Advice re which camper to buy on a budget Forums

Twoshoes

Dear All,

I have been a member for a while but only just plucked up the courage to post.

Julie and Greg - thats our names and we're both about 40 and have just fallen totally in love with motorhomes and that way of holidaying.

We have had a van for about a year now which we part own with a couple of friends. They now want out so we are selling our N reg Ford Transit LWB High top camper and are looking to buy one on our own. The layout of our existing van means we have to spend a lot of energy rearranging it for night time and as we both have health problems thought we'd use this as an opportunity to get a more suitable model.

I was hoping that someone might be able to give us some advice on what to buy given that we don't have alot of money.

Our wish list -

Budget up to £6000
Fixed double bed - prefereably over cab
Not too long or wide as we will be using it as a second vehicle sometimes and want to be able to park flexibly.
As reliable as poss.

Two berth is ok

We can spend up to about £6000 - unfortuately we know that we will only be able to buy a quite old camper 1990 ish if we're lucky and would love to know which models have a good reputation and which to avoid.

Looking on ebay there are lots of fiat ducatos and talbots- we like the layout of some of these - but what about the reliability of the engines etc?? We wouldn't normally buy a fiat car and as they don;t make talbots anymore can you still get parts?

We have had a few problems with our Ford transit camper over the last year and have found them cheap to fix but what about a mercedes van? are they more reliable?

Anyway - just looking for a bit of advice as we are scared to death of making a costly mistake.

Best wishes to all

Two Shoes

carolgavin · Quiz Queen

Hiya wish I could help but unfortunately cannot!! Just wanted to say hi and welcome to the forum hope you enjoy being here.
Good luck with your search!

JohnsCrossMotorHomes

Hi,

Try here

silversurfa

6 grand wont get a lot . but you could invest in a good secondhand long wheelbase high roof van (Fiat) and fit it out if your handy with tools.you could then have a double bed in the rear. dont knock fiats. I had 5 Fiats cars in a row not a problem with any of them . 90% Mh's are on Fiats, I say a good S/h van because they are hard to come by, Iwill have a look on a German site for you .

Sonesta

Hi Two Shoes Very Happy

Welcome to the forum and why so scared of us all lol? We are a friendly crowd and once you get to know us you will soon be posting away like a good un! Be warned though - this forum can be addictive! Rolling Eyes

How about looking for a layout with a front and rear seating area and for the times you dont fancy clatting around - you could make the bed up at the rear and just leave it like that! Then hey ho you have a permanent fixed bed! You would still have the front seating area for the times you may prefer the extra space of the rear seating as you could easily dismantle the bed but his way you would have the best of both worlds.
That was the layout we had in our last motorhome a Swift Kontiki and we loved it.

Don't know if this is a solution for you but I would imagine with fixed bed models being relatively new to the motorhome market you wont find many that will fit in with your budget.

Good luck and keep posting!

Sue

geraldandannie · Moderator

Hi Twoshoes

Welcome to MotorhomeFacts.

I've seen a number of slightly older A-class Hymers for sale within your budget. They have the drop-down bed at the front, and are generally well built and reliable (not that I've ever had one, mind you Wink

)

Some of these are left hand drive. How do you feel about that?

Gerald

Twoshoes

Thanks for the advice and welcome - I'm sorry to haved dissed Fiat's and have since done a bit more research on the Ducato and am relieved that they get a very good press. Whoops.

Greg and I went to Brownhills at Newark yesterday to look around the different layouts and try out the dimensions of the overcab beds.

Obviously we fell in love with the lovely nearly new models they had - but we feel alot more informed about different layouts. I'm absolutely amazed at what you can get in a 17 footer.

Anyway - we are going to really take our time and can even take up to next year to get the right van at the right price.

Cheers

Two Shoes

china

Auto-trail on a mercedes chassis which is very reliable, up to 1988 on a 207 model after that 208 model. I had several of these panel vans from 1978 till 1993 which did high miles with no problems. Look at the autotrader site there are some in your price range
peter

robrace

Having had about a dozen motorhomes over the last 30years I would buy a Ford Transit one!Why well they are usually reliable and cheap to run!If you speak to any mechanics and ask them which for reliability and ease of repair I'm sure they will agree.I did have a problem with the gearbox with one of my Transits,I got it out on my drive in about an hour,took it to a local gearbox specialist,bill for about £200 and but it back.Try doing that on a Fiat!I am told that to change the clutch on a Fiat factory time is 12hours!!and of course if you read all the posts and articles in MMM they do give trouble!We had two Travelhomes(one got nicked)you should get a good one for about 6k.Try for a diesel as the petrol is a bit underpowered unless you tune the engine which I did with mine.High Torque cam and weber carb.The steering can be a bit vague but we did a lot of mileage with ours usually with my racing car being towed behind.Now got a Herald Aragon also Transit based.Try and buy a proper conversion not home made as they are easier to sell!Have fun

Twoshoes

Thanks again for advice - re Travel home - I am now looking at these with interest - how is the overhead cab bed for space? Just looked on ebay at a couple, like the layout - Greg will like it cause it's a ford and think we might be able to afford one about 1990 - if we're lucky.

Am going to get onto autotrader now.

We're going out in our old camper for the last time this weekend before we sell it.

Best wishes to all

Twoshoes.