Dan Cartwright has over 12 years of experience in the caravan and motorhome industry. He is a judge for a number of prestigious leisure vehicle awards and regularly heads off in his motorhome with his family. Every week, Dan shares his insights with the community. Here’s what he has to say this week.
In the UK, caravans are sold more frequently than motorhomes. However, the latter is on the rise. The rate of motorhome sales is increasing much more, especially taking the pandemic ‘bubble’ into account. But which is better?
In this week’s edition of the Cartwright Chronicles, we’ll be talking about both in terms of general use rather than specialist. We know most of these vehicles are used for leisure purposes, stay within the UK for the majority of their lives and generally remain on-site for an average of three nights.
Motorhomes are often regarded as aspirational or desirable. Any new member of staff here at CaravanTimes wants to take one away for a test. They want to sample the motorhome lifestyle, while taking the humble caravan out for a spin is seen as less of a perk of the job.
Now, it’s true that many people think driving a motorhome is far easier than towing a caravan, but it’s not just about the journey. Your destination counts too, so don’t forget that. A few years ago, we devised something called the ‘snooker test’. Any time a new member of staff starts at CaravanTimes, we take them to a show or a dealership, where they see both caravans at motorhomes. Then, the snooker test begins. Let’s picture the scenario.
You’ve planned a day out, but the weather has turned sour. It’s only midday and already you’re soaking wet and freezing cold. Now, the rest of your day of adventure has been abandoned, so you’re heading back to your leisure vehicle to warm up. At this point, you realise 17 frames of the snooker final are on TV tonight. Brilliant! Time to nip to the shop to get enough food and drink to see you through lunch, dinner and into the evening in comfort.
It’s at this stage that we ask a simple question. Caravan or motorhome? Suddenly, the former might seem much more appealing for a few reasons.
You want to head to the shop quickly to grab enough supplies to last from lunch to bedtime. If your leisure vehicle is a caravan, that means you can simply drive the car into town. No problems parking, even in a small town. If you travelled to your holiday destination in a motorhome, you’re going to find nipping to the shops becomes more of an adventure than you bargained for.
Now, think about the amenities. Typically, fridges and cooking facilities are bigger and better in caravans, which means you can cook and store more food, keeping everyone’s appetite at bay throughout the afternoon and evening.
What about your comfort? A motorhome has to have seatbelts and travelling seats for passengers, often limiting the seating configuration. Would you really want to spend an entire evening with the driver’s seat turned around? Most of us would prefer a lovely long bench seat in a caravan.
Even the smaller things count, like the position of your TV. A caravan is essentially a box, with the only purpose of providing comfort and habitation – the space is used entirely for that purpose. This means your TV can be positioned wherever suits you best. Then think about cupboards, charging points and lights – everything in your caravan is designed to be in a convenient place.
Finally, you can’t ignore the cost. A caravan is significantly cheaper than a motorhome and, being a dedicated habitation device, is very practical. Most often, to get anywhere close to the comfort provided by even a cheap caravan, you’ll have to spend two to three times the money.
So, if you were thinking caravans are inferior to motorhomes – think again. Both have their benefits, but it’s definitely worth considering the advantages of a dedicated holiday machine without any compromise on comfort.
Photo credit: Loes Klinker / Unsplash
