Deciding on which class B to buy.

[Quanyin]

One other factor in our decision to buy our unit was the transferable warranty. We were very close to buying a Pleasureway with very few miles (fewer than 3,000, I believe), when I learned that there would be no factory warranty.
In terms of price, there are numerous options, so a price-to-price comparison would not be useful. I enjoyed the level of customization that was provided, although our wish list was limited. Were were actually dissuaded from getting the entire body insulation, though we did opt for a couple of others. If you are curious about price, a call to the factory should give you the information that you need.
When we asked about a different head unit for the gps/sound system, it was gladly provided, and I believe, it became the new standard offering for the Legend EX's. It seems to be a very competitive industry, and each company must continue to learn and innovate or be left behind.
Paul

[Rok]

Originally Posted by Quanyin

One other factor in our decision to buy our unit was the transferable warranty. We were very close to buying a Pleasureway with very few miles (fewer than 3,000, I believe), when I learned that there would be no factory warranty.
In terms of price, there are numerous options, so a price-to-price comparison would not be useful. I enjoyed the level of customization that was provided, although our wish list was limited. Were were actually dissuaded from getting the entire body insulation, though we did opt for a couple of others. If you are curious about price, a call to the factory should give you the information that you need.
When we asked about a different head unit for the gps/sound system, it was gladly provided, and I believe, it became the new standard offering for the Legend EX's. It seems to be a very competitive industry, and each company must continue to learn and innovate or be left behind.
Paul

Thanks Paul,

I plan to call them befor buying a rig of another brand. I think that the bird-in-the-hand thing is going to cause us to buy something that we can see and touch. Driving or flying to Winnipeg sounds like a lot of work to get a unit, but we are buying a Class B to travel anyway, so you never know--we could get a wild hair and take the trip. If we could at least see one locally, we might be more tempted to make the drive.

Wow, I just Googled the trip up, and it looks like it's not that far (1400 miles). BUT, and a big but it is--It is probably an awful drive this time of year, I would expect. Winnipeg is NORTH of North Dakota, so I'm pretty sure that there is a lot of snow between here (Seattle) and there this time of year. If it was summer, we also might be tempted.

If, if, if.........."if if's and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas", one of my neighbors used to say when I was a kid.

Do we want to wait until things unfreeze? Probably not. Right now it sounds like the dealers are really hungry--in a few months things might be hoppin' in the RV world.

Our next step is to sign up for the RV Consumers' group so we can get some more precise information about what we should offer.

Thanks again for responding.

............Rocky Willson

[AandB]

Rocky

You're absolutely right about the weather. We don't call it "Winterpeg" for nothing. Having said that, you could get lucky, but I'd want to invest in snow tires, which is not something for the faint of heart when you have to get six of them! Good luck with your final decision. There are a few top contenders and given that you have done your due diligence, it really boils down to what you feel most comfortable with and that fits within your budget.

AandB

[Davydd]

We drove to Winnipeg in February when it was 27 below 0F to look at the Legend we eventually bought.

I've lived 43 years in Minnesota. I've never owned snow tires. All-weather tires do fine and in the upper Midwest roads are plowed almost immediately.

[markopolo]

Video from Mike Wendland showing many new Class B's at the Tampa show including Sprinter models from Pleasure-Way, Leisure Travel, Great West, Roadtrek and Airstream.

[youtube:3rratpbv]M8rkVxqFBlc[/youtube:3rratpbv]

[Davydd]

Missing in the video was the Winnebago Era. I wonder if Mike Wendland has another video on it like he did for the Advanced RV Ocean One.

[markopolo]

Posted by Stan on rv.net

Sportsmobile Sprinter 154S

[youtube:11w46ctg]Xt6prG71XLM[/youtube:11w46ctg]

diesel heat, hot water and stove top

[markopolo]

Mike Wendland showing Great West at the Tampa show - more of an interview than a show-and-tell:

[vimeo:1x64og39]57650432[/vimeo:1x64og39]

[markopolo]

Mike and Jennifer Wendland team up for this video on Class B feature trends:

[vimeo:1h2ap901]57696511[/vimeo:1h2ap901]

[Rok]

Wow Marco,

Thanks for all the vids to watch. We're still deciding. We're almost about to go with the cheapest thing on the principle that we can always trade up if we find the lifestyle enjoyable and we figure out what we REALLY want. I don't know why, but our local Winnie dealer has a 2013 ERA on sale for $85K (new). It almost sounds too inviting to pass up. But, when you amortize it over your use of the rig, an extra $10K or $15k might not be a bad idea if we can get what we want.

We're not in a hurry since we have a lot on our plate right now, and when we buy, we want to take it out immediately for a few trips to work the bugs out also, in our neck of the woods (Seattle) it's not the best time to go RVing....unless we're RVing to somewhere else..

We're still making our final decisions.

I'll let you know if any of these videos changes our minds once I can get my wife over to the computer screen to look at what is available.

The Advanced RV Ocean One looked great, but it sounds like it is taylored for someone a little bit more flush (or foolish) than us.

Thanks again for the videos Marco.

.............Rocky

[markopolo]

I'd be really tempted by the Era as well for a new Sprinter based unit at $85,000. That's like $30,000 to $40,000 less than most of the competition.
That would pay for years of travel.

[Davydd]

If the Winnebago Era floor plan is the 70A layout I would say it would be a great choice at $85,000. It's a fixed back bed with a wedge insert to make it a whole bed. I'd leave the wedge at home and use it's storage nook as a pantry.

[Rok]

Yes, it is the 70A model. I don't know why they had it for such a small price, and I don't know if we can still get it for that price. It might have been a year end inventory deal of some sort. We thought it was a good deal, but we didn't know much when we first test drove it. We were thinking that the other models might come off of MSRP by quite an amount.

We're getting close to the time when we can travel, so maybe we should go back and see if it is still available.

Thanks for your comments, Davydd and Marco.

...............Rocky Willson

[stanw909]

I don't know about class b's but typically it very doable when dealing for a class A or C to get 25% off list.

[Rok]

Originally Posted by stanw909

I don't know about class b's but typically it very doable when dealing for a class A or C to get 25% off list.

That's good info to have Stan. Since most dealers who deal Class C's deal in Class B's (and visa-versa), you would think it would be consistent across the board. Under any circumstances, we plan to join an online service that rates the various models and gives some indicaton of what everyone is paying.

Thanks for the comment.

............Rocky

[Davydd]

If you can get 18% off on a B you are doing good. They don't discount them like Class As and Cs.

[markopolo]

MSRP on the 70A at Lichtsinn Motors is around $105,000. Take 18% off that and you're at $86,000 which is very close to the sale price Rok saw.

[Rok]

Thanks again to everyone who has posted on this thread.

I'm sure glad I started it. We've found out a lot about the units, and we're getting closer to the date we buy one. So now some other questions pop up.

We are in an area of Seattle where a lot of people have motorhomes parked in their driveways or one the street, and we see that many of them are hooked up (electrically, at least). A friend down the street even had one (a Class A) with a sewer connect and his mother lived in it until she passed away.

We don't know if one will fit in our situation. We have a large lot with a large driveway that will easily handle a Sprinter Class B, but our driveway might not be wide enough to get the Sprinter parked AND have enough room to drive the other cars around it to get them in the garage. Also, our driveway is sloped and we wonder if extended parking sloped will cause problems. We've heard it both ways. We could park it on the street in front of our house which is flatter, but we're afraid of break-ins and side-swipes by passing cars. (Our Explorer had a hit-and-run sideswipe in the same spot.)

There is no "ideal" spot to park it.

What does everyone do with their rigs when they are not in use?

Any information would be helpful.

Thanks.............Rocky

[Ron J. Moore]

Rok,
You mention your concern about the slope and equipment in a B, I think you might be refering to the refrigerator. We have the Dometic, and a Rep from that organization was at a Rally and said if you can sleep comfortably in your van, then it will not affect the operation of the referigerator. Hope this helps, Ron.

[Davydd]

A Sprinter B van is no wider than a standard pickup truck. Class Cs are the ones that can have boxes 8 foot wide and there are some wide body fiberglass back Bs as well. We have a level driveway but we still turn our refrigerator off when parking it and not using it.