diesel versus petrol

SonOfPerdition

Hey folks,

wifey and i have decided that we'd like to get a small motorhome for weekend trips in ireland. The main use will be trips to festivals, and the west coast of ireland most weekends. [Edit: round trip of about 200miles] . It's only two adults, and we plan to try our hand at surfing too so a couple of surf boards.

I've been spending lots of time over the last 3 weeks looking at motorhome adds, seeing whats available here in ireland.

Originally we were thinking of something small, like a van conversion, but that was eventually scrapped as we now realise that a toilet is an essential component of anything we buy and i've rarely seen a van conversion with a toilet advertised a spart of it's spec.

Eventually we narowed down to looking for a small alkove type and we have found a few examples that we like. I'm contemplating a 1987 talbot talisman, but i found out this morning it's a 2ltr petrol engine rather than diesel which is what i've been expecting all motorhomes to have.

I was going to dismiss it and look at something else, but before i do, am i missing out on anything in having a petrol engine? I assume the petrol motorhomes are cheaper to buy like cars, is there any other advantages that i'm just not thinking of.

is servicing the diesel engine a lot more expensive than a petrol version .. i do all my own basic serviving on cars/bikes .. but how difficult is it to sevice a motorhome? should be reasonably the same level of technical competence required ?

This is a long winded way of asking if any of you would buy a motorhome with a petrol engine? why and why not?

just looking for more information/advice to make an informed decision in case i pass up on something i should have a look at.

thanks for your time.
SOP

peasant

I wouldn't normally think of buying a motorhome with a petrol engine, as it will be immensly thirsty and so expensive to run.

Having said that ... if all you're ever doing is clock up 2-3000 miles per year chugging around at weekends, that high petrol price shouldn't really hurt too much ...especially if you can negotiate a very good buying price because of it.

Servicing a motorhome is the same as servicing the van that it's based on ...not much to service on the motorhomy bits.

If you can't do it yourself, the main difficulty is to find someone with enough space for such a bulky vehicle, which would usually mean some garage specialising on vans and trucks. Unfortuntely not many of them are interested in working on an ancient private vehicle and you often get pushed back to the end of the queue as important fleet customers get preferential treatment.
Problem is ..they mightn't want to work on a petrol engine either.

In the segment of the market that you're looking at, my main worry would be the condition of the actual motorhome. If that is solid, dry, structurally sound and all the equipment works, then the engine (as long as it is healthy) would be more of a secondary concern.

Terontress's van is petrol afaik ...maybe he can shed some more light on this.


PS ...on the toilet front

You can buy these porta-potti thingies for small money. They're not very comfy, nor is it aesthetically pleasing to do your business in the middle of a van instead of a proper bathroom ...but ... If all other criteria speak for a van conversion and only the toilet swings it towards the much bulkier motorhome, maybe you should have a think about one.

Terrontress

Yeah, I have a 2.0 Ford Transit Petrol.

I'd say the mpg is woeful and I keep changing down gears (there are 4 of them) when going up hills.

I have a diesel car and I love the mid-range torque. I'd say a petrol loses out in this regard.

The consumption is quite frightening. It cost €45 to get to Portlaoise and back. In my car (Audi A2 TDI) I can do Belfast and back for less than €20.

Another issue with your petrol engine is that now LRP has disappeared, you may need to keep adding lead additive bottles, which cost about €4 per tank.

I've found a Transit enthusiast to service my van and he seems very reasonable so I cannot make a recommendation on costs.

I spoke to a guy at the Electric Picnic who had a Peugeot Boxer, which is what the Talbot later became and he says the diesel engine in it is fantastic.

If I were to be purchasing again, I would hold out for a diesel.

SonOfPerdition

Peasant, Terrontress,

thank you very much, very informative replies there and some points that i hadn't even considered.

Peasant, I'll take the advice on the toilet on board, it will bring many vans back into consideration. May i ask, any advice on securing a porta-potti to prevent it from rolling around in a van? What sort of technique do people use?

Terrontress, we were at the picnic ourselves this year . . . i assume you were in the dedicated camper parking, may i ask what it was like there? I love the whole madness of the weekend, but my days of partying all weekend long are gone and it would be cool to know if there was areas with a bit of respite on site. nothing like a good snooze to recharge the batteries.

Terrontress

Yeah, it was great. We showed up on the Thursday night and there was already a bit of craic started. We were parked in a field near to the entrance. At 9am we just drove out and got our pick of the campsites.

There were loads of decent people around us and it was nice having the camp chairs etc that people could swing past and chat.

Given the prices inside, we loved cooking up our own bacon butties, burgers, pasta, tea & coffee etc. and with the fridge working we were able to eat cereals and keep the beers cold.

I am 31. My first major festival was Glastonbury 10 years ago. I think I am getting too old to do the tent thing any more. I am going to bring the beast to Glastonbury again next year.

We have a toilet room but no toilet in it. The toilet facilities in Electric Picnic weren't close to the van field so we were forced to plan in advance. The girls made the long trek. The men weren't so discerning but that seemed to be the case with the owners of alot of vans.

To be honest, you could as easily have not spent the €60 and parked in the carparks but I really enjoyed what we did.

I wouldn't have spent the €120 plus ticketmaster fee plus credit card fee for the electric hookup. There were one or two gennies there. Strictly speaking petrol gennies were banned. As were cars and glass bottles. We had glass and a car there too but kept the car parked and made sure we left no rubbish behind us at all.

fits

Terrontress wrote:

We have a toilet room but no toilet in it. The toilet facilities in Electric Picnic weren't close to the van field so we were forced to plan in advance. The girls made the long trek. The men weren't so discerning but that seemed to be the case with the owners of alot of vans.

Thats awful. There really should have been loos there. There were supposedly posh loos (flushable) provided last year, and they were blocked up after a couple of hours... twas rotten.

I was at it in our camper last year. It was very quiet and peaceful where we were, but there would be a few campers that would have parties going on. Nice not to have to worry too much about idiots nearby (which often happens).

BTW I'd definitely get a diesel.

peasant

SonOfPerdition wrote:

May i ask, any advice on securing a porta-potti to prevent it from rolling around in a van? What sort of technique do people use?

The most common thing to do with it is to build a little box around it with a cushion on top that serves as a seat when closed. Or, if you have enough space, you could always hide it in a cupboard somewhere.

Here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055048887 is the slightly comical version for the shy among us

SonOfPerdition

Terrontress wrote:

I am 31. My first major festival was Glastonbury 10 years ago. I think I am getting too old to do the tent thing any more. I am going to bring the beast to Glastonbury again next year.

ah glasto . . . now there's a great place to bring a camper! :O)

SonOfPerdition

peasant wrote:

The most common thing to do with it is to build a little box around it with a cushion on top that serves as a seat when closed. Or, if you have enough space, you could always hide it in a cupboard somewhere.

Here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055048887 is the slightly comical version for the shy among us

it looks like you wouldn't want to have a few beers or poor accuracy

bushy...

Terrontress wrote:

Yeah, I have a 2.0 Ford Transit Petrol.
I'd say the mpg is woeful and I keep changing down gears (there are 4 of them) when going up hills.
I have a diesel car and I love the mid-range torque. I'd say a petrol loses out in this regard.

Might be worth asking around if a 5speed & axle ratio change would help things ? There's probably plenty of parts around. Lots of the transit diesels were noisy and not powerful at all though

Terrontress

Having bought it for next to nothing, I promptly crashed it and there is a bit of a hole and water getting in.

I have had many good long chats with peasant about the state of my van.

I reckon the best thing to do is keep it going untill it can go no more and then bring it to a scrappy. Then I'll use the experience gained in this purchase to buy something a bit more straightforward. And I think peasant agrees.

peasant

I would

you still should do something about that hole though

Terrontress

Slowly but surely!

I am getting married next month and that is taking all my time!

:cough

bushy...

If you know any lads at aircraft , they might get you a bit of sealer . The common silicone stuff is worse than useless.

AsphaltRisin'

Terrontress wrote: »

Having bought it for next to nothing, I promptly crashed it and there is a bit of a hole and water getting in.

I have had many good long chats with peasant about the state of my van.

I reckon the best thing to do is keep it going untill it can go no more and then bring it to a scrappy. Then I'll use the experience gained in this purchase to buy something a bit more straightforward. And I think peasant agrees.

Or if it gets too dodgy for you.. but hasnt rotted away... you might give it to me if i have any space..... i do love vans, and fords, and dodgy old ford vans... and do often need old fords to get bits from/fix up...
plus the engines out of those can be rreplaced easily with an engine from a scrapped sierra....