Advice on buying . Swapping from Campervan

[Toni0428]

Hi All
We would love some advice please ; due to a change in circumstances we are currently selling our beloved Mazda Bongo Campervan to purchase our first caravan. We know very little about caravans.
The situation is ; family of five, kids ages 13,4 & 8 months and our Bedlington terrier.

The Bongo has been our second car so from the sale around 6.5k we need to purchase a car and a caravan.

Our main car is a new Audi A3 2ltr TDI and our current thinking is to maybe not use this car to tow but instead use the second car we need to buy as a caravaning/ towing car- that way we won't run up lots of miles on the Audi etc??? So ideas on an ideal second car would be great please ? We've seen lots of freelanders around at reasonable prices?

We don't think a fixed bed would suit us as we want/ need for more space. So our thoughts are fixed bunks? Or a second lounge that converts to beds?

We have looked around a few caravan sales places but have little idea about what we need to look for ie damp? Electrics? Are some makes of vans more prone to repairs than others ? The Baileys seem to be far less expensive than the Swifts , why is this?

We really would appreciate some advice on what would be a good starting caravan to accommodate us all. We hope to use the van most weekends and take longer holidays of around 2 -3 weeks in the summer. Our eldest son doesn't always come with us on weekend trips and is now at an age where he's trying to come as little as possible- choosing to stay at nans and be pampered instead.

Does our budget sound fesiable for a car to tow and buy a decent caravan ?

Thank you in advance

Toni , Danny And the boys

 

[Parksy]

Hi Toni & family, welcome to the forum.
Click Here to have a browse through the Caravan Buyers Guide which will hopefully help you to avoid the more common mistakes and pitfalls when buying your first tourer.
I use an old Mitsubishi Pajero Mk2 as my towing vehicle, it's bomb proof, they are cheap to buy and easy to maintain and will pull anything.
I moved your query to the Buyers Guide message board where it may attract more replies.
(EDIT) I noticed that you have an almost identical post on this message board so I've used that one.

 

[Toni0428]

Great thank you for getting back to us , we'll have a read through the guide.
I've been reading about the Pajero, before I found this site I'd done some googling about the best cars to tow and various different sites / people suggested it- we'd never heard of it before but definitely sounds like its one worth looking into.
Thanks again

 

[Parksy]

The only drawback with a Pajero / Shogun is the low m.p.g. It can cost a fair bit of money for fuel at around 24mpg with a 2.8 turbo diesel but there's no on board computer on pre- 1999 / 2000 models so servicing, maintenance and repair costs (rarely needed) are low.

 

[Raywood]

Not sure what you are spending on the caravan but whatever it is it will be a fairly old one. At that age you really need to look at the condition of the caravan rather than worry about the age. As a layout if you can find it the double double dinette looks the best option to me. This has a double lounge at the front and another at the back and both make into double beds with a bunk lifting up over the rear one.
Go round the caravan with a damp meter. You follow the roof line round the sides and corners and along the floor. Get the owner to demonstrate all equipment is working and connect up to a car to check the road lights.
If buying privately make sure the owner can produce evidence of ownership and if p[ossible servicing. You can also do an HPI check but given the age I doubt it will be a problem.