Auto-sleeper Sherbourne

16/5/11 10.55am

Spotted a cracking Sherbourne earlier on this morning heading towards Sheringham on the A149 coast road, between West Runton & Sheringham.
Sadly didn't get a wave as they passed as I was approaching junction, so had gone past before I could grab their attention

Reg number was easy to remember R13 TAF so someone should possibly know this owner?

Also spotted a newish Symbol on the East Runton campsite (again on the A149 coast road)
and another AS coachbuilt looked like an Rienza or possibly even an Eton? (pitched up further back on the site)

CC

I have owned a 2000 (W) Sherbourne for 17 months now and have only seen two others, one in Sussex and the other on the M27 in Hampshire, both while on the move.
I would like to hear from other Sherbourne owners, such as, how many were built (the dealer said only about 200), what problems have you had, etc.
My own experience is that I love the VW T4 base, comfortable driving position, powerful 2.5l turbo diesel engine, very smooth drive (all independent suspension) and mine is an automatic which I regard as essential especially since its a 'proper' automatic (ie put it in Drive all day).
Before I bought it I didn't know this model existed, is there anywhere a list of all the models AS has made. Someday in the future I would be interested in a VW T5 coachbuilt, is there one?

I am looking at buying one of these. Any pitfalls I should be looking for - its a 2002 model.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to ASOF, Magnoliauk

Suspect you took my hint on UKCampsite. I am sure Sherbourne1 will offer you any help or advice he can.

As I mentioned on the UKC forum the VW based AS vans tend to be the more expensive and coachbuilts end up very costly so the likes of the Sandhurst and Sherbourne end up being low volume vans.

You will find this forum a friendly bunch and whilst there isnt loads of Sherbourne owners on here a lot of topic regarding habitation apply to many vehicles and we have some eagle eyed spotters who may well spot a Sherbourne for sale somewhere and let you know

Well I never! UKC'ers get everywhere!

I will wait with baited breath for Sherbourne1 to turn up - thanks

Look for cracks in bodywork around the side door area where the window is only about 8 inches from the door. Mine had a crack which cost about £700 to rectify. Fortunately I have a good bodyshop here in Poole that did it for me, the window has to come out and reinforcement placed inside to stop it happening again. Its caused by the body flexing and it finds a weak point. Check also where the door folds back against the body, there is a stopper here that gets a bit of a bashing in high winds and mine is starting to crack there. Also the skirts are low and vulnerable. I picked up a piece of debris on the motorway which then hit the skirt and punched a hole - another £300 to fix! I'm thinking of putting some mudflaps on the front wheels to stop this happening again with the added advantage that the skirts get a lot of dirt thrown up so they would stop that as well.
Get an RAC report, I think my shockers need replacing, difficult to tell without driving it around a corner and the amount of lean may be OK, an expert will tell.
Ensure it has a full VW service history. Had an earlier T4 Topaz which blew its computer - £1000 to fix.
Check bodywork straps underneath, some are bonded to the shell and the flexing causes them to come adrift which then increases the flexing.
The wood door between the end bathroom is a nuisance, it rattled and often slid shut. I took it off, it weighs quite a bit, and replaced with a curtain - perfectly adequate for privacy. If you do buy and want to do this I can tell you how to remove the door and fit the curatin rail.
Its a beautiful motorhome, very pleased with it and intend to keep it for some years yet, hope you find one.

Hi Sherbourne1

Thanks for a very comprehensive reply - lots to make notes about and keep in mind.

I have found one that is in a garage near to us.

Its advertised on fleabay but also elsewhere. One of my concerns is it is a car reseller and not a motorhome expert

cannot post links so here is the ebay number - 190519709158

Hi Magnoliauk

That Sherbourne has been for sale for a long time, and the price has dropped considerably since I contacted the seller as we were seriously tempted by a Sherbourne ourselves. The guy was quite helpful and friendly so I would contact him if you are interested but just be aware it's been sitting around for a very long time. I would want to see everything working before I parted with any money and some kind of warranty thrown in.

We also looked at another Sherbourne at Kent Kampers which is still showing on their website, this one we were quite disappointed with as we felt for the money it had had a bit of a hard life and was beginning to show it's age both internally and externally, think it's still listed at 22k which personally I feel is at least 3k more than it's realistically worth, if it's pristine then that's another story

Good luck in your search, they are quite rare but a few came up while we were looking around

heres one i stumbled across

http://www.caravanselecta.co.uk/motorhomes/vw/vw-autosleeper-sherbourne-td-cs270431.aspx


the ebay one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190519709158?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp5197.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D190519709158%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1#ht_1414wt_1185

The one in Pontefract looks OK, 1 owner, full main dealer service.
It is just a two berth, mine has a bed over the cab which we use to strore all the bedding. This one has just cupboards which might not take bedding so well. The under bed locker is accessed also from outside and we use it to store chocks, cables, etc so it gets a bit grubby, not a place to put bedding.
Price looks about right, will go up when the spring comes and people start looking agaian.
Get an RAC inspection to check the mileage and I would ask for a 3 month guarantee since it never covers little miles.
From the photos looks quite clean - good luck trying to find one to buy. When I bought mine there were no others around but I wanted the automatic so they are rare.

Thanks for the great replies - you are brilliant! Just a couple of things if you don't mind.

CruizingComet - what made you change your mind about the one in Pontefract?

Its not only a Sherbourne we are looking at - we have looked at hundreds of motorhomes with just about every configuration possible We think we would like a rear lounge and then we see a front lounge and things are turned upside down again What about a fixed bed!

One thing we know is we will be getting a motor home in the next few weeks. January will see lots of visits to dealers to browse and see what is available - so much choice and so little money

BTW - I love this smilie

Hi again.. really you have to decide what you want, get out there and see a few models, make a list of the things you like and the things you don't

The reason we didn't go for a Sherbourne in the end was (to be truthful) because of the age, we previously had a 2001 Trident and going up to a vehicle the same age or a year newer (as much as I liked the Sherbourne) just didn't make sense. Think it really hit home when we viewed the one at the dealers in Kent and saw just how tired looking it was. We then decided on an Inca which proved to be very hard to find in an end kitchen configuration, but we really loved the pullman dinette! Again, as much as we liked the Inca they were only made up till 2003 (think that's correct)

I always liked the Nuevo but MrsCC wasn't keen and referred to them as "A box on wheels" so at the Malvern show I challenged her to go take a look inside on her own and make her own mind up, she came straight out and was very positive saying how bright and spacious it was and looked so much bigger than it appeared from the outside, we settled on the prospect of getting a Series-I Nuevo mainly due to the cost but after seeing the later Series-II Nuevo when we visited West Country Motorhomes, we knew it had to be the model we were most likely to go with even though it was more than we initially wanted to pay, and so far we are happy to say we have no regrets...


Other options you could consider are a Ravenna with an end lounge, or the Rienza, or Pollensa, or if you want a fixed bed a Palermo maybe?


CC

CruizingComet - thanks for the reply.

We have been looking for nearly a year now We have visited several motorhome resellers and wandered round dozens of different makes and models. My all time fav for a fixed bed is a rapido f600 but at the moment they are out of our price range. for most in the 2002+ range. I think we will be doing the rounds of the resellers again for most of January. Still it will give us something to do

All of you have given valuable input and for that I thank you very much. We have come from a converted mini bus that we got for a song and ran for 2 years. T'was a great little van but did lack some of the more needed refinements - like a loo for folks of our age She was a great bus with 200k under her belt but never missed a beat. She took us to France and back again last summer with not a blip from her.

You can see what we have come from so in fact everything looks brilliant in comparison







We have £20k to play with but with our lack of knowledge I am more inclined to go with a dealer rather than private. We shall start looking in earnest after Christmas.

magnoliauk wrote:We have £20k to play with but with our lack of knowledge I am more inclined to go with a dealer rather than private. We shall start looking in earnest after Christmas.

You should be able to get yourself a nice Autosleeper for that money, which part of the country are you in? There is a place near to us (Downtide Caravans, Alby in Norfolk) that has recently gone into the Motorhome & Caravan sales, and currently has a couple of Auto Sleeper Ravenna models well within your budget this one is a cracking model on a 51 plate on a Transit base and looks very nice each time we pass, only covered 26000 miles £17,995 with a part ex on yours this would be a great deal for you if it's not to far to travel to?



Here is a link to their website if it helps http://www.downtide.com/page4.html

it's nice to see someone local to me selling Auto-Sleepers, they also have a cracking Talbot Autosleeper Rambler which looks immaculate for anyone who may be interested


I would always recommend buying from a dealer, for starters it's much less hassle..
Our experience resulted in us getting a much better price for our Trident (part-ex) than we ever could have got privately, also the price we paid for our Nuevo was around the same or less than we could have got an equivalent model privately, so it was a no brainer really. Also, buying privately carries a real element of risk with so many criminals around as one of our members found on the forum, it's just not worth it when you can negotiate a good deal with a reputable dealer

CC

Nice looking van CC - bit far to travel at the moment with the annual financial disaster looming. We are in North Yorkshire about 20 miles from Leeds. Several resellers in the leeds/bradfford/halifax/huddersfield area to look at.

We are totally open to any suggestions. Just a bit of a question. There are a lot of 2ltr engines about - are they a bit under powered or is it just a preference for some to have a 2.5ltr one?

Told you we were thick

Hello magnolia if you are going for a sherbourne I understand they all were fitted with the 2.5tdi which everyone loves. certain other VW models were fitted with 2.4 non turbo charged lumps which are not so desirable, all will get you from A-B just a question of how quick you want to get there hills can be a problem with under powered vehicles. best of luck in your search John & Jean

Hello Magnoliauk... Haven't seen you on the forum for a few days now and just wondering if you've had any luck with your search?
The Sherbourne in Pontefract would be a good starting point (especially as it's not that far from you) good luck searching in the new year

CC

Hiya folks - not had much time for motorhome shopping as there has been something going on for the last few days - cooking mainly

Not been to look at the Sherbourne in Pontefract yet - we need a free day. DH is back at work now so we will probably have to wait until the new year. We will go and look at it and then have a look around some of our local folks - Dick Lane Motorhomes, Richard Baldwin and Springfield in Brid. They all have something in our price range now it is just a case of finding the right one.

There seems to be a lot of 21ltr engines around - are they a bit small for a 3.5 vehicle?

Just thought I would pop in and let you know what is going on with us. We have bought a motorhome

We are the proud new owners of a - Lunar Newstar 58 on Fiat 2.8JTD. Its a 4 berth with a rear lounge - just what we wanted. Got it from Springfield Motorhomes in Brid (nice fish and chips on the front from Audreys )

We wont take delivery until the end of the month so we have to sit and twiddle our thumbs until then before we can play

I came back to thank you for all your help and advise. Even though we didn't get an Autosleeper the advise about what to watch for and questions to ask came in very useful.

Thanks again for all your help.

magnoliauk wrote:Just thought I would pop in and let you know what is going on with us. We have bought a motorhome

We are the proud new owners of a - Lunar Newstar 58 on Fiat 2.8JTD. Its a 4 berth with a rear lounge - just what we wanted. Got it from Springfield Motorhomes in Brid (nice fish and chips on the front from Audreys )

We wont take delivery until the end of the month so we have to sit and twiddle our thumbs until then before we can play

I came back to thank you for all your help and advise. Even though we didn't get an Autosleeper the advise about what to watch for and questions to ask came in very useful.

Thanks again for all your help.

Hi Magnolia
From a nice sunny day in Bridlington, great to read you have found your dream van here in Brid, might see you around the coast in the future.

Boaby

You never know Boaby - will be back in Brid at the end of the month to collect our new toy