Choosing the right vehicle for travelling is very much a personal choice, and one which needs careful research, considering a whole host of different things from layouts to size (does size really matter?), to type of vehicle to facilities on board. 

There is no "one size fits all" and compromises have to be made! 

So...here is what we did and how we came to choose the van we are in now and the reasons why, and the modifications and changes we made to the camper van to suit our needs.

I will be including links to the sites and businesses we used 

​

Which Van - There's So Many!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is so true! Believe me when I say that we have trawled around countless dealers, visited many motorhomes for sale, dug down into selling sites such as Autotrader and Ebay and looked at literally hundreds of motorhomes and camper vans of all makes and descriptions.

​

Eventually this became overwhelming. We had a growing list of what we thought were suitable motorhomes. There was literally too much information being gathered. We had too long a list and all were different in their own way but considered suitable for one reason or another.

​

Therefore a plan had to be made, and I seriously advise that when looking for a motorhome or camper van you devise your own plan suited to your individual needs and requirements.

​

The Plan 

 

 

 

 

We had the long (and it was long! I would say in excess of 20 different makes and models) list which we needed to whittle down to something more manageable.

​

FIRSTLY - accept that compromises have to be made. Unless you have an endless supply of money and you can have designed and built whatever you want regardless of the cost (I don't think there are many of us in that boat!), then compromises will need to be made 

​

SECONDLY - Remember your budget! It's great to get caught up in the excitement of looking at motorhomes and camper vans but you do not want to break your finances for going too extravagant - and as you will learn there is no need to go over the top when you make your purchase.

​

THIRDLY - What type of motorhome do we want. Coachbuilt (such as Swift Voyager or Coachman Travel Master etc) or a van conversion (known colloquially as a 'campervan'). Having hired one of each (see our BLOG page) , we had decided that the camper van was the type we wanted to go with.

​

So, our plan was very simple. We made a list of what we considered to be essential and what we considered to be desirable and what we considered to be a luxury.

​

ESSENTIAL.                                                                     DESIRABLE.                                                              LUXURY

​

Large enough for 2                                                 Bigger berth (more space)

Fixed beds                                                                                                                                                        Electrically raised

Seating area                                                            Separate from the bed

Cooking facilities                                                                                                                                              Induction hob

Toilet and shower                                                   Separate toilet and shower                                            Separating toilet

Solar panel

Storage space

Automatic Gearbox

                                                                                Habitation Air Conditioning

Canopy                                                                   Sides walls                                                                       Drive-away awning

Gas for heating/cooking                                       Underslung gas tank

Underslung water - fresh and grey

                                                                                 Cycle rack

Europe clean engine

Diesel fuel                                                                                                                                                        Hybrid vehicle 

​

Armed with our list - we searched through what we had already seen and then got the lost down to 3 or 4 suitable vehicles.

Then we set about looking for these particular vehicles - and I can honestly say it made the who task infinitely less daunting and we began to see our way through the many different motorhomes and campervans there were out there

​

We still travelled around lots of different dealers viewing the vans we were interested in (and YES we did get distracted and look in others as well!!!)

​

What we found was, that once we had set out eyes upon a particular camper van, we kept coming back to it. We liked the look, the layout, it ticked most of our boxes and reviews were on the whole pretty good.

​

So there is was - we were looking at an Autosleeper Warwick - at this point either the Duo or the XL.

​

The Warwick series ticked most of our boxes. As I said earlier, compromises have to be made and whilst it didn't tick them all, it was pretty close.

Now all we had to do was find one in our budget range.

​

New Or Second Hand

​Again this is down to personal choice but my opinion is :

​

 

 

Buy new and you lose a lot of money as soon as you drive it away and there's all the niggles and issues that will need to be fixed/resolved

BUT - you have peace of mind. Manufacturers guarantee (far superior than any warranty) and the benefits of a brand new vehicle. You are the first owner/driver/user

​

Buy secondhand - as the saying goes 'you're buying someone else's problems' - yes this is a major consideration BUT I think you get better value for money, the niggles have already been sorted, the engine is run in and the vehicle is set up and ready to go.

 

One thing I have learned (and yes I know it's a little more expensive) - you get a lot more peace of mind buying through a reputable dealer than going private

Buy private by all means - and there are many many great deals to be had. BUT bear in mind that it is 'Buyer Beware' - get any vehicle properly checked out before you commit to buy.

​

We decided on second hand - mainly budget reasons but also for the points I raised above.

​

We found an Autosleeper Warwick Duo for sale through a dealer. We made an appointment to view the vehicle and on the day we set off to go, an alert came up on Autotrader informing us that a Warwick XL had just come on the market.

We were travelling about a 90 minute journey to see the Duo and the XL was showing literally 10 minutes down th road from where the Duo was!

​

We believe that this was fate working in our favour.

We viewed the Duo and it was a very nice vehicle. 

We went to see the XL (10 minutes down the road)

We just looked at each other and said - "this is the one"

​

So we spoke with the dealer - ROVE MOTORHOMES at Gunby - I can definitely recommend this company. They are genuine people who really do take an interest in you as a person and nothing is too much trouble (no we are not getting paid to say this!)

​​

We purchased our Campervan :

​

2018 Autosleeper Warwick XL, diesel engine, Euro compliant, automatic gearbox, large enough for 2, fixed beds (can be singles or made into a double), cooking facilities, toilet and separate shower area, solar panel, canopy, underslung LPG gas, solar panel, lots of internal storage - just about everything from our list PLUS it has hydraulic auto levelling system and satellite TV system 

The price was just in budget!

Once we picked up the camper van we knew we had 'struck gold'. This was now our van. Our adventures could begin. 

​

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​

​​​​​​​​

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next was to modify and upgrade our van to suit both off grid and on grid travelling. 

​

​

​