Caravan or Motorhome question

[ontheedge]

Being semi retired and having two cars (a Retro BMW and a Renault Clio dci - £30 a year tax), I now feel that I would like a caravan or motorhome, hoping that we have a good summer again next year.
So I think if I got a caravan I would want to change my car to maybe a Ford Mondeo diesel to tow it and get good fuel readings as it would be a daily driver, a friend told me to get a low mileage (under 100,000) due to the cost of new injectors ----How true is this ?

Or if I kept the Clio and got a motorhome what would be best on a limited budget of a couple of grand.

It's possible to get a good 2 birth caravan for £1000, but not a motorhome

Any help on this would appreciated

[accord83]

A motorhome/camper is going to cost road tax even when its not moving, tyres x4 (6?) are more expensive, as is insurance and servicing. When a caravan is sited the car can go anywhere, lots of carparks have height restrictions and tourist spots can be a nightmare in a motorhome. I found North Wales a right pain in my 21' coachbuilt which was only little compared to most, so much so I sold it as I can do without the hassle. It's different on the continent as they tend to welcome motorhomes, here you tend to be classed as a nuisance. Free camping is easier in a motorhome as you are self contained but SWMBO wanted 5 star sites, therefore making the self contained side a bit pointless. I've also had a caravan which I found more versatile and cheaper to buy/run. If you hitch a small car on the back of a motorhome you might as well have a car and caravan, a motorbike makes sense with a motorhome but as I'm classed as mentally unstable on two wheels SWMBO ruled that out!

[tonycocacola]

What year Mondeo would you be looking at?
I have a 56 plate MK3 2.2 ST TDCI (duratorque motor) as my daily. Injectors for that are around £340 - £400 each.
Mine has 190k on the clock, with full history, and I've been ok in the 3 years I've been running it.
Injectors for the 2.0 cost around the £240 mark.

[discostew]

If it is mainly about cost, a caravan wins every time. I'm a motorhome fan though.

[discostew38]

The points above are pretty much it
Pros and cons
Caravan is cheaper even if you have to buy a car to tow it (but only if you can store it at home when not in use) as storages fees are quite high
A caravan is better once your on a site as you can still use the tow car to pop out in
A motorhome is much nice to drive than a caravan is to tow
Campers/motorhomes are expensive for what they are even an old transit would set you back 10k plus

[gazzab1978]

it depends on what you want to do in it, if you want to go to sites for a weekend or a week at a time then a caravan is the way to go, if you want to tour around stopping for 1 or 2 nights at a time then move on to a new site then a campervan is what you want, if your not sure caravans are cheaper to try out and see if you like it with plenty of sub £1000 vans about if you have storage for it.

[skinnylew]

Any caravan for £1000 is likely to have damp in either the floor or walls under the windows/bathrooom.
If you've never towed a caravan before it's not the easiest thing in the world.
And make sure you get a layout that works for you, not all caravans are the same.

[strikey]

tent......and a load of change for a coolbox and beers!

[ken21]

my old motorhome, had some good times with that..

[granvia]

We went for a camper because we don’t have anywhere to keep a caravan, i use it as my daily and it’s fine for 1 or 2 nights as is or we use an inflatable drive away awning for longer breaks, it’s a 3.4 V6 petrol auto so isn’t great on fuel round town but ok ish on a run (will cruise at 70/80 all day👍🏻)

[rblote]

Just my 2 cents....

I used to have a VW Westfalia based on a long wheel based Transporter. Besides that it was heavy on fuel I did not like it to much.
It was to big to park in smaller car parks, when we wanted to go shopping we always had to pack things away before we could leave.

So, I sold it and bought a medium size caravan. I did not mind the caravan thing but hated driving/towing that thing. I had a capable car but the towing thing never worked for me. I also found it limited in where I could go. Some roads or were not suitable for caravans and
just a bit exploring with the caravan in tow never worked for me.

So, we sold the caravan and bought a tent and all was good again.

Now living in Australia and being 20 years older I did not want to tent anymore. A did not wanted a caravan and a large motor home is no good either.

Si, we bought a Delica. We love it. Just a comfortable bed on wheels, we have a kitchen in the back and all the things we need and want.
It's small enough to park anywhere (but not parking garages as it is to high) we are small enough to try little side tracks, the 4WD part gets as out of trouble at times and it's also small enough not to be seen when we do some wild camping.

[daver555]

Gotta love the Japanese day-vans / campers and that Delica is full of win! So much cheaper than the Euro offerings and typically come better spec'd.

[pauly22]

Gets nice trailer tent for £500-£1000

[ontheedge]

The other half wont do camping any more, so it's looking like a caravan, plenty for sale for £1000 to £1500 that say no damp and have been tested, finding a low mileage Mondeo diesel is hard though, even been looking at Rover/MG 75 (BMW)

[gazzab1978]

unless you want to get away in a caravan in the next 2 months wait until October/November as you will get a better van for your money over winter much like a convertible car, everyone wants them in the good weather, not so much in the cold wet months so values drop a bit when no ones buying them. as for a tow car citreon Picasso is a great cheap tow car.