Concorde motorhome......something different!

[Spuffington]

I thought I'd share something a little different and not strictly speaking a car, but a motorhome. I've posted fairly heavily on the Tents, Caravans and Motorhomes section; mainly covering me fulltiming in this vehicle whilst going through a divorce (click here for the thread), but thought I'd share a bit more about the vehicle itself for anyone who's interested as it's not the normal PH motor!

So here is my 2005 Concorde Charisma I880f luxury German built motorhome......or as we like to call her, Carrie.



She came into my stewardship in August 2017 after having endured one winter in a very cold old Hymer motorhome and knowing that I had another year or two ahead of me. Costing >£180k when she was new, she was a bit of a steal at £44k and although she's cost me a pretty penny in maintenance since, she's been worth it in spades in terms of the comfort and security she gave me for the 2yrs or so I lived in her and called her home and for the countless trips I and my family have enjoyed in her over the 12.5k miles which we've put under her wheels in the last 3.5yrs.

A little about her. She's an A-class motorhome built onto a 2005 Mercedes W906.6 Sprinter 616CDI chassis. Although now aging, it's a superb base vehicle with a smooth 5-cylinder 2.7l diesel engine producing 156bhp back in the day and mated to the slushiest of all slushbox autos, which actually is a superb match for the relaxed driving style you have to take with something which is 8.9m long, 2.3m wide, 3.3m tall and weighing in at 6tonnes fully laden.

Inside she two swivelling captains chairs up front, mounted on a floating platform which raises when parked to level the front cab area with the rest of the living space. Behind there are two further seatbelts and seating space on 2.5 sofas for up to around 8 people comfortably. Above the cab is a drop-down double bed and a further, separate double bedroom (french bed) at the rear of the vehicle, over a large garage beneath. All of which can be sealed off from the main living space/kitchen by a sliding door which was perfect for my little girl sleeping in there when she was staying with me.

In addition to the kitchen with 3-ring hob, oven & grill, fridge/freezer, sink & Nespresso machine, there is a bathroom with separate shower cubicle, flush toilet and sink. All around the van is LED lighting, Alde wet central heating and loads of locker space. Underneath is a dual floor construction which provides both insulation and masses of additional storage beneath the van and a garage large enough to hold a motorbike and rated to 250kg load.

Empty she weighs in at around 4t, therefore giving 2t of payload. Perfect given the 250litres of fresh water she'll carry, the 100l fuel tank and all the various odds and sods you might like to lug around with you when you're living on the road. She'll happily cruise at 70mph - guzzling fuel at around 14mpg at that speed. A more leisurely 60mph sees 18mpg and dropping to 56mph sees about 20mpg. But to be honest, I tend to stick at 60mph and make enough progress to keep myself interested and out of the lorries, but not so much I need to stop for fuel every five minutes.

Being a premium van, she's insulated down to -30degs C and we've tested that by experiencing -26degs C in Austria whilst skiing. Everything working perfectly and +25degs C inside. There are heat exchangers which work both ways to both heat the cabin from the engine and vice versa, which helps to defrost the engine in those temperatures before starting. To sustain us we have 300aH of gel batteries, 120w solar panels and I've got a Honda EU22i generator in the back for topping up on the go. But realistically, we can spend anything up to 7 nights offgrid with careful energy management in benign conditions. If it's super hot or super cold, then obviously that drops by a few days.

In terms of where we've been:

- NC500 (twice for a week at a time)
- Lake District several times
- Peak District (mountainbiking)
- South & South West of France (two weeks)
- Northern France, Belgium, Holland & Germany (en route to Germany where I kept the van for 9months);
- Frankfurt and surrounding region (multiple trips);
- Fieberbrunn x 2 (skiing/snowboarding)
- Sankt Anton (skiing/snowboarding)

Plus various local-ish trips up to Norfolk and others further afield to Yorkshire.

Plans for the future involve more of the same in terms of France, plus more UK and Ireland now with a young family again.

Costs - well check out my garage for running costs. My confidence is building with understanding her and being able to get more hands on. Therefore although some costs relating to the habitation side have been high, I've got a wonderful suppport/resource in the Concorde owners club on Facebook which helps me to do a lot myself now. Unfortunately, given the lack of use she saw before I bought her, I've suffered a few mechanical failures and age-related issues which I've had to address and cost me a pretty penny. Given the size of her, I've been limited in terms of where I can get her worked on. Thankfully I have now found a local commercials yard who are trustworthy and look after for me at a more reasonable price point. I reckon on spending £5k per annum, but given depreciation is minimal and the fact she's bought and paid for, it's a cheap way of having very memorable and relaxing holidays. And not so expensive that we need to forgo other holidays if we don't fancy motorhoming.

Overall, I feel very lucky to have Carrie and looking forward to many more miles and exciting trips in her. Although not very PH on the face of it, she's actually huge fun and challenging to drive given her unusual dimensions. More PH thank you might think!

Thanks for reading. Here are some pics inside/out and from our travels.

Edited by Spuffington on Wednesday 30th December 10:00

[nakedninja]

I like the idea of one of these for carting the family around in but £5k p/a seems steep for running costs. Does that include fuel and insurance and the like?

[d_a_n1979]

That's a big bus; I like it!

That's suited to someone of my size and build

My parent-in-laws have a lovely, very expensive motorhome but bloody hell it's tight inside and I'm scared of breaking something simply by turning around or cracking my head (and whatever it hits)

[Trevor555]

What a lovely thing.

How was it driving in the snow?

[Spuffington]

nakedninja said:

I like the idea of one of these for carting the family around in but £5k p/a seems steep for running costs. Does that include fuel and insurance and the like?

That £5k figure is all in - every single cost from fuel to insurance, VED, maintenance, servicing & and any additions I've bought (latest one being a new headunit with Apple CarPlay). I tend to slightly over-service her to make up for a lack of servicing prior to me taking ownership of her and also taking into account the fact she does limited mileage. I'm of the opinion that regular oil & filter changes plus pre-emptive gearbox oil changes etc pays for itself over time. I went to town on her with new discs & pads all round plus tyres when I first got her, so all those costs are slowly amortising.

She tends to throw big bills rather than smaller monthlies. So on the one hand it can be frustrating to stick £1k+ out of the door in one lump, when you break it down over the year to around £300 per month (excl fuel), it's a cheap way of having an instant holiday available whenever you want it.

d_a_n1979 said:

That's a big bus; I like it!

Thanks!

Trevor555 said:

What a lovely thing.

How was it driving in the snow?

Thanks! She was actually fine. I was worried about the weight and stopping distances, but shortly after buying her, I replaced the rather aged tyres with a full set of Michelin Agilis Alpine winter tyres which I have run all year round ever since. I'm of the opinion the van does so few miles, wearing out was never an option, there's no performance deficit in summer since you're not hooning and far better to have the added safety margin in wet & cold weather. It proved a boon when we decided to take Carrie snowboarding as it meant we were already prepared and they performed superbly in all types of snow & wintry conditions. Even with quite deep snow we had no need to reach for the chains (thankfully).

Edited by Spuffington on Wednesday 30th December 12:30

Edited by Spuffington on Wednesday 30th December 12:31

[Captain_Morgan]

Followed some of your other threads on this, glad that things took a positive turn for you.

Still think it needs a bigger tv 😉

[snotrag]

Very nice this, I often find myself doing a bit of day dreaming looking at big motorhomes on the internet.

I've always said if I won the lottery i'd buy something similiarly sized and just take off with the family, catch a ferry then just see where we ended up for a few months.

Interesting this one is a Sprinter chassis, I presumed it would have been based on something the next size up. I suppose that makes the maintenance and parts etc easier.

[Teddy Lop]

snotrag said:

Very nice this, I often find myself doing a bit of day dreaming looking at big motorhomes on the internet.

I've always said if I won the lottery i'd buy something similiarly sized and just take off with the family, catch a ferry then just see where we ended up for a few months.

Interesting this one is a Sprinter chassis, I presumed it would have been based on something the next size up. I suppose that makes the maintenance and parts etc easier.

the next size up would be a vario pushing you into HGV territory with various problems and increased running costs. Sprinters a relatively cheap and easy van to run and drive.

[Sheepshanks]

Spuffington said:

She's an A-class motorhome built onto a 2005 Mercedes W906.6 Sprinter 616CDI chassis. Although now aging, it's a superb base vehicle with a smooth 5-cylinder 2.7l diesel engine producing 156bhp back in the day and mated to the slushiest of all slushbox autos, which actually is a superb match for the relaxed driving style you have to take with something which is 8.9m long, 2.3m wide, 3.3m tall and weighing in at 6tonnes fully laden.

I've got same age C Class estate with the same engine, although 170bhp. I'd describe that as 'leisurely'! Never thought what engine these vehicles would have, but I'm amazed it'll move at all!

[donaircooleone]

Sheepshanks said:

I've got same age C Class estate with the same engine, although 170bhp. I'd describe that as 'leisurely'! Never thought what engine these vehicles would have, but I'm amazed it'll move at all!

The 2.7 is a gem. It does the job and responds well to a cheeky remap.

Glad we've got an update from you as you seem to be doing well

Many years in the industry and i've finally landed one myself, although not sure if its PH worthy :P

[normalbloke]

I’m very pleased to see that motorhome manufacturers seem to be taking up where the caravan boys left it with regards to ironic naming (Swift,GT,Balmoral,Caribbean etc etc)