Dreamer DSI Select anyone?

So it’s like a ‘door within a door’ which lives in the shower but swings out over the bed when you need to use the shower which being opposite the toilet means a full width bathroom,hope that explains it ,regards, rog A1A0108A-B83B-4F40-958E-8F8FA25AE5AE.jpegBADE051B-FE8F-4100-93B8-603FF2A700A8.jpeg358C6365-87BF-431A-BCE9-7BE6F3217859.jpeg5B4B8C9E-C885-4A9B-B936-3281B2AAA8D6.jpeg1838D030-D48E-4EDA-82AB-69D67CBAF396.jpeg
 
guerdeval said:
I have a Rapido V55 with the ingenious (patented) wardrobe inside the shower arrangement and it works great, basically provides a full width ‘en-suite’ when the toilet door is used as a partition from the lounge. I can post pics of how it works or if you’re quick see it on EBay .
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Brilliant van, and not just because of the ingenious shower room. If it was not for the fact we wanted longitudinal beds, we would have went for this van. But we ordered the V68 instead. Of course these vans are are also available from Dreamer a Rapido subsidiary company as the D55.
 
trevskoda said:
Over 40 odd years of working in and out of the motor trade I would be inclined to stay well clear of ford, just my opinion, good luck.
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Your not wrong. They have s massive problem with injectors. My mate had an engine ruined and now a gearbox ruined by a garage that ford wanted him to take it too. It's a long story but in short my mate has had months and months of problems. This is a modern motorhome with 26 k miles on the clock. I too would agree with you mate🙄
 
There's a saying " After all is said and done, there's a lot more said than done".
I have a theory which I can defend. It goes like this: A coachbuilt motorhome where the body is the same width as the cab will drive like a panel van but have more useable space inside, particularly at the roof cupboards where there is a right angled joint and not the curved joint of a van. Also the converters are not constrained by the position of the reinforcing struts in a van, and the insulation is likely to be better. A lot of quality converters now give a 10 year damp ingress warranty.
On Monday we went to Emmbee motorhomes in Bury to see an automatic Hymer, but although its mileage was low, it was showing signs of wear and tear, also it was MGW 3850 and to downplate it wouldn't leave much payload.
While we were there we saw a Burstner 590 which is a 5.9mtr long coachbuilt and the same width as the Fiat Ducato cab. It was sold, but we looked around and in it, and placed an order for one coming in May. Trouble is it had a raised double bed at the rear, crosswise which needed a small ladder. We thought that's no problem . . . .
Then over two nights of fitful sleep worrying about getting in and out of the bed in ten years time - or five, who knows when we will be all creaky and crackling joints? Then I saw this one advertised, also at EmmBee: (It says in stock but it isn't, it is on pre-order for dealer delivery in May.)
It has a lovely posh island bed. It is 6.9mtr long which is the absolute maximum I would contemplate and still only as wide as the cab. I measured my driveway which is 8.5mtr from flower bed to pavement so it would certainly fit at home. They don't have one in stock but they forward order in bulk, which gives them priority on the production line at Burstner. They are apparently the biggest Burstner turnover dealer in the UK, though they don't have the poshest premises. They have one of these 700s with an automatic box on pre-order due for delivery in May. So we changed our order from the 590 to the 700 and wait patiently and continue using our Hobby in the meanwhile.
When I recall that I was considering paying £78,000 for a left hand drive bottom of the range manual gearbox Globe Traveller van (which isn't available anywhere except on a printed price list), I think this Auto Burstner at £75k is a far far better bet. Quite apart from the fact that Globe Travellers are not available anywhere, unless you want the show model which is LHD and around £95,000.
So it's a Burstner 700 for us, with a big bed we can just collapse on without risk of injury . .
 
gasgas said:
In the early 1980s I was specialising in Peugeot 504s. I was astonished to find that a 2 litre Sierra cost £6 less than a 2 litre Peugeot 504. For the life of me I could not see any reason why anyone would buy the Ford. Except pure and simple ignorance. I could list 100 reasons why the Peugeot was galaxies away from Ford in quality but that would bore a lot of you.
Fast forward to 1999 when I was manufacturing reversing sensors for Rover. I found that they had several divisions, small car and large car. The divisions never talked to each other. Large Car was better quality than Small Car. Similarly I found that Ford Commercial is better quality than Ford small car (whatever they are called).
A few years ago I bought my daughter a Fiat Sciento which of course went wrong. I diagnosed the engine management computer to be faulty. Fiat wanted £80 + VAT to diagnose it then a further £880 + VAT to supply and fit. She found a 'man in a shed' in the middle of the country somewhere that repairs them for £100 including VAT and including two years warranty. We took it there, they reprogrammed it and we returned to collect it. Daughter said she didn't like her Fiat going wrong, she was thinking of getting a Peugeot.
Mr Fixit said "You have already got The Most Breaking Down Car In The World. If you want The Second Most Breaking Down Car In The World get a French one".
'What do you suggest?'
"Get a Japanese one, made in Japan. We have never had a single electronic box in for repair for a Suzuki Swift"

Anyway part of me says that the commercial versions of any vehicle are going to be tougher than the domestic car versions.
Part of me intrinsically hates Ford for their past behaviour - first to do away with grease nipples, gearbox and diff drain plugs, carburettor spares, gearsticks that come away in your hand, narrow crankshaft bearings and big ends . . . . . . .
Part of me intrinsically hates Fiat for 'Fix It Again Tomorrow' syndrome and in the case of motorhomes, crappy dashboard designs only useful for holding bananas.
Part of me intrinsically hates Citroens - and by association Peugeots - they are French. Assembled by Galloise smoking, vino swilling couldn't-give-two-hoots factory workers of which I have had a £10,000 Rapido experience.


What I really hate about new vehicles is all the electronics. I don't need a lane departure warning, I have passed my driving test. I don't need automatic headlights turning on, I have eyes and I know when it is dark. I can kick the tyres, I don't need pressure warning things - which incidentally fail the MOT if they don't work. Or even if they do work but the dashboard says they aren't working.
I've just got rid of a new (at least, I regard 2006 as far too new for its own good) Volvo which passed the MOT test with flying colours on the brake tests. Howver because some stupid computer put a message on the dash to the effect that there was a fault with the braking system, it failed the MOT test. Yet another £1000 job just because of a stupid message. I took it to the nearest interested person and sold it for half what I had paid a year previously.
I bought myself a shiny beautiful 1983 Mercedes with no electronics that Faraday wouldn't recognise. It's fabulous.

What do you reckon of the current crop of manufacturers that make the base vehicles for motorhomes Trev? I trtemble to think that one day I might have to buy one. My current 2009 Transit Euro 4 has been reliable for 2 years, I have no complaints.
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Hard to know as even the iveco new models are not as good as the old 2.8 not magic box vans, best thing is to talk to a breakdown co and they will tell you what to stay clear of, i worked for toyota in the seventies, very little of any trouble at all, except tin worm.
 
Jo001 and we [Steve & Elaine] each own a Burstner IT590, both on a 16 Plate and we both live in the same town. We don't have a dog though ...

The 590 has its limitations, but it packs an awful lot into a small M/Home. The drop down bed does mean that when one person needs the loo, the other has to get up too, but, on the plus side, it's one of the few times we go out together ... :D. The body is about 15 inches wider than the cab

The avatar shows us parked at Gourdon Harbour, Aberdeenshire in Aug 2021. The space was just about big enough to get the ringside seat, a big advantage with a small M/Home

Steve
 
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Pudsey Bear said:
Neither of the vans mentioned/linked are the same width as the cab though, both are wider, not much but wider, no way to attach a coachbuilt but on the outside of the cab cowl, I don't think there are any the same width as the cab except PVCs.

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As this, the vans mentioned are 2.2m wide, there is a Rapido range which are 2.17, AFAIK for the narrowest square sided van you would need to look at Cathago Compact LIne which are 2.12m A class.
 
gasgas said:
There's a saying " After all is said and done, there's a lot more said than done".
I have a theory which I can defend. It goes like this: A coachbuilt motorhome where the body is the same width as the cab will drive like a panel van but have more useable space inside, particularly at the roof cupboards where there is a right angled joint and not the curved joint of a van. Also the converters are not constrained by the position of the reinforcing struts in a van, and the insulation is likely to be better. A lot of quality converters now give a 10 year damp ingress warranty.
On Monday we went to Emmbee motorhomes in Bury to see an automatic Hymer, but although its mileage was low, it was showing signs of wear and tear, also it was MGW 3850 and to downplate it wouldn't leave much payload.
While we were there we saw a Burstner 590 which is a 5.9mtr long coachbuilt and the same width as the Fiat Ducato cab. It was sold, but we looked around and in it, and placed an order for one coming in May. Trouble is it had a raised double bed at the rear, crosswise which needed a small ladder. We thought that's no problem . . . .
Then over two nights of fitful sleep worrying about getting in and out of the bed in ten years time - or five, who knows when we will be all creaky and crackling joints? Then I saw this one advertised, also at EmmBee: (It says in stock but it isn't, it is on pre-order for dealer delivery in May.)
It has a lovely posh island bed. It is 6.9mtr long which is the absolute maximum I would contemplate and still only as wide as the cab. I measured my driveway which is 8.5mtr from flower bed to pavement so it would certainly fit at home. They don't have one in stock but they forward order in bulk, which gives them priority on the production line at Burstner. They are apparently the biggest Burstner turnover dealer in the UK, though they don't have the poshest premises. They have one of these 700s with an automatic box on pre-order due for delivery in May. So we changed our order from the 590 to the 700 and wait patiently and continue using our Hobby in the meanwhile.
When I recall that I was considering paying £78,000 for a left hand drive bottom of the range manual gearbox Globe Traveller van (which isn't available anywhere except on a printed price list), I think this Auto Burstner at £75k is a far far better bet. Quite apart from the fact that Globe Travellers are not available anywhere, unless you want the show model which is LHD and around £95,000.
So it's a Burstner 700 for us, with a big bed we can just collapse on without risk of injury . .
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you're quite right to think twice about the height of the bed, I've just sold the rapid V55 as my wife couldn't get in it due to bad hips, bought a simpler 2 singles layout .
 
Some years ago I bought a new Rapido with an electric bed. Brownhills failed three times to get it working properly and in the end it was left to me to chase the bed manufacturer in Italy and get the bed's installation and operation workshop manual. The fault was that the Galoise smoking, vino quaffing urchin on the Rapido line couldn't be bothered to push an 8 pin plug and socket together. I cut it out and soldered all the wires and thought oh good, I've fixed it. Then one corner of the bed collapsed and that was the last straw, it had to go. That exercise cost me £8,000. I'll never get a Rapido again, they have no idea what the words Quality Control stand for, even in French.
 
gasgas said:
Some years ago I bought a new Rapido with an electric bed. Brownhills failed three times to get it working properly and in the end it was left to me to chase the bed manufacturer in Italy and get the bed's installation and operation workshop manual. The fault was that the Galoise smoking, vino quaffing urchin on the Rapido line couldn't be bothered to push an 8 pin plug and socket together. I cut it out and soldered all the wires and thought oh good, I've fixed it. Then one corner of the bed collapsed and that was the last straw, it had to go. That exercise cost me £8,000. I'll never get a Rapido again, they have no idea what the words Quality Control stand for, even in French.
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Don’t get me started on the quality, first trip out a 4” bolt fell out of the rear high cupboards, I had to use the vehicle jack to hold it in place till I could get it mended, the rattling was so bad I really did wear ear defenders and the van wasn’t fitted with HD rear springs and rode on the bump stops constantly, fortunately due to todays financial climate I didn’t lose money but sold it to a dealer to appease my conscience,I would have felt really bad selling it privately.
 
guerdeval said:
Don’t get me started on the quality, first trip out a 4” bolt fell out of the rear high cupboards, I had to use the vehicle jack to hold it in place till I could get it mended, the rattling was so bad I really did wear ear defenders and the van wasn’t fitted with HD rear springs and rode on the bump stops constantly, fortunately due to todays financial climate I didn’t lose money but sold it to a dealer to appease my conscience,I would have felt really bad selling it privately.
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All current Rapido vans come with reinforced rear suspension, and offer air suspension as an option. Most manufacturers don't offer reinforced rear suspension as standard, or offer the air suspension as an option, some don’t even offer reinforced rear suspension as an option.
 
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coundonroad said:
I bought a new Weinsberg from the Newark dealer just down the road from Brownhills, early last year.
I can't comment on SMC's aftersales particularly, as nothing has gone wrong with it, but I was slightly amused by references to their neighbour as 'Frownhills', 'Downhills', and 'Clownhills'*. Maybe not very professional, but it ties in with much of what one hears elsewhere...
*Only by minions of course!
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Bought my van from SMC, and with the apalling aftersales service I got from them, they've got a brass neck making those comments.
 
I bought my first van from Knowepark in Livingston just outside Edinburgh. Well all I heard were bad reports.
But my personal experience of them was excellent. So much so that if they sold the new van I ordered I would have not bothered to look elsewhere.
My first Van was a chauson, and initially we had some issues, would I buy another Chausson, yes if they made what I was looking for.
My second dealer Catterick caravans, well I would neither recommend them or condemn them.
My current van a Roller Team Pegaso 590 had issues, but I would recommend this van, and would not hesitate to have bought another Roller Team if they made what I was looking for.
The way I looked at this when I ran my business was you don't know how good we were until you got a problem, and we were good.
When you buy something as complicated as a motorhome you can expect issues early on.
Every manufacturer will have folk who are not happy with what they have bought, no manufacturer or dealer has a 100% track record.
 
The thing to bear in mind with all the complaints you see and hear., is that people are quicker to voice complaints than compliments, unless the service given was spectacularly greater than you would normally expect. I have been thus overwhelmed by the service I got from my local travel agent. Having booked a cruise at the published price of £9,850, about a week later they phoned me to say that P&O had instructed them to refund £3,400 to me. I think the travel agent could have said nothing, kept the money and I would have been none the wiser. Guess where I will be going for my future holidays? (other than in the motorhome of course!). Holiday Lounge, Lutterworth.
I do however believe that the build quality of motorhomes is somewhat less than that of cars where the manufacturers have a very low tolerance of warranty claims. If you are manufacturing something for them, one fault in 1000 will get you a warning. And so on down to one in a hundred and you are dead.
One Burstner dealer told me his version of why Burstners (and possibly other German manufacturers) are better than any other make. He said, certainly in the UK and in my experience, France) the factory workers get an end of year bonus in proportion to the number they get out of the factory gates. He said with Burstner, the factory bosses put a percentage of all the vehicles sold into a kitty. Warranty claims are paid out of that kitty. At the end of the year, the kitty is shared amongs the staff. So they all have a vested interest in getting it right first time. I am certainly convinced that German built motorhomes are the best quality. Far, far superior to AutoSleepers.
 
gasgas said:
The thing to bear in mind with all the complaints you see and hear., is that people are quicker to voice complaints than compliments, unless the service given was spectacularly greater than you would normally expect. I have been thus overwhelmed by the service I got from my local travel agent. Having booked a cruise at the published price of £9,850, about a week later they phoned me to say that P&O had instructed them to refund £3,400 to me. I think the travel agent could have said nothing, kept the money and I would have been none the wiser. Guess where I will be going for my future holidays? (other than in the motorhome of course!). Holiday Lounge, Lutterworth.
I do however believe that the build quality of motorhomes is somewhat less than that of cars where the manufacturers have a very low tolerance of warranty claims. If you are manufacturing something for them, one fault in 1000 will get you a warning. And so on down to one in a hundred and you are dead.
One Burstner dealer told me his version of why Burstners (and possibly other German manufacturers) are better than any other make. He said, certainly in the UK and in my experience, France) the factory workers get an end of year bonus in proportion to the number they get out of the factory gates. He said with Burstner, the factory bosses put a percentage of all the vehicles sold into a kitty. Warranty claims are paid out of that kitty. At the end of the year, the kitty is shared amongs the staff. So they all have a vested interest in getting it right first time. I am certainly convinced that German built motorhomes are the best quality. Far, far superior to AutoSleepers.
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I agree that German cars, motorhomes and just about anything engineered should be better.
But I have no doubt that there are unhappy hymer, Carthago, and other makes with unsatisfied customers.
My current dealer sell Malibu vans, and most of them have initial issuers.
I looked at a Burstner van conversion but a few things including only taking two small 3.8L gas cylinders put me off.
But it was a good van, just did not have what I want.
I feel when buying a van conversion you are less reliant on the converter than when buying a motorhome.
Rapido unlike other manufactures honour the price given at time of order.
To date my van has increased by over £4000 with a further rise due in June.
But my van will be delivered at the price given, even though the contract allows for price increases.
I will do a full review on here a few months after I get it, and I expect it to include faults.:(
 
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