Motorhome or Campervan

Pudsey Bear said:
simples really unless you are into self inflicted pain.

Camper van for weekends or short trips, anything more it needs to be a Motorhome with all the facilities, but it doesn't end there, you still get size issues, then there is layout to consider.

My best advice is to pester a few dealers, until you find a van which you think is somewhere close, then sit in it for at least 30 minutes and consider how you will use it, where stuff will be when travelling, is anything in the way when doing different tasks, basically pull it to bits, find all it's faults and why it's not a good van for you, then once you really know what you think is your ideal scan the ads, Ebay is good as it has loads of different vans to scrutinise, many folk buy the first van that is close to what they think is their needs , then swap it and lose a lot of money months later.
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Good points Pudsey Bear
 
SimonM said:
As said above, it is imperative that you make yourself a list of “must haves” and “would like” and then acquaint yourself with someone knowledgeable local to get as much info as you can on the pros and cons of each. You especially need to know when you will want to use the vehicle, day trips, weekends away, weeks away, months away. Are you travelling solo, two of you, with children or pets. There are so many variables it’s impossible to simply suggest the correct vehicle. You also need to know your available parking at home, or in storage, to then get an idea on length and format.
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This is good advice, I will however add my own experiences. We wanted to give up a life time of caravaning and change to a motorhome.

We decided on a small length and narrow one which we got in 2005. Being 2 mtr. in width we were able to dive narrow roads. By late 2015 we were looking to replace it and although I had the full Cat C & D licence decided that the DVLA hassle would be too much over 70. The wife had C1 for a few more years.

We looked at the VW and thought it would possibly be too small, so bought a Hymer T 578. The Hymer is very nice but we miss too much that we had in the smaller motorhome.

It's main disadvantage is it's width. No longer able to use the less that 6' 6" road works lanes is minor compared with the problems we have experienced in visiting out-of-the-way places.

I am thinking about replacing it with a VW. Another advantage of the VW would be that we would no longer require a small car.
 
We went from WIld Camping in a mountain hike tent to renting cottages in Scotland. Obviously we were in a car so could go anywhere within reason (not offroad) without worrying about narrow roads, and found some truly idyllic places to see but before long it was time to trek back to the cottage which could be anything from 30 mins to 2 hrs drive away. Before we left one particular beach/cove we noticed tucked away in corner of the small car park a VW T5 and thought how wonderful not to have to worry about driving back to our cottage and realized how cool that spot was for them as there was no way anything other than a VW or a car could actually get to there as a pretty steep hill with harpin near bottom lead down to it. I had wondered if I'd got road right on OS map - yes I had so that then made us wonder.......................................... history.

We normally go away twice a year for no more than couple of weeks May & Sept; normally Scotland; and love being away from everywhere and everyone.......so 4 years ago we bought Colin a wonderful full conversion T5 with everything we needed on board (Portapotti included) and our adventures began This year we bought a SheltaPod awning which is quick to put up and gives extra space (see picture). We've been down to those little beaches and coves that nothing any bigger could reach and glad we never went larger. This year we were joined by our 1 year old black lab called Skye (after the Isle we love) who slept at the head of the bed and had a wonderful time hunting down partridges etc. Colin is really comfortable, drives like a car and cruises beautifully doing between 38 - 44 mpg also hardly affected by wind on motorways. Fits in multi storey car parks as well as just under 2.0m high (and we have extending roof which tucks down tight). Last year my son and his fiancee went away for 3 weeks travelling through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and finally Italy down to Naples - 3700 miles without a hitch and had wonderful time. My son even cruised it happily along German Autobahn at 100 mph.

Big bonus I can also store it down the side of our home out the way so we've never seen the need for anything larger or we'd never get to see some of the sights we do..................

Hire one and try for a week - they are fun no matter how old you are!!
 

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VW California's are really nice; bed is large and super comfortable and lots of toys to play with. Compact but easy and quick to set-up.
 
Norfolk Jim said:
VW California's are really nice; bed is large and super comfortable and lots of toys to play with. Compact but easy and quick to set-up.
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do you have the version with the full width bed or 3/4 bed?
 
We spent two years looking at motorhomes. In our case we were looking at what we did not want. We looked at every aspect of the vehicles as we intend to spend long periods travelling. Once we knew what we didn’t want it was easy to chose the van that suited our needs. We settled on the Adria Sonic Supreme 810 SC. It was the only van my wife liked in all respects with no negatives. Time well spent.
 
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