Caravan v Motorhome.

[Andrew_5105555]

We have just returned from 3 weeks in Cornwall with our Xtrail+sterling van.I don't mind towing short'ish distances but the 9 hr trek each year seems to be getting worse.

Anyway on the way back we started to think of swoping tow car+van for a motorhome possibly with a small car towed behind,we have two children age 3+10.

Are motorhomes a good idea when touring with children or is room limited(in a normal size one).Any advise good+bad would be appreciated ta Andrew.

 

[giovanni_5060838]

I have always thought that towing a car behind a motorhome

defeats the object, may as well stick with van and car.

usually you need a lot bigger motorhome against a caravan to

have the same interior space too.

Now i am not against motorhomes, indeed would like one, its

just to me owning a motorhome means touring,a day here 2 days

there, mostly on the move.

A caravan on the otherhand is a home from home, you set up for

a decent stay be it 4 or 5days or even a full 2 weeks,you go out

with the car sightseeing and return to your home.

One day i hope to have one,but when its only me and the wife.

 

[SteveW77]

Except for a few very specialist applications it is illegal to tow a car behind a motor home in this country, unless it is on a twin axle trailer.

There seems very little advantage if any over towing a caravan, bearing in mind the extortionate prices for these vehicles and the fact that they are a very desirable thing as far as auto theft goes.

Steve W

 

[Val & Frank]

Difficult Difficult Difficult,

Me I don't know, how's the tax position for road fund duty etc, you would have to pay it twice depending on what your towing !!!

Val & Frank

 

[Andrew_5105555]

I know what u mean Frank regarding extra tax we have a old peugeot 106 we i use for work so this is taxed and if we sold the Xtrail this tax would pay for the Motorhome tax.

Steve i am not up on the law regarding towing on back of motor home,but i saw at least 1/2 dozen doing this without a trailer coming back from Corwall also a Hymer on site with a Fiat on the back,

Regards Andrew.

 

[RodG]

Had one for three yrs. Buccaneer 344. Great for touring, but went back to caravan as you must have some other transport. Also a lot of cash tied up unless you use it all year.

Regards

Rod G.

 

[BrianStAlbans]

We will be changing to a motorhome ,towing car for main holidays ,hopefully by the end of the year.The main reason is being able to use a motorhome for days out . Due to work my caravan is only used 3 or 4 times a year but with a motorhome we could get away on a Saturday evening,when I'm off on Sunday, and spend the full day somewhere before returning home in the evening,and really no need to book a site.

Replacing a twin axle isn't easy so it will be one of the bigger Hymers.

Brian (",)

 

[Steve L]

First of all, it is not illegal to tow a car behind a motorhome or any appropriate vehicle so long as you use a type approved towing device and the tow vehicle has a type approved towbar fitted.

However while motor homes are handy from the point of view of stop and camp with no fee's, be prepared that an officer of the law may make you move on as technically if you stop on the side of the road even where parking is permitted, you could constitute obstruction of the highway. Park off the highway without permission and that's called trespass. I like quite a lot of other caravanners do get a little "hot under the collar" when you see fare dodging motorhomes parked across the sea front!

Looking at the practicalities. You would have to pack all you stuff away each morning if you didn't have a small car in tow, where as in a caravan you setup once per stay.

You get more room in a caravan and with an awning most are as spacious as home. To get the same in a motor home you'd be looking at a very big Hymer.

Now thing of parking and drivability. You can *** under most 2 metre carpark barriers in a car even with a roof box fitted, now try finding a carpark for a 12 foot tall motorhome. Next one is finding a 30foot long parking space!! It's difficult enough to find a 15 foot one in most tourist places unless you go out at the crack of dawn.

Finally, you need to look at fuel consumption as some of the bigger motorhomes do less than 20Mpg on diesel.

Just a few observations which told me that our 20foot twin axle van and full awning is a good choice and also we don't have to cram 4 adults and 2 Labradors into a Renault 5, because we have a 1998 Renault Laguna 2Ltr estate to do the carrying and towing in style and all at 30Mpg towing and upto 48Mpg solo on unleaded petrol which is on average 3p cheaper per litre than stinky diesel.

But in the end the choice is a yours.

Steve L.

 

[Val & Frank]

Off thread a little, but is this across most of England ???

solo on unleaded petrol which is on average 3p cheaper per litre than stinky diesel.

It is normally 1p difference around Aberdeen.

Val & Frank

 

[SteveW77]

Steve in Leo. I did say except for a few specialist applications,

Took this from a motorhome forum.,

. A road vehicle, usually (but not necessarily) two wheeled, towed by a motor vehicle.Given the above dictionary definition, it is fairly clear that anything attached to the towball and having wheels in contact with the ground is a trailer. This includes cars on 'A' frames and dollies. Bearing in mind that the unbraked towing limit of 750 kgs refers to Maximum Gross Weight (i.e. the figure on the towed cars VIN plate) and not to actual weight, it severely restricts the options. The only cars I know of with a MGW of less than 750 kgs is the Aixam range. These are around 450 to 550 kgs.

There are strict regulations on braked trailers and, whilst a braked 'A' frame attached to a towed car constitutes a braked trailer, it is not legal for transportation as it cannot comply with EC71/320. With car dollies, the situation is somewhat different. Under regulation 83 of the Road Vehicles (construction & Use) Regulations 1986 (SI.1986/1078) Amending Regulations, a car dolly, with a car in place, will be considered as two trailers. This is legal for recovery but, under the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984 (Schedule 6) the combination is limited to 40 mph on motorways and dual carriageways and 20 mph elsewhere.

 

[BeemerMal]

An interesting thread.....We have (and still are) considering our next decision regarding the motorhomes and caravans. I am thinking of buying a VW/Merc van derived camper (such as the Bilbo) to tow the caravan with. This way we will have a "day" vehicle that is not much larger than a people carrier, a day camper and when we tow to Spain for our 3 month stay we can leave the caravan on site and go off to the beach or touring into the mountains for odd overnight stop using the camper.

Anyone done this? Yet to convince my wife of this though!

 

[Val & Frank]

Morning Malcolm,

We have been thinking along the same lines, we thought if we decided to go that way,it would probably be a smaller van on a single axle ( Indiana/Virginia ). I think I would trade in both the Car & Caravan together and see what deal could be struck. This would probably be our final purchase so we need to get it right or lose a shed load of money !!!

Val & Frank

 

[AnthonyVJ]

Hi Andrew

We have just made the change from caravan to motorhome. We will never look back! But its just the two of us - with children I imagine there will be compromises as you need a fair sized motorhome to take all that stuff with you, toys, bikes etc.Our caravan had internal length of 19 feet and the motorhome is about 20 feet internally and the shipping length is substantially shorter, so we feel there is more space. Its easy to stop at the side of the road in most vans you do not need to put steadies down and levelling is not too difficult. You can still have an awning and if you choose to have a serviced pitch you do not have to move the van to empty and fill - there are a lot of sites near to villages and towns which mean you walk or cycle rather than take the car. On the continent it is very motorhome friendly even quite small villages have Aires de Service for camping cars- have a look at the website www.motorhomeparking most UK county councils have links where you can browse the type of car parking available - some even allow overnight stops. We changed because we couldn't manage the water hauling! Good luck anyway.

 

[BeemerMal]

Frank....Bilbo's do a Mercedes Vianio van conversion called thr DeZine. Not seen it in the flesh but got the details sent. It looks good and has a decent engine and auto box option. Take a look on their website.

http://www.bilbos.com/index.cfm
Let me know what you think? At present I have an uphill battle on my hands because Carol wants to keep our X5 and Although I love the car I think the camper option opens up a lot of opportunities. The downside will be the fuel economy won't match the X5.

Mal

 

[peteh1]

hi andrew We have had a motorhomeand a campervan plus caravans which we prefer. I think if you are inclinded to go to a site where you are going to stay for a week or so a caravan is best as there is more space etc but for short trips the motorhomes scores. why don't you break your journey i also found hieght restitions a pain some towns you just can't park,regards peter

 

[gypsy]

Got to agree with Pete h wehad a motorhome for 18months we also towed a corsa behind, but for some reason it did not work for us, we sold it with only 4000 on the clock, and lost a lot of money, I love my Caravan, when we see motorhomes on site it does not interest now, we say been there done that but it was not for us. there were many reason that we prefered the Caravan, and when we talk to people on site it is amazing how many have had motorhome and gone back to the Caravan, so be very sure it is what you want because you will lose LOTS of money,if you have made the wrong choice, and I mean LOTS.

 

[Val & Frank]

Hi Shiba,

Your post has almost convinced me it's not worth the risk, to even give the motorhome a try !!!!

Val & Frank

 

[Guest]

There are plus points for both. I have had both caravan and motorhomes, the main reason for going back to the caravan was that my garage is only a standard size and I cannot park the motorhome, or the caravan for that matter at home. So i decided to keep the van in storage and keep the car in the garage.

However, I am still thinking of going back to the motorhome. I agree it is expensive, but not necessarily so if you compare the total cost of car and van, especially if you go for a 4x4.

I agree that they usually have slightly less space, and I have been looking very carefully at what is available. Economy is also not as good as everyone says, 20-30 mpg is the usual with the low 20's being normal.

But the upside is the ability to visit places where the caravan is not so welcome, Greece for example. Also as there are only 2 of us, a scooter would suit us for the day to day transport. Just think of the easier parking.

The other big plus is the payload. 500 kg is a good average and when you compare that with the measly amount offered by caravan manufacturers then you can think of the extra goodies.

One advantage we found with the motorhome was having young children meant we could put them to bed and get a good few hours driving in the evening, and then fall in to bed ourselves. We had a huge Luton bed and the 2 young uns used to peek out the window for about 30 minutes before they were both sound asleep. They loved it.

So all in all there are points to look at, especially if you wish to keep it for 20 years, which in my case would see out my driving life.

 

[Robert_374242026]

Except for a few very specialist applications it is illegal to tow a car behind a motor home in this country, unless it is on a twin axle trailer.

There seems very little advantage if any over towing a caravan, bearing in mind the extortionate prices for these vehicles and the fact that they are a very desirable thing as far as auto theft goes.

Steve W

Hello Steve W,i am not an authority on the legality of towing a car but the A frame is widely used in the UK for towing and best to my knowledge no one has been fined, however mainland europe is a bit iffy using A frames.

 

[Val & Frank]

Hi S L

Two small scooters would be around 180kg, so that's a fair bit out of the payload??, only thing that puts us off the scooter is the weather. Unless of course you are looking at Greece and then the other road users become the problem !!!!

Val & Frank

ps we would need two scooters due to the weight limitation on the 90cc models !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

pass the test and get a 125 cc model or a 250. Fully automatic and the 'bird' perches on the back. Oops sorry, I meant the wife.

 

[Val & Frank]

Would the bird be astride or side saddle ???

Val & Frank

watching united and spurs watching paint dry is more interesting!!

 

[Guest]

When you are wearing one of those helmety things nobody knows how old you are, until it is too late.

 

[Andrew_5105555]

Thanks for all the comments,we don't normally tour about but spend a minimum of a week in one place so i think maybe we will stick to the caravan,we plan to get a motorhome when the kids have flown the nest and i retire in 2037 with my large(not)pension.

Thanks to you all for helping with our decision.

Andrew+Nicola

 

[Oldfogey]

One last thought.

Everybody has emphasized the cost of going to a motorhome and then having to go back to a caravan.

Their are several companies that will rent you a motorhome for a week; not cheap, but could save a great deal if it gives you a genuine experience on which to base a decision,