounge layout will have a half dinette"....

just detailing difference between a 'proper 4 berth' (any brand) as opposed to a six berth with extra belts and a full dinette being used as a four berth....which certainly doesn't work as well....IMHO of course.

What I described in layout could be applied to, say, Pilote, Rapido, Adria....etc. some of these might well be available for around the £55k mentioned by the OP.