Elddis motorhome problems

We are having a few days at our regular bolt hole,  

and spoke to a couple who have just seen the light again and come back to the fold after several m/vans UK and their last in their words "Nightmare Knaus"

They have now got in their words again     "a c/van that we should have had from the start"and have now got all the things of home in a reasonable size and the freedom of a car to go anywhere 

do you really need me to help you with the maths?

 i would imagine that the AS differential of around £5k (like for like) would reflect (roughly) the relative prices of the two base vehicle choices 

Write your comments here...Burford not in pug line up?

...no, each range (merc or peugeot) has its own model names...the nearest model to the Burford is the Corinium, which (as i said) is around £5k less than the Burford..

so, on a similar model, the merc is around £5k more.

do i have to do all the work for you.... 

We are having a few days at our regular bolt hole,  

and spoke to a couple who have just seen the light again and come back to the fold after several m/vans UK and their last in their words "Nightmare Knaus"

They have now got in their words again     "a c/van that we should have had from the start"and have now got all the things of home in a reasonable size and the freedom of a car to go anywhere 

you and your 'friends' eh?....everyone you meet seems to have so much trouble.....

you'll be adding this one to the 'horrible Hymer' we hear about in every thread about MHs

We bought our Hymer second hand 12 tears ago. It hand 20k on the clock: it now has over 150k!  Apart from a fatigued window, brought about by lots of continental sunshine, the bills we've had have been due to wear and tear on the Fiat base vehicle. Most years we've toured for 24 weeks out of the 52, and we've even met Boleroboy on the way. So we agree that buying a nearly new Hymer could be a wise investment.

double post

For us, buying a MH or caravan depends on the dealer and the layout. The dealer has to be at the very least local and OK to deal with. I have yet to find a truly 'decent' dealer but that's a problem with the industry as a whole....and another topic.

In the past 10 years we have owned an 8 year old Knaus that we had for 18 months with no real troubles. We then bought a brand new Chausson. Again no major issues in 3.5 years of ownership apart from it needed a new habitation door after 18 months as it started to rust along the bottom edge. After that we had a Swift caravan for 18 months that needed a new front window and had to be checked for borderline damp around the wheel arches. Just over a year ago we changed to the Elddis MH with no real issues so far, touch wood

The only van that stands out in my mind as pure quality was an Eriba that Mum and Dad bought years ago. Mind you, it was years ago and it did cost the Earth at the time. No doubt it's still on the road now

These items are so complex with so many features fitted to them from so many different manufacturers things will go wrong. It's the warranty and dealer issues that need to be addressed in my opinion. Choose a van that suits your budget and style and enjoy. As I've said before, unfortunately I think luck plays a large part of getting a trouble free van.

Thank you for all your posts. I would like to confirm that the dealer we bought our MH from in Southampton; Dolphin Homes, have been great and dealt with every problem efficiently. It's not only the inconvenience of having to return it to have the repairs done, whilst still trying to juggle the logistics of getting to my workplace, but having to work round the immediate problem whilst hundreds of miles from home and half way through my holiday each time. The main reason we went with a new model,in the first place was to avoid breakdowns as we are not techy people. we love everything about our MH especially the large windows at the rear, enabling us to sit and enjoy the views. I would emphasise that the Peugeot engine has never caused us problems. Just not confident in choosing a second hand MH. 

Is it really worth changing your MH now you've had the various components repaired/replaced, CP1?  Your MH itself seems pretty reliable and, as I pointed out before, those same bits of equipment will be fitted in any make of van. Personally, now the repairs are done, I'd stick with it if I was happy with the MH as you'd very likely go through the same again with another MH. Better the devil you know. 

Pancake, a very good point from TW above....

however, for info, the base vehicles that underpin these MH are very robust commercial vehicles that are built to do start/stop motoring over a 200,000 mile or so period...

most are incredibly reliable. each brand will have its foibles but manufacturers would go out of business if these 'vans' litterally didnt deliver.

as you are still working, your van is likely to be doing about 1% (2000 miles) of their normal life expentancy, just loom at the miles Chas (above) has done in his vehicle compared to you..so a new vehicle will not necessarily be any 'better' than a one/two year old one.

yes, get the van serviced, lack of use is at least as bad as overuse....also get yourself decent recovery insurance (just in case) and you shouldnt really need to worry about the underpinnings.

but as to the conversion, this is where the major differences in price will come...this will be where the money is (or isnt) spent on materials and components (built upto a spec or built down to a price?...) and how well these are designed to be put together well and how well that process is then delivered.

looking at things like bed construction (or drawers, lockers etc) from different brands will give you some idea of how well (or not) the different converters actually screw the whole thing together...

also, try and check out a couple of two year old UK vans just to convince yourself that everything still feels like it will work, no saggy sofas etc...

you say you like the large rear windows for the view....despite most vans having decent windows, it seems that you are looking for a rear lounge design.

this is one favoured by many Brits and produced by many uk makers....not such a popular design from Continental makers as their customers spend more time outside 'lounging, dining, relaxing' rather than being sat inside 'enjoying the view'...

so, Elddis, Swift, Bailiey, Auto Trail, Auto Sleepers will be the converters producing this layout.

as you have Dolphin fairly close by, this will seem a logical choice for you, but i would have a look around elsewhere as well, just to give yourself a full recce before signing up again.

good luck.

You've all got me wondering now whether it's worth trekking to the MH show in Birmingham. We need to do some serious homework before we decide on next move.

quite a random  question but does anyone have the solution to cleaning the roof of a MH which doesn't have a ladder attached? Our local car wash won't do the roof and we are not great at the very top of a stepladder.