Campervan Brands

member88

Hi
Can anyone tell me what they think are the best brands with campervans in their experience?

I want a van type or vanish looking (like an autosleeper harmony, talbot is peugot i think :-( ) in a reliable make.
I am seeing a lot that the Mercedes Sprinter campers are considered good - and some say IVECO is good but they are mean't to be fiat.

Have been told from multiple mechanics stay away from peugot, citron, renault fiat.

I see people advertising older campers which are factory built campers with around 50k miles and they are saying just had all these things replaced and I'm thinking that is not good it's only like a 2-3 year old in mileage terms.

The miles on the van converted ones are major major miles on some and pretty high on most - are there any brands that I should be less worried about if I see in excess of 100,000 miles up on the clock? Looking at around the year 2000 and up but on a tight budget, around €5,000-€7,000 would go maybe 1998/late 90's if low mileage, just trying to get some power steering :-)

crabbypaddy

If you rule out the relay/boxer/ducato thats 80% of campers. At the age and price point you're talking about the manufacturer of base vehicle will be the least of your worries. I would be more worried about how its been looked after, driven, stored and what condition its in.

Ducato 2.3, 2.5, 2.8, 3.0 are iveco engines and very reliable. Service and wear and tear parts are cheap. The 2002 on models have better corrosion protection. Early models had issues with gearbox syncros, gearbox water ingress, rusty sills, cross members. Newest model had issues with water ingress and reverse gear being too tall for super heavy campers.

The sprinter is no more reliable has its own issues the late 90s early 00s had lots of issues with injector seals, immobilisers and the worst paint finish in the market.

member88

crabbypaddy wrote: »

If you rule out the relay/boxer/ducato thats 80% of campers. At the age and price point you're talking about the manufacturer of base vehicle will be the least of your worries. I would be more worried about how its been looked after, driven, stored and what condition its in.

Ducato 2.3, 2.5, 2.8, 3.0 are iveco engines and very reliable. Service and wear and tear parts are cheap. The 2002 on models have better corrosion protection. Early models had issues with gearbox syncros, gearbox water ingress, rusty sills, cross members. Newest model had issues with water ingress and reverse gear being too tall for super heavy campers.

The sprinter is no more reliable has its own issues the late 90s early 00s had lots of issues with injector seals, immobilisers and the worst paint finish in the market.

Thanks for info.
So basically buying a camper is a no no!!! :-) lol
Am indeed worried about how its been looked after etc. conscious of the rust and the typical. Presuming a lot of the vans have been transport vehicles even before being a camper as some have 250,000k miles on the clock in the 00's and are recently converted.

Badly caught out with a van recently with huge array of inherent faults appearing at only 80k on the clock having been well looked after by us which ended up €3,000k of repairs and that was a 2008 and we'd had it for 3 years. Other people with clapped out early 90s vans that they don't look after at all and no inherent issues just normal wear and tear. From what I can gather some models have these things that just go on them all, and end up an expensive nightmare and unreliable to travel in, so I'm just trying to gather info on peoples experiences with various ones to see if there's any that are OK, they all sound bad to me, it's all a risk but looking to see if I can minimize it any bit.

huddlejonny

League 1
Top 14 Campervans
Benimar SP
Burstner D
Clau D
Dethleffs D
Euramobile D
Frankia D
Hobby D
Hymer D
Knaus D
Niesman D
Pilote F
TEC D
Tischer D
Weinsberg D

Heres an old list compiled of best built campervans that I got my hands on 10 years ago. I have based my past purchases on this table and it hasn't put me wrong yet.

I put alot of research into buying a van recently and traveled across the country to look at a few that I had seen on done deal. One was a beauty of a van that i put a deposit on, only to find out it was a category D write off. The other was something that was not as advertised.

In the end I bought an ex-rental from a reputable dealer. The same fella said that on done deal there is a huge amount of stolen vans and also imported write-offs of various kinds for sale across the country.

My advice if you are very interested in buying a camper is to do a car check before you part with any money.. well worth the €30-40 in my opinion just to get a bit of background on what you are buying.

member88

huddlejonny wrote: »

League 1
Top 14 Campervans
Benimar SP
Burstner D
Clau D
Dethleffs D
Euramobile D
Frankia D
Hobby D
Hymer D
Knaus D
Niesman D
Pilote F
TEC D
Tischer D
Weinsberg D

Heres an old list compiled of best built campervans that I got my hands on 10 years ago. I have based my past purchases on this table and it hasn't put me wrong yet.

I put alot of research into buying a van recently and traveled across the country to look at a few that I had seen on done deal. One was a beauty of a van that i put a deposit on, only to find out it was a category D write off. The other was something that was not as advertised.

In the end I bought an ex-rental from a reputable dealer. The same fella said that on done deal there is a huge amount of stolen vans and also imported write-offs of various kinds for sale across the country.

My advice if you are very interested in buying a camper is to do a car check before you part with any money.. well worth the €30-40 in my opinion just to get a bit of background on what you are buying.

Thanks for the info, do you think a purpose built camper would be more reliable than a van conversion? Seems like nearly all the vans have in excess of 100k miles on them. What does the SP, D and F stand for? Plenty of shady stuff on done deal alright! :-D The camper dealers price considerably higher so I don't think I'd get anything in my budget. I didn't think of ex rentals, do they have high mileage and tend to be newer ones?

amber2

Might be country of manufacture, Spain, France and Germany.

CelticRambler

member88 wrote: »

Have been told from multiple mechanics stay away from peugot, citron, renault fiat.

I see people advertising older campers which are factory built campers with around 50k miles and they are saying just had all these things replaced and I'm thinking that is not good it's only like a 2-3 year old in mileage terms.

I've got a (late) 2003 Benimar on a Fiat 2.8 chassis, just over 130.000km. So far, the only things I've had to replace are "the usuals" - oil, filters, headlamp bulbs, brake pads, timing belt, tyres and (this week) the exhaust. Oh, and the radiator, but that was my fault for believing the dealer when he said he'd added antifreeze. :mad: I'm still using the original engine battery (getting the feeling that that'll be on next year's change-list) and indicators/brake/rear lights. Any trouble I've had has been with the "caravan" part.

When comparing mileage, you have to remember that some things are as much time-dependent as use, but also that the pattern of not using a campervan for long periods, then driving it intensively through different conditions can be a stress in itself.

I'd have no qualms about buying another Fiat-based vehicle; not so sure about another Benimar though.

huddlejonny

member88 wrote: »

Thanks for the info, do you think a purpose built camper would be more reliable than a van conversion? Seems like nearly all the vans have in excess of 100k miles on them. What does the SP, D and F stand for? Plenty of shady stuff on done deal alright! :-D The camper dealers price considerably higher so I don't think I'd get anything in my budget. I didn't think of ex rentals, do they have high mileage and tend to be newer ones?

It's personal choice really between coach built or conversion. It's worth noting that all these vans are designed to last 200-300,000 km/miles anyway. A good mechanic will be able to tell you what's reliable and what's not. The ex rental I bought was in great nick because it was well looked after, any cosmetic damage was taken care of immediately. If you want more info then PM me. I can send you on the information I picked up along the way.

ianobrien

A good friend of mine (a former Fiat mechanic) told me to stay away from the 2.2 engine in the Ducato. The 2.3, 2.8 & 3.0 are all fine. As an aside, the 2.2 is also used by the Ford Transit an when I was talking to him last week, he had a '08 Transit in the yard for an engine swap (blown motor).

The "Fix It Again Tony" reputation that Fiat got in the '80's is still undeservedly hanging on in pub talk in my opinion.

Edit - if at first you don't find the ideal van, keep looking! It took me 18 months to two years to find the ideal van, even after doubling the budget!

digger58

If you can source a 2000 camper for €5 to 7K get me 3 as well! Nothing wrong with Fiat at all, bad/lack of maintenance is the biggest problem/ Had my 2001 Fiat 2.8 based Rapido as far as Greece and back last year and again this year, Only had a small problem this year with the injector light coming on in Serbia, sorted by the Magneti Marelli service guy in Belgrade for €50, bad connection on the throttle position sensor. I do all my own work and servicing on it and she is running very well, oil changed regularly and gearbox oil last year. This year coming it's the turn of the brakes, I have new seals and rear cylinders to go into it. Lack of use is also a huge problem, no vehicle likes to sit around 11 months of the year.

Nekarsulm

Iveco build pretty good diesels. I'd have no fear of one at all, especially if I had evidence it had been serviced properly.

member88

Thanks for the info.

digger58 wrote: »

If you can source a 2000 camper for €5 to 7K get me 3 as well!

Many come and go on done deal late 90s to early 00s in that price range. The ones listed high priced you see stay up for 6 months or a even a year when the price isn't dropped enough, so if I wasn't monitoring it all the time I would expect to pay a lot more than people do. Some of the ads are hardcore dreamers and they leave them up forever. Some even write up hilarious stroppy comments about how their ad has been up for x weeks and no calls lol :-) The good buys are gone in literally hours or at most a few days, there are plenty others like me watching for ones with reasonable mileage, doe, tax and so on and they pounce! :-) The ones left up, always something wrong or missing unfortunately. Dealers add on many thousands compared to private sellers, and are probably a safer bet I'm sure but they usually start at 10,000 so out of my price range unfortunately.

Still on the look out, winter is quiet for camper sales, people tend to sell in the summer when there is demmand lol

killalanerr

member88 wrote: »

. Some of the ads are hardcore dreamers The good buys are gone in literally hours or at most a few days, there are plenty others like me watching for ones with reasonable mileage, but they usually start at 10,000 so out of my price range unfortunately.

Still on the look out, winter is quiet for camper sales, people tend to sell in the summer when there is demmand lol

Its not just the sellers that are dreamers,having sold a few fans over the years i think I have met most of them ,my advice to first timers is to double the original budget or go back 3 years from the model you are hopeing for,there is a shortage of quality used stock at the moment and the market is moving back to the seller for the first time in a while,just taken this add as a maker for the year and if its in good nick its is well priced https://www.donedeal.ie/campers-for-sale/motrorhome/11213873

Best of luck with your search I'm sure there is still value out there but we have to be realistic also,