Making our decision to buy..

[Alyson Lewis]

I’m a new member my husband and I looking at all the pros and cons. We have seen a v220 will this be underpowered or not as economical as 250? The sliding door being on roadside instead of curb side - does anyone find this an issue? The heater - it says auxiliary hot-air heater - can this be activated when engine switched off?

Any help appreciated

 

[rovimor]

We have the 250 and it has ample power for us - others on the forum have said that the 220 has more than enough power for their purposes so unless you will be towing a trailer or travelling at maximum weight for most of the time I don’t think you will have an issue. I suggest you take a test drive and see what you think.

The offside door isn’t a problem for us as it is just the 2 of us plus a (large) dog. If you have young children you might want to have a think about door locks etc - I haven’t looked into this as it’s not a factor for us.

We are thrilled with ours so far and have loads of trips planned across the rest of the year.

 

[Paul Merritt]

We drove our 220 in the mountains in France and Spain last summer no problems

 

[Alyson Lewis]

We drove our 220 in the mountains in France and Spain last summer no problems

Thank you Paul that’s reassuring I bet it was fab taking it abroad. Did you find the bed comfy enough?

 

[Method7]

We have a 220 it has plenty of power.. if you plan on towing a lot then you should really get one with a factory fit tow bar and a 250 would make that much easier. But I have no doubts that a 220 would cope. I believe the factory fit tow bar has several upgraded radiators to assist with cooling the engine and the gearbox so this should be considered.

We have a Horizon, it has doors on both sides, 2 kids and it has child locks but we don’t use them since they can’t reach the door handles when seated and besides that the kids almost instantly identified the open/close buttons on the door pillar, they are not disabled with the child locks.. rendering the child locks sort of pointless.

The horizon is ideal for us since it’s our only car and we couldn’t really justify the kitchenette, consequently we can sleep 5 and have 2 rear doors. We don’t have a night heater, just a decent duvet. We recently came back from a mild wet week in Scotland and had no issues with keeping warm. I don’t think we will need a heater,

Heater/250 nice but not essential.

We will be buying a mattress topper those seats are not the most comfortable..

 

[Paul Merritt]

Thank you Paul that’s reassuring I bet it was fab taking it abroad. Did you find the bed comfy enough?

As it was our first major trip we started up top which was fine but in the end found it easier on the seats as we could just roll the bedding back but need a good topper, we had to reject our MP back to Mercedes last November and are awaiting a replacement which should be here in a couple of weeks so currently sourcing a good topper.We had the water heater on our first MP which we have now changed to air as heating the engine water to heat the van didn't seem to work for us but heating the air to take out the chill looks a better way to go I know some people have both.

 

[Steve B]

I’m a new member my husband and I looking at all the pros and cons. We have seen a v220 will this be underpowered or not as economical as 250? The sliding door being on roadside instead of curb side - does anyone find this an issue? The heater - it says auxiliary hot-air heater - can this be activated when engine switched off?

Any help appreciated

I tend to drive the MP in a very relaxed mode, no rush, and tested both variants. Both are great but went for the 250, no logical reason why as the 220 would be fine. We have both heaters, but have only used the water heater to pre warm the cabin so far. It works well and it was great to activate it from the app inside the house, its not engine dependant but can only run for 50 mins. Have a search in the forum as there are threads from other owners which explain the heaters, they helped when we were choosing.

 

[Alyson Lewis]

Thank you all bearing in mind you all chose a MP over VW what is the main reason? How do you cope without ice (for the gin and tonics?) There isn’t a store for the loo how do you overcome this?

 

[ClaireDe]

I can't really comment on engine size as we went for the 250 (ex demonstrator) and it works well for us - 2 adults, 2 kids (young teenagers so not small), fully loaded with bikes on back. We also have both heaters - so again can't comment - so look through some of the forum posts as I think we could've got away with just the hot air heater. It may depend on when you plan to use it and what for. The door opening roadside is not really a problem - just need to think about how you park up.
Choice over a VW - for us it was value for money: great quality at a good price, we liked the leather and the finish inside (lights etc) and the driving experience. The dashboard is the same as the rest of MB range and it is just great to drive. But it is all personal choice. I think there is a thread where someone has posted why he chose the MP over the VW which is useful. We don't have a portable loo but I understand it can fit into the cupboard. The chairs and table storage is not as clever as the VW but we've made it work for us. We can fit a lot of our stuff under the table storage compartment (tent, outside stove etc) and also in it - extra chairs, electric hookup cable, shower extension and more!
Ice - not sure but I think the fridge can get very cold because we put frozen food at the bottom of ours and it didn't defrost for days. We had to move it up and change the fridge setting. But I'm new to camping so someone more experienced can advise. I buy the cans of gin & tonic when camping as just easier!

 

[Method7]

Thank you all bearing in mind you all chose a MP over VW what is the main reason? How do you cope without ice (for the gin and tonics?) There isn’t a store for the loo how do you overcome this?

For me the MP choice was quite simple, we were replacing a 20 year old V-Class. The VW simply didn’t compete when it came to build quality, leather seats luxury dash and cool lighting. Looks wise I think there is little between them, I like both.. I just think the MP offers better value for money and it’s easy to get some ice you are never far from the California