Hi ,welcome to site,Think you are doing things right ,keep making a list of your requirements ,if you have never had a van before perhaps hire one and make sure Motor homing is for you.As for quality!!!vast difference in prices ,would not put them in an order ,we often look round at vans,never found anything to better the van we have .Certainly wouldn't buy new ,the quality of finishes has certainly gone down ,ie doors were perhaps a few years ago 15mm thick now down to about 10/11mm,lots of little things.Making a good second hand van,with low mileage,and were some one has lost the remove from showroom 2/3 thousand pounds a good bet.
Enjoy your search and take time,Europe is great.

Thanks Frank,

Appreciate your thoughts, decided early on not to buy a new one - although the finish of the interiors is a huge improvement on the caravans I holidayed in as a kid 40 or so years ago the thought of losing £000s overnight is horrifying and we've been amazed at the number of newish (< 5 years old) vans with low 4 figure mileages.

At the moment we're still trying to find the right layout for ourselves although I think it'll always be a compromise (unless you can afford a bespoke build).

Thanks again

H

Even if you had a bespoke build, you still can't have everything - there isn't room. Best thing is to look at lots, but as said, it's worth hiring when you have a short list of what you think will suit you - there's nothing like trying to find out.

One of the big deecisions (only one!) is 'fixed bed or not' We are happy putting the bed up at night to have the extra space in the day - others wouldn't have anything but a fixed bed.

Visiting the shows is good too, because other motorhomers will happily chat to you and you'll learn a lot.

Yes agree ,we have make up bed ,takes 3 minutes to pull out and put bedding on ,gives much more day room.Also find mid van seating to upright for us ,in vans with fixed beds.

:welcome4: to Club Motorhome Henry and wife.

In answer to your very important question my list of priorities and reasons, would be:-
1. Do you want to holiday in it for a week or two at a time or several months.
If it is only for a couple of weeks then making beds up each night will probably be OK but for longer stays it is so much nicer to roll back into the camper and just slide into a ready made bed.
2. Will one or either of you need to get up in the night to the loo.
Climbing over your partner may be fun in your youth but tends to generate complaints as you get older.
3. How many beds do you need.
A critical question this because it will impact on your fuel economy if you need an overcab bed or an A class. Not much to choose between panel van conversions and Low lines in price or running costs.
4. Will you be using it as caravans and tents do and settling somewhere for a week or two or will you use the Aires and Stelplaz day or two here and then move on.
This does impact on your choice because your mileage costs will be less if you stay in one place so larger and less aerodynamic choices come into play.
5. With regard to build quality and resistance to damp through the seams.
Whatever you decide on and wherever you get it from have a damp check done at your expense by someone who is being payed by you, not the seller. This is by far the most common problem with s/h vans and some new ones still seem to suffer very quickly from damp ingress. It is also the most costly to cure.
6. Finally as regards Quality of build there are not many manufactures who build to a quality where they do not and have not in the past had problems.
What sets them apart is how they deal with issues that arise. Does the dealer network concentrate on sales or does it consider after sales issues. Look back over this and other forums to see dealer issues there are plenty. All manufacturers tend to hide behind the Sale of Goods Act which puts the whole of the legal framework on the seller/dealer. My own experience leads me towards the smaller family owned dealerships who trade on repeat business.
When you have all that sorted your wife can have her say if she likes the curtains(apologies for cheep misogynistic pun).
Just re-read your original post and realise that you are in effect 1st time buyers and will be aiming for continental use. If you require LHD and find one in the UK you are probably in a position to offer half the asking price. If you are buying from abroad the exchange rate is as good as it has been for a couple of years, but not quite as easy to return with problems you need sorting.

Thanks to everyone who has replied, maybe I should have given a bit more detail in my original post.....

We are looking to buy early next year (January) with the intention of frequent weekend and a couple of week / fortnight long trips in the UK to iron out any wrinkles and get familiar with the 'van then in autumn 2014 travel round Europe for about a year.

Intention is to have a relaxing holiday, improve our language skills, meet people & learn more about the culture of the various areas we visit.

Based on the way we live when we camp We think we'll probably settle in an area (based in a small town (15-20k population)) for 7-14 days and travel around by push bike or public transport, with the occasional stay in or near a city or remote (isolated) location for 1-3 days.

So far....
We NEED 1 double bed but because we DEFINITELY don't want to make the bed every night we've being looking at 4 & 6 berths
afull size shower,
a reasonable sized lounge,
decent storage is obviously a pre-requisite so a rear bed with a garage underneath sound ideal but....we don't want to be looking at the bed all day if the weather is wet and we can't get out.

We've seen a Autosleeper Wilton which has nearly everything we want (we think we're agile enough to use the over cab bed and the romantic in me particularly liked the U lounge with 3 big windows - I immediately had a vision of being parked in NW Scotland surrounded by panoramic views of hills and lochs) and is in the right (£30k ish) price range but it only has 2 travelling seats. I'm concerned that this will affect re-sale value and limit the market if we want to sell it. We have 2 grandchildren so it would also prevent us taking them away in the 'van.

Finally we live in Aberdeen (Scotland) so purchase / viewing options are a bit limited.

Europe = France, Spain, Portugal, Andorra (for cheap diesel ) Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Belgium & The Netherlands possibly some of the mid European countries too.