Choosing the right motor home for your needs
Probably the key factor to consider when choosing the right motor home for your needs is you. You should be buying a motor home for you and not friends and family who will no doubt love to use the vehicle. Therefore, ask yourself, what do you wish your motor home to provide?
If you wish to use it for weekends away or to make day trips more comfortable, then perhaps you could chose something at the smaller end of the size range, like a campervan. If more room is required and a greater capacity for carrying luggage, then a motor home in the C-class range might suffice. These are chassis cab conversions with a purpose built caravan body attached.
If you plan to tour for lengthy periods, perhaps catching the winter sun in Spain for instance, then an A-class motor home, which is coach shaped and usually has plenty of living space within might fulfil your requirements.
Any increase in living space tends to reduce the vehicle’s manoeuvrability and increases its running costs. In the UK, the maximum permissible size of a motor home is 12m long and 2.55m wide. A length of 6m is generally deemed the benchmark between medium and large with most campsites, road tolls, ferries, recovery packages and insurance, catering for this sized motor home. Anything larger than this could pose problems with parking and manoeuvrability.
The design of motor home interiors is constantly evolving, creating a wide range of layouts from which to choose. You might start your choice process by considering how many people will be travelling in the vehicle at any one time. Ensure that there are adequate seat belts and berths for the intended occupants. Also, evaluate the various shaped lounges available. For example, both rear U and L shaped lounges make rear seat travel undesirable but both offer very sociable and spacious living areas when stationery.
The kitchen should be just big enough to prepare a meal and aim for at least 80-litre capacity for the fridge. A motor home without a toilet or shower facilities is not adequate for most people so that might be a necessary requirement on your criteria. Although certain items you may wish not to compromise on, it might be sensible to be as flexible as possible with everything else, as being adaptable might make choosing the right motor home for your needs easier and more enjoyable.