First Motorhome

[Bones]

Hi All and sorry its another one of the "what shall I buy" posts.

My wife and I are looking to move and buy a bigger motorhome in 2 years time. In the meantime we want one that fits on our dive so we are really limited to 6-6.25m

We want to go away for extended periods of time and as we both work from home and plan to work from the motorhome as well (aware of the power upgrades etc required). So the problem is we need a motorhome that fits on our drive and has a good enough lounge space to work from. We have already ruled out campervans, just not enough space for us. Also we have a budget constraint, mainly because we want to upgrade when we sell our house but also because we need a new roof (yeah perfect timing) Ideally we don't want to go above about 45k

We have see a Pilote Sensation G600 which has a drop down over the cab, meaning we can use the lounge with the bed down and it has a big lounge to work from. It was a 2016 model (Euro6 engine which is good because we live on the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth is a ULEZ area). But dont know a lot about them.

Any suggestions or thoughts on the Pilote would be gratefully received. (Having been to the NEC this year I think we will buy a Liner for 2, Dethleffs Alpha or Frankia 740P in two years.)

Thanks in advance

 

[saxonborg]

Hi All and sorry its another one of the "what shall I buy" posts.

My wife and I are looking to move and buy a bigger motorhome in 2 years time. In the meantime we want one that fits on our dive so we are really limited to 6-6.25m

We want to go away for extended periods of time and as we both work from home and plan to work from the motorhome as well (aware of the power upgrades etc required). So the problem is we need a motorhome that fits on our drive and has a good enough lounge space to work from. We have already ruled out campervans, just not enough space for us. Also we have a budget constraint, mainly because we want to upgrade when we sell our house but also because we need a new roof (yeah perfect timing) Ideally we don't want to go above about 45k

We have see a Pilote Sensation G600 which has a drop down over the cab, meaning we can use the lounge with the bed down and it has a big lounge to work from. It was a 2016 model (Euro6 engine which is good because we live on the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth is a ULEZ area). But dont know a lot about them.

Any suggestions or thoughts on the Pilote would be gratefully received. (Having been to the NEC this year I think we will buy a Liner for 2, Dethleffs Alpha or Frankia 740P in two years.)

Thanks in advance

Hotrats13 on Wildcamping is selling his Pilote 700 Sensation for about £40,000. Don’t know the overall length though.

 

[Bones]

Hotrats13 on Wildcamping is selling his Pilote 700 Sensation for about £40,000. Don’t know the overall length though.

I believe that it's 7m but I will have a look thanks.

 

[CriftinsCampers]

Any covenants or other restrictions preventing parking a motor caravan on your drive? Will it’s size antagonise neighbours?
If you’re in a high theft or risk postcode area have you done a few insurance quotes?

Could off site storage be an option as that will allow you to buy a larger vehicle from day one.

 

[Bones]

Any covenants or other restrictions preventing parking a motor caravan on your drive? Will it’s size antagonise neighbours?
If you’re in a high theft or risk postcode area have you done a few insurance quotes?

Could off site storage be an option as that will allow you to buy a larger vehicle from day one.

I live down a private road so we have no on road parking. Our drive is 6.25 by 6.5 and we cant over hang. We also have another car to fit on there. So realistically we are stuck with 6.25 length. As for storage, we are limited over here. We did find a local site that offered storage but they have a 6-9 month wait list.

We are deff not in a high theft area (famous last words) and yeah insurance is ok. We get on great with the neighbours they have no issue.

 

[MikeB]

If you don't intend to travel on the IoW much, have you thought about keeping your motorhome on the mainland so you're not limited by your driveway size?
Yeah, you'd probably have to drive over, but I bet the ferry would cost less than a motorhome.
There are good and bad things about this, but then again, you're compromised with your small driveway.

 

[alun100]

I have a Chausson 530 2017 which is 6m long. As it has an electric drop down bed you have a really big lounge during the day. Bought it new and wouldn’t replace it with anything else currently other than a newer version of the same model. I would suggest looking at them. Also Roller Team do a 6m with a drop down bed as well

 

[rugbyken]

with the caveat of changing in a couple of years you could look at an older hymer B544 a classic van that hymer have been making for 35 years , they have a huge central lounge with a drop down bed a low mileage 2005 would cost about £25000 and would most probably not loose any value over a couple of years couple of big solar panels and fogstars big beast would be all the upgrade reqd

 

[Barge1914]

Have you looked at Roller Team Pegaso 590, 6.95m long (without cycle rack) but would probably fit even with).
It was the nearest thing we could find to a Tardis. We looked at the Pilote, but settled for the RT because the interior space and payload were better.

 

[Barge1914]

Have you looked at Roller Team Pegaso 590, 6.95m long (without cycle rack) but would probably fit even with).
It was the nearest thing we could find to a Tardis. We looked at the Pilote, but settled for the RT because the interior space and payload were better.

Ps. If you have a choice with either or any van, get fabric seats not the cheapo pvc fake leather, more comfortable and more durable. The latter starts cracking up after 5-6 years of heavy use.

 

[Bones]

Thanks for all you help and tips. After trying a few my wife has issues with the drop down bed over the cab. So it is back to the drawing board now. We have however managed to secure storage near by with CCTV etc and we have seen a very nice Carthago we like.....

 

[HurricaneSmith]

We are both of an age when we need a night time visit, and the last last thing we want is to clamber down a ladder in the darkness. Bare feet on hard steps can hurt.

There's nothing wrong with a secure storage site, for various reasons it's what we choose to do.

 

[Molly 3]

How covenants work,
park motorhome on your drive all OK

Then someone complains to council . then you get a notification saying you must remove within a allotted time
.some people get away with it for years . Some don't