BRITISH OR GERMAN BUILT

I still don't understand why you want to change your van. It's classic, you know it inside out and having spent money on it, you know it's reliable. A new one could throw up problems and the Hymers are not built to the standard of yours.
Spend your money on making memories with your family.
 
The only current monocogue body I have found is the Italian Wingamm but very expensive . mono body's are great but the still find place's to leak .

Wingamm are really lovely but few are prepared to pay the price for such quality. I do wish that they did a rear lounge layout.
 
I have a 1996 Dethleffs and have been looking for a newer van mainly to get a larger engine and so far I've not viewed a Hymer or Dethleffs of any age with damp problems, I've also found Rapido to be of high quality but I did see one with damp in the wardrobe which had been repaired but I would say that 50% of the British vans I've seen had suffered damp. Of course I am looking at vans from the early 2000's not new.

Regards,
Del
 
Wingamm are really lovely but few are prepared to pay the price for such quality. I do wish that they did a rear lounge layout.
The nearest winghamm dealer is near Edinburgh .too far for warranty work , just found a used one W Oasis , .2011 only. £52 000
 
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I still don't understand why you want to change your van. It's classic, you know it inside out and having spent money on it, you know it's reliable. A new one could throw up problems and the Hymers are not built to the standard of yours.
Spend your money on making memories with your family.

Yes.. I (not we) considered a change 1 year ago BUT
£20K more
  • We had just had the cambelt done
  • Previously we fixed the damp
  • 2 new batteries in recent years
  • We love the layout (fixed rear bed, good shower, good dining/lounge area, lots of light, excellent to drive.)
  • Good fuel consumption (30 mpg)
  • Solar
  • LPG refillable
  • Minor bruises fixed
  • only 40.000 miles
So common sense prevailed (thank you Nida)
Ok of the £20K we saved..we spent £500 or so with 2x fridge repairs in 2018 ..Still £19,500 in profit
 
Mine is German and I’d say the build quality is so-so. After two years I’m still fixing rattles where things aren’t aligned properly, flex too much etc. I’ve had to rehang a door because it didn’t close properly. A mirror had to be replaced, a tap broke, and so on....
 
The Wingamm dealer at Ninemileburn, near Edinburgh has gone bust, according to local sources. It was the only one in the UK.
 
I have a Eura Mobil builtl in 2009 and as good as new but let down by a poor choice of plastic both inside and out, especially on the cupboard catches. It compares well with the previous caravan (new to motor-homing) which was also German (Burstner) also let down with poor catches. I have had two break in 18 months leaving me having to jury rig a means of stopping stuff falling out. Out side the trim is showing signs of too much ultra violet weakening the trim at the edges.
 
an interesting question with a simple answer, British vans are built for a Southern European summer whilst German vans are built for a Northern European Winter.
 
The Wingamm dealer at Ninemileburn, near Edinburgh has gone bust, according to local sources. It was the only one in the UK.

Yep - drove past it a couple of weeks back and everything closed up with no vehicles on display and empty showroom.
 
Our first two campers were VW type 2’s, couldn’t fault them even though the conversions we’re British.
Being patriotic, we bought a new Autosleeper in 2013. We loved the van, it was the perfect layout for us, but it did have some stupid build quality problems.
First trip out, all the bathroom fittings fell off the wall and over the 3 years we had it, various bits had to be repaired or replaced by the dealer and me, but mostly me.
We accepted it as part of owning a motorhome.
We sold it at 3 years old with 21000 miles on the clock. The new owner had loads of problems with it apparently, even though it appears he hardly used it ( it’s just been sold again with 3000 miles extra on the clock in 2 years.
Our last van was a 21 year old Swift. 2 years of ownership and 20000 miles later, nothing went wrong or fell off and it was a brilliant van.
Now, we have a Burstner and I can now see how cheaply the AS was made. Ours really is top quality and 6 months in, we have covered 8500 miles and nothing has gone wrong.
I’m afraid I wouldn’t buy another British van, even the new AS vans we looked at last year appeared poorly built, but still very expensive.
But, that’s just my experience.
 
I was recently at my first motorhome fair. I used to work in a large car factory checking the quality of finished cars. All the new motorhomes looked very nice I must say but I did have a much closer look at the outside. I can honestly say the quality of some was good, others shocking. The thing id advise is look at the joints and sealer on the outside. One new one was so bad it was laughable. Gaps in plastic joints, very poor sealer application etc etc. I thought if that's the outside whats the inside like. Managed to have a look at the same model a few years older. It was worse, rusting brackets, rubbish sealer. Stuff like this would never pass quality control in a car factory. £40,000 plus you should get a perfectly put together vehicle. I have an older 2007 Aluminium bodied Autoquest. To be honest other than the odd bracket, in 11,000 miles in 18 months its never failed to start first time, drives great, never broken down and everything works. Especially when I read the manuel and realised I was the problem not the van. I'd like a newer model but worry it will have problems so best stick with what I know. Did like the Hobby I looked at. Very nicely screwed together.
 
Gordon, get yourself a van conversion that can tow a caravan, then you get the best of all worlds.
 
I'll get a kicking for this but salesman at Southdowns told me that if we are talking PVC's, no matter how professionally done, British ones always end up looking like DIY jobs. There I said it.

I'm in a Knaus PVC and it's a lovely place to be - full marks for both form and function.
 
I'll get a kicking for this but salesman at Southdowns told me that if we are talking PVC's, no matter how professionally done, British ones always end up looking like DIY jobs. There I said it.

I'm in a Knaus PVC and it's a lovely place to be - full marks for both form and function.

Some might argue that the salesman’s comment is an unjustified slur on DIYers, some of whom can do a very fine job.:D
 
There seem to be a lot of Possel vans out here. They don't appear to export them to the UK.
 

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