Travato 2019 vs 2020

[Roads of Life]

Didn't see this question anywhere, so thought I'd see if anyone knew... what is the difference between the 2019 Travato KL and the 2020 Travato KL?
I can't find any specs that show some kind of change between years, but the price has gone up almost $7 grand. It can't just be that it is a new year, could it?

[n3ix]

Tariffs are thought to be a big part of the price increase. There was some recent info on the model year differences on the Travato Owners and Wannabees Facebook group. It is a very active group. You might want to check there.

Robin

[Toyman]

I had a 19, KL, traded for a 20, K, only difference I can see (except the Lithium) is the grill design.

[Roadie1]

Originally Posted by Toyman

I had a 19, KL, traded for a 20, K, only difference I can see (except the Lithium) is the grill design.

Curious S TO WHY TOUD TRADE AN L FOR Non L? Wouldn’t this be considered a significant downgrade? I’m asking bc I thought of trading my G for a GL. Thanks

[gerrym51]

Originally Posted by Roadie1

Curious S TO WHY TOUD TRADE AN L FOR Non L? Wouldn’t this be considered a significant downgrade? I’m asking bc I thought of trading my G for a GL. Thanks

my thoughts also?

[Toyman]

I had ~4000 miles on the L, it was a couple of months old and had been on ONE 50mi pleasure trip. The remain miles had been put on trying to get it fixed & delivery. It would not autostart, nor reliably run in charging mode if you did a manual. Winnebago finally suggested I take it back to the factory to have it fixed. After 3 days sitting on their plastic chairs & lots of “I don’t knows” they pronounced it fixed. I took it from there to Lichtsinn & traded. The ownership of the L cost me in excess of $30k, & lots of sour feelings. This one will have a Lithium system by end of year. It will be one that works, or anyone who knows how batteries work will be able to fix it. Winnebago put the L out in the wild with little tech support or dealer support. I wouldn’t touch one of their L’s for at least a couple of years. There are a lot that are working, but when they’re not ....

[Bud]

Originally Posted by Toyman

I had ~4000 miles on the L, it was a couple of months old and had been on ONE 50mi pleasure trip. The remain miles had been put on trying to get it fixed & delivery. It would not autostart, nor reliably run in charging mode if you did a manual. Winnebago finally suggested I take it back to the factory to have it fixed. After 3 days sitting on their plastic chairs & lots of “I don’t knows” they pronounced it fixed. I took it from there to Lichtsinn & traded. The ownership of the L cost me in excess of $30k, & lots of sour feelings. This one will have a Lithium system by end of year. It will be one that works, or anyone who knows how batteries work will be able to fix it. Winnebago put the L out in the wild with little tech support or dealer support. I wouldn’t touch one of their L’s for at least a couple of years. There are a lot that are working, but when they’re not ....

I assume from above that you did not involve the pure folks or whatever the correct words?

Bud

[Toyman]

You do what you need to do Bud, I wouldn’t touch one. Why should I, after purchasing a 6 figure + van have to take it on myself to chase down vendors & manufactures of components that the assembler can’t even identify? Winnebago did finally get Volta, intermotive, & FCA talking after me sitting for 3 days ! I did get my lawyer involved, he said they could drag out a lemon settlement for 2 yrs or more and I wouldn’t have use during that time. Being 76+ yrs old I didn’t want to fight it that long.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by Toyman

I had ~4000 miles on the L, it was a couple of months old and had been on ONE 50mi pleasure trip. The remain miles had been put on trying to get it fixed & delivery. It would not autostart, nor reliably run in charging mode if you did a manual. Winnebago finally suggested I take it back to the factory to have it fixed. After 3 days sitting on their plastic chairs & lots of “I don’t knows” they pronounced it fixed. I took it from there to Lichtsinn & traded. The ownership of the L cost me in excess of $30k, & lots of sour feelings. This one will have a Lithium system by end of year. It will be one that works, or anyone who knows how batteries work will be able to fix it. Winnebago put the L out in the wild with little tech support or dealer support. I wouldn’t touch one of their L’s for at least a couple of years. There are a lot that are working, but when they’re not ....

The Volta system is well designed. During initial WGO production I think there were some faulty installations at WGO. IIRC, Wincrasher had a similar experience with his GL Travato. Perhaps he can provide some details regarding this glitch.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by Toyman

You do what you need to do Bud, I wouldn’t touch one. Why should I, after purchasing a 6 figure + van have to take it on myself to chase down vendors & manufactures of components that the assembler can’t even identify? Winnebago did finally get Volta, intermotive, & FCA talking after me sitting for 3 days ! I did get my lawyer involved, he said they could drag out a lemon settlement for 2 yrs or more and I wouldn’t have use during that time. Being 76+ yrs old I didn’t want to fight it that long.

So sorry about your experience. Moving on sure makes sense at times. I understand the age factor, darn it. Thanks for posting, important I think.

[Roads of Life]

So what I'm hearing is Winnebago Travato "L" series is hit or miss?
That is very disturbing... Pleasure Way has absolutely no plans to set up a system where the A/C can run off battery all night (which is a must in our book!), so the only RV available with that capability is the Travato KL or GL.

Yes, I know a generator can be used, but we plan on being in areas where generators will make too much noise, either in city or using places like Harvest Host. I just can't see us disturbing everyone around us just because we need the A/C. It isn't right and we won't do it.

If there isn't a reliable RV that can handle overnight A/C, an RV may just not be in our future. How is everyone handling this issue? I'm just getting more and more disillusioned the more I research and finding such major failings in design. I can't believe people would put up with inferior product just because it's an RV. Am I getting the wrong message??

[Roadie1]

Originally Posted by Roads of Life

So what I'm hearing is Winnebago Travato "L" series is hit or miss?

That is very disturbing... Pleasure Way has absolutely no plans to set up a system where the A/C can run off battery all night (which is a must in our book!), so the only RV available with that capability is the Travato KL or GL.



Yes, I know a generator can be used, but we plan on being in areas where generators will make too much noise, either in city or using places like Harvest Host. I just can't see us disturbing everyone around us just because we need the A/C. It isn't right and we won't do it.



If there isn't a reliable RV that can handle overnight A/C, an RV may just not be in our future. How is everyone handling this issue? I'm just getting more and more disillusioned the more I research and finding such major failings in design. I can't believe people would put up with inferior product just because it's an RV. Am I getting the wrong message??

If you haven’t already, check out the Travato Facebook page. Many have L models with zero issues. Also keep in mind that most people post to either get help with an issue or to bitch about something. Most that are having zero issues, rarely post. I have a 2019 59g. I plan to upgrade to an L in a couple years. I’m with you on the genny. We don’t use it often but it’s nice when we need it. In addition to multiple 4 - 8 hour road trips, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, we’ve made two trips out west. One was 3500 miles to Colorado and most recently a 5400 mile national park trip to Glacier, Yellowstone, etc. Zero issues with the T. We used the genny at truck stops where we would spend 6-7 hours sleeping in between longer stretch drives. Basically we haven’t needed the AC as often as one would think. Of course if your in the southeast you’ll use the ac more. Finding places to boondock in the southeast is tough so you might find yourself in RV parks more often where there are hookups. Check out the YouTube channel “Go Small Live Large”. Great channel for GL detail. I’ve hosted him in my driveway and he’s a great dude. Good luck!

[mumkin]

Dejavu all over again? This reads like the thread in 2015/2016 when Roadtrek tossed its lithium and voltstart system into the market without much of a clue about how to keep them working. I had hoped that Winnebago had learned a lesson from the RT debacle, but apparently not so much.

Originally Posted by Roads of Life

If there isn't a reliable RV that can handle overnight A/C, an RV may just not be in our future. How is everyone handling this issue? I'm just getting more and more disillusioned the more I research and finding such major failings in design. I can't believe people would put up with inferior product just because it's an RV. Am I getting the wrong message??

I think you may have unrealistic expectations at this time. The only possible converter I can think of who might be able to deliver is Advanced RV and be ready to pay $200-300K for your rig and wait for about a year for delivery, but it will deliver whatever you could want.

The way I have always handled needing the AC, is pulling into a campground and plugging in...

[RossWilliams]

If there isn't a reliable RV that can handle overnight A/C, an RV may just not be in our future

If you mean running off batteries, I think an RV may not be in your future. To run even a 1200 watt AC continuously for 8 hours is going to require 9600 watt-hours of actual battery capacity. Of course whether it needs to run continuously will depend on the outside temperature, how cool you want it and how well sealed and insulated the RV is. But putting a battery bank that will give you 800AH over 8 hours into an RV is going to be difficult and very expensive. And, of course, that doesn't count any other use of electricity.

keep in mind that most people post to either get help with an issue or to bitch about something. Most that are having zero issues, rarely post.

I think that is the case with all impressions based on the information you get on internet forums. Whether someone is disappointed is a combination of both expectations and actual experience. If you expect your AC to run all night and it conks out after a couple hours you may be upset. But it may be your expectations that are at fault, not your batteries.

You also need to be cautious of solutions based on that information as well. Something that solved one person's problem may not solve yours, even it they sound like they are similar. There are people with very firmly held opinions that hold true only for a very narrow set of situations, expectations and values. People who implement those solutions and are disappointed are unlikely to come back to complain to someone who was only trying to help.

[Roads of Life]

No complaints here! Everything posted on these forums has been useful and well received. It seems the community is honest and up front (something I fear is rare these days!), keeps to topics without rambling on (I'm afraid I do that all the time!), and unlike much of the YouTube crowd, aren't giving opinions based on being able to sell something.

I follow "Go Small Live Large" on YouTube. He has been traveling for a year or so and somewhere in the region of 25k miles with his Travato GL. I do have to say he shows the Travato faults he has experienced (finding solutions to those issues) and has done testing on his A/C that has lasted him through the night. He is more than willing to say what he gets paid for and when he doesn't, so I haven't found fault in his reasoning so far. I'm still leaning towards the KL, but honestly, I have over a year (and maybe more) before I really need to start thinking about buying or finding another path, so who knows... maybe impossible forever batteries are on the horizon!

Thanks to everyone who has responded, both with positive and negative reviews... it is sometimes difficult to hear, but always appreciated!

[Roads of Life]

If you haven’t already, check out the Travato Facebook page.
Regrettably, I don't have Facebook... my wife has an account though, so I might steal a look at hers!

keep in mind that most people post to either get help with an issue or to bitch about something. Most that are having zero issues, rarely post.
I'm unfortunately one of those too... always have to remember to post the positive when I can!

I’m with you on the genny. We don’t use it often but it’s nice when we need it.
I've heard a few tales of inconsiderate people running generators all night, and I just can't bare to be one of them!

if your in the southeast you’ll use the ac more.
We are south in the hot and humid... but our real concern is traveling with the dog and leaving her in the RV while we go sight see. We are more museum and historical places people and less outdoorsy, so our concern in making too much noise in public areas and keeping the dog comfortable while away. We plan on Harvest Host nights a lot, and assume no hookups, so the battery backup is going to be essential (in our opinion of no experience!).

Check out the YouTube channel “Go Small Live Large”.
Best channel I belong to so far! He seems the most honest and invested in the lifestyle.

Thanks for all the input and support!
Be seeing you!

[booster]

Ross's etrek was the first to claim all night running of the AC on batteries, so I guess that puts to rest the claims originally about that feasibility.


The big Volta systems have enough capacity to do the overnight thing, but would have to charge every day or more with the engine.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by booster

The big Volta systems have enough capacity to do the overnight thing, but would have to charge every day or more with the engine.

The Travato Volta system is likely to get even bigger. WGO is shortly releasing a Travato KL or GL with a Volta 13k+ battery capacity. It's called a National Park Service version limited to 100 coaches but IMO it soon will be an option for all Travatos.

[booster]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

The Travato Volta system is likely to get even bigger. WGO is shortly releasing a Travato KL or GL with a Volta 13k+ battery capacity. It's called a National Park Service version limited to 100 coaches but IMO it soon will be an option for all Travatos.

That is kind of clever.


They get to run a beta test by making it a limited availability special edition!

[Toyman]

Actually the NP version is already out & sold out. I believe it has 11.6kw battery, Volta added one more cell the the original pack. The 8.7kw would get you thru the night, a 6hr night in Houston, a 8hr long night in Colorado.