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Hi, I've been reading through some of the entries but can't find one that answers my questions. So here goes!
Apart from owning a Sherpa Highwayman before the kids grew up and left, I'm a complete novice with big ideas as in american RV big.
I've seen plenty of ads selling at the price I'm looking to spend but can't find any info on running costs. I need an automatic and plan to spend a fair amount of time touring Europe and hope to get up to a 26ft vehicle. So what does the insurance cost (maximum no claims), how do fuel costs add up for diesel vs petrol vs petrol/LPG conversion and what sort of price do sites cost. Do many sites restrict the size of vehicles staying over? Has anyone had horrendous repair problems abroad and what should one beware of?
Ta for any info forthcoming
Hi matey and welcome to MHF by the way its a Small RV your looking for as many RV owners on here will tell you, the norm is about 30 to 40 foot, many will say you have already asked the wrong question concerning RV,s that is running costs as a new RVer to be I also have asked the wrong questions It appears there is not an awfull lot of difference cost wise a rig of the size your thinking of I would with my limited knowledge suggest about 15-16 mpg the bigger ones about 12-14 depending on right foot,more qualified answers to come no doubt
Happy Hunting
Geo
______________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Dark Side where the Sun shines brightest
Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn´t.
I also am low on rv info, but I do know most are automatic. As with any vehicle over here, you pay more for a diesel version. And to add to Geo's comment, I didn't know they came as small as 24ft?? I thought 28ft was the smallest!
RV's are a lot better catered for nowadays on campsites, with more and more offering good access and large hardstandings... but if you plan to use it to travel around, you will have to plan your trips carefully, taking into account roads and campsites that can accomodate you.
I'd love an RV, but at the moment I enjoy the ability to be able to get most places including Tessco car park! I also think the 24mpg i get in mine is low enough, 12-14mpg would restrict how far I could travel and how often I could take trips away.
Maybe worth considering a medium/large size european for your comeback to motorhoming, see how you get on and then move on from there??
On the repair side of things... you will get very friendly with a lovely lady called Linda who owns an RV parts company called Stateside Tuning. Most parts are easily available for these common american beasts. As for the repair, you'll get friendly with a bloke called Duncan (damondunc)!
If you want specific answers to your questions re fuel economy and maintenance costs you will need to be a little more specific as to the age/model of vehicle you intend to purchase. Oh, and you'll be hard pressed to find an RV which is NOT automatic.
For example, an older late 80s petrol vehicle will probably only achieve around 8-10 mpg as the carburettored models are not as fuel efficient as the later injected engines such as the V8 & V10 Ford Tritons (we like these) which, ballpark, on a 24-26ft petrol you would be achieving nearer 13-15...you will never get 20mpg out of a petrol powered RV....Diesels are better fuel-wise but not drastically so...and with diesel being more expensive an LPG conversion is certainly worth considering if you intend keeping the vehicle for a long period of time and using it frequently. If you only intend keeping it a couple of years and using it for the odd weekend away then £2500 (average cost of an LPG conversion) buys a helluva lot of petrol.
We recently sold a 2000 yr 24 footer V10 petrol with a slideout, driven sensibly it would average 14mpg, put a trailer on it and that would drop to 13.
Your repair costs will obviously be governed by how well the vehicle has been maintained in the past - like anything with a wheel at each corner...with proper routine maintenance your vehicle will give you years of trouble free motoring - buy one which has been neglected and you'll be buying a headache.
We had an old 88 Itasca which we took to France. The Holley carb kept playing up and it would cut out at the most inconvenient places, but with a petrol head engine-builder in tow, we managed to sort it ourselves - not sure what the little French service centres would have made of it though!
I can't comment on site fees etc., as we seldom do the camping thing, however, you shouldn't have much trouble accessing sites in something around 26ft....what you won't get in something this size is what I consider to be the "perfect" layout....i.e., fixed rear bed, sofa and dinette...that kicks in at the 27-28 ft mark....in a 24 footer you will probably get a rear kitchen or rear bathroom, in a 26 footer you may get a corner rear bed (which are a pain to get in and out of and more of a pain to make) and you will probably wind up with a barrel chair in place of the sofa - there are a lot of things to consider and from a comfort point of view, that extra 2 feet on the length makes a lot of difference.
Re insurance....shop around, there are a lot of sites listed under the insurance section on MHF....I can't advise as we have a commercial fleet policy through work.
Hope this helps....any more questions, just ask away
Hi
With a little experience of running an RV, I would find it difficult to answer your questions matey.... Linda has said almost everything I would have said to you, with maybe one exception....
If you are thinking of buying an RV then carefully consider the layout that you NEED We have a 30 foot Rockwood Regent, which I consider to be quite small. We have a 6.5 litre Chevy diesel and auto box (very common) and get around 15ish MPG... We have had no trouble getting onto the vast majority of sites and to be honest if you went for a 26 - 27 foot european motorhome you would have the same problems....
I would strongly suggest that you have a good look around to decide firstly whether you want a C Class (overcab bed type layout) or an A Class (coach style body), this will then decide the starting size pretty much.
I have seen A Class RV's at 25 feet and C Class starting at 24 feet, my money would be on at least a 30 foot A Class (you will not get much difference in running costs, but a big difference on internal space).
May I suggest that after considering the options above and also the layout options that you come back to us with some more questions...
There is such a wide choice that, as I said earlier, it is difficult to give real advice at this stage, but I hope we have managed to point you in the right direction to start you off.....
You may want to look through the forums for American RV, look at the headings on the left hand side of the front page, and click forums, then scroll down to American RV and look at those to give you some more information...
Hi street kerb, in the uk a petrol/lpg is worth while, with petrol at about 85-87p and lpg anywhere from 34-49p you will get about a third less mileage from lpg as it contains less power than petrol, so mine which does about 10mpg on petrol does about 7.5 on lpg.
Most of the smaller diesels do around 15mpg or more and with our high diesel prices lpg is a viable proposition
abroad the situation is less clear, in France the cheapest lpg we got was .62€ I believe diesel is under 1€ so the savings vis-vis diesel are smaller, in fact it may be cheaper to run on diesel. Also the availability of LPG is restricted in spain and maybe some eastern block counties.
All the smaller RV's if diesel powered will be front engined with all the noise that brings. Travelworld where selling some C class with ford powerstroke diesels. Might be worth checking them out.
the biggest problem on smaller RV's if you wish to convert petrol to LPG is where do you put the tanks? on practically any RV under 30' you will have a problem.
As others have already said spares are not a problem, anything you want and more is easily available.
Engine problems are rare with big slow reving engines they are as reliable if not more than their european counterparts (GM are now saying my 8.1 is a 200,000 mile engine)
I have never been charged anymore on a campsite, but I believe a campsite tried to charge Artona almost double for his 28' european.
I have never been charged anymore on a campsite, but I believe a campsite tried to charge Artona almost double for his 28' european.
Hope that helps.
Olley
Hi Olley
This also happened to us at a meet (can't remember where or when now ) but Sharon got it sorted out big time, so we only paid for one pitch
Only happened the once though......
This is our fourth year of touring with a 33-foot Vacationer. We usually set off in September towing our Mercedes A-Class on and A-frame and stay in France until mid or end of November then travel down through Spain ending up at a small campsite where we take up two pitches for the RV and one for the car but get charged for one pitch and have the benefit of 40% discount if we stay over a month. We normally stay at around 20 different sites over the six-months travel.
We usually find some way of getting onto campgrounds and have yet to fail but occasionally there are difficulties:
trees - our RV is 3.65 metres high
entrances - my wife had to ride on the roof to hold up fairy lights as we passed under
turning in campgrounds - often the roads are narrow or sharp-angled with lamp-posts
approach roads - can be steep and there can be a risk of grounding
awnings - many campgrounds have permanent awnings on aluminium structures that are too low
Consider also the waste disposal - many sites just have the WC Chimique to cater for motorhomes and caravans with cassette disposal. Your RV will not have one. One solution is to buy a 40 litre wheel-a-long container although I have never found ours user friendly (40-litres is a lot of you know what). Even if there is a motorhome waste disposal point these are sometimes inaccessible or you have to get your RV as close as the length of hose you are carrying be that 15 or 20 feet. Our solution has been to get hose connectors so we have 30 feet of hose. We also fitted a macerator and sufficient pipe to enable us to pump 120-feet so that we can access either the dump-hole, WC Chimique or regular toilet if we have to.
Having a large US RV is unusual in France and Spain particularly towing on an A-frame so much curiosity arises and faces suddenly appear at windows. At one campground the owner brought 30 members of his family, or, was it the whole village, to have a look around!
We have not had any mechanical problems - our RV is serviced every year on return to the UK. We did have a bow-out on a an inside rear wheel but the road was so rough I didn't realise until we stopped at the campsite. I drove the RV into the local town and they put the spare on in no time and by the end of the day had found a replacement 19.5" tyre (an unusual size) and fitted it. Fantastic service for a remote little town in the Spanish mountains.
Toll charges seem to be a minefield - some charge on what you are (motorhome/truck) others on height. We have had some interesting experiences. At one French toll she rang up Class 3 for motorhome then saw the car and said we had to pay for the car as well. We spent 15 minutes discussing how the car wasn't a car but a trailer because it had no engine running, no chauffeur and was firmly attached to the RV all to no avail and then repeated the whole exercise with her boss. I said I would pay for us as a truck - the maximum they can charge and gave her the money only to get a sliding glass window slammed in my face. To cut a long story short and probably something to do with the major traffic jam that had built up behind, us only two tollbooths being available, two police cars appeared with flashing blue lights and fully tooled up gendarmes. A little discussion along the same lines as before and the senior gendarme leant on his gun and said he didn't really know but probably best to pay the extra - or that was my kind interpretation - so I handed over the outstanding 1-euro and asked for a receipt. This they couldn't do because they had already rung up the RV so if the barrier went up only once and they had charged for two vehicles it would look like someone was cheating. A heated discussion erupted between police and tollbooth girls as to why they couldn't provide a ticket. For the outcome - it's all in my book about our RV purchase and travels - currently being edited.
My advice - just go for it.
I have never been charged anymore on a campsite, but I believe a campsite tried to charge Artona almost double for his 28' european.
Thats right Olley. It was The colchester site you can see from the A12. The girl said it would cost me at least £19 and maybe £30 a night because the owner might decide it was an RV!
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