Hymer BS640 Starline - ownership

So, a bit different from my usual ownership threads given its a vastly different vehicle from most on here too.

In May this year, I bought a 2001 Hymer Starline BS (B standing for B class and S standing for Mercedes) 640 motorhome. For those who don't know, Hymer are world-leaders in motorhomes; typical German technology and engineering which makes them second to none. I was given the heads up on this one by a chap I "met" on Pistonheads who is a motorhome salesman and who told me everything to avoid on the last motorhome I bought (and I ignored him!). When he found out I wanted to get back into a motorhome, this one came in and he gave me chapter and verse on its history before I went up to view. We fell for it pretty much instantly and took delivery four weeks later.

A few technical details - it's based on a Mercedes W904 Sprinter 416CDI chassis. That means a 2.7l, 5-cylinder Diesel engine, producing 158bhp and lots of torque! The van is what's called an A class which means it's been completely built from scratch on just the chassis and cockpit and running gear, unlike a coach built which is built around the cab. This means it's bigger throughout, better insulated and quieter too. Mine cost £90k new in 2001 and was owned by one chap from new until April this year and covered just 35k in that time. It's 6.7m long, 2.3m wide and just under 3m tall. It's got a twin wheel rear axle and plated at 4.6t, which leaves a good tonne of payload capacity on top of the driver and full fuel and water. Downside is, being Euro 3, that I'm excluded from many major town centres, but the benefit of not having to scrimp on weight means a first class build quality and basically the comfort of knowing you can barely fill the thing - running out of storage before weight allowance.

I bought the van from Travelworld in Telford for £25k and had gaslow refillable LPG cylinders fitted at the same time, it has an 80w solar panel, 2 x new 115amp gel leisure batteries and I've just had OEM cruise control fitted by Mercedes dealer which makes it far more relaxing to drive now. In addition, I've bought "Silver Screens" windscreen thermal covers for both winter and summer, which is a necessity given the very large windscreen.

So far, so good - or so you'd think!

The van is amazing. Yes, it's old, but the quality of the build means it feels very similar to the current range of £100k+ vans. Everything works as it should and is a world away from the poor fitting and quality of the Rimor van I had this time last year. The layout is supreme too - although it's completely different to what we may have otherwise sought out, it works perfectly and provides more than sufficient lounging space for the three of us, as well as ample sleeping area in really comfortable beds. My daughter loves it too, which is critical to it working for all of us. She has named it "Harry the Hymer" and can't wait to go to see him whether that's just for a cuppa down at the storage yard or a weekend away.

On the go, I've learnt the best cruising speed is c 58mph, which sounds super slow, but it's actually very cathartic. It's also pleasingly refined, even for an old commercial vehicle. Sting in the tail is 23mpg consumption, but that has improved since having the cruise control fitted and I'm told it could be up to 25mpg or beyond if running optimally or if chipped.

So, that brings me on to "running optimally"...

Well, here's the snag. In spite of it being brilliant and having done 1.5k miles in it since we bought it, ever since week two, there has been an intermittent fault which pops it into limp mode. We've had the turbo boost valve replaced and most recently diagnosed, kinked actuator rod and coked up actuator in the turbo. Having had long running disputes with the warranty company, Mercedes and Travelworld, I finally got the van up to Travelworld to be sorted yesterday. It needs a new turbo, amongst other things and I'm very much hoping we get it back in the next fortnight, plus being reimbursed for the £700 I have spent with Mercedes thus far.

So that's where I'll leave it - the story is up to date and I will update when I know what is happening with Travelworld and also on all our future adventures.

If anyone has any questions on motorhoming or Caravanning etc, then I'm sure we can set up a separate sub forum. If there are questions on this Hymer or what I'm up to with it, let's populate this thread.

I'll get some photos up in a sec.

 

Thanks for all the compliments guys.

I will admit, I did seriously consider the trailer tent option, but given one of intentions is "wild camping" both in Scotland as well as in France and Scandinavia, the motorhome is the only real option given that need to be self-sufficient.

Great thing about the van is it's "only" £165 pa VED as it's classed as a Light Goods Vehicle - cheaper than if it had been 3.5t plate. ;)

@Cooky - sounds great. We were down in the foothills of the Pyrenees last week. The intention being to go in the van, but thwarted by this turbo issue the day before we were to sail, so ended up going down in the 118d. Was 36degs C every day down there, which made me glad of not being in the van. Although we have cab air con, the habitation area would've been a bit warm!

 

Thanks Phil. We're really pleased with it, so very keen to get the thing finally sorted, which is in complete contrast to the last van which I couldn't wait to get rid of when problems crept up.

Motorhome vs Caravan is definitely a topic you'll find plastered all over the web. We've thought several times about the caravan option, given when we had the X5, we had the perfect tow car. But for some reason there was just something neither of us liked about the idea and certain practicalities we hated but others we would've valued. I think it's a very individual decision. For us, we had the following pro's and con's

Caravan

Pro's

• Relative value - for the 25k we had to spend, we could've got a monster caravan brand new with significant change left in the bank;
• Tow in the comfort of a luxurious car and save on duplicating fixed vehicle costs;
• Once pitched, the car is a means of transport and to explore.

Con's

• Caravans depreciate quickly
• Cumbersome to get hitched and then commissioned at the other end - Wastemaster, Aquaroll, levelling arms etc.
• Have a certain "pikey" feel to them (for us, anyway)
• Not as flexible as you'd think in terms of layout. Bunk beds would work well for kids, away from living space, but I'm not aware of a layout which allows you to have a fixed bed for parents as well as a fixed bed for children
• No ability to "wild camp" as it is not self sufficient

Motorhome

Pro's

• Pretty much ready to go in an instant
• Choose well and you'll suffer very, very limited depreciation. Some Hymers are actually appreciating!
• Sense of adventure in driving your own house around!
• Self-contained/self-sufficient, enabling the wild camping
• Touring is a lot easier, since you just pack up and go from place to place. We're nomadic rather than people who like to linger places
• Big boys toys! Driving a big 7m bus is always going to be good fun!
• Ours is fully winterised, so can be used all year around, even down to minus 15degs C, which opens up lots of winter use and adventures too. Most caravans not so well insulated.

Con's

• Double the expenditure - as I can prove, you can have things go wrong in both chassis and habitation zones!
• Another vehicle to tax, insure, fuel etc. Although at least we rarely run car and motorhome together. VED only 165pa for >3,5t. Insurance is peanuts, relatively speaking at 350quid pa
• No car to rely upon once on site. We therefore tend to choose sites which are close to amenities or towns/villages or walks.
• Slow and rubbish fuel economy (23mpg at the moment, maybe 25mpg once the turbo is sorted), although this can also be part of the adventure, relaxing at 58mph and watching all the muppets race up behind eachother or get annoyed by middle lane hogging, whilst I trundle with the lorries, getting stressed with nobody!

At the end of the day, it'll come down to personal preference. We love our motorhome and really struggle to think of life without it. We are also moving house soon and one of the tickboxes in our search was enough land to store "Harry" on so that we can look after him better and also get away quicker than we do currently rather than having to drive to a storage yard first. He's very much become part of the family, even after just 1.5k miles and 8 nights spent in him since we bought him.

 

Thanks Ric, yeah she absolutely loves it. We've got her single "Duvalay Gold" mattress topper which goes on the sofa (which is extendable to a 1.5x single bed anyway) and a sleeping bag, plus bed guard and she sleeps soundly in it. She can never wait to get to bed after a long day of playing outdoors and is even well able to shower with one of us before bedtime too in the van, so it works perfectly in recreating a "normal" bedtime routine too. Once she's down, the wife and I sit outside for a bit, or it's a bit chilly, turn the captains chairs around, pull the curtain across to separate the cab and have a drink & a chat before pulling down the overcab bed when we're ready to go to bed.

@Phil - if you were willing to have your plans moved forwards everso slightly, I saw this absolute peach at Travelworld when I was there on Saturday. It's been stored in a heated and humidity controlled garage by a Collector and only done 3.5k from new. Absolutely mint with all the toys and Airride suspension, which makes the Mercs like a magic carpet ride. I was sorely tempted after my Uncle offered to cover the difference until we could pay him back, but given we're in the midst of buying a house, my sensible hat stayed on.

http://www.motorhomes.co.uk/motorhomes-for-sale/hymer/b-class-sl/b-655-sl/1643/

@verysideways - my wife wasn't keen initially but once we'd sussed out a lot and seen how the toilets are actually surprisingly ok and you can get a hot shower on board if you don't fancy the site facilities, she was well up for it and is now as big a driver for going away in it as I am. The Hymer disguises its age very well indeed and it's only really when get in one of the new ones that you'd notice the difference. But even then, a lot of the fixtures and fittings haven't changed much in 15yrs and it's really just the latest fashions with wood/colours and a bit more sound insulation (and obviously the chassis technology) which has changed. Is it worth 100k more? Probably not, at the end of the day, when they're working, they all do the same thing! ;)

Goes without saying that if anyone has any questions, I'm happy to do my best to answer based on my experience of the last two years of running one bad van and one good van with problems and the two years of research before that.

 

Sounds good, K777!

So, just received a call from Travelworld which was not entirely as I suspected. The van was delivered to them on Saturday together with a copy of an invoice from Mercedes main dealer, confirming that the route cause of all of my issues was the turbo, which they had recommended to be replaced. It turns out that upon plugging in the diagnostics, the ECU was showing "Low Boost Pressure". Upon physical examination of the turbo, the control arm was NOT bent(!) but one of the intercooler pipes was loose and the jubilee clip which would secure it was missing. There was also evidence of an oil leak, which would've been sucked from the sump by the turbo (which would also explain why it had been loosing a bit of oil).

They re-secured the intercooler pipe, plus jubilee clip and took it on a roadtest - 40miles to Shrewsbury and back (from Telford) and did an ongoing diagnostics check which showed 2bar of turbo pressure during the run and no fault codes were thrown. Problem solved, it seems and evidently the van "pulls like a train", which is what these vans should be doing, which is interesting as I had noticed a bit of shove missing against my old van - I'd just put this down to a heavier base vehicle.

Anyway, I also mentioned that mpg had been dismal and the Tech suggested that now it is burning cleaner, it should show a slightly better mpg (I'm guessing around the 25mpg mark).

So this leaves me with a sporty conversation to be had with Mercedes main dealer in Essex, who it appears have gone for the most expensive (nuclear) option of turbo replacement without checking the basics. Travelworld will be supplying me with all their supporting documentation so that I can claim back the money I paid to Mercedes for the incorrect diagnosis. I don't think I'll get away with getting the boost valve controller money back but given that's a weak point in the system, good to know that is new and shouldn't cause any issue going forward.

On other matters, the n/s main window locking unit was a bit knackered when we bought it and they'd promised to replace the mechanism but now going to replace the whole window. The awning light will be replaced and the buzzer warning for the step extension has been sorted too. Problem is, they have to wait for the former parts from Germany, which will not come for 10 days and we won't be picking up the van until next Saturday at the earliest.

But fair play to Travelworld at this stage for getting the van sorted.

 

It's funny, the Jury was out on Travelworld a few weeks ago. I had the distinct impression that their after-sales focus is on customers who's spent multiples of what I have spent. I think there are some elements within the team who are like that, but the resolution I seem to have received here has changed my opinion and I would consider buying from there again. Certainly the way they prep their vehicles is astonishing. I know the motorhome dealer-world works on very large profit margins (sometimes in excess of 20%) but there was no real question that they wouldn't pay as much attention to my van in prepping for collection as they would any other.

We spent 1.5hrs and wrote 3 x A5 pages of bullet points of bits we could find we wanted sorted. Only a couple being major (like the window which was inoperable or a hinge or something missing from a cupboard) and the rest tidying/prep/valeting/upkeep issues and they didn't bat an eyelid. All the work was done without complaint. The van was beautifully valeted too.

I think you're right not to spend an absolute fortune on your first one. Most people tend to get the layout wrong on the first time buying and shift one relatively quickly. We certainly did, together with buying a pup (but that's a different story). What we realised was that we value living space over bed space. But that's not to say we would be happy having to make up our bed each night - the drop-down from the cab in the A-class is the perfect compromise. Neither of us were happy with the coachbuilt (luton) bed; both finding it way too claustrophobic. The A-class drop-down is a good compromise and supremely comfortable.

We did look at the one in the link I pasted in and whilst i was really keen on it, it was more for the modernity of it than actual layout. We would've put my daughter to bed on the French bed at the back and we'd still have had the drop-down, but the "lounging" area was a bit too upright and cramped - mainly because we're used to having our lovely long sofa and the bar-based armchair and captains chairs. It gives a feeling of space.

But everyone is different and you have to try a lot to get it right. When you're ready, pop down to Travelworld anyway as they have >50 vehicles in their showroom - all of which they encourage you to sit in, spend time in, lounge in and generally feel at home. Difficult not to get carried away with budget, but they do have a lot of used stock at what I would call "affordable" levels. Plus, although Autotrail are good, they can't hold a candle to Hymer build quality IMO.