newbie advice about buying motorhomes

rebelno · Member

newbie advice about buying motorhomes

peter_s · Veteran Member

I would be going to the rental companies posing as prospective tourists and looking through what is available should give you a general idea

Possum3 · Guru

Have replied PM.

Philw · Senior Member

Rebecca and Wayne
we have a Jayco Conquest with a mercedes sprinter vehicle. House is fibreglass . It is the 24.1, 2011 model. It has been awesome. Dont know much about the newer ones. The issue for us was that we could get to all the working parts, ie water pump, battery, hot water etc without having to pull the furniture apart. Some of the ones we saw had built in this stuff so when repairs had to happen, you had to almost dismantle furniture to access the faulty part. Jayco had everything within reach plus their warranty repairs are excellent. We have done 60k in it and it has been a hoot. The furniture is stable and the door latches are excellent. Also dont be scared to look at one that is a year old. Some folk buy them and then something happens, in particular us oldies where we cant drive anymore or something. Usually they are well looked after, have done few kilometers and have had all the warranty issues worked out. Have met some owners who have done only a few thousand klms after one or two years. The vehicle mainly sits in the driveway. Who knows.....

I personally liked the Avida and the Jayco when we looked. In particulat the rear wheel drive as it doidnt have the grass slip issue. Ours has dual rear wheels and LSD. It has got us out of a couple of slippery spots. Usually my own stupidity after years of owning 4wds. Good luckc.
phil

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Hire a couple of different ones first, then buy second hand.
It is very unlikely that the first one you buy will be exactly what you want. You need some time and experience to work that out.

Also, be very careful about the weights. Check them carefully and don't buy anything without having it weighed first. The 4.5T GVM limit of a car license is very easy to exceed, so keep the MH as small as possible or you will find that you can't carry what you think you will need without overloading and becoming illegal.

Personally, I would avoid the front wheel drive Fiats.

Cheers,
Peter

montie · Guru

Rebecca and Wayne,

Fiat is the worlds largest supplier of motorhome chassis by a country mile, because they are the only ones who build a dedicated motorhome chassis.
Fiat based motorhomes drive like cars where many others are truck based with not such a comfortable ride.

Having said that, some people do not like the fwd of the Fiat and opt for a rwd chassis.
Good quality privately owned used motorhomes are hard to find and in high demand, especially those priced in the $70/90k bracket.
The popular brands are Winnebago/Avida,Jayco,Sunliner,Avan and Suncamper.
Layouts are a personal choice but the popular features are bed on floor either island or corner,ensuite,good bench space,cafe dinette,big fridge,plenty of internal and external storage.....just to mention a few.Auto transmission is by far the most popular.

Good luck with your purchase

Montie

chaslib · Senior Member

You will find MH owners all have differing opinions ....... the one thing most have in common are problems - be they small and easily fixed or major and heartbreaking. The biggest problem with motorhomes is buyers are basically ignorant when it comes to weight - never leave the dealership without a current weighbridge certificate and then make sure you add onto that all the optional extras, people, water, gas, generator, contents including food, fuel, additional solar, bullbar, towbar, ladders, etc. etc. etc. Majority of motorhomes on the road would be overweight or close to it. We have a 2013 Esperance which we purchased as it had the option to upgrade GVM from 4495 to 5200 which we did along with upgrading our licences to LR and MR. Dealers just want to sell you a motorhome - they don't want to put you off by explaining about GVM, TARE, Payload, etc incase they loose their sale (and commission). The only other thing we found related to the battery which we had to replace recently. The MH is on an Iveco and the brand battery is the only one that will fit this particular truck and it costs around twice the money as most of the others and is only available through Iveco dealerships. Ask whoever you buy your motorhome from about the battery as in our model motorhome, the motor is designed so that you have no choice but to buy an Iveco battery. Hopefully if you choose Iveco, they have changed their design to allow you a choice of other batteries.

Love our motorhome and upgrading from camper to motorhome was the best decision - love the freedom and you will also - just do your homework. PM me if you need any clarification.

Cheers

-- Edited by chaslib on Thursday 24th of March 2016 03:54:45 PM

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

montie wrote:
Fiat is the worlds largest supplier of motorhome chassis by a country mile, because they are the only ones who build a dedicated motorhome chassis.

Fiat don't build the chassis at all Monty. That is built by several others, including Al-Ko.

Fiats are delivered to chassis builders with 2 cabs bolted together back to back for transport. The chassis sticks out of the back of the cab about 300mm. The rest (including the rear "lazy" axle assembly) is added by others, not by Fiat.

Many of the chassis that are built are ultra light and don't accept a decent tow bar attachment.

Fiats are very popular as motorhomes because they are cheap and the motorhome builder has a lot of flexibility in terms of what they build.

Cheers,

Peter