Hi we are looking to get a motor home and one we have looked at has fwd it is over 7m and we wonder about the effect this has on the performance and handling, as we havent had one before, ( fwd that is ) Please.
annies3,
Apr 25, 6:55am
Hi we are looking to get a motor home and one we have looked at has fwd it is over 7m and we wonder about the effect this has on the performance and handling, as we havent had one before, ( fwd that is )
budgel,
Apr 25, 7:18am
4WD means you will have a more complex drivelineandthe maintenance and fuel consumption that goes with it. They generally have higher ground clearance which may affect cornering on tighter roads.
At 7m long, you wont be doing much bush bashing, but could be handy if you want to get a bit further away from main roads.
msigg,
Apr 25, 7:36am
I think budgel is confused.FWD engine bays are a bit more compact, turning circles may not be as good/!, cheaper to manufacture, plenty on the road, ask a service person who works at a mobile home hire company for feed back, also caravan motor home association.Thats your best bet. Those that own them for feed back. cheers.
morrisjvan,
Apr 25, 7:44am
I think you'll find FWD is Front wheel drive not Four wheel drive .
edangus,
Apr 25, 7:54am
No way I would be buying a FWD Motorhome. RWD or 4WD. I certainly would not feel confident with a FWD set up.
edangus,
Apr 25, 8:09am
Don't get me wrong, great for the A-B small to medium cars, but for a Motorhome! Go take out a Dodge Journey (FWD) or a Mitsi Outlander (keep in FWD only) chuck a load in and see how it behaves. Its just not very nice.
mugenb20b,
Apr 25, 8:21am
I see your point, but the weight of the drivetrain keeps the front end down, where the driving wheels are, so traction isn't a problem even if you do carry some weight.
Also, one would assume that a motorhome has a beefy rear suspension, so carrying a heavy load shouldn't be a problem.
intrade,
Apr 25, 9:07am
both my vans have no problems and both are fwd. camper is mb140 sangyoung istana-mercedes got up any gravel road no problem.
motorboy2011,
Apr 25, 9:11am
Parents had a rear wheel drive Toyota Dolphin (auto 3L V6), then some sort of front wheel drive 5 speed Fiat thing. They had no preference of one over the other, and no probs driving either of them, lived in both for approx a year each traveling so saw all weather conditions.
annies3,
Apr 25, 12:36pm
Thanks for the opinions, some food for thought there.
budgel,
Apr 25, 12:48pm
Sorry, I thought the OP meant 4WD, my mistake.
sr2,
Apr 26, 9:03am
After many years of owning RWD vans (love the old Hiace!); with sometrepidation I bought a FWD Euro as I wanted size, comfort and most importantly the power and economy you get from modern common rail diesels. I need a van for carrying my band gear around and towing the boat, the race car and a sometimes trailer full of dirt bikes. Despite my initial apprehension I am now sold on FWD vans, the traction is superior with all loads, there is a vast improvement in handling and the transverse motor and transmission offers far more crash protection and interior room than conventional forward control Vans. Although I??
nightboss,
Apr 26, 10:48am
I have towed two frontwheel drive vans that have got themselves stuck.
[1] was a 4berth rented camper, parked facing uphill on gravel at a tourist spot on the Haast road, easy to move to seal with my 4WD. [2] was a Mercedes van used by a dive company, dragged van and boat on trailer up boatramp at low tide, also easy but without help would have been in trouble from rising tide.
I don't blame the vehicles, it was the drivers errors both times. Keep to level or sealed areas and FWD should be fine, or take a tow rope, there are plenty of helpers when required.
richardmayes,
Apr 26, 10:52am
I have never owned a light truck or motorhome, but I have driven a few rented ones. I can see a few advantages, and no real disadvantages to a front-wheel-drive motorhome.
Advantages:
A FWD van/light truck chassis probably gives you a motorhome with a lower floor and/or more room for bigger water tanks, compared to a "conventional" RWD one that has room for the gearbox, propshaft and back axle under the floorboards.
As others above have hinted, a FWD one is probably going to be powered by a much newer/better diesel engine than the RWD alternatives.
Disadvantages:
Concerns about handling! ALL motorhomes have so little power and so little rubber on the road (compared with a car or SUV) that comparing their on-road handling to a Mitsubishi Outlander or a Dodge Journey is false. You won't be carving up corners like you would be in a car, so you certainly don't need "rwd handling". So on the road - no disadvantages!
Concerns about going offroad and getting stuck! As others have said, you're not going to get stuck on any reasonably good unsealed road, carpark or DoC campsite where you might sensibly want to take a motorhome. If you have a rush of blood to the head and decide to drive it up a skifield access road or some muddy back-country track, you might get stuck SLIGHTLY SOONER in a front-wheel-drive motorhome than a rear-wheel-drive one. But this is a highly moot point, since you wouldn't take ANY motorhome to those places if you were sensible. So off-road, no real disadvantages either!
[Edit: I had not seen Nightboss' 12:48 comment above when I typed this. Evidently you CAN get them stuck, if you drive/park them with no appreciation that you are driving a FWD heavy vehicle!]
But if you are driving ANY large vehicle, you should be thinking all the time about things like "if I go in there, can I get out again!" IMHO.
sr2,
Apr 26, 11:57am
#15. Good post, nothing like a little common sense.
edangus,
Apr 26, 1:43pm
Agree, very sound and valid, but FWD not my cup o tea in a big rig, maybe I am a dinosaur.
sr2,
Apr 26, 2:00pm
LOL, point taken; I have to say being old school I was very sceptical until I tried driving one. I suspect the more sophisticated independent front end keep the wheels in far better contact with the road than a solid rear axel with a high centre of gravity load above it. It's very noticeable how much earlier you can get the power on when exiting corners without the usual associated (for a van) body roll.
newtec1,
Apr 26, 2:19pm
I doubt it @ 7 mts long.I have neverseen a Front wheel drive in a bus,why would they do that when they have plenty of room for conventional drive.
annies3,
Apr 26, 4:15pm
Its not a bus but as said above, maybe its to allow for more space for the water tanks etc
annies3,
Apr 26, 4:17pm
LOL hubby is a truck driver and he will be doing the driving (if we do get this one) and I don't think he considers it a big rig.
annies3,
Apr 26, 4:19pm
Thanks again everyone, more for thought. Though I think taking it for a decent test drive will help the decision.
108895,
Apr 26, 6:15pm
$600 rego, disadvantage right there
johnf_456,
Apr 26, 8:01pm
Good advice as always sr2, modern FWD have come a long way since the earlier ones.
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