Diesel in the water tank - Part 2

[alwaysared]

So we finally got to see the motorhome, first of all it was a Rapido A Class not a Dethleffs but no real hardship although we like Dethleffs we're open minded about what we buy.
The good things (for us) was it's a Merc 2.7TD with tiptronic gearbox (not sure if the tiptronic is a good or bad thing), the layout is what we're looking for with a fixed french bed, a separate shower cubicle and a large fridge with separate freezer. It's only just over 6m long (20ft) and it also has a drop down bed at the front, although it's not something we need.
The bad things (again for us) the paintwork is quite faded (never been polished) as are all the decals but both can be put right, the tyres will probably need replacing, it doesn't have solar, it only has a single (small) leisure battery (they always used sites with EHU) and the worst thing was her son has now told her she's not asking enough so the price has increased by £5000 (no I didn’t check the asking price before going and she didn’t say it had increased either, lesson learned!) which makes it a similar price to what a dealer would ask, but I would probably get some sort of warranty from a dealer whereas this will be sold as seen but most importantly it puts it out of my price range!
So it seems that my search goes on, I'm not in any rush as I've already got a working van so I can still go away when I want to.
It has got me thinking about the base vehicle though, I was sure I'd end up with a Fiat 2.8JTD but the Merc sounded much quieter than the Fiat's I've looked at, I'll start a separate thread about the pros and cons of these engines so I can gather information to help me make the correct decision.

Regards,
Del

 

[mark61]

If you want to know more about the gearbox, search for "mercedes sprintshift" or "sprinter sprintshift". Mercedes dropped it in 2006 when the NCV3 Sprinter was released, in favour of a conventional auto option, but the sprintshift carried on in the VW Crafter until 2016 and called Shiftmatic instead of sprintshift.
Lots of info online on the sprintshift, less on the shiftmatic.

 

[RichardHelen262]

It is a shame she increased the asking price, but then there is nearly always a friend or relative in the background that think they know better,
I would have left her a offer and said if you change your mind I am willing to give you X amount for it providing I haven’t found something else in the mean time.
As there won’t be a que of people wanting to pay dealer prices, and any dealer will be at least 6k under forecourt price.

 

[winks]

Morning Del. I’ll chip in my two pen’orth on the quest. Our hobby has the Fiat 2.8 jtd on an 05 plate and is reasonably quiet. Pulls very well even dragging the Hobby tag axle around and has returned a maximum of 30 mpg on one occasion. We bought ours with trade in from Motorlands in Lytham and we’re content with the sales process. The stock they carry is huge and supplied largely from the bigger dealerships like Marquis and Todd’s so a decent practical knowledge of motorhome build is useful. I found some damp in ours a month or two after taking delivery and they remedied it by replacing some inner floor and supporting timber and kept me informed with pictures of the work as it progressed.

If you really fancy that Merc I’d also be tempted to offfer what you think it’s worth to you and leave that on the books whilst the search continues.

Cheers

H

 

[trevskoda]

As above,no one is going to give them top dollar with no warranty,offer 5g below and leave ph number.

 

[alwaysared]

First of all thank you for all the replies and advice.

It is a shame she increased the asking price, but then there is nearly always a friend or relative in the background that think they know better,
I would have left her a offer and said if you change your mind I am willing to give you X amount for it providing I haven’t found something else in the mean time.
As there won’t be a que of people wanting to pay dealer prices, and any dealer will be at least 6k under forecourt price.

I was going to leave an offer but I decided not to due to the fact she increased the price by so much and like I said I'm in no hurry.
My mate who originally told me about it was amazed that she'd increased it by so much and he told me she called a local dealer about three months ago and he offered her £9000 less than she's now asking so at the original price, which I would probably have given her she would have been £4000 better off!
If I'm honest I don't particulary want an A class so I'll continue my search for a low profile C class, I know where there is a Dethleffs that fits the bill with the Fiat 2.8JTD, a year newer and £8000 cheaper but it's got 135,000 miles on the clock and I know that we use ours a lot and would soon get that nearer 200,000 and so I'm a bit reluctant to buy it. I know people will say that it's not a lot for a big diesel but the suspension and everything else could be or start to be struggling.

Kind regards,
Del