# Which type of motorhome is best for the continent.



## suzig123 (Jan 10, 2011)

Hello,

I am new to all this and would just like a little advise please.

My husband and I are thinking of buying a small motorhome suitable for driving over to Costa Blanca from France. 
It would need to be big enough for two people and four Jack russells.

Can anyone offer their experience on which van to buy and what would be a good sort of price, for reliability and easy spares on the continent. The dogs already have passports as we lived out in Cyprus for a while, its just the motorhomes that we know nothing about. My hubby has his HGV class2.

kind regards
suzig123 :roll:


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

Gosh! How long is a piece of string?

You best bet is to get yourself along to a large MH dealer and look around the myriad of different types.

There is no one-size-fits-all about MHs.

Make a list of "wants", "necessities", "would likes", "don't want/need" and so on and take that along with you.

Be ready to have lots of blank lines on your list as you will refine it as you look around!


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## Addie (Aug 5, 2008)

This really is a difficult question to answer.

I'm actually in the process of writing a buyers guide which was spurred on by some friends asking me the same question. It's not yet finished, but you can view it here:
http://www.europebycamper.com/p/buyers-guide.html

My personal answer to this question is as small as you can comfortably live with, I would go for no larger than 6m as would give you your best chance to gain the most access to cities and parking will be no different than parking a car.

We've toured Europe in 2x 6m vans (both van conversion and coachbuilt) and 1x 7m van, as much as we loved the 7m it was restrictive at times.

For us we go to Europe to get into the thick of things and spend as much time as possible outside the van, if you was to drive to Spain and sit on a beach aire / site for a few months then 8m would be no hardship.


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

Visit the show at the NEC in February to get some ideas. 
Budget, accomodation, type of camping etc. Just a few of the considerations. So many others though and its a very personal decision. Take your time.

C.


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## Bryandh (Oct 6, 2010)

If you have internet access you can do a lot of homework online, starting here in MHF.com as there is a wealth of (other peoples) experience at your disposal and indeed some vehicles for sale. Also look at some of the online internet sites ebay/gumtree etc, if you are going the used route, to see pictures and layouts available and follow some of the preceeding advice re visiting shows if you are in the new market. Good luck and enjoy the search, we had great fun doing as you are very recently, and eventually found exactly what we wanted.


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## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

Decisions that you could do with knowing first are.
Are you going to Wildcamp as if you are a good shower and good water capacity would be helpful.
The climate could alter the layout that you want. If you are mainly going to use in hot countries, most of the time you will most probably be out doors, however if you intend to camp in cold and wet weather a good seating / lounging area would make life more pleasurable.
Do you want to make beds up every night or have a fixed bed, bearing in mind that the fixed bed will take up some room.
Storage capacity and weight capacity is very important as it is very easy to over load the vehicle.
There are many more things to consider, but I would not rush, have a good look around and try to get the lay out that suits you better.
Another factor, you can get a new cheaper budget van or a used better quality van for the same price.
Good luck!


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## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

All good advice so far - just one more recommendation from me:

Your other half (HGV driver) should understand "Payload" - if he/you don't then do some research and get to understand it well, plenty of info here.

It's really important that you know the user payload of the motorhomes you're looking at as rarely will they have a sign in the window and many on dealer's forecourts are deceptively short on it, especially the feature loaded ones.

If you can't work out how it works then come back here and the experts will explain. It's very important.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

We hired several times before we bought ours. The main consideration for us was a drop down bed. No bed making or waste of space  

I agree that 6m is plenty big enough if you are able to sit outside a lot. We lived in our Hymer B544 and would not change her for the world. She went into mountain villages and we could park her almost anywhere in a city.

Good Luck


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## blondy (Aug 23, 2007)

I agree with Tony T
Payload has to be one of the most important things to consider Especially if you are planning long trips, as if it is to low you could be over weight, thus illegal before you start.
I wouldn't buy one with less than 500 KGs, mine is 850 KGs.
This is just my opinion as a hastle free motorhomer.


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## grizzlyj (Oct 14, 2008)

Hi

Four jack Russels!!! That sounds like fun! Are they noisy? I'd love one but the other half reckons she'd throttle it on the first day 

Our camper is 6m bumper to bumper with an overcab bed. Not mucking about with the bed everyday as you have to with some is good, but the vehicle height that results in may occasionally be an issue. For the two of us it has loads of interior space. It has 1m cubed of outsidey storage stuff, tools, a few spares, long hose reel, comfy chairs and table, bbq etc etc which could be a bit bigger. Ours is a one off built by the last owners, but the size would be comparable to what you can buy off the shelf as it were 

How much space do four dogs need????

I'll also say payload!! You may have the base vehicles weight before conversion, after conversion, after bike rack/tow bar/etc added giving a confusing list of various weights and a dealer not too keen on telling you which one you need to pay attention to to ensure their sale!

And spare tyre!! Not all have one 

As far as spares goes, we have a Merc because in theory they have more dealers in more countries than anyone else I think. Within Europe only would only be a problem for a big American thing perhaps? Only guessing! 

Going to a show must be excellant advice, but perhaps with a fair idea of roughly what size, bed type, oven/no oven, gas or all electric, wether you want to be on campsites nearly always or find somewhere quiet yourselves everytime. The only show I've been to was bewieldering with how many were there!

Good luck!

Jason


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## airstream (Jan 7, 2009)

*Check dealer coverage out of UK*

For your intended use I would say do not consider any manufacturer who does not have a dealer network in mainland Europe

Base vehicle will have dealers covering all of Europe so not realy a problem

I do not know of any UK manufacturers that have any coverage outside the UK so warranty/spares/repair is a major issue

I would go French or German

Regards Ray


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