Wife and I like our 2008 Fiat Ducato, 2.2litre turbo. Keeps up well with other traffic and not too bad on hills... Ex rental.

6m easy to park in most standard car parking spaces when shopping.

Step out of the cab and into the living area. Shower, toilet, oven, fridge, small cooker, beds. Don't use sat TV much.

Plenty of room for fishing gear and other out door gear under the beds.

Depreciation?  Not an investment... more a life style.... Got to be prepared for annual cost of $1k  to $2k+ for upkeep.

Ive often wondered about these, As you say, who cares about depreciation. The wife is not a camper, so a more comfortable accommodation is needed. But, as they are not cheap, circa 80k, its possibly better to just travel locally in the car, pay for accomodation and be better off financially? And more flexible.

At $150,000 or so, depreciation is relevant in order to ascertain that part of the possible cost of ownership.

Some brands/layouts/base vehicles will depreciate faster than others and it makes sense to try and identify which of them will perform best so that when you come to upgrade in 5 years time, you retain as much value as you can. I have noticed that they depreciate far more slowly than cars if you buy the right ones.

The Fiat Ducato base is definitely a good one, as is the Mercedes and possibly the new Transit. I like the Class A ones but they begin at $199,000 or thereabouts which is getting a bit silly. I did see a coach based one on Trade Me a year or so ago that was $550,000!

My wife is aesthetically taken with the Dethleffs vehicles from Germany. She is not much of a camper but I have designs on using the vehicle as a base for photography location trips, often to places where there are no hotels. That means she probably would not be in it as often as me anyway. I suspect she will enjoy it more than she thinks she will - it isn't really camping properly!

Geektastic:

 

At $150,000 or so, depreciation is relevant in order to ascertain that part of the possible cost of ownership.

 

Some brands/layouts/base vehicles will depreciate faster than others and it makes sense to try and identify which of them will perform best so that when you come to upgrade in 5 years time, you retain as much value as you can. I have noticed that they depreciate far more slowly than cars if you buy the right ones.

 

The Fiat Ducato base is definitely a good one, as is the Mercedes and possibly the new Transit. I like the Class A ones but they begin at $199,000 or thereabouts which is getting a bit silly. I did see a coach based one on Trade Me a year or so ago that was $550,000!

 

My wife is aesthetically taken with the Dethleffs vehicles from Germany. She is not much of a camper but I have designs on using the vehicle as a base for photography location trips, often to places where there are no hotels. That means she probably would not be in it as often as me anyway. I suspect she will enjoy it more than she thinks she will - it isn't really camping properly!

 

A motorhome is more expensive than hotels etc, so if you want to go motorhoming, its about the lifestyle not the cost. And unless you motorhome most of the year why upgrade every 5 years?

The answer is "it depends". 

On how long you're planning on being out in it at a time; if you're planning on any other passengers in addition to yourself and the Mrs; how much luggage you lug with you; if you like heading into the rough; how much time off-grid; etc etc

I can strongly suggest, if you're buying big enough, an island bed. Making a bed out of assorted sofa cushions is awful, and having one person needing to crawl over the top of the other for every 3am loo visit is irritating.

Also, definitely join the MCA, a huge network of like-minded people and places to park.

$150k is a lot of money tied up. My Fiat Ducato cost $50k 5 years ago. Not such a big worry with money tied up.

I would suggest hiring a couple of different size motorhomes to find out what suits you.

An island bed would be fine. With our 6m camper we used to make up the double bed. Now we use two singles... no disturbance for the 3am pee.... using a folded duvet for each bed makes for easy bed setup.

Geektastic:

 

At $150,000 or so, depreciation is relevant in order to ascertain that part of the possible cost of ownership.

 

Some brands/layouts/base vehicles will depreciate faster than others and it makes sense to try and identify which of them will perform best so that when you come to upgrade in 5 years time, you retain as much value as you can. I have noticed that they depreciate far more slowly than cars if you buy the right ones.

 

The Fiat Ducato base is definitely a good one, as is the Mercedes and possibly the new Transit. I like the Class A ones but they begin at $199,000 or thereabouts which is getting a bit silly. I did see a coach based one on Trade Me a year or so ago that was $550,000!

 

My wife is aesthetically taken with the Dethleffs vehicles from Germany. She is not much of a camper but I have designs on using the vehicle as a base for photography location trips, often to places where there are no hotels. That means she probably would not be in it as often as me anyway. I suspect she will enjoy it more than she thinks she will - it isn't really camping properly!

 

We have had a Dethleffs Trend 6757 for nearly to years and love it. It is the Ducato chassis, 150hp 6 speed comfortmatic (manual gearbox with auto clutch).  I believe the new ones are now 9 speed auto 140hp. The main reason we went for that was the quality and the storage. Ours is just under 7 metres but still has an island bed, wardrobes each side, separate shower (although it's quite small) and a rear garage that we can fit two mountain bikes in. 

It's very easy to drive. Last Christmas we went to Totaranui which has a 14km drive on a windy shingle road and it was no problem.

Steve

Just a few points. Firstly, depreciation is not a major problem, and is not comparable with the depreciation of a car. Second is to make sure you use the motorhome regularly as it is soul destroying to have an idle asset parked up. Join the NZMCA as they have a lot of useful information, such as routes, parks,etc. The Association have a programme of Rallies for members and their vans and, if you enjoy socialising, the rallies are for you. But you don't have to go to Rallies, and you can do "your own thing" and go to places that you will enjoy. If you plan to go to remote areas, make sure you have sufficient power, using a combination of batteries, solar panels, or LPG, particularly if you have a fridge. Check the NZMCA website for more detailed information, and go and have a look at some motorhomes. Take your time. Good luck!

I too have a Dethleffs Trend 6757, 2018, 18800km now.  And a VW LT35. If you are in Wellington, PM and come over have a chat/look see.

Depreciation is no where near that of other types of vehicles. I estimate about 10% per year.

You should attend 1 of those motorhome expo/show held once a year in Auckland, Hamilton, Chch. They have specials and yo can try your luck at the auction.

Thanks all.

The Dethleffs ones are very nice.

I quite like the panel van conversions that Campro of Nelson do but they struggle a bit on the vfm compared to the larger vans that Dethkeffs etc make. Campro do a version on the Mercedes Sprinter 4WD base if you want it - but that adds about $20k to the circa $150k that the 2WD version would cost!

I note @ren1316 mentions shows; sadly we seem to have just missed one by a couple of weeks. Next seems to be March next year (Covid permitting I suppose!). Thanks for the offer of a looksee - may well take you up on that!