Hymer Exsis Range
Discussion
Hi!
As chasing said, I used to have a Hymer of 2001 vintage. I was really pleased with mine and was pretty solidly built - certainly the German build quality of the Hymer over the Italian build Quality (or not) of the Rimor I had before was very noticeable.
The only problem being, however (and this wasn't an issue with mine but rather with newer ones) is that it was very obvious that Hymer really hasn't done much to evolve their engineering since the early noughties. I say this since my Uncle bought a brand new Hymer S820 StarlineS about three years ago. It cost him nearly 130k and although it looked absolutely lovely when you stepped into it, after spending a reasonable amount of time in it, I started noticing how similar the fictures and fittings were to my "Harry". There was 14yrs difference in them, but aside from the aesthetics, very little to tell them apart and in a lot of ways the engineering on bits of mine were better than his.
He had so many issues with his from both build standard and lack of quality control to issues with trim coming away from bits of the van within two years, he ended up trading it in against a Morello.
I will concede part of his problem was that he had previously had a Concorde and when I sourced my Concorde, the difference in build quality between his 2015 Hymer and my 2005 Concorde put the Concorde streets ahead.
So all that aside, what do I think? Well, I'd say Hymers are still comfortably in the top 3 for vans up to around 100k in RRP. But I think they also look very expensive when compared against older Concordes, for example.
I believe the Exsis was designed as a "lightweight" or budget range. I know the badge was used a lot on the Transit chassis and they got good reviews for being lightweight and practical layout back when the range was first launched. I have seen a few around on the newer bodies (Fiat now) but worth spending a bit of time researching in magazines and Google searches for reviews. Also spend a bit of time opening and closing doors, cupboards, drawers etc to see how they've held up over time. My Hymer and Concorde are on heavy chassis and that enabled them to build things a bit more sturdily. Not sure how the lighter weight 3.5t units are built.
Not sure if that helps you and sorry if it sounds a bit negative. I do think Hymer are good, but I was struck by how they haven't really evolved that much.
As chasing said, I used to have a Hymer of 2001 vintage. I was really pleased with mine and was pretty solidly built - certainly the German build quality of the Hymer over the Italian build Quality (or not) of the Rimor I had before was very noticeable.
The only problem being, however (and this wasn't an issue with mine but rather with newer ones) is that it was very obvious that Hymer really hasn't done much to evolve their engineering since the early noughties. I say this since my Uncle bought a brand new Hymer S820 StarlineS about three years ago. It cost him nearly 130k and although it looked absolutely lovely when you stepped into it, after spending a reasonable amount of time in it, I started noticing how similar the fictures and fittings were to my "Harry". There was 14yrs difference in them, but aside from the aesthetics, very little to tell them apart and in a lot of ways the engineering on bits of mine were better than his.
He had so many issues with his from both build standard and lack of quality control to issues with trim coming away from bits of the van within two years, he ended up trading it in against a Morello.
I will concede part of his problem was that he had previously had a Concorde and when I sourced my Concorde, the difference in build quality between his 2015 Hymer and my 2005 Concorde put the Concorde streets ahead.
So all that aside, what do I think? Well, I'd say Hymers are still comfortably in the top 3 for vans up to around 100k in RRP. But I think they also look very expensive when compared against older Concordes, for example.
I believe the Exsis was designed as a "lightweight" or budget range. I know the badge was used a lot on the Transit chassis and they got good reviews for being lightweight and practical layout back when the range was first launched. I have seen a few around on the newer bodies (Fiat now) but worth spending a bit of time researching in magazines and Google searches for reviews. Also spend a bit of time opening and closing doors, cupboards, drawers etc to see how they've held up over time. My Hymer and Concorde are on heavy chassis and that enabled them to build things a bit more sturdily. Not sure how the lighter weight 3.5t units are built.
Not sure if that helps you and sorry if it sounds a bit negative. I do think Hymer are good, but I was struck by how they haven't really evolved that much.
No, that’s great Spuff, thanks.
Have been looking at a whole range of vans, starting the Chausson, which had shocking quality control on simple bits like sealant on joins and glued on Velcro tags.
We really like the Pilote range and very few come up for resale, but this is our first time in a MoHo so dropping £75/80k is a big commitment / mistake to make.
So was watching several websites and youngish imported Hymer has appeared for under £50, sellers reason is they need to release capital for family.
So anything and everything is helpful at the moment.
V.
Have been looking at a whole range of vans, starting the Chausson, which had shocking quality control on simple bits like sealant on joins and glued on Velcro tags.
We really like the Pilote range and very few come up for resale, but this is our first time in a MoHo so dropping £75/80k is a big commitment / mistake to make.
So was watching several websites and youngish imported Hymer has appeared for under £50, sellers reason is they need to release capital for family.
So anything and everything is helpful at the moment.
V.
Have a look at Concorde for that budget.
It could be that you're looking at something a lot smaller, but in terms of build quality, there's not much which beats it and they were (and are) >200k new, so you get a lot for your money. Mine's 13years old this year and still worth 45-50k all day long.
I agree though that Pilote seem to be well made. Also have a look at used Niesmann & Bischoff vans since they're the top of the pile in the Hymer Group.
It could be that you're looking at something a lot smaller, but in terms of build quality, there's not much which beats it and they were (and are) >200k new, so you get a lot for your money. Mine's 13years old this year and still worth 45-50k all day long.
I agree though that Pilote seem to be well made. Also have a look at used Niesmann & Bischoff vans since they're the top of the pile in the Hymer Group.
VEX said:
We really like the Pilote range and very few come up for resale, but this is our first time in a MoHo so dropping £75/80k is a big commitment / mistake to make.
We purchased a brand new Pilote last year (G740GJ), we were looking at the 2018 models on the Pilote stand at the NEC and I said to one of the sales guys that I preferred the interior finish on the woodwork in the 2017 models (Brown wood vs white), He told me he had a couple of brand new 2017 models just come into stock (last of the 2017 before they moved to the 2018 model) and to give him a call. I ended up buying a brand new 2017 model for a significant amount less than a 2018 model (We are talking about approximately a £13-14k saving!). I had previously looked at a 2nd hand 2015 Pilote (exact same model, but the older style front end) and I only paid a couple of £k more than the 3 year old 2nd hand van was available for.So far the van has been great, we've done approximately 12 nights in it (Jan / Feb / April) and covered 1300 miles with no issues apart from a heating pipe coming adrift under the kitchen cupboard and needing to be clipped back into place. I think it was never fully pushed in during the build.
we moved to the Pilote from a Sunlight (Budget Hymer Brand) and they are like night and day for overall comfort, however you can see the difference in build quality between French and German. French are lovely and the Pilote is very well put together, but the "semi hidden" things like wiring / heating / pipe runs etc are not a patch on the perfection of the Germans. I think the German vans are probably better screwed together than the French.
Very useful information, thanks.
That is the exact model we are looking for as well in the Pilote range, so thanks for the info about the previous years models.
There are a couple of 2017 new still kicking around now, so will be interesting to see how the prices errode over the next few months.
V.
That is the exact model we are looking for as well in the Pilote range, so thanks for the info about the previous years models.
There are a couple of 2017 new still kicking around now, so will be interesting to see how the prices errode over the next few months.
V.
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