Caravan v Motorhome Dilemma or Pipedream, Part 2?

On a grey February morning we made our way up the M1/M6 to the NEC for the Caravan and Motorhome Show. It seemed strange not to be looking at any of the caravans on display. Instead we headed straight for the motorhomes. The Bailey stand was first in line. For some reason I have never been a particular fan of Bailey caravans but have to say they seem to have their motorhomes spot on in almost every respect except the option to have an automatic gearbox which apparently is not available with the Peugeot chassis. As much as we liked the Bailey’s they are very much at the top end of our price point. The guy from Bailey’s was very kind and informative in answering our questions. Next up was Swift who have the advantage of producing motorhomes based on the Fiat chassis which do have the option of the automatic gearbox. One thing we did decide on whilst on the Swift stand was that a PVC (panel van conversion) was not for us. Although very cleverly done they are tight for space inside. Looking at the Escape range, again within our price range, we were a bit concerned that they did not have fully lined showers and the fixed beds were quite narrow. Other than that they seemed to fit the bill. Moving onto Elddis there were similar criticism regarding the bathroom. What I do like about Elddis pricing is the flexibility of adding extras which can be purchased individually rather than as a special pack. Tribute were the last manufacturer we looked at in any detail. Very competitive prices but being based on Ford chassis again no auto option. They had better bathrooms than either Swift or Elddis but one rather silly thing put us off. The two main 13amp sockets are situated at worktop level between the sink and cooker and could easily get soaked with water! 

Did we come away from the show with our minds made up? Not completely. Without doubt the Bailey impressed the most but we would have to sacrifice the auto gearbox in favour of a manual one. They are also a bit longer than the competition. Reading some of the motorhome magazines they do seem to be biased towards European motorhomes so we did have a look at a few but not many were in our price range. There are a couple of things that I am not keen on such as the drop down bed or the very high read beds designed to give a much larger garage. I am sure they are well made but if you don’t like the design there is no point proceeding further. 

So what is next? Well next week we will visit at least one dealer and perhaps start to explore deals and start to think about a test drive. My caravan is 7.3mts overall including the A-Frame so I have to get used the idea of driving a vehicle of about 7.5mts long and making a guess as to whether we can get it in the back garden. I suppose that is an irrational worry because if I can get the caravan in I should be able to reverse the a motorhome in. Watch this space.

David