thinking of buying an AutoSleeper Kingham

Hi, I currently own an AutoSleeper Talbot Express Harmony which I love but have been thinking of something bigger for my retirement as I want to travel round europe. I have looked at hundreds of vans, almost literally !!! ......... and keep coming back to the Nuevo EK or Broadway EB but as I plan to keep the van for as long as possible, I dont want to outgrow the van as I have a small dog and an unenthusiastic partner    so it will be mostly me and the dog.  The AutoSleeper Kingham ticks all the boxes as the fixed bed really appeals but my worry is that its such a long van and it does seem somewhat cramped. Has anyone else got one or is having the same concerns as me, staying with a van conversion is sounding better as its metal, making it more secure and not having to worryabout cracking or warped panels as mentioned with some of the theads with the coachbuilts. Any info would be brilliant thank you.  Cheers Rob.

yammy wrote:The Kingham ticks all the boxes as the fixed bed really appeals but my worry is that its such a long van and it does seem somewhat cramped.   Cheers Rob.

I don't really see the point of it / the market for it.  If one is going to have a long vehicle, I assume as it's a fixed bed it will be 6.5 metres or more, then why not have a motorhome?

Marc

Fixed beds take up a lot of room which is needed if you have to stay in the van in bad weather, I have two settees which make two single beds or large double, I use it as singles, with duvalays easy and quick to have as a bed, I  bought the MH for me and my dog, or occasionally a  friend, as my oh isn`t keen either. plenty of room and is a tardis with all the room inside,

I have a monocoque  body, no leaks, very comfortable, easy to drive, and park under 6m, cheaper on the ferries, economical, it is my everyday vehicle as well.

Good luck

Margaret

marc4242 wrote:

yammy wrote:The Kingham ticks all the boxes as the fixed bed really appeals but my worry is that its such a long van and it does seem somewhat cramped.   Cheers Rob.

I don't really see the point of it / the market for it.  If one is going to have a long vehicle, I assume as it's a fixed bed it will be 6.5 metres or more, then why not have a motorhome?

Marc

Hi Marc, yes that is my dilemma, if it is so long why not go for a coachbuilt but i think a van conversion is stronger and would be more secure, maybe i am wrong !! thanx for the reply though, cheers Robin.

daisy mae wrote:Fixed beds take up a lot of room which is needed if you have to stay in the van in bad weather, I have two settees which make two single beds or large double, I use it as singles, with duvalays easy and quick to have as a bed, I  bought the MH for me and my dog, or occasionally a  friend, as my oh isn`t keen either. plenty of room and is a tardis with all the room inside,

I have a monocoque  body, no leaks, very comfortable, easy to drive, and park under 6m, cheaper on the ferries, economical, it is my everyday vehicle as well.

Good luck

Margaret

Hi Margaret, thats why i like the Nuevo EK or the Broadway with the end bathroom, the idea of having more room for me and my dog sounds wonderful and i think if i went down the Kingham route I might find it abit too cramped. Like you I have a partner who is not keen on spending the nights in the van but i love it. I dont know how may people out there have the same problem of their partners / husbands/ wives / girlfriends / boyfriends who dont have the same enthusiasm as we do !! its a shame but at least, as you say, it gives us more room even with the dog .... who never moans !!! 

Hi there,

I've just watched the Review of the Kingham on here:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Here's my two-pennyworth:

We spent two months in a motorhome in the USA before deciding whether or not we wanted a motorhome and made a "List" of those things we must have; and the first item on the list was "A Fixed Bed".

We looked at many, many motorhomes and eventually bought "Petal" - a 1998 Duetto.

When looking at all those motorhomes it didn't take us long to realise that:

o  Motorhomes with fixed beds were HUGE and way beyond our budget and parking space, OR in a smaller vehicle the fixed bed took up too much room when compared to the rest of the available space.

o  The fixed bed itself was ALWAYS too small for us in the smaller models.  (We were not as slim as we are now, but we were more agile!)

o  The position of the fixed bed ALWAYS meant that one person had to climb over the other to get in and out of bed during the night.  (A problem when you get that bit older; believe me!)

"Petal" doesn't have a fixed bed but she does have options to make up two singles or one double bed and plenty of room when the beds are not made up; and most of the time    we use the "two singles" configuration!

Hope this helps.   

Best regards,
 

Hi same as you Ian. however we always thought a Hymer with a drop down bed would tick all the boxes.
Too large to park behind our house,so never got any further.
regards

mike

I'm struggling with the market for a 6.35m panel van, even if it does have a fixed bed. Despite what the dealers will tell you it is not possible to park a even a 6m van in a standard parking space these days unless you can hang the back over an unused area such as a stretch of grass. So the XLWB vans don't have a chance.

Long panel vans IMO feel narrow & cramped, compared to coachbuilts of similar size. I suppose it all depends how you want to use your van, but to me the beauty of a motorhome is to be out and about visiting places and not driving round and round trying to find somewhere to park it 

Peter Brown wrote:I have a long wide van with a fixed bed and LOVE it.

Peter

Peter,

The Malvern is a "coach-built" that is 4" wider and 2'2" longer than the Kingham but one of you still has to climb over the other to get in and out of the fixed bed!

Glad you enjoy it though!   

Best regards,
  
Ian

PS  Remember the saying "I wouldn't climb over her to get to you in a bed."?  

its great getting replies thank you to all.

Its such a huge decision to make especially if you are going to spend alot of money on a van. i too have looked at drop down beds in Hymers and the litte Burstner Ixeo  and Chauson Flash 10 but always come back to Autosleeper because they have everything and the cosiness is unique to them i think. Drop down beds, as mentioned before are perfect if you are younger and dont mind climbing over someone (hopefully who you know !!   ) but as you get a little older separate beds do appeal as if you are like myself, if i go away for a period of time, i usually go on my own or with the dog    (OH prefers hotels ) and find having a lot more room does definitely appeal. A couple of things put me off with a PVC as opposed to a coachbuilt

1. having to stretch or lean / stand on the fixed bed to get to the top cupboards.

2 if there are 1 or 2 or more in the van at once, you have to squeeze past to get from one end to the other

3 having to stand to one side when opening the fridge.

All silly things that i don't mind but i have to narrow things down in order to make the right choice.

I love all the autosleeper range and there is something very special in each model, at the end of the day it may well come down to pure length and what i can fit on my driveway, which will probably be a Neuvo EK, not sure i would be happy having a longer van and  parking it on the road. 

the search continues !! 

yammy wrote:…………...

1. having to stretch or lean / stand on the fixed bed to get to the top cupboards.

2 if there are 1 or 2 or more in the van at once, you have to squeeze past to get from one end to the other

3 having to stand to one side when opening the fridge.

All silly things that i don't mind but i have to narrow things down in order to make the right choice.

………...

Hi there,

1.  I'm not sure how short you are but my good lady (now only 5' tall and shrinking rapidly) can reach everywhere except the very back of the "over-cab" storage area without a stool; and as we carry a folding step it's a matter of seconds to get it out and use it.   

2.  As a registered "Dirty Old Man" I relish those moments!   

3.  If you didn't open the fridge as often then your reason number 2. could possibly disappear!      

None of your comments are "silly"!  Wanting different things is what makes the search so exciting and in view of our "List." we were amazed when "Petal" just seem so "right".   

We haven't regretted purchasing her for one solitary second so whatever you eventually buy, "Enjoy!"     

Best regards,
 

If it is any help we love our Lancashire which is a Nuevo EK with a few bells and whistles. HOWEVER - we would not have bought a straight 2012 model. In 2012 the lstest shape was introduced but it had no underfloor wet locker for ramps, bucket, etc. Also they had replaced the overcab locker of 2011 with a sunroof. So we specified Euro V engine in 2011 body shape with 3500kg MGW. The storage that we get is JUST sufficient for what we want. Without the wet locker and the overcab locker we would not manage. For 2013 a gas tank was added which will have freed up a lot of extra storage in the offside bed locker where the gas bottle locker took away 50%. But watch out for poor placement of pipes and leisure battery. For 2014 there is the option of an overcab locker but it is smaller than ours. The hole for the rooflight is blocked with a grp plate and the front profile is lower. Our overcab holds king duvet plus 4 pillows, TV, and netbook. The two adjacent overcab side lockers have all our spare towels and linen for a month one side with fleece dressing gowns and shower shoes the other.
As others have said - look at the vans with a firm idea of what you want/need to carry with you. Try to visualise what will fit where - we even measured our camping table to make sure it fitted a bed locker and would go through the outside hatch!
We wanted to stay below 6m if possible and the short wheelbase of the Nuevo means it turns on a sixpence and the rear will overhang verges and often let you fit a large car space.  It is easy to drive and do have the cruise control -  whatever you go for.
Hope that helps

I have a Kingham on order, the reason I went down this route is that after having 2 A/S  Mercedes coachbuilts and build quality problems with both on the body,  ie. warped body side panels, multiple cracks in the grp roof etc.
I am buying the pvc because the body is not built by A/S and all they have to do is to fit out the interior, I do like the A/S layout of the kingham and am hoping this will be problem free, I will miss the Mercedes base vehicle with the auto box but time will tell if I have made the right decision.

padraigpost wrote:I have a Kingham on order, the reason I went down this route is that after having 2 A/S  Mercedes coachbuilts and build quality problems with both on the body,  ie. warped body side panels, multiple cracks in the grp roof etc.
I am buying the pvc because the body is not built by A/S and all they have to do is to fit out the interior, I do like the A/S layout of the kingham and am hoping this will be problem free, I will miss the Mercedes base vehicle with the auto box but time will tell if I have made the right decision.

hi, please keep me updated when you get your Kingham as I will be very interested with what you think, thank you.

If you got a spare sec can you let me know which coarchbuilt AS Mercs did you have and what age and what exactly were the problems with the bodywork, just out of interest?

Many thanks

Robin

Hi Robin,
             have sent you a pm
 Don

I think there is a market for the XL size panel van conversion, its people like us!

We have a warwick XL on order, having decided to downsize from our current coachbuilt, which has a fixed island bed (so no climbing over other people) and is very nice. But after a health issue we decided to downsize, and the XL is 1 mtr shorter, and more importantly for ease of driving 30cm narrower than our current van. The twin bench seat layout gives us a good lounge and has minimal bed making into two singles. So we are very much looking forward to it!

Jeff O

Barnman wrote:I think there is a market for the XL size panel van conversion, its people like us!

We have a warwick XL on order, having decided to downsize from our current coachbuilt, which has a fixed island bed (so no climbing over other people) and is very nice. But after a health issue we decided to downsize, and the XL is 1 mtr shorter, and more importantly for ease of driving 30cm narrower than our current van. The twin bench seat layout gives us a good lounge and has minimal bed making into two singles. So we are very much looking forward to it!

Jeff O

Hi Jeff

Thank you for your info, you are downsizing and i am up sizing from a camper van to a small coachbuilt. i am sure you will enjoy your new purchase and i expect you cant wait, very exciting. cheers Rob.

We took delivery of our Kingham last December and absolutely love it!  We downsized from a Mclouis Motorhome which had a fixed bed and would not consider a van without one.  It has everything we need and the quality is excellent.

Hi and welcome to the forum from Bridlington , pleased to love your van.
Boaby

yammy stop all this thinking nonsense all it does is give you a sore head like you my wife is a home bird so its me on my own most of the time.One good thing about the van conversion is no matter how long you own it you should not be bothered with leaks and that is a lot of peace of mind.

LovetheDales wrote:We took delivery of our Kingham last December and absolutely love it!  We downsized from a Mclouis Motorhome which had a fixed bed and would not consider a van without one.  It has everything we need and the quality is excellent.

How are you getting on with your Kingham and is the shower compartment size ok or just used in an emergency, is the bed  size ok and do you miss the old bigger van? cheers Robin.

Interesting thread, had not actually looked at the Kingham but followed Dutto's lead and watched the video presentation. We to would love a fixed double bed in a van or maybe a coach built, the trouble is we can not cope in a 4 foot wide double?? bed. Goodness knows why a four foot bed is said to be a double by motorhome builders and caravans, it is actually just a super large single in reality. We are spoilt by our aged Bertha being so comfortable apart from having to put the superking sized bed away. It seems there just is nothing made in motorhomes unless you buy one of massive proportions that has a proper sized 4 foot six without the corners knocked off double fixed bed. 
Love the Kingham concept, but would not be a big enough bed, and oh yes it seems not to be available in an automatic either.    Starting to think I will keep Bertha for ever as while we could afford a new one they offer no advantage to us.

Hi, sorry for delay, been away for a while. We don't use the shower but it is no different in size to the Mclouis we had so it wouldn't be a problem. Also the bed is the same size as well although the side does taper off a little but that is ok for us. We find that having a slightly smaller van has had no impact at all, we just carry less junk, only the things we need. The only issue we had was that the gas tank was not fitted level so we filled the tank up twice and still only had 1/4 tank of gas, this has been resolved by Autosleeper in Broadway who were very helpful.

We downsized from an Autotrail Cheyenne 8.6m tag axle to a Kingham, and are very happy.
It is perfect for short breaks but we also just had 16 nights in France and were amazed at how well it went. So much easier to navigate through the villages, very comfy to relax and sleep in. We found our Dyson fan fits perfectly on one surface to make the extremely hot nights more bearable.
The bed is a step down from our island bed, but you get used to it and we slept well. The loo has more knee room than our last van and the shower works fine. Just wish there were 2 drain holes- our last few nights were at the Puy du Fou Aire and we weren't totally level, but the water all washed away once we started to drive with no leakages.
There is loads of storage, I was amazed how many clothes we could pack (with several T shirts etc in each hangar).
Now there is just the 2 of us at home this van is perfect for us.