New member with hopes of owning a Class B in a few years

[nebulight]

Hello everyone,

I'm currently in the research phase at what I'm looking for in an RV. It's going to be another few years before I could even think about purchasing anything, but it doesn't hurt to start planning early. It will be my wife and I along with the dog. I'm look at the Promaster chassis or the short sprinter as it would be easier to drive/park. I'd be open for an even shorter wheel base, but my wife wants a toilet which I understand.

I've looked at the Winnebago Travatto and the Roadtrek Zion and Agile SS. I also like some of the floorplans/options with SafariCondo's promaster models. I have yet to see any of these in person as i'm just looking online, but from what I can tell, the addons from road trek seem pretty unique compared to other brands that don't have similar options. Their underhood "generator" (a bit over priced at $3500 as it's basically a beefed up alternator) is nice compared to a loud stand alone generator and could be used with driving the van. I also like their voltstart system if we left the dog in the car or wanted to run the AC at night. Their solar and lithium options are also better than what others are currently offering. The SS Agile can get 800 amp batteries with almost 400watt solar panels. It's VERY pricey, but that's a lot of power if we wanted to run the AC off battery.

Any thoughts on the roadtrek tech and if there are other options with other vendors or addons?

[gregmchugh]

Roadtrek makes a good profit on many of the options but they are the only one offering some of them except for Advanced RV which is at the high end of the market in price.

Recent deliveries of the lithium batteries, auto engine start, and the underhood generator seem relatively problem free. There were initial roll out issues but they seem to be past that now.

If you are interested in getting info from current owners the Roadtrek Owners Group on Facebook is a good resource. It is not restricted to current owners, anyone with an interest in getting info on Roadtreks is welcome to join.

[nebulight]

Thakns for the reply. I did join the facebook group list night.

As for pricing, maybe this is better suited for another thread, but is there like a "standard" discount i should be looking at below MSRP? I've read online that with most rvs, 20-30% off MSRP is common. Does that apply to Class B motorhomes as well?

[gregmchugh]

Roadtrek is in the 10-15% range, Winnebago discounts are higher than for Roadtrek so with their already lower prices it gets even better...

[nebulight]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

Roadtrek is in the 10-15% range, Winnebago discounts are higher than for Roadtrek so with their already lower prices it gets even better...

Doh! Well that just means I've need to save longer.Maybe i could pick up a 2016 used in 2018 or 2019

[gregmchugh]

No question that buying used is the way to go most of the time, I bought a barely used 2008 RS Adventurous in 2012 and saved a lot of money...

[mojoman]

The hardest part is deciding what you need/want. Once you figured that out you can research where,when and how much to pay. Go to an RV show that will display all the type/layout you are interested in. Under hood engine generator is nice but beware of warrantee problems if buying new with the vehicle service department. They have an tendency of blaming the conversion/aftermarket for problems and won't cover it, then you get stuck in the middle of the fight. Winter buying will provide the biggest discounts and they are out there with tenuous research and a little travel. I'm currently building my own from scratch since I can't afford an Advanced RV. Pay attention to the quality of the hardware and components. Quality components cost more but they cost the same to install.

[mkguitar]

kick as many tires as you can...I went through this a couple of years ago.

1.) we rented a B in Ireland for a week...do i like it?, does SHE like it?...yes she did!

2.) we budgeted about 70K for a used unit...and started looking at brochures and online youtube sales videos and visited some lots.
we determined which features we needed and didn't..sideways sleepers were out ( we are tall), parking has to be easy and she has to be comfy driving on solo trips.

we were going for a sprinter based winny era and I LOVED the way it drove...the coach build quality was shockingly poor.

made for a big rethink

3.) determined that roadtrek or pleasure -way were probably the way to go...gas rather than diesel ( I can work on gas vehicles) chev over Ford- I have chevs, I have the manuals tools and the filters etc are shared with my truck.

looked at roadtrek..I kept tripping over the drop floor transitions, found the cabinetry lay out claustro.

found a 8 year old pleasure way- loved it bought it for less than 1/2 our budget- she has done 2 x week solos, we have down a 5 week trip and a whole bunch of long weekend trips.
it's on a chev 3500 chassis, 6.0 litre. it is a really good unit for us

worked out really well.

go out and look, look, look...and think about the rental so you can test out rv living

Mike

[wincrasher]

Be sure to also look at the Pleasureway Lexor. It's priced between the Roadtrek and the Winnebago. It has more traditional styling inside, but it also comes with a simple lithium battery setup and available solar. So far no bad reports on this van.

I'm partial to the WGO products as they are alot of bang for the buck. They still use a traditional generator and AGM batteries, but they can come with solar. The most advanced feature is the Truma heating and water heating system, which is a godsend for quietness, efficiency and comfort. Any van with a Truma is worth considering in my view.

[nebulight]

Thanks for all the pointers. I've heard a lot about the Truma on youtube videos (thefitrv mentions it whenever they can).

We live in Lancaster PA and there is a very large RV show in Hersey which is only about 35 minutes away so I'll be there in September to check out the different makes.

[wincrasher]

That's a great show to go to. I have reports on my blog from the last two years shows.

[nebulight]

Thanks. Nice job on the grill swap! I too am not a fan of the dodge grill.

Cool idea with the different emblems!

EDIT: We also have a Boston Terrier!