Bourton

Hi folks,
Thinking of changing my Warwick Duo to a Merc Bourton. Any advice pros and con much appreciated. Is the Merc auto, 7 speed euro 5 a good drive ECT plus any other comments. 

I have only heard good reports on the Merc with the 7 speed box from the people I know. With today's offering of chassis would be my favourite if we were to change

Great chassis & engine. Poor payload...better than Stanton but still <400kg on 3500kg chassis. Not sure if it has a real spare wheel. I know the Stanton doesn't due to payload concerns.

Claytaa wrote:Hi folks,
Thinking of changing my Warwick Duo to a Merc Bourton. Any advice pros and con much appreciated. Is the Merc auto, 7 speed euro 5 a good drive ECT plus any other comments. 

We liked the Bourton,  , I would say you will like the Merc. I think the body is a bit widder on the Merc. the engine will certainly be quiet , we keep looking at Auto Sleepers but we like Aldi heating which at the NEC last year they said they did not do it ,it's supposed to be heavier than blown air , also not much storage for chairs etc. probably due to more storage means more weight getting near to being overweight, I think like all manufactuers they need to start looking into modern strong lighter materials , anyhow good luck .

Tony A

Hi Claytaa.    Recently purchased Burford Duo on Merc chassis.   Super to drive, fairly low engine noise, better than Peugeot and even though it has only covered 1500 miles, 25 mpg.   Enjoy.

John 

We have spent a great deal of time pondering the Bourton but were concerned that it is too wide for the sort of places we want to go to; we intend to order a Lunar Landstar; same excellent base vehicle but a van-conversion, about £54k otr in the spec we were wanting.

I think the Bourton would be an excellent choice if you don't mind the width. Also read up on the new Hymer ML-T; looks great but not our sort of interior layout and it is £73k!

The Euro VI Sprinter engines are a step change from the Euro V versions.

I took delivery of a Bourton 4 weeks ago, great van, 7 speed auto is good and it does have a real spare wheel slung underneath, had mine fitted with Truma habitation air con which is great, this is the first van I have owned which after the first trip was not back at the dealers with a list of faults, every thing works as it should and no problems whatsoever , I also specified mine with a manual water filler as I do not like the electric one, if you order this at the build stage your dealer should throw it in free but you will still have the electric filler as well, great van go for it.
Don

Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated. Pete Taylor, what do you mean re the step change Euro 5 to 6?

Hi Claytaa,
                I think what Pete Taylor means is that the present sprinter has a euro 5 engine which is the current emissions standard but soon the euro 6 standard will come in,  to meet the new emission standard the euro 6 engine sprinter will have an "ad blue" tank mounted under the bonnet, this has a capacity of 18 litres and the ad blue is injected into the exhaust system to reduce emissions, this 18 litres will cover the vehicle mileage for approx. 2000 miles when it will need refilling. quite a simple task as ad blue is quite easy to buy. all engine  manufacturers will have to meet this standard when it comes in, possibly later this year, but do not worry about getting a euro 5 engine van as this standard will continue to be acceptable for years, in fact the Transport for  London emissions standard is currently set at euro 3 but to be raised to euro 4 soon and anything under this is barred entry to the Low emission zone (LEZ), petrol engined vehicles are ok. I was quite happy to buy my Bourton with the euro 5 engine, the euro 6 engine by the way will cost approx. £1000 extra when it comes in, by the way I forgot to mention in my previous post I had the solar panel upgraded to 80w, hope this explanation helps you.
Don

Claytaa,
The emissions improvements are pretty amazing, fuel consumption is only 1mpg better but the van drives far better due to changes in the torque curve, amongst other things (according to my fleet contacts). They seem well pleased, despite higher initial cost, approx 1000 euro per unit, as they buy in bulk. 
apart from the engine changes there are several other improvements, suspension, etc. It's all in these links plus there is a fair bit of info if you search the trade reports.

http://www.transportengineer.org.uk/transport-engineer-features/first-euro-6-van/51417 

http://tools.mercedes-benz.co.uk/current/vans/brochures/new-sprinter-brochure.pdf

Many thanks, advice and links well will help so much. Leaning towards Euro 5 ?

Have now ordered the Bourton for Oct delivery with a Euro 5 engine. Could have had Euro 6 with no extra cost but after discussing with members of the heavy haulage game have decided Euro 5 is the way to go. No Adblue, no extra servicing cost and any effect re access to certain areas will have no effect on Euro 5 for ten years plus. By the way padraigpost opted for a manual fill, good advice, thanks.

Hi Claytaa,
                I am sure you will be very happy with your Bourton   we are, we cannot find a single fault with it, usually with a new van you make a "snag list" but  there is nothing to fix, we specified the habitation air con which we have found to be very effective and getting the solar panel upgraded from 30w to 80 has greatly helped keeping batteries topped up see if you can get these included in the deal.
Regarding your manual filler you will still have the electric one as well but the manual one feeds into the top one of the 2 fresh tanks which is mounted under the offside bench seat. hope the wait until October is not to hard.
Don


ps. re your other post mine came with continental tyres

Pretty amazing to be unable to find a fault on a new van, keeping my fingers crossed!!!

HI Claytaa
                      A good choice of engine the euro 5 , adblue motors are ok till they start to go wrong & then very problematic & expensive to repair
                                                                                             Mick

Have now taken delivery of the Bourton. No probs up to now. Impressed with drive and interior finish seems good. Off to France tomorrow so will know a bit more in a week or two!

Have a great holiday, you will love the Bourton, let us all know how you get on.
Don

Cheers Don.

Driven down to the Ebro Delta in Spain it Bourton. Has to be said it drives superbly. Few niggles with Autosleeper side, panel keeps telling me the vehicle battery is low, which it isn't, door stay on hab door has come away, drawer below wardrobe faulty runner, still trying to fathem out the alarm. All in all though very impressive up to now.

Hi Claytaa. I'm happy for your being pleased with your new Bourton. I agree, the Merc does drive superbly. Sorry to hear about the problems on the A/S side of things, but it should all be fixable, as you will know.

The control panel "battery low" warning may be indicating that the panel requires recalibrating? May I suggest you download the technical information from Sargent and follow their instructions regarding the battery capacity settings and the panel recalibration?

As for the alarm, are you talking about the Mercedes fitted cab alarm? After the cab doors are centrally locked using the key, if the cab doors are opened from inside the vehicle, this sets the horn honking (but it doesn't do that if you open the habitation door). I can't comment if you're talking about a secondary fitted alarm system though.

Best wishes for further happy travels.

Barry

Cheers Barry.

Glad to hear you are enjoying the van despite the niggles.

Spinney told me today that our Stanton will arrive to them "at the end of next week" rather than the already missed dates of mid-October and 1st November. They will need it for two weeks to fit towing bracket, bike rack and hab door lock, plus doing all the other usual PDI stuff. So, beginning of December?

How are you finding the gas consumption and the availability of auto-gas pumps?

Enjoy the trip.

Pete.

The area we are in Pete is a bit devoid of gas, however we are on a site so only using it for the outside cooking gas and so on. The gauge doesn't appear accurate, (as with our last van) so I'm hoping we have plenty left. This area by the River Ebro is really nice, quiet which suits us. If we need gas I think it may well be a hike to either Barca or Valencia. Hoping we can get by till middle Dec when we will be back in France on return home, gas there is very easy to get. Hope you get the Stanton soon and good luck with it. The MB does drive extremely well and we are really pleased in general with the van. There are things to be picky about but eh ho. I see they have put the prices up for 2015! Best wishes.

Claytaa wrote:The area we are in Pete is a bit devoid of gas, however we are on a site so only using it for the outside cooking gas and so on. The gauge doesn't appear accurate, (as with our last van) so I'm hoping we have plenty left. This area by the River Ebro is really nice, quiet which suits us. If we need gas I think it may well be a hike to either Barca or Valencia. Hoping we can get by till middle Dec when we will be back in France on return home, gas there is very easy to get. Hope you get the Stanton soon and good luck with it. The MB does drive extremely well and we are really pleased in general with the van. There are things to be picky about but eh ho. I see they have put the prices up for 2015! Best wishes.

Cheers!

Of course, I'm forgetting there is a microwave too- luxury!

We negotiated 2014 price but with the new (2015) interior timber, which now turns out to be 2016 spec!!! Who knows what we'll get. 

Pete.