>>why are caravans so pricey?>>
Economies of scale, fortunately no one produces that many of them.
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Motor caravans often seem to be driven slower than trailer caravans.
Is that because a lot of them have been hired and the drivers are scared of damaging them, or perhaps because the caravanners want to admire the scenery.
Having said that, I've been toying with the idea of getting a caravan but prefer the idea of a motorcaravan (camper type, rather than mobile portakabin!) plus a luggage trailer.
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you drive a motorcaravan slowly cos your on holiday.........thats my thinking anyway.
they cost a grand a week to hire up here ...............
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I agree about the reason for the cost. It is economy of scale. Also, there is no such thing as cheap fibreglass mouldings. They are all hand laid in wooden moulds and this takes a great deal of time and skill.
The interiors are not flat pack: quite the contrary, the furniture is structural.
I used to tow a caravan with a Rover SD1 Vitesse and I can tell you I held no one up! I even out dragged an XR3i from the lights on the A27 at Shoreham. I'm not proud, but it was funny!
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\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
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I'm not proud
I would be - oh yes !
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pah
I have seen routemasters outdrag XR3i's
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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TVM,
Just shown SWMBO the teardrop caravan and we are tempted.......her MINI would pull that,,,,,,,,'
To quote Ruth n the Archers OH NO !
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Thats a fun little thing to drag around for weekends away.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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There's always this option:
www.eriba-uk.com/
Yes, that is a Yaris towing it.
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There's always this option: www.eriba-uk.com/ Yes, that is a Yaris towing it.
Last time I went down to Cornwall, in June, there was an old Volvo 480 towing one of those at 50 in the outside lane of the A30 running at the same speed as a line of HGVs for mile after mile. Pest!
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Oh for gods sake, you cant tow that it looks like a porta loo.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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pah I have seen routemasters outdrag XR3i's ------------------------------ TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Yeah but there is normally more people in an XR3i than a Routemaster!
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I was really! I was just trying to sound like I've grown up!
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\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
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'd want at least 100 digital cameras for 10k and at least 12-15 32in or larger LCD or plasma TVs...:-0
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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The current caravan builders offer 4/5 models. each with 2/3 internal layouts + combinations of different woods, fabrics etc.
What is needed to reduce the costs is for 1 manufacturer to produce 1 product that answers the needs of 80% caravanners.
Very limited range of options at a keen price. The rest would ahve to follow
The equivalent of a the Ford Model T - except not in black.
Easyjet & Ryanair showed BA etc's high priced local, European Flights
Dell did the same for PCs.
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One of my wife's numerous cousins had a very big long old caravan outside his cottage in Sussex. I think he's sold it now.
Quite extraordinary thing, very very ornate in a flimsy sort of way inside, with a stove and a lot of cabinets fronted with elaborately engraved perspex, like a posh late 19th century pub or a prostitute's sitting room. Perhaps a traveller/Romany thing. Pretty naff when you're sober but quite jolly after sufficient booze and substances I would think.
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Dell produces alot of different versions that are customisable.....I understand its really competitive advantage is in how it manages the production process to customise products using off the shelf items with very little stock. Part of the ease of their production process is the standardisation of the fundamental chassis and connectivity of parts - eg standard busses etc.
In theory assembling something like a caravan should be pretty standardised once you've designed and templated all the constituent bits plus the bought in equipment.
Maybe just the volumes are not high enough to allow economies of scale. This may stem from caravans being a notoriously nationalistic market...very few Brits buy German or French caravans and likewise so each manufacturer is within reason assembling for a local market a little like the UK car industry in the 1950s. Also to continue this comparison further there has been no obvious external change from US or Japanese market entry that has sharpened up the locals to show how things can be made more efficient.
I always wonder with caravans where is the sort of product that matches the sort of design flair you see in other product areas eg interior design, modern car design eg Audi TT, product design. Surely some people must feel short changed in buying a cream/white prefab box to attach to their clean silvery Germanic machine. Could someone at least have a caravan that is not painted white or cream...how about silver or blue.
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Lots of UK residents buy Foreign camping wagons though, and not just the chassis/engine combination. Look at the number of Hymer campers one see here, and on UK plates. There is a huge market for caravans, look at the numbers on the roads and parked up for the hols. I have read what people have said in reply to my query but I still think that the average caravan is over-priced tat!
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not painted white or cream...how about silver or blue.
Yeah, or bright red with painted flames streaming back from the front end, a stripe down the middle and a racing number on the door, low profile tyres on split-rim wheels, raccoon tail on the radio aerial and a big false exhaust pipe sticking out of the back, perhaps with a device enabling it to emit sheets of flame to deter impatient tailgaters...
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Good. That Eriba thing is horrid.Website seems years out of date,
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Indeed. The vintage ones look pretty good with the right tow vehicle though. I just found a picture of The Grateful Dead's tour bus pulling one. Shame the colour scheme couldn't be more in keeping with the bus:
www.arizonabusclub.com/members/11/default.asp
It's about three pictures down.
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A motor caravan is something I've really never understood. You wake up on a morning, fancy a newspaper and a pint of milk, so you have to lash everything down, unpitch (or whatever the technical term is) and off you go. 10 minutes later you come back and go through the whole palaver in reverse. Potty.
JH
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you could walk to the shop in the healthy fresh air maybe?
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A motorhome only makes sense when its a fully loaded winnibego the size of a train, towing a small car, along the broad broad roads of the states.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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O. That would be rational. If you've bought one of these things you've just disqualified yourself from that category.
And sincere apologies if you have one! It's all a bit of fun. Have a virtual pint on me!
JH
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thanks for the drink but i dont own one,,,,,,,,,,,quite fancy one though,
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