# What are the pitfalls of a Talbot Autotrail Badger ?



## earleybird (Apr 1, 2011)

Hi all. 

my partner and I are completely new to this MH's and are thoroughly confused . 
We have done weeks of research and looked at 100's of campervans /motorhomes Poured over thousands of layout photo's and read dozens of reviews and have narrowed our choice down to a talbot Autotrail badger. 2x berth :roll: 

We are about to travel a long distance to buy a 94 model and just need a little advice and reassurance from experienced campervan'ers that it will be the right choice and we won't regret it.. 

The main concern is the small 2lt petrol engine .I read on here that it is very under-powered and quite thirsty ie av 22mpg ? Should I be concerned about this ? 

Our plans are the occasional long weekend (3-5 days)to explore the British coastline and islands plus the odd inland trip to Lake district etc. With potentially 100-200 miles a day commute to reach various areas might this engine be a problem ? 

What are members views on the Autotrail layout, beds and facilities ? i'm 5'11" and 17 stone!(athletic build) is it possible to buy replacement sofa/beds ? and modify the van internals ? 

sorry for all the questions but we only have a few days to decide and want our first experience to be positive. 
John


----------



## lifestyle (Apr 27, 2008)

Has it got power steering ? some of the talbots did`ent.
Personally,i think you will struggle with the 2ltr petrol on hills .
We had a 2ltr petrol kontiki ,and we were forever changing down the gears,even on motorways.


Les


----------



## GEOMAR (Mar 16, 2008)

*autotrail badger*

I have an autotrail and have never heard of a "badger" model I think they are called after indian tribes or indian related
GEOMAR


----------



## trevorf (May 16, 2005)

When buying a van of that vintage I would not worry about too much other than the overall condition of the vehicle. 
A rust free chassis and leak free body are by far the most important factors, after that then yes, power steering and a turbo diesel engine would be nice.


Trevor


----------



## earleybird (Apr 1, 2011)

Hi thank you all for your replies.

i read somewhere that the 2lt diesel engine in the talbot is even worse than the petrol one for power and economy and roughness but I haven't seen one of these with a TDi engine .

The internal layout is quite important for us due to my size so we have settled on the Talbot Autotrail with the twin bed 'van conversion 1' layout .That is with both driver and passenger seats revolving and forming part of the beds.

This is all very new to us and I confess I don't know what the difference is between a campervan/panelvan and motorhome but the Badger model is the Talbot Autotrail without the luton part and only a 2x bed model.

Here is a link to the model we are considering
Talbot Express Autotrail Badger


----------



## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

earleybird said:


> This is all very new to us and I confess I don't know what the difference is between a campervan/panelvan and motorhome but the Badger model is the Talbot Autotrail without the luton part and only a 2x bed model.


Welcome to the forum.

There's no difference between a campervan and a motorhome, or a camping car as the French call it. They all have coachbuilt accommodation on a purpose built bare chassis to the rear of the cab.

A panel van conversion is just that. A converted panel van which looks from the outside just like (well . . . :roll: ) a panel van with a few more windows.

Who cares what they are called or if you get the name wrong anyway! The habitation layout is arguably the single most important criterion when choosing a van, so get around a few dealers or go to a show and gain some experience.

It's the only way to avoid making a costly mistake . . . not that any of us "experienced" members have ever made such an error, of course! 8O    (Some of us have made it more than once!)

Hope this helps

Dave


----------



## chasper (Apr 20, 2008)

Is this the deisel version http://motorhomes.autotrader.co.uk/...c344e3/talbot-express-autotrail-badger-diesel
I had a Talbot Express Autosleeper Talisman 2.0 petrol with LPG conversion and can confirm it was thirsty.

Sorry did not see your link!


----------



## earleybird (Apr 1, 2011)

thanks Dave for the welcome and putting me in the picture. I thought perhaps MH was a posh CV :lol: 

The price of this CV is very modest really for all the fun we are sure to get out of it. 

Looking at the layout it has both seats revolving and two inward facing sofa/beds behind . Because of my size and bad back I figure I'll need to sit in a comfy supportive chair rather than the sofabeds so that has influenced my choice.

I did a little study of how we are likely to spend a typical day in the CV and was surprised to find that at least 16 hours are likely to be spent in the van and 12+ hours sitting and sleeping on the foam beds. 

Thats a lot of hours on a couple of pieces of thin foam 
:roll:

Considering as little as 2 hours would typically be spent in the kitchen, shower, toilet etc these areas seem to me to have a hugely disproportional amount of money and space given over to them.


----------



## grenwelly (Aug 7, 2007)

Hi earleybird
For the age of van I think you would struggle to find a diesel one with a turbo
We considered a Badger when we were hunting I think there were some on the later Fiat shaped vans I liked the layout and also headroom was an issue for me
When we were looking a toilet and shower were low on the list of must haves I felt it used up a lot of space, but I would be unlikely to buy a van without a toilet now. Very handy on a wet night even if you are on a camp site. We don't normally use the shower though as space is very tight.
If the van is in decent nick it may be worth getting it converted to run on gas if you plan to do big mileages with it, if not you are as well with a petrol as a diesel as nether are going to win any races.


----------



## BillCreer (Jan 23, 2010)

Hi,
I can't help you with the van but I do have experience of that engine in both non turbo and turbo form in my Citroen BX's from the 90's.
It is basically a great engine even in non turbo form and will be producing something like 70 bhp but it has loads of torque(which is what matters)all be it in a fairly tight rev band. Once you learn to ride the crest of that torque band (by changing gear) you should glide along with reasonable mpg. It's never going to be fast but I guess that your not going to be in a hurry.
The one thing to check is the cam belt as I think they should be changed at least every 50k miles and certainly on an older vehicle.
These engines will do 100k miles very easily without need for repair.
Basically this engine is the one that set the standard for all the modern diesels found in cars and light vans today.


----------

