# Autosleeper Mezan



## 121682

Hello, I wondered if any of you have ever had any experience of the litlle Mezan (peugeot) please. Good or bad. Many thanks


----------



## Grizzly

Hi and welcome to MHF.

Interestingly enough we've got a new one parked right outside at the moment as our dealer lent us one today as a courtesy car. If you have a specific question then ask away -it goes back tomorrow !

My OH who drove it back says that it drives like a car but the rear visibility is not very good. It went neatly into a car parking space this morning but we would not have been able to get it under a height barrier.

The inside seems well made and thoughtfully laid out and we were quite impressed with the cab - air con, good radio, very effective heater and comfy seats.

We were waved to by several owners of bigger motorhomes on the way back - most important. Apologies to anyone on the A34 that we didn't wave to but the drive quality of the Mezan is such that you forget you've got a van behind you.

G


----------



## kaybee327

Hello Ednacloud

Welcome to the mad house :roll: :roll: ( only joking) we have found the members a font of knowledge and opinions

Not many Mezan owners about so welcome to a sensible motorhome as well

We have had ours scince May last year and have had no problems with it except for a dud leisure battery whih kept loosing charge so no heating ( erbespacher diesel heater ) but sorted out quickly 

Enjoy

Keith & Sheila


----------



## chrisjrv

Hi,
The turbo diesel engine is to be prefered to the 1.9 standard, more power, longer service intervals and better fuel consumption,
Regards,
Chris


----------



## 121682

*Mezan*



kaybee327 said:


> Hello Ednacloud
> 
> Welcome to the mad house :roll: :roll: ( only joking) we have found the members a font of knowledge and opinions
> 
> Not many Mezan owners about so welcome to a sensible motorhome as well
> 
> We have had ours scince May last year and have had no problems with it except for a dud leisure battery whih kept loosing charge so no heating ( erbespacher diesel heater ) but sorted out quickly
> 
> Enjoy
> 
> Keith & Sheila


Thanks for the info.

I looked at one today and though it looked great, compact, so I imagine you need to be organised,but very easy to get around in.

One concern I have is why are there so few around.

Do you see many on your travels?


----------



## Grizzly

*Re: Mezan*



ednacloud said:


> One concern I have is why are there so few around.


They are not cheap by comparison with -for want of a better word- a full-sized motorhome with more space to move around in.

I suspect many people who want a smaller, faster car-type vehicle so they can travel far, fast and not worry about narrow roads, would also want something that would go under all height barriers as well. This would mean a lift up roof I think rather than the fixed roof that this one has.

We've been out and had a better look and I have to say, we are both impressed with it and how compact but fully fitted it is. Even a loo - though I trapped my finger in the folding door used to get at it. The luton will hold a lot of stuff and there is space below the beds.

One thing I have not investigated is how to make the beds long enough ? I suspect it involves using the cab seats but they are quite a bit lower than the bench seats.

G


----------



## 121682

*Re: Mezan*



Grizzly said:


> ednacloud said:
> 
> 
> 
> One concern I have is why are there so few around.
> 
> 
> 
> They are not cheap by comparison with -for want of a better word- a full-sized motorhome with more space to move around in.
> 
> I suspect many people who want a smaller, faster car-type vehicle so they can travel far, fast and not worry about narrow roads, would also want something that would go under all height barriers as well. This would mean a lift up roof I think rather than the fixed roof that this one has.
> 
> We've been out and had a better look and I have to say, we are both impressed with it and how compact but fully fitted it is. Even a loo - though I trapped my finger in the folding door used to get at it. The luton will hold a lot of stuff and there is space below the beds.
> 
> One thing I have not investigated is how to make the beds long enough ? I suspect it involves using the cab seats but they are quite a bit lower than the bench seats.
> 
> G
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

I had a go at extending the bed using a padded bar that forms the back edge of the luton,and it wasn't too bad.

I do like the idea of getting around easily and getting to more remote locations up narrow tracks etc.

I thought this might go under most barriers,do you know what typical height restrictions are please?

It was nice other MH users waved at you, I thought they might look down on it (not literally!), being so small.


----------



## Grizzly

*Re: Mezan*



ednacloud said:


> I thought this might go under most barriers,do you know what typical height restrictions are please?
> .


I've just been looking it up and there are 2 versions: the one we have outside which has a luton and a Lowline version. The lowline 1.960 m high and says it will go under " most height barriers."

We did not put the one we have outside to the test as it was pretty clear it would not go under the Newbury barriers and though, we had not been given a height measurement, we did not test it and risk getting into an awkward situation. Our local car parks have height barriers of 1.83 m so the Lowline would not go under them either.

Yes, we were quite impressed that we were waved at by all motorhomes who passed us. It does look like one from the front however - the luton is a give-away.

G

Edit: Just found it: the highline version is 2.286 m high. Interesting as our Bessacarr ( lowline) is only 2.8 m


----------



## kaybee327

Grizzly I agree but you need to ad the height of aerial to the height ( at least I had to - comes to 8'3" in old money

Ke


----------



## Grizzly

kaybee327 said:


> Grizzly I agree but you need to ad the height of aerial to the height ( at least I had to - comes to 8'3" in old money
> Ke


I think the aerial must be in the wing mirror of this one - a brand new one- as it doesn't seem to be outside. There is a button marked A on the right of the array of buttons on the dashboard and we thought that erected the aerial but it is the electric window switch !

G


----------



## JacSprat

Hi - 
I was a devout Romahome Outlook owner before I bought my Tribute. The Mezan is a shameless copy of the above. Pretty snazzy though.
I was on the smallmotorhome.co.uk site for a couple of years and there were several Mezan owners posting. It seems to me there were quite a few quality issues - of course Romahome has found quite a few to pick on - but I would get onto that site for a few unbiased opinions. 

Jacquie


----------



## 122976

*Mezan quality*

Or should I say lack of ?

I feel sick when I see the Autosleeper advert on the back of Motorhome magazines. Forty years of British craftmanship.

On delivery my Mezan appeared fine but a week later the sun came out. I've never seen so many scratches in my life. The stainless steel cooker top. The windows, it seemed they had been laid on concrete then dragged.

The heater would not work. No washer on the tap. Switch on and watch it spray.

Badly fitting rear door.

Clip backs for cutains all fitted at different heights.

Small screws buried in pile of carpet.

Number plate attached to rear bumper instead of the illuminated recess.

Seat covers soon peeled off as not attached on the inner side.

Ventilation system contained glassfibre dust.

White resin on underside of steering wheel. Not in site when driving but sticky.

Drivers seat locked solid (passenger seat is not movable as battery is underneath).

The padded board running the width of bottom of the luton is a different shape to the left than the right.

First trip. My less than 14 stone went through the bed. My wife (under 10 stone) knealed on the other half of the bed and it cracked. Upon arriving home and removing the covers the ply boards proved to be a fraction thicker than a pound coin and consisted of damaged boards patched with large areas of pink filler.

First rain. The passenger well filled with water as we drove down the motorway. I thought the heater matrix had gone but the water was cold !
Answer was that a large hole had been drilled from where the water drains down the windscreen to take a plastic pipe. This carried the leisure battery wire inside the cab. Problem was the pipe had had a small drop of bathroom sealant squirted in to seal it but they had failed to notice it had run straight through leaving an open tunnel into the cab.
You then find they have sprayed glued on the fitted cab carpeting and stuck the camper colored mats on top. Unfortunately instead of spraying the mat then placing in place they sprayed the black fitted carpet with this white glue. Looks really nice.

I then met up with the driver of a Mezan called "The ship that died of shame"....he had had far more problems than I !

He warned me and all that he said has come to pass. Every internal hinge with 18 months had stripped/corroded to rough, bare metal. The ceiling warps and moves up and down.
Door bolts red rust.
Paint oxidising off internal bolts.
Lower window in door fracturing from three different directs.
Door hinges seizing.
Mold spots growing on internal wall fabric and its DRY CLEAN ONLY (around £200).

Needless to say the Truma regulator failed when we were at the other end of the country and they wanted me to drive all the way back to Autosleepers depot so they could have a look at it.

Latest worry is roof leaks. To open the rear hatch to vent the cooker the whole rear roof section flexes alarmingly. There's already been posts re problems at this point at at other areas. A review of the camper states "Lean on the rear wall...it flexes. Rear door hinges look archaic and amateur. Rusted bolts after a few months. Fit of door appropriate to a 1972 Lada".

My wife has just noticed that the 18 month old blinds (3000 miles covered) have started to develop holes.

What do the next few months have in store ? Rust is already rearing its ugly head and Autosleeper will only replace the Truma regulator with another one the same so how many months before that fails ? The record number of failures reported on the web is FIVE on one camper and Truma will not honour the warranty on these products.

We bought at a distance having seen a Mezan at a show. This seems to show that you should not buy a new motorhome. Buy second hand thats a few years old and you can see if its holding together.


----------



## JacSprat

*Re: Mezan quality*



detector said:


> Or should I say lack of ?
> 
> I feel sick when I see the Autosleeper advert on the back of Motorhome magazines. Forty years of British craftmanship.
> 
> On delivery my Mezan appeared fine but a week later the sun came out. I've never seen so many scratches in my life. The stainless steel cooker top. The windows, it seemed they had been laid on concrete then dragged.
> 
> The heater would not work. No washer on the tap. Switch on and watch it spray.
> 
> Badly fitting rear door.
> 
> Clip backs for cutains all fitted at different heights.
> 
> Small screws buried in pile of carpet.
> 
> Number plate attached to rear bumper instead of the illuminated recess.
> 
> Seat covers soon peeled off as not attached on the inner side.
> 
> Ventilation system contained glassfibre dust.
> 
> White resin on underside of steering wheel. Not in site when driving but sticky.
> 
> Drivers seat locked solid (passenger seat is not movable as battery is underneath).
> 
> The padded board running the width of bottom of the luton is a different shape to the left than the right.
> 
> First trip. My less than 14 stone went through the bed. My wife (under 10 stone) knealed on the other half of the bed and it cracked. Upon arriving home and removing the covers the ply boards proved to be a fraction thicker than a pound coin and consisted of damaged boards patched with large areas of pink filler.
> 
> First rain. The passenger well filled with water as we drove down the motorway. I thought the heater matrix had gone but the water was cold !
> Answer was that a large hole had been drilled from where the water drains down the windscreen to take a plastic pipe. This carried the leisure battery wire inside the cab. Problem was the pipe had had a small drop of bathroom sealant squirted in to seal it but they had failed to notice it had run straight through leaving an open tunnel into the cab.
> You then find they have sprayed glued on the fitted cab carpeting and stuck the camper colored mats on top. Unfortunately instead of spraying the mat then placing in place they sprayed the black fitted carpet with this white glue. Looks really nice.
> 
> I then met up with the driver of a Mezan called "The ship that died of shame"....he had had far more problems than I !
> 
> He warned me and all that he said has come to pass. Every internal hinge with 18 months had stripped/corroded to rough, bare metal. The ceiling warps and moves up and down.
> Door bolts red rust.
> Paint oxidising off internal bolts.
> Lower window in door fracturing from three different directs.
> Door hinges seizing.
> Mold spots growing on internal wall fabric and its DRY CLEAN ONLY (around £200).
> 
> Needless to say the Truma regulator failed when we were at the other end of the country and they wanted me to drive all the way back to Autosleepers depot so they could have a look at it.
> 
> Latest worry is roof leaks. To open the rear hatch to vent the cooker the whole rear roof section flexes alarmingly. There's already been posts re problems at this point at at other areas. A review of the camper states "Lean on the rear wall...it flexes. Rear door hinges look archaic and amateur. Rusted bolts after a few months. Fit of door appropriate to a 1972 Lada".
> 
> My wife has just noticed that the 18 month old blinds (3000 miles covered) have started to develop holes.
> 
> What do the next few months have in store ? Rust is already rearing its ugly head and Autosleeper will only replace the Truma regulator with another one the same so how many months before that fails ? The record number of failures reported on the web is FIVE on one camper and Truma will not honour the warranty on these products.
> 
> We bought at a distance having seen a Mezan at a show. This seems to show that you should not buy a new motorhome. Buy second hand thats a few years old and you can see if its holding together.


Wow - detector, I see that you have only made one post since you joined. I hope the Mezan hasn't totally put you off motorhoming. 
I just came back to this old post in a fit of nostalgia for my long-sold Romahome. I'm so sorry you have been sold a complete lemon. I was chatting about Mezans with Brian, owner of Romahome, at the last NEC show. Needless to say, he was pretty bitter about the brazen theft of his design, but he said the rope was there for AS to hang themselves due to appalling quality issues. I took it with a grain of salt considering the source, but seems he was spot on. Good luck getting your issues sorted as well as you can,
In sympathy,
Jacquie


----------



## sallytrafic

You should compare with the Romahome before deciding especially the bed making options. Its a pity that Autosleeper copied the design then didn't copy the best bits so well.


----------



## 105109

*Autosleeper Mezan - v Romahome Outlook*

We got a new Romahome Outlook with Pullman Option and toilet option in March. We are absolutely delighted with it. Yes, it is smaller than the Tribute we had, it suits out lifestyle better though.

The quality is great, we are actually warm in it now, have to turn the heater down. The table is up all the time, no getting the table out when we stop,we don't really feel the difference for us and there is actually more storage than the Tribute. Also, we now get 50% more mileage per gallon.

We bought the larger motorhome in 2007 when we were told that in money terms, you get more for your money with the larger ones. That influenced us, we regretted the choice greatly and were happy to trade it in for the size of motorhome we needed. This time, we sat down and decided what we needed and what we used. I also think that there will be a far superior trade in value for the Romahome than the Tributes.

It's a personal choice thing.


----------



## 122976

*Romerhome v Mezan*

On the plus side of the Mezan it goes like a rocket, I prefered the "look", and it had the water capacity I wanted for wild camping.
I thought I could live with the full length seats....bad mistake.

Picture is the first bedboard to break. Fraction thicker than a pound coin and patched with filler.
The other board proved to be worse. Filler and TAPE over cracks !


----------



## Peterb1970

Are they the same as the citreon romahome campervans.....


----------



## aceXplorer1

ednacloud said:


> Thanks for the info.
> 
> I looked at one today and though it looked great, compact, so I imagine you need to be organised,but very easy to get around in.
> 
> One concern I have is why are there so few around.
> 
> Do you see many on your travels?


I've got one, 2006 reg. and it's a little blinder. It IS tiny to live in but I got an awning which gave me a lot of extra space for when I was doing a 5+ day trip. It's a Kyber and once up is great.....the guy at the NEC Camping Exh demonstrated it and it was up in 8 minutes. However I never got it up in under 2 hours - usually more - even when I HAD help from friendly campers who had been watching me struggling for an hour.....AND I'm not counting the time it took 2 peg it and the ground sheet down properly. So I trip without it on shorter breaks. The van itself drives like a car and has been great for the last 5 years - and still is I might add. The heater started giving off horrible fumes so I don't use it. I just plug in a little blow heater when necessary. It's comfortable to sleep in - VERY cosy (not stifling) with 2 people and ample for 1. I used to leave the bed made up because I didn't want to be arsed getting it out and putting it back. The 'kitchen' has just under a metre square floor space but there are 2 handy drop down shelves/work surfaces and I cooked quite a lot in it. This is pretty much why I needed an awning. I like to eat at a table. It's so compact with quite a lot of storage space above the 2 front seats, under the 2 sofas.....and 3 cupboards. OMG! getting quite choked at the thought of selling it.


----------



## jiwawa

Hi aceExplorer1, welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately the thread was started way back in 2009 so it's unlikely ednacloud will be interested in buying yours, tho it sounds great, and sounds as if it's given you much pleasure.

Are you trading up or are you giving up MHing? 

I hope the former, and you'll stick around.


----------

