2001 Rapido Le Randonneur 740F

alwaysared

alwaysared

Full Member
Posts
1,560
Likes
2,093
Does anyone own an early year 2000 Rapido Le Randonneur 740F on a Fiat Ducato 2.8 chassis? Are they any good? As much as we love my 1996 Fiat Ducato 19TD Dethleffs Globetrotter, which is in excellent condition for it's age we have been thinking of getting something that is a bit newer, with a bigger engine and that's RHD (Diane finds the LHD a bit hard to drive) and looking around we have resigned ourselves to the fact that we probably won't be having another Dethleffs as they are just too expensive for our budget. So now we're looking at alternatives and a 2001 Rapido Le Randonneur 740F on a Fiat Ducato 2.8 chassis as come up for sale, it's low(ish) mileage for the year (53,000), has full service history and ticks most of the boxes for us but I don't know anything about Rapido motorhomes and would love to hear from any felow wild campers as to their merits and downfalls.

Regards,
Del
 
Rapido

I have had 3 Rapido's and have been very happy with all of them, the 786f has the same layout as the 986f A class I have now, all have a good build reputation, I ever change this one it would be another Rapido. Only problem I have heard is sometimes panel parts take quite a while to get hold of if you knock one.
Don't think you will go far wrong, by the way my latest is a 2005, my last 2 were 2001,2003.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Annie has a Rapido and so does Sue doesn’t she (daisyminnie)?

Edit: Sues is a Merc base though
 
Yes I have a Rapido 763F on a 2.8 fiat and I love it would highly recommend them the build quality is great on them and the water tank is inside so making it better for winter use.
 
The other thing you'll enjoy is the extra grunt from that 2.8 after the 1.9td.

We changed from a Hymer on the 1.9td to our much bigger and heavier Hobby 750 tag axle and the power available from the 2.8 is vastly different when it comes to drivability. You'll probably get about the same on mpg as well.

Cheers

H
 
Rapidos seem VG to me

Were our initial Look at vehicles and I suggest you cannot go far wrong !
We went for our LUNAR as
It was £3,000 less
We liked the layout (including a "french bed")
Layout very spacious
Shower in bathroom with a door
Hab door on LHS
 
We've never owned a Rapido but I have been told that they are heavy, sometimes with little payload.
Good luck with your choice.
 
Thank you all for your valued input, we are still undecided what to do and like I said we love our old Dethleffs so we are in no hurry to change it, so we may just wait a little while longer to see what comes along.

Regards,
Del
 
I've had 2 Rapidos and am in the process of buying another. The only thing that would concern me is the early 2.8 fiat gearboxes had the 5th gear as an add on and were prone to failure ie dropping out. Later 2.8 engines were coupled to a new 5 speed gearbox and this combination is pretty bombproof.
This is what I was told by a Fiat engineer before I bought my last one a 2006 model.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top