City Slickers looking for their first Class B

[grease_monkey]

The wife and I are looking for our first used class B and hoping others here could help. We went traveling in New Zealand a few years ago and rented an RV for a week and just fell in love with the lifestyle. (This was the RV, https://www.maui-rentals.com/nz/en/m...an-ultima-plus) I believe it was a 23 ft long RV on a Sprinter Chassis. As much as we liked the sprinter chassis, it might be a tad too long for our home.
We're looking to buy a used one in the next year or so and was hoping to get some thoughts and opinions from owners or prior owners of some of the ones we are looking at, namely the Winnebago Travato 59G and Hymer Activ although any other suggestions would be extremely welcome. Our max budget is somewhere around 75k without tax.
We have space in front of our home to park the RV but would ideally need to keep it around 21 ft in length.
We plan on using to travel to National Parks and possibly Lake Tahoe (both summer and winter)
We are semi aware of some scandal backstory with the Hymer company and was wondering if warranties are being honored?
Regarding the Travato, how comfortable can 2 people be in the G models murphy bed? My wife and I are not very large people, shes about 5 ft tall and 90 lbs, and i'm 5 ft 9 in and about 140 lbs. Would we be more comfortable switching to the K model? Having the bathroom in the rear is a bit odd though especially having to get up in the middle of the night with the bed setup.
Any maintenance or outstanding issues I should be aware of when inspecting the vehicle?
Lastly, we plan on putting around 50% down, any recommendations on financing options? The rates at the dealerships have been somewhat high compared to some ive seen online.

Thank you all in advance!

[mkguitar]

Hi
Welcome to the forums, you'll find some good help here...from others!


Like you, we rented first- in Ireland, a 20ish footer on a Citroen version of the fiat travato diesel 6 speed

That let me know that I didn't want a sideways sleeper for the middle of the night climb over to the head. And being larger we needed a big bed, so a fore and aft sleeper

after looking at many models on lots, private parties ads and etc. we were able to prioritize the features/ lay out type

most helpful were dealer videos on youtube, watching the features explained etc- of good value was that many of the sales guys in the videos were "large" and we watched how well they moved around the cabin


our choice in the end is a 2006 PleasureWay Lexor on a chev chassis-

a gas domestic means you can get fixed anywhere, by anyone with parts easily available.
I have GM's so the layout of the mechanics was familiar and shares much with my pick up.


If you are bound to a shop for service, gas/diesel either way you are paying, so a wash-

but you may run into parts supply line issues-
& may be bound to finding a dealer who can/will service an RV


Ours was a cash purchase from a private party.



We hit the nail on the head with this and have had few issues/concerns


this is one of the videos I watched before buying- not mine, but very similar...it let me know what to expect and to build a list of questions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_x70iywTsc

cheers, Mike

[Jon in AZ]

We have a Chevy Roadtrek with a similar rear longways bed. It works well for us. I prefer the rear bed layout to a rear bath. Biggest reason is views and ventilation from the rear doors. My wife loves to lounge on the bed with the doors open wide, especially if we happen to be backed up up to an ocean or mountain vista. We have a screen over the back that allows us to keep the doors open most of the time. Other reasons include the under-bed storage easily accessible from outside and emergency egress.

I like the Chevy chassis and drivetrain, and our LWB is just under 20’ with the continental spare removed. The Promaster definitely provides more space. If you like the Sprinter, there are a few models built on the shorter version. The emissions system has been a problem for some. Standard parking spaces are 18-20’ long, so if you get much longer, you may have fewer options for parking, and not just at home.

I acquired ours just as the Roadtrek warranty was expiring, so I wasn’t affected much by the bankruptcy. The Chevy is now an orphan, so proprietary Roadtrek components could be hard to find. Other than that, I don’t put much faith in RV dealers and warranties. Warranty service is notorious for long delays. Major appliances and components are covered by their own separate warranties not affected by the Roadtrek/Hymer debacle.

When is comes to mass market brands, I feel it’s better to buy used after the first owner has debugged the unit. As long as everything works when you buy it, you’re in about as good a place as you could be. Do hold back part of your budget for repairs. Stuff happens. If you aren’t up to fixing things yourself, you’ll usually get better and faster service from a reputable independent shop.

Best wishes finding your camper!

[mkguitar]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

I feel it’s better to buy used after the first owner has debugged the unit. !

strongly agree


neighbor with new rv had multiple warranty concerns each taking weeks or months of "rv time" to be remedied


mike

[GBail]

Make sure to test out the bed on the Travato G before buying one.

We had strongly considered that model because of the inside rear storage capacity for our bikes, but found the bed to be poorly designed and unusable.

Unless both of you are under about 5’ 5” that bed is just too darn short for whoever sleeps on the aisle side, because of the cut off corner designed for bathroom access.

Otherwise it’s a great floor plan.

As far as the Pleasure Way recommendations...generally speaking, you’ll find these to be some of the very best built rigs out there.

[Raxel7851]

We are on our 2nd 59K Travato. We thought of the G, but decided to go with the K. The twin beds can be configured to a queen. The K also has a microwave/convection oven instead of just a micro in the G. The G also had a drain pump you had to turn on when using the shower. The K is gravity drained. The one problem with the G pump is some posters wrote about the filter getting clogged too often. We did like the fact the G had a larger fridge. The Pleasureways are super nice. But there’s no dealers in our area to work on them. The Promaster will average 16-18 mpg.

[Roadie1]

I just sold my 2019 59G. I’m 5’9, 160 pounds the wife is about 100 pounds 5.5. We slept fine in the G bed. It was a little tight compared to our king size bed at home of course. She took the isle side.
I don’t like the K floor plan because I don’t want to sit outside and stare at the toilet when the doors are open. We also like the G floor plan because we don’t feel like we’re in our bedroom all the time. Check out the “Go small live large” on YouTube. Scott covers most everything in the G. Also there is a larger shower filter that can be installed in about 5 minutes. After I installed it our shower never got clogged or had any trouble draining. And that’s with two women and two dogs on board!
We found the Travato extremely comfortable on long drives and had plenty of dinners inside when the weather was bad with our 15 year old.
I only sold it because I wanted a 4 x 4 so I bought a Revel. Good luck!

[NFRicaS]

Originally Posted by mkguitar

Hi
Welcome to the forums, you'll find some good help here...from others!


Like you, we rented first- in Ireland, a 20ish footer on a Citroen version of the fiat travato diesel 6 speed

That let me know that I didn't want a sideways sleeper for the middle of the night climb over to the head. And being larger we needed a big bed, so a fore and aft sleeper

after looking at many models on lots, private parties ads and etc. we were able to prioritize the features/ lay out type

most helpful were dealer videos on youtube, watching the features explained etc- of good value was that many of the sales guys in the videos were "large" and we watched how well they moved around the cabin


our choice in the end is a 2006 PleasureWay Lexor on a chev chassis-

a gas domestic means you can get fixed anywhere, by anyone with parts easily available.
I have GM's so the layout of the mechanics was familiar and shares much with my pick up.


If you are bound to a shop for service, gas/diesel either way you are paying, so a wash-

but you may run into parts supply line issues-
& may be bound to finding a dealer who can/will service an RV


Ours was a cash purchase from a private party.



We hit the nail on the head with this and have had few issues/concerns


this is one of the videos I watched before buying- not mine, but very similar...it let me know what to expect and to build a list of questions

cheers, Mike

Love my 2004 Pleasure Way...great workmanship...still is in very good condition!!!

[dweissnj]

I rented both floorplans of the Travato, Then bought a Pleasureway Lexor TS. The Murphy bed is not really usable for two. I really like the banquet in the front though and rented that for just myself for a business trip around the West. The quality of the Travato has deteriorated over time. The fit and finish of the recent years doesn't match to prior. For our first buy we wanted quality and warranty and Pleasureway delivers on both.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by dweissnj

I rented both floorplans of the Travato, Then bought a Pleasureway Lexor TS. The Murphy bed is not really usable for two. I really like the banquet in the front though and rented that for just myself for a business trip around the West. The quality of the Travato has deteriorated over time. The fit and finish of the recent years doesn't match to prior. For our first buy we wanted quality and warranty and Pleasureway delivers on both.

No product is perfect, but you picked a good one. I can't remember the last time I heard of a complaint about Pleasureway.

Now . . . if only they'd double the lithium pack to 400Ahs and ditch the absorption fridges.

[grease_monkey]

Thanks for all the suggestions and input. I got a lot to think about, never considered the pleasure ways so ill have to take a look at those.
With that said, since this post, ive looked at a few others that might fit our needs namely the coachman crossfit. We like the layout and its on the transit chassis so its a bit longer but the price is right, thoughts?

[mkguitar]

I love my Pleasureway and our model was the perfect choice for us ( and there are now 4 other PW's within a couple of blocks)- there are times when I look at the work done on the conversion, and see that someone took extra time/effort to build it right



but one of my neighbors had a bear of a time with warranty service between PW and the dealer they were let down- he thinks the dealer, but still...he lost months of RV use, and more than once.
He's happy now.




1 plus is that PW is in Saskatoon, Sask.


while their largest market is the US, CDN economy & employment is much less affected by covid than the US.


Mike