New Member needs advice on Motorhome

I use Youtube when I browse Motorhomes, ‘The Motorhome Man’ see below has many which you can check sizes & styles he also gives a view of the inside & tips for buying. Not just Moho’s but VDubs, Vanbuilds the lot. It may give you inspiration👍🏻

It would seem that you looking for a PVC (panel van conversion) which come in at around that width. On a Fiat base they range in length from about 5.4 metres to 6.4. It depends on what sort of layout you would prefer. Many of the UK designs tend to have larger rear seating/sleeping areas where as Continental designs seem to like a dinette at the front with sleeping at the back. You should certainly be able to find one in your price range and depending on the level of equipment you might come in lower than your max. 

It might be an idea to edit your profile where you can change to a name of your choice and if you add an approx. location people might be able to point you towards dealers in that area.

David

I think unless you’ve owned or rented a MH it’s quite difficult to establish what your priorities are. As David says layout is probably the most important, but don’t ignore things like engine power as some are very sluggish up hills and I hear lots of complaints from owners about that. Also, think carefully about storage. It you haven’t got enough to fit in with your lifestyle it can be very frustrating. Falling over stuff that’s temporarily stored becomes annoying after a while. One of the benefits of the dinette at the front arrangement is that usually they have a fixed transverse bed which will accommodate a lot of stuff underneath. The other advantage of the fixed bed is that you or your partner can get up and move around at different times not requiring the bed to be stowed beforehand. Your width options will likely be 2.05 or 2.3m, doesn’t sound like a big difference but in reality it is when tackling car parks and narrow lanes. The former will take you most places a car can go, the latter could be more challenging. If I was buying again ‘must haves’ would include a cassette awning, eye level fridge, solar panels (150w or more), decent size wardrobe, fitted fly screens, reversing sensors or camera and 150bhp engine. 

These are just a few random thoughts based on living with a continental 5.9m PVC. Good luck.

Alongside PVCs are the slimmer coach builts, often referred to as 'vans' by continental makers...hymer, Knaus etc

Adria have a great range of slimmer vans called 'compact' at 2.12m wide.

even A-class vans, like my own, are available in a slimmed down (2.12m) format making them easier to drive and park but retaining the design/construction techniques/integrity of their bigger brothers.

The Accordo range by Elddis are also slimline at 2.14m and in the shorter lengths are quite manoeuvrable.

After all the complaints in the caravan section about delivery problems with Elddis, is it likely that the same can happen with their M/Hs? If so why would anyone contemplate purchasing one?

 Many thanks for all of your helpful replies so far. Much appreciated.

If anyone else can recommend any other MH rather than Vans, the former being my preference, that come within the 2.1 to 2.3m type of width....that would be most welcome.  

The trouble with recommending a MH is that there are good and bad in all brands. Also, what suits one person may well not be your choice.

There's a wealth of info on line including dimensions, but you can't beat seeing the vans 'in the flesh' by visiting dealerships.

There have been several 'MH' recomendations....

continental slim MH are known as 'Vans'....but you will know them as MH. They are not PVCs.

knaus, Hymer, Burstner, Carthago, all make slim MH at about 2.12

Also, as mentioned Eldiss do.

with a £55k budget you could do worse than look at a year old German van, where someone else has taken the financial 'hit' and youd be getting the build quality you mention.

of course, you might not be familiar with some of the layouts.... 

I agree with previous posters that what you're after is a panel van conversion. Plenty of them around, it's more about what else you want in it. You say 2-3 berths: there's a big difference, since most are built as 2 berth, very few are 3 or more. And do you want 2-3 travelling seats as well?

In our case we wanted a 4 berth/4 travel panel van suitable for children, which cut the range down considerably. It was then a case of researching, mainly on Autotrader, what was available, and investigating likely ones more closely - including inspections when the came up nearby. We ruled out anything with double bed bunks, a pop-top, or a "wrong side" hab door, and were finally left with only two choices - a Swift Select 184 or an Auto-Sleeper Fairford. The latter lost out with its weird sliding bathroom sink and tambour bathroom door, both of which we felt might not like children...

However, your own requirements may be very different!