OV9

So we had a towing caravan when the sprogs were young. It was great for that timeslice, but became redundant as the kids started to get more heavily into weekend sports & activities. Sold.

Mrs mik and I couldn't be arsed going abroad this year, so decided we'd head up to the Highlands for a few days instead - just the two of us humans, but with the 3 dogs. So we rented a Motorhome.

I'd never "used" or driven one previously, and was always a bit confused by their popularity. You need around 4x the outlay to get an equivalent size & spec of motorhome compared to caravan, and then need annual VED on top of your insurance, need to MOT it, yada yada. Their sheer numbers suggested I was missing something though - so interested to compare....

A small camper was out. 3 reasonably sized dogs take up a lot of floor space. We originally aimed for a 4-berth around 6m long, but none were available for the week we wanted. Balls. We instead did a deal on a larger van which we could have if we shuffled our start date a smidge.

Pilote 746 based on a Fiat Ducato chassis (as I now realise 80% of current motorhomes seem to be, so there must be a compelling reason. Pretty long at 7.46m, and fairly wide at 2.3m. Our last (German) caravan was 2.3m wide too - a fair bit more than std UK caravans - so a good comparison. 2.3 litre TD (150bhp) mated to a 6-speed auto. As I pulled away from the hire place though, it was clear this was actually an automated single-clutch manual box. My only experience of this setup previously was dysmal, but this one was alright! Yeah the changes were slow, but so it the vehicle so who cares? It pulled away cleanly, and changed without clunks or jerks. If you pressed the left-most pedal when going downhill, it always dropped a gear to increase engine braking. Very useful (although this was something that I increasingly pulled the lever to over-ride in order to retain a bit more momentum when it was clear power would be needed soon.

It took around 90mins before I was happy placing it in the lane - without constantly glancing in both side mirrors to check my position. Not a huge margin for error (particularly on some of the roads) and it made me again appreciate how skillful most of the genuine professional drivers (not minicab drivers) are at keeping their trucks/artics/buses on their own side of the road whilst making progress. Respect. And whilst every road travelled would have been more fun in the 'vora, there was driving challenge (and therefore pleasure/satisfaction) to be had.

Water management in motorhome way superior to a caravan. Huge tank (110l in this one) filled when you enter the campsite. Lasts ages and allows you to fit decent-flowing pumps without running out every 10mins. Even better it drains into a "grey water" tank, so rather than pulling a collector to the drain every so often, you drive over a grate when you exit the campsite and pull a lever to get rid. Fabulous. Setting up at the campsite is faster without legs to put down, and a car to unhitch. Its also really cool to be able to enter the living area directly from the drivers seat. Mrs mik definitely didn't dissapear in to the back at one point for a kip - that would have been dangerous and reckless.

Downsides? You need to drive a motorhome everywhere instead of taking your car to go and look at something, buy a pint of milk, yada yada. One I hadn't considered previously - the main area of the motorhome is thermostatically heated like a caravan. Double glazed. Insulated walls. But the cab is standard van, so you get WAY more heat loss from the front of the living area. Which can feel uncomfortable if the temps drop. And the screen condensation is ridiculous.

Other than that - mostly similarities. I'm not convinced the positives justify the price difference, but others clearly are.

The Pilote had an awesome bond-esque double bed that lowered from the roof, but the dogs couldn't reach. I expect similar is now available in caravans too (?) Front seats were extremely comfortable. It managed 28.6mpg, and you didn't really want to go over 60 on non-motorways as the contents crash around like a bastard, and you don't want shizzle flying out of shelves etc. Noisy when on the roll.

A great time was had though. We were up as high as Ullapool and over on Skye etc. Stunning scenery - if you have never driven through Glencoe, you really need to correct that. I think I would still gasp in awe even if I drove it every week. An amazing and vast sight.

Fighter jet spots = 0 unusually, but we did come extremely close to an A400M flying low up the length of a Loch
Loads of wildlife seen including at least one eagle, seals and seal pups both in the water and on rocks 100m away.
A group of MGB, TR4, TR6 etc. Couple of foreign-registered caterhams. Current GT4 and GT2. Again - unusually quiet.

TL;DR? I went up North in a murturhurm.

Ready to roll










Optical illusion. No dogs on the seats.

Reason for the fiat chassis is weight btw, they’re really light so make it easier to add stuff into a larger box without creeping into lgv weight territory

Nice trip by the sounds of it.

We were going to rent one for our California trip next summer but in the end, we’re going the Mustang + Hotels.

They are hilariously expensive though. A good conversion on a VW crafter LWB can be £80k + depending on the quality of the fit out.

Ultimately it’s the “need to pack everything up to buy some milk or go out for dinner” aspect that would put me off

The way to stop condensation on the cab windows is to use an external wrap around cover. We only use ours in the depths of winter, any other time we've got a mini Karcher window vacuum that clears them in no time if needed.

We've had our motorhome for almost eight years and absolutely love the lifestyle it provides and have visited many places that we wouldn't have without it. We spent last week at Henley for the regatta which is always entertaining. Glencoe is indeed stunning, we drove that way on our journey to Fort William. This was the view from our pitch.

My sister and her partner have had caravans for years. Now they're retired, they've switched to a motorhome after years of me saying they were much easier, now wouldn't go back. Not quite tempted myself yet but I don't think it'll be long as my missus would love one after years of camping with the Caterham and a tiny tent

I'm pretty impressed with 29mpg out of such a big vehicle Mik.

PS please can we have a photo of your labs

speedingfine wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 7:43 am
PS please can we have a photo of your labs

we only have one lab - the 14yr old choccie - and she is CLEARLY VISIBLE in the 3rd image - at the back of the van!

Middle dog is a rescue so we don’t know for sure what she is. The rescue place were told by the family that handed her in (who were her second owners apparently) that she was a Marema Sheepdog. They didn’t believe that, and neither do we. We reckon she is either a Turkish Akbash, or a Lab/shepherd cross.

Doh, I see her now, ta Mik

Nice. Our next door neighbours, retired, have a VW Camper. This one is ten years old now but still looks new and, going by the residuals on their last one, they really hold their value (thought he price of new ones ever increases). Not sure if that's a VW thing or camper vans generally.

We did our first tent camp as a family last weekend. There were some massive camper vans there, and one Fifth Wheel, pulled by a Nissan pickup.

Quite a few of them looked to have motorbikes to do trips out, or I've seen small cars towed by them before.

Love the dags. Ambivalent about the concept of taking your turds for a drive but it seems like you had a great time.

Very similar conclusions from when we took the motorhome to ROR last year.

I only managed around 18-20mpg in that one though. It was pretty well underpowered so most of the motorway cruise was spent with with the pedal on the mat.

We are not motorhoming this year as weve rented a house a mile or so from the circuit. Fuel costs to get it there and back are more expensive than renting a house.

They’re cool but I think of all the tiny villages and roads I’ve been through in Europe where it wouldn’t fit. I think the best case use for them are people who go racing otherwise the additional purchase cost, fuel, tax, servicing, repairs, depreciation all adds up to more than staying in decent proper accommodation.
Also I reckon if you have a motor home you limit yourself to only using it to justify it so holidays are limited to areas within driving reach.

Caravan still suits us better as we tend to go somewhere for a couple of weeks and then want to drive around for day trips (and with 4 a fridge full of food doesn't last as long as it would with 2 so more frequent shopping trips need to be factored in). Packing a load of stuff up for every trip out is a massive pain in the balls.
We might consider one when we get older if we change our habits and there's only 2 of us. We will likely carry a moped with us for local trips out.
A lot of people we know have motorhomes at racing and they are nice, but they tend to be older couples, a recent tour around one of our friends new one confirmed that our Bailey Unicorn is comparable is comfort and spec so not really too bothered for the moment, it's just nice to get away in it.

Yeah I wouldn't swap my caravan for a motorhome, but can see how it appeals once your sprog free.

It would be less faff stopping at multiple places in a motorhome, as much less set up time (presumably).

Couple of eBikes on the back and away you go.

My work colleagues have just gone the opposite way. Bought a Ducatto based motor home for £9k just before or in the early stages of lockdown and sold it last month for £14k which payed for both the caravan and more suitable vehicle to tow it.

They found it a pain to have to pack all your stuff and take the whole thing every time you wanted to go anywhere, and his wife didn’t enjoy being a passenger in it so for more local trips around the east Anglian coast line she would end up following in the car

A mate of mine bought this off a colleague. A Ford, can’t remember the model but it was 7l V10. It was a 52 plate with 50k miles and it had been stood for seven years and the owner wanted it gone. He paid £3750, spent £4k cleaning it up and getting it back in the road and promptly sold it for £17.5k. And this was before lockdown.

It was completely unsuitable for this country. LHD, don’t want to think about the MPG. But the size of it made it useless. It wouldn’t make it onto most petrol station forecourts and forget taking it down small windy roads like in Cornwall etc.

But the sides came out at the push of a button

We were in the same boat as Mik last year. The kids were 15 and 16 and started protesting about going in the Caravan so after a fab 6 years we sold it on for the same as we paid for it

It took a month for my wife to get twitchy and we looked at a couple of campers and realised that even with just the 2 of us and the dogs it doesn't look like fun. Then the kids decided a camper is cool and we spent a few months looking at motorhomes and layouts of which there are many !

I wanted a 5/6 berth Integrated (A-Class) like JonMad pictured above but even 6 yr old ones were £60k+.

The compromise was buying the layout we wanted but as a coach built like Mik's.



Double bed over the cab, adjoining singles at the rear and a double dinnette for daughter and dogs.

Mik has summed the benefits well but also we use it for 1 nighters just going to a country pub or hotel that have an area for you as a stopover. It's great to sneak a night away that I'd never have bothered with in the caravan.

The four of us have just returned from doing the NC500 route over 10 days. Hired a LWB VW T6, so a rock and roll bed and a pull up roof with another (small) double up there, but only suitable for up to 20 stone so I shared that with my 6 year old and my wife was downstairs with the 3 year old. Until around night 4 when I was left on my own and those 3 shared the downstairs bed (farting and snoring being the most likely reasons.l).

Started in Sunderland and had our first night somewhere between Perth and Pitlochry at Invermill. Did one night 'wild' camping, which was in a harbour car park in Helmsdale, but then the night 8 nights were all at a proper site. It's a lot more difficult than its sometimes made out to just park up and camp in a lay-by or car park, especially with 2 small kids.

Up to John O'Groats and along to Melvich is sort of decent scenery in parts, at least once you've left the Cairngorms, but once you're past Melvich, every turn and corner in the road means it just gets better and better.

Looks like we stopped at the same site as you @mik, near Ullapool? Ardmair.

Second to last day was going over the Applecross Pass, which ends with the Bealnac na Bar pass. Absolutely terrifying in the clouds with less than 10 metres visibility and single track roads. Pleased I wasn't in anything bigger doing that.

KevH18 wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 11:42 am
Looks like we stopped at the same site as you @mik, near Ullapool? Ardmair.

Yes! It was my first time back there since I was a kid. At that time my folks had one of the first Hobby caravans in the country - bought 2nd hand from a bloke in the forces who had been stationed in Germany and couldn’t believe what their vans were like compared to the UK offerings at the time. I specifically remember us being on one of only 4 pitches with electric hook up, cos the supply kept tripping out as my dad tried to squeeze as much out of it as possible (1.5 kw kettle for example that you weren’t supposed to use).

Things have moved on a bit….

We've been thinking about down-sizing from a Ducato thing to a VW T6 or something but think we might miss all the space from the larger one. Kids are coming out with us less and less and a smaller van might mean we use it more and even for stuff in general like taking it mountain biking as its smaller, will be quieter etc. Looks like we wouldn't have lost much value if anything over what we paid for it 7 years ago.

KevH18 wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 11:42 am Did one night 'wild' camping, which was in a harbour car park in Helmsdale, but then the night 8 nights were all at a proper site.

That's spooky @KevH18, we're hopefully going to build a house on the river there just half a mile upstream from the harbour. You could've pitched up in one the fields!

Wild camping is definitely easier when the kids are a bit older.