gulfstream endura

[Guitarman1477]

hello all, I'm hoping people on here can give me some advice that i desperately need before i make a purchase of my first motorhome. I'm 61 years old, and have wandered about a motorhome for many years, nearly made a purchase of a 40' rv 4 years ago, and I'm pretty glad i didn't.
so back to present day, i started looking and was looking at a european vehicle, auctorial or a hobby. then i was offered something very interesting, which was literally almost on my doorstep. i was contacted by a lovely lady who told me she had a gulf stream endura, 5500 drama engine 6.6 with 1 slide out,
i went to view it and i really liked it, chatted with her and sat in it, everything about it was ideal, it has done 12,000 miles from new, has onboard generator, is 32' long, and i guess all standard stuff, apparently these machines are $130,000 from new, asking price was £30,000 stirling, negociated down to £25k, not a lot of money for what your getting. my problems i have are A, this vehicle seems to heavy for my driving license, i passed my test pre 1973, i have been told its a (grey area) and not to be concerned, i was told by the owner the duramax engine can return 23-25 mpg driven sensibly, yet everywhere i have looked online says thats not the case and that 16-18 mpg is more likely, these 2 things i have mentioned have definitely made me think twice about the purchase, can anybody comment on this? also can anyone advise if price is right for for this 2006 rv?
the tyres are the original tyres, i have told the owner they will need changing as tyres (even brand new) have a 7 year shelf life, does anybody know how much a tyre is for these rv?
and lastly some advice on wild camping, if you are parked up at night, have settled in for the night to watch tv, sitting there in your slippers etc, knock on the door its the police, you've had a few glasses of wine, can you be breathalysed and arrested/charged with drink driving? ill throw it out there and see what opinions i get, thanks all in advance, i hope you can help.

 

[izwozral]

I don't know about the issues you raise regarding the MH, others will come along soon.

When parked up for the night with a bottle of wine open, spin the drivers seat around to face the hab area, make the bed, put screens up and don't have the keys in your pocket. It would be a foolish copper that tried to claim your were about to drink drive.

Just found this site with a few Endura's on, you can compare prices. Gulf Stream Endura - New & Used RVs for Sale on RVT.com - Page 1 of 1

 

[witzend]

Great looking vans my only concern would be accessing places a lot of car parks don't accommodate small vans and how driveable it would be OTR
Best of luck with It

 

[Guitarman1477]

gulfstream

I don't know about the issues you raise regarding the MH, others will come along soon.

When parked up for the night with a bottle of wine open, spin the drivers seat around to face the hab area, make the bed, put screens up and don't have the keys in your pocket. It would be a foolish copper that tried to claim your were about to drink drive.

Just found this site with a few Endura's on, you can compare prices. Gulf Stream Endura - New & Used RVs for Sale on RVT.com - Page 1 of 1

thanks for response

 

[Roger Haworth]

On the drink driving issue I think Izwozral's advice is generally correct however I think you need to consider what you would do if for what ever reason you had to drive off in the middle of the night having just had a few drinks.

For instance what if you had failed to notice a no parking sign and the police came to move you on. What if the police thought where you were parked was causing an obstruction?

Before I settle down for the night anywhere which I think is at all marginal I have a good look round for officious signs, yellow lines, proximity of gateways and other means of access etc and I think very carefully about whether anyone might object to me parking there for the night.

 

[invalid]

gulf stream endura, 5500 drama engine 6.6 with 1 slide out and 32ft long, most caravan sites will welcome you like the plague, most wilding locations will be far too small, and to narrow an entrance, and don’t forget the width of this thing, it’s not built for normal European roads, don’t even think of Devon or many places in Cornwall, our small roads are far too narrow for the American RV’s and as the roads are very twisty you will find getting round some corners very challenging. If you only want to drive down motorways you will be fine, having owned RV’s I would think a more realistic fuel consumption is 9-16mpg, but I feel that will be one of the smaller worries you will have to contend with. Think long and hard about what you want out of this MH, unless you intend spending a long time in one place you will need to be driving it, and are you happy to be driving it in sometimes very restricted areas? Best of luck with your choise and I hope you come to the right desision for you.:cheers:

 

[Deleted member 37170]

Having owned a 34' RV I can tell you that 12 to 18 MPG is about right. Mine had the Chevrolet 6.5 litre engine which is somewhat standard in many RVs. Mine had gas conversion so I got pretty good return but still very costly if you do the mileage but as stated, if you use the beast for two or three holiday trips then fuel costs are not really relevant. My late wife and I spent 9 months in ours, the last 6 weeks parked up in a friends farm on the Isle of Wight but the rest of the time we had great difficulty finding places to park up. I wouldn't own another one now on the basis of my experience of one, but I fondly remember the times we had and the comfort we had from what was a bungalow on wheels. I totally agree with the other posters on here that a police officer would use common sense about finding a person in a Motor home having an alcoholic drink, and to move that person on would be tantamount to abetting a person to drink and drive.

Picture of my old RV:

 

[toasty]

Unless you have a sober driver in the van then police would in theory be able to accuse you of being `drunk in charge of a vehicle` even if you`re not driving at the time.

Also, just my opinion, you get more freedom as far as wildcamping is concerned if you have a smaller van.
Have a good think.
:have fun:

 

[Guitarman1477]

gulfstream

I would not worry about the mpg too many people get really hooked up about fuel consumption.
Unless you are going to be doing a huge mileage a year,which most motorhomes don't the extra fuel is peanuts in comparison to any other European motorhome.
What ever you buy it is a compromise,we love the space in ours but miss the ease of driving and parking the baby tag axle 8.6 metre van we had before.
Do not miss the blingy crap build quality of the swift but to be honest most modern vans including the German one's are now as bad.
All vans have their own issues it's really all about personal choice and I can almost guarantee you will not get it right on your first motorhome.

thanks for advice, so your saying basically, my first motorhome is going to be a mistake? you have got me worried now, don't really want to spend £25k then find I've made a mistake. so ,are even the top euro ones got bad build quality? tutorials etc etc??

 

[Guitarman1477]

gulfstream

Having owned a 34' RV I can tell you that 12 to 18 MPG is about right. Mine had the Chevrolet 6.5 litre engine which is somewhat standard in many RVs. Mine had gas conversion so I got pretty good return but still very costly if you do the mileage but as stated, if you use the beast for two or three holiday trips then fuel costs are not really relevant. My late wife and I spent 9 months in ours, the last 6 weeks parked up in a friends farm on the Isle of Wight but the rest of the time we had great difficulty finding places to park up. I wouldn't own another one now on the basis of my experience of one, but I fondly remember the times we had and the comfort we had from what was a bungalow on wheels. I totally agree with the other posters on here that a police officer would use common sense about finding a person in a Motor home having an alcoholic drink, and to move that person on would be tantamount to abetting a person to drink and drive.

Picture of my old RV:
View attachment 35796

thankyou bopper for the advice, I'm going to need a rethink here

 

[phillybarbour]

Think long and hard about an American RV. Our euro van is 29ft long but critically only as wide as any other motorhome. Width can be a much bigger restriction than length. I have never not got somewhere, but one or two places where very tight on width.

Love the space it offers but longer or wider would be a no no, it's not about driving it as I have a HGV 1 it's about access. Friend has a American RV mpg is around 14.

 

[2cv]

I spent years contemplating my first motorhome, and did rent once to check out ideas. In the end Ive had my first van for over 3 years now and am very happy that I chose it and have no plans to change.
Definitely not a choice to rush into unless you have money to burn in reselling and changing.
Certainly its a very personal choice and whats right for one will not be for another, depends a lot on how you plan to use it.

 

[campertwo]

I agree with the above comments. I have a 7.3m (25 ft) British made van & sometimes have problems parking in the uk. (I used to drive fire engines btw). Abroad driving & parking is not a problem.
Not all camping sites can accomodate an American rv. The cost of mpg could be improved by going over to lpg, still you will only get around 15mpg & the cost of lpg is only around 60p per litre? Of course it will cost you 2-3k to have it converted!
We looked at the 'Trail-lite' american rv's, 25ft with slide out, but I'm afraid the width is still the same! So not suitable for uk lanes!

I hope you get sorted? :drive:

 

[trevskoda]

You would be better of buying a good hymer or other german made van with a diesel donky,remember fuel is cheep in usa not here and if you brought that to ireland i think a hinge in the middle would be manditory.
Take your time go see others ,you will find that you dont require as much room as you think and a smaller van is easyer to heat in winter/autum/spring.
Some members here may be close to you and let you have a we mosy round there van and give you some tips,and welcome to the start of a new way of life.

 

[ChrisInNotts]

You would be better of buying a good hymer or other german made van with a diesel donky,remember fuel is cheep in usa not here and if you brought that to ireland i think a hinge in the middle would be manditory.
Take your time go see others ,you will find that you dont require as much room as you think and a smaller van is easyer to heat in winter/autum/spring.
Some members here may be close to you and let you have a we mosy round there van and give you some tips,and welcome to the start of a new way of life.

Agree with this. We are relative newbies to vans but are more than happy with our Hymer C class. It has reasonable interior space with a massive overcab double. As only 6 m, we find it not much worse than a car re narrow roads and it does 26-29 mpg.

Keith