Motorhome buyer advice please

Hello!

My wife and I are hoping to purchase a 2015/2016 Broadway EK motorhome. 
On doing research on Auto Sleepers and Auto Trails there seems to be a lot of problems out there.
As former towing caravan owners we know a fair bit about how to look after and maintain a home on wheels.

We've moved on now and are looking to join the world of motorhome ownership but before parting with our hard earned money we would like to get get as much useful information as possible.

I'm particularly interested in feedback about this model/age of motorhome as this fits our budget and I've seen a few out there with approx 20K miles on them and they seem to be in great condition when you see the adverts. Should I really worry about the warnings I've seen about the poor build quality of the Auto Sleeper.

I don't have any prior knowledge of Peugeot vans so any info is welcome. The alternative option in our budget is Fiat if we went Auto Trail but not sure if that makes much difference. The Mercedes based motorhomes seem to be much more expensive and outside our budget.

I look forward to hearing back from you and hope you can help guide me to a good decision and ultimately lots of adventures in future.

Many Thanks in advance, Mike

I'm on my 5th Autosleeper in 20 years, I am a strong proponent of voting with my feet so would not be with an Autosleeper if there was a build quality issue.

Yes you do get faults but AS have an excellent reputation for repair under warranty, you should not have any issues with a 2016 van but bear in mind that at that age, heaters, fridges and similar appliances are coming to the end of their expected life.

Expect a well loved van to have done around 6,000 miles a year; someone who uses the van a lot will have looked after it.

With Mercedes, you get what you pay for and, in my opinion, the Sprinter is far superior to the Boxer/Ducato and, although dearer to buy, tends to be cheaper to keep.

Yes, you will read of complaints about AS on here but it is a brand specific forum - the brand being AS so it is to be expected. They're not perfect but there are far worse out there and satisfied customers don’t usually post how happy they are with their MHs.

We sold our 2015 Broadway two years ago. It had over 30k miles on it and was well looked after. We’d had no problems with the Peugeot side of it, and the few we’d had with AS were quickly repaired under warranty and did not reoccur. By coincidence we’d also had an Autotrail but several years previously and in my view the AS was the better built van of the two. 

We changed to a campervan and the only reason we didn’t get an AS was layout. Enjoy your search.

Of Autosleepers I've had two Ford's, one Peugeot,  ons Fiat and from 2011 to 2022 a Mercedes.  The brakes on the Merc were appalling and cost me a fortune in repairs and I had far more issues with the chassis/engine than with all of the others put together - it was though as fast as our MX5 and had brilliant handling with standard  suspension. Never say never but I'm very unlikely to pay the extra £20k for a Merc again.

My experience has been the opposite of Peter's but a factor to consider when choosing base vehicle brands is the location of servicing/repair/MOT garages within reach of your location as a lot do not have headroom capacity to take MHs.

PS. Take a look at the thread Paul started HERE

Welcome to the forum. Finding your perfect van or motorhome can be down to personal preferences as others have said.
I had Transits and VW vans for work so I tend to trust what I know. Sadly Autosleeper stopped using Ford as a base not long after our Rienza was built. It’s old style habitation build based on a commercial vehicle chassis but it suites us for now and hopefully will see us well into retirement without to meany big bills for repairs.

Thanks for those replies, it's much appreciated.

Tinwheeler wrote:My experience has been the opposite of Peter's but a factor to consider when choosing base vehicle brands is the location of servicing/repair/MOT garages within reach of your location as a lot do not have headroom capacity to take MHs.

PS. Take a look at the thread Paul started HERE

You don't show your current van. Any reason?

rgermain wrote:
You don't show your current van. Any reason?

It’s a Westfalia Jules Verne on a Merc Vito. My Avatar was complete but somehow was altered outside of my control 

Unless an automatic is essential for you keep to Peugeot. The big advantage is that the Ford Puma 2.2l engine it has uses a timing CHAIN and not s belt. That saves you about £500 every 5 years or so. That engine is  better than the old 2.8 hdi.