Great West Van on ProMaster at Tampa RV Show - Page 2

mlts22 · 01-21-2014, 03:45 PM

If the four seats are like most European models (separate seats for driver and passenger, half-dinette that seatbelts two), that makes sense.

I'm curious about where they located the bathroom. It looks like the beds are the full width of the van, which appears decent. The top bunk is decent, but I hope there is an option for drawer/cabinet storage.

Then, there are the other details. Did they go with a standard water heater, an Atwood on-demand, or the little 4 gallon 120VAC model?

GWV tends to do things "right", and the $77k price, assuming that it was up to the quality standards of their other rigs, might just be a bargain.

mlts22 · 01-22-2014, 07:02 PM

No news on this rig on GWV's site, and looking at the usual search engines, no photos of the model shown at the Tampa show... hope this changes soon.

stanw909 · 01-23-2014, 06:27 PM

Why the mystery? They must not be too proud of it. No YouTube video .no pics. Not marketing very well.

stanw909 · 01-29-2014, 03:14 AM

Still waiting on those pics and vids

markopolo · 01-29-2014, 03:47 PM

I've been in contact with GW vans. The ProMaster they had at Tampa RV Show was a prototype unit. Photos will be forthcoming as soon as they have completed some refinements to minor items. They did refer to the unit as the "Classic" so that most probably confirms the name.

bobojay · 01-29-2014, 09:12 PM

I wonder if any of the upfitters are running into some of the issues that early owners are? Terribly squeaky brakes and noisy, squeaky rear leaf spring bushings.
These issues seem to show in the first 2k miles or so, especially the brakes.....

mlts22 · 01-29-2014, 09:48 PM

Do those go away, or are those "version 1.0" issues that need addressed at a dealer?

bobojay · 01-30-2014, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlts22

Do those go away, or are those "version 1.0" issues that need addressed at a dealer?

My opinion: version 1.0 that at least on the brake issue is going to generate a service bulletin for the squeal at some point.
The spring thing? They'll make a rolling assembly line change to fix the problem, (the brakes too), but no service bulletin since it's not a safety issue.
This is why you never, ever buy a new vehicle that was built during the first 6 months of production. Allow some to get out in the field in service to find the small niggling issues they all have, then get corrected as things show up in their warranty databases

accrete · 02-01-2014, 12:19 AM

i agree with the above on the Service Bulletin issue. As noted, unless it is safety related you have to ask and dig to figure out if your rig could benefit. We had a situation with our Tacoma where i found out there was a voluntary at-dealer-cost fix for the rear suspension. If you brought your rig into a dealer a simply stated that the rear end sagged under load you would get a free 4th leaf. So the lesson is, find a good forum for your rig and monitor weather there are fixes available and go for it

96RT190V · 02-21-2014, 12:54 PM

Pictures now up on Great West website but details still to follow:

http://www.greatwestvans.com/new-model/

-no exterior pics yet
-doesn't appear to have a shower

Davydd · 02-21-2014, 02:48 PM

Interesting. It appears to be spartan in design to keep the cost down and going for sleeping four in a small package. It is not a wet bath with shower. They specifically say two piece bathroom (lav and toilet). They mention the power bunk bed but provide no details. It could be that full bulkhead over the back lowers down for an upper bed and the seating in the back makes into the lower beds. I believe an older photo shows the upper bed lowered in the back.

stanw909 · 02-22-2014, 10:07 PM

Very nice. A bed for me and one for the Mrs.I don't think we'd like crawling over each other. As it stands now I use the penthouse bed and she uses the couch bed below. We could both sleep in the PH but she's a little clumsy.

Fastpaddler1 · 02-24-2014, 03:52 AM

That's ekonewengland.com, Davdd?
Nice specs on that unit. 20ft 11ins.Is it like Promaster 59G. Or does it have a better bed than that flop-down 'thing'? Your pic of GWV Promaster at least seems to have a useable bed at the back. But NO shower--great if you 2 kids along! Thats what happens when you have 4 seats up front. You have to lengthen RV to accommodate a decent shower. Do you agree?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Admin edit: Re: Eko Motorhomes - read this post on PissedConsumer.com
http://www.pissedconsumer.com/reviews-b ... 69246.html

Photos of the Eko appear to be flipped and edit photos of the Swift Group's Autocruise Accent - link: http://classbforum.com/phpBB2/viewto...tart=33#p18375

Note: Great West Vans has nothing at all to do with Eko Motorhomes. Great West Vans has been in business for many years with many happy customers.

Davydd · 02-24-2014, 03:10 PM

I wasn't referring to Eko. As Marko edited Great West Vans is a different and legitimate company. The photo I referred to was in a previous post in this thread. It shows the back doors open and what we know clearly now to be an elevated bed that lowers down.

Fastpaddler1 · 02-24-2014, 10:09 PM

Thanks Markopolo

I picked up on the "eko" and checked the pics on their site. For sure, GWV, out of my former home, WInnipeg, Manitoba is completely separate company and I love their rigs. I almost bought a 2011 demo but I couldnt get MY price accepted by GM at that time. I am still looking at the company.
My comment, though re the 4 seats stands as I see the loss of a proper wet bath as a downer--for me anyway. Sure, they can pull the 4 seats and put in armoires but not much good for showering but some folks dont use wet baths--matter of choice.
The pissedconsumer.com site kept bouncing me to some health care product...!!

Davydd · 02-25-2014, 12:26 AM

The problem is if you removed the two passenger seats then you would probably also want to remove the upper bed which is taking away from upper storage. But once you remove the seats then there is room to expand the bath. The converters still seem to think younger people are going to buy these things. The price point may be lower but they still make little sense for families that get but a week or two in state parks for vacations or point to point short weekend vacations.

booster · 02-25-2014, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davydd

The problem is if you removed the two passenger seats then you would probably also want to remove the upper bed which is taking away from upper storage. But once you remove the seats then there is room to expand the bath. The converters still seem to think younger people are going to buy these things. The price point may be lower but they still make little sense for families that get but a week or two in state parks for vacations or point to point short weekend vacations.

If the young crowd is what they are going for, I think they need to go further that way, but I don't think that families would be the target I would go for. The outdoorsie, adventure, types might be a more appropriate target. Many of the younger generation have enough income to buy into a reasonably priced B, especially if they live on public transportation and don't have a lot of money in cars. These would be the bikers, motorbikers, kayakers, climbers, etc and would want the van equipped differently. Port-a-potty (or a bush) works for them, as well as an outside shower and grill. Kayak compatible roof, bikes inside, the 4 seats and sleeping areas (not needed to be luxurious). Maybe 4 wheel drive. Microwave and outside grill. 30 years ago, they were all in tents, 10 years ago in popups, so fancy wood, carpet, leather, etc not an issue. No frills, easy to clean and take care of. Are there enough of them that would buy a B to support production? Who knows, but there are probably more than there are families that would buy them.

This crowd

Davydd · 02-25-2014, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by booster

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davydd

The problem is if you removed the two passenger seats then you would probably also want to remove the upper bed which is taking away from upper storage. But once you remove the seats then there is room to expand the bath. The converters still seem to think younger people are going to buy these things. The price point may be lower but they still make little sense for families that get but a week or two in state parks for vacations or point to point short weekend vacations.

If the young crowd is what they are going for, I think they need to go further that way, but I don't think that families would be the target I would go for. The outdoorsie, adventure, types might be a more appropriate target. Many of the younger generation have enough income to buy into a reasonably priced B, especially if they live on public transportation and don't have a lot of money in cars. These would be the bikers, motorbikers, kayakers, climbers, etc and would want the van equipped differently. Port-a-potty (or a bush) works for them, as well as an outside shower and grill. Kayak compatible roof, bikes inside, the 4 seats and sleeping areas (not needed to be luxurious). Maybe 4 wheel drive. Microwave and outside grill. 30 years ago, they were all in tents, 10 years ago in popups, so fancy wood, carpet, leather, etc not an issue. No frills, easy to clean and take care of. Are there enough of them that would buy a B to support production? Who knows, but there are probably more than there are families that would buy them.

This crowd

The Winnebago Travato comes closer to what you describe right now. However, Great West Vans has more flexibility I think in coming up with a better design to meet that demographic. I suppose every time a state park upgrades a campground with level pads and electrical, Bs might become more appealing for the younger crowd. The problem is they are all choosing to live in apartments and condos in the inner cities and parking vehicles on the streets which right now is nearly impossible in Minneapolis.

Is there enough demand to support production? I don't know, but a market could be created if done right. I only personally know one guy in that active category. He's not exactly young, young but is an avid biker and wants a small trailer like the R-Pod with a 4x4 SUV.

On the road, I am still seeing mostly near retired or retired couples in Bs. Looking at the Lake Region RVs Facebook page where they publish photos of happy buyers they seem to all fit that category. Two years ago when I was "protecting" the B I bought that was displayed at the Minneapolis RV Show I hung around and answered a lot of questions and observed. Younger people were a lot more negative in their impressions of Bs. Older people were more dreamy about them but you could see the non-experienced in RVing were more impressed with the small Cs. I think it is a bang for the buck thing. Bs just aren't practical for minimal use and would have to be a primary or every day vehicle for young people. Retireds get the idea of touring but without experience have no understanding of the difference of a B vs. a larger motorhome without doing a lot of research. You really have to get past the bang (size) for the buck thing in your research to understand Bs.

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