Hymer touring caravans?

[AnnM1]

We were looking to exchange our current caravan, although it is only coming up to 3 years old. Today has made our mind up for us as damp has been found by the caravan service agent!

Can anyone give me the pros/cons of the Hymer range. We are looking at the 3 berth layout. Three years ago we looked at the UK spec but wasn't convinced with the quality of finish, etc.

We are also considering the Elddis Crusader, but the beds would appear to be ONLY 6'x2'3 which is totally inadequate to accommodate my 6'3" husband!

I look forward to comments and thank you all in advance.

Ann

 

[MJC]

Here I go again! I have a Hymer, it is our second. We have been abroad for major holidays in it, trawled up and down the British Isles. 2 Kids 2 dogs. And nothing has broken, fallen off, not worked or given us any cause to change. Built like a tank but totally fantastic. It is heavier than other vans. Quality of finishing is second to none. No damp. However after 4 years of this van and changing family size we looked to change to a new Hymer - but Lowdhams who supply them say thay have one to look at in Huddersfield and they may pull out of the market because they would cost 28-30k new!! Down to the currency rates. I have had Avondale(good) Eldiss (always at the menders) and 2 Hymers (not one problem). Don't know what to do next, seeing as Hymer os out and all the other foreign vans - which seem to be a bit more robust-are now in very short supply.

(And no I'm not called Helga!)

 

[anotherDavid]

Hi Ann

I changed to Hymer in 2002 for the same reasons ie damp in a Swift. We have now parted with it after 40K miles towing and over 2years actually living in it. We had no damp problems at all and the odd component failures were 3rd party items such as pumps and taps and then not until after several years. There was an issue with tyres that has been aired on this forum but as quality goes I dont think you will do much better. We dont have an Hymer now as Lowdams set about changing the German functional almost minimalist design to a fussy "UK" type decor and putting the door on the Left (we use ours on the continent). We have other issues with them but I wont air them here.

We now have a Fendt. They are cheaper and in some ways it shows but the structural quality is just as good.

Dave

 

[WiltshirePete]

Another Hymer fan here - we bought our 2006 model secondhand nearly 2 years ago and love it. We have used it for about 15 weeks in total and travelled probably 9000 miles and nothing has gone wrong yet. It tows superb due to the long A-frame, which also carries a 2 bike rack. Onboard water tank is great, we only make sure it is down to 1/4 full before towing and it cannot freeze.

Ours is one of the "UKised" models (UK sockets, oven, leisure battery etc) but still with right hand door which makes no difference to me.

We love the unfussy German styling, the build quality, the number of lights especially in the kitchen, the wind up roof which can be fully open in a downpour, etc etc.

I agree with the last writer that now the only ones you can get in the UK are the Lowdhams specials which have been "tarted up" decor wise I would not buy one of these, but ours should go on for years yet. Maybe get one from Germany next time and put a round pin plug on the phone charger?

Interesting the fuss being made about the new Bailey Pegasus, Hymer have known how to make a proper caravan for years!

Pete

 

[AnnM1]

Thank you for all your replies. You have also answered (indirectly) a problem I was having 'pulling up' details of the new Hymer caravans at Lowdhams! Every other make of caravan sold by that company give full details. Not, however, the Hymer! It would seem likely that they may be being considered dropped by Lowdhams.

Ann

 

[Nidge1]

Just to throw a spanner in the works- I have a 2006 Hymer Nova 570 GS 3 Berth(owned from new) To date we have had all 3 taps, a bathroom shelf and 2 tyres replaced. 1 tap,shelf and tyres were replaced under warranty and to be fair these were items commonly found on probably 95% of manufactured vans.

The most alarming problem was, that after the van was around 15 months old 2 small creases appeared above the door aperture. When I took it to the dealer he said that he would speak to Hymer about it.The conclusion was that I had either gone over a pot hole or a speed ramp at a tremendous speed(as you do of course!!) and consequently the van had in theory broken it's back.

To cut a long story short the dealer and Hymer do not want to know about it. However the problem has not put us off the Hymer and we still rate it very highly as regards- General build quality and tow ability. I would not swop it for a UK van.

I have also owned 2 Avondales and although as good as any other UK van they did have quite a number of issues.

When I recently visited the NEC show the top of the range van was a Staggering