Motor home recommendations.

[donaircooleone]

GlenMH said:

From experience, the build quality had dropped a bit over the last 5 years. Or maybe I have had Friday afternoon MHs...
Pay particular attention to plumbing fittings, shower leaks from the pipework supplying the shower/taps and making sure all the window blinds work.

Thats more down to choice of the component supplier from what I've seen.

[GlenMH]

donaircooleone said:

Thats more down to choice of the component supplier from what I've seen.

Agreed but then you should not have to replumb a 3 year old motorhome because the components supplied and fitted are rubbish!

I can also talk about production faults in woodwork, woeful parts supply lead times: 10 months for a new blind for a rooflight over an over cab bed, underspec'd lift motors for drop down beds etc etc.

I work in the MH business, we use Adria product extensively and we have seen a drop off in quality over the last few years - and that goes all the way up the range to the Sonic Supreme. The shocking thing is that they are far better built than the majority of British vehicles and some other continental brands.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

GlenMH said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Robotron-2084 said:

We discovered Adria about 3 years ago, I don’t know whether we’ve been unlucky with British built stuff, but the Adria’s are in a different league.

I'm tentatively considering the possibility of maybe buying a motorhome, and this name keeps coming up. The Eastern European thing seems to put a lot of people off but those who have them just love them. Very keenly priced too.

From experience, the build quality had dropped a bit over the last 5 years. Or maybe I have had Friday afternoon MHs...
Pay particular attention to plumbing fittings, shower leaks from the pipework supplying the shower/taps and making sure all the window blinds work.

So you think if I was buying, a 2014 or earlier would be a good bet?

[GlenMH]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

So you think if I was buying, a 2014 or earlier would be a good bet?

I would look very carefully if you were intending to buy newer than 2016.

I have just been very disappointed with amount of time and effort needed to keep MHs up together considering they are expensive vehicles. There has been a proper race to the bottom regarding component quality, which has not been helped by the fixation on keeping the GVW under 3.5T. This has meant that new vehicles are far more flimsy.

Our next MH is likely to be well over 3.5T so we can have a well build vehicle AND some decent payload!

[Escort3500]

When we were looking to replace or 2010 Transit campervan with a nearly new motorhome we trudged round numerous dealers (avoid Marquis at all costs ) and were disappointed at the shockingly bad build quality of a lot of the UK models (particularly Swift, Bessacarr and Bailey). Flimsy cupboards with cheap hinges and catches, adhesive smears, cheap looking upholstery and blinds and gaps around ‘fitted units’.

We eventually bought German (Burstner), and while it’s not been perfect it’s well screwed together and any niggles have been minor and quickly rectified under warranty. We also considered Dethleffs and Adria which were also impressive. We’d like to have bought British, but the shoddy quality put us right off, and although you pay a premium for European vans it’s worth it in our experience.

[custardkid]

With your budget I'd have a good look at Goodmans
And perhaps try before you buy

We almost bought one, but upped the budget to get a new Sunlight with a bigger engine and silver walls and a few other bits

They are well built if not fancy. The dethleffs are abit fancier

https://www.goodmansmotorhomes.com/motorhomes/

[Mr lestat]

We had a 2010 Auto Trail mohawk and thought the quality was reasonable however we had a problem with damp in the rear garage which went from okay one year to the next year needing £2500 worth of work to replace the rear floor.