Why should I NOT buy a Pleasure Way Ascent

[Ladyflier]

I experienced difficulties dealing with PW customer service when I needed to replace a running board. The one they sent did not match the other side but it was too expensive to return. They close down their facility for the month of August. Took me almost 6 months to get the running board and I had to order thru a local dealer.

[Dzimm247]

Did you consider/appraise the Airstream "Nineteen" 2020 with new chassis. Saw one the other day at Local dealer. Just coming out now.

[Kdbjones]

Originally Posted by Luke Warmwater

Hi all.

New member here. My wife and I are looking to purchase a class B motorhome within the next year (retiring). We plan to tow a cargo trailer containing two motorcycles (total: 3,000 lbs) with the rig and we want a smaller unit as we plan to ship the motorhome over to Europe and tour over there (without the trailer).

We have camped for years in tent trailers, travel trailers and fifth wheels, but never a motorhome.

I have visited manufacturers websites, several dealerships, read reviews, watched u-tube videos and lurked on this forum.

I have pretty much decided that I want a new or gently used (2018 or newer) Pleasure Way Ascent TS for the following reasons...

- 2018 and newer came with the Spyder Controls 7" touch screen panel.
- Truma Aquago Comfort Plus hot water heater.
- Sprinter chasis allows for towing up to 5,000 lbs.
- 19 foot 7 inch overall length makes parking and navigating European roads
easier.
- No over-length surcharge on BC ferries.
- Excellent build quality by all accounts.
- Excellent visibility out of the passenger side.
- ultra leather fabric and memory foam cushions.
- Canadian made. (Go Canada!!)
- 3 way absorption fridge ( I like having three power options)
- 5 year coach warranty to original owner. (Not transferable)

On the down side, it has a Onan LP generator (would prefer VoltStart), would prefer a microwave/convection over a microwave only and the price tag is quite high.

I am having trouble finding any used units, probably because I want 2018 or newer. Even new units are hard to come by. There are none available in BC at this time. I would have to travel to Alberta if I wanted to buy one today.

So, my questions to the forum are...."Why should I not buy a Pleasure Way Ascent?" and "Why would I be making a huge mistake by doing this?"

We had a 2018. What a pain. WE are in GA and traveled to NC. Couldn’t find the right diesel and the DEF was an added pain. Didn’t drive as nicely as the Lexor on the ProMaster. Seats were very uncomfortable compared to the ProMaster chassis. Bed was much harder than the Lexor ProMaster. That was enough for us. Sold and now happy with the Lexor!

[CGAZ Paul]

Hi! Responding to your original post. I looked at that Pleasureway and was very impressed. It does all the wonderful things my 1999 Rialta HD does only newer, and better. If you want the versatility (believe me you will like it) of the 3-way fridge, (motor-assited hot water - the one I looked at had it) and the Generator, this is the rig to get. So many companies are changing things in these newer rigs that make "boondocking" and other joys of travel impossible. An electric fridge? The Rialta has the 3-way and I use ALL 3 all the time. The "motoraid" water heater (brand I have) is indespensible. Of course, when at a campground you can make use of all these things electrically. I have peace of mind knowing that I can run anything I want any which way I can. The LP Gen (the Onan is a good one) is a bit of a drawback because it uses up LP pretty fast. But, if you plan and use things right you won't have to rely on it for hours on end. I am not so keen on running the LP heater at night. I never thought I would do this, but I have a tiny Lasko space heater that runs on electric. Very small, oscillates, and has a timer AND remote. At a campground you can use this (unless your rig has a heat strip in the ceiling AC?) and you use no propane. It is quieter and I feel safer for overnight use. "Always leave a roof vent cracked open to let the carbon dioxide and humidity breathe out". Good luck and I think you will like the Pleasureway. This would be my choice when the time comes to replace the Rialta.

[Deputydawg45]

Luke, you SHOULD purchase a Pleasure Way RV. Period. We own a 2019 PW Lexor FL on a ram promaster chassis and it is awesome. The only thing I can’t speak to is your towing capacity requirement on the Ascent sprinter chassis because our Pro-master tow limit is 2200 lbs.
The workmanship of the camper, fridge, leather, Onan generator, smart tv, etc are all terrific and our Lexor is equipped with a microwave/convection oven and has standard solar and lithium batteries.
The 5 year warranty on these campers are tops in the industry.
Don’t look at any other brands. No need. PW is tops and their customer service center at the factory are knowledgeable and always available.

[avanti]

If I were buying a new rig today, I would very possibly purchase a Pleasureway, purely on the basis of superior workmanship. Not sure where else I could find reasonable build quality without going to stratospheric prices. I would then use it as the basis for a major DIY upgrade. I would immediately upgrade the electrical system to something adequate and then rip out the 20th century fridge and replace it with a compressor unit. I don't know enough about the details of the rig to know what else would be necessary, but I have high confidence that over time I could end up with the rig of my dreams.

That is pretty much what I did with our current GWV Legend, and the final result was very gratifying. I don't know any other way to get exactly what we want without spending literally twice the money.

[ks@yvr]

I own a Pleasure-Way Plateau, older model that we purchased used (one-owner vehicle). The previous owner did replace the original fridge with a new 3 way Dometic fridge that works great. The generator had less than 20 hours and we have put only 9 more hours in a year and only use it to exercise and run microwave infrequently. We did upgrade the coach battery to a 200 ah AGM and that runs us several days off grid or not driving (since we very rarely plug in 5% if that). Propane lasts a couple of weeks when running heat in colder regions and about a month in hot regions running fridge generally always on propane, cooking with gas and hot water.

I really don’t think propane tank size is an issue, our Plateau has a spare that is the only thing I would add to an Ascent and one could easily be added to rear or carried in M/C trailer.

If you can find a used Ascent that meets your needs then I really don’t think you will regret it. Make a few personal upgrades and happy travels.

[Rok]

Hi Luke,

It's been a while since we were in the market--we bought in 2013 IIRC--but a Pleasure Way unit was our second pick, and that was only because of their warranty policy at that time. So, my evaluation for you is from my extensive research at that time plus a few tidbits that I've picked up on this website and elsewhere since.

Pros: The fit and finish of the Pleasure Way units is superb. You can actually SMELL the difference between new units of Pleasure Way vs. the lower priced companies like Winnebago (their comparable ERA units, anyway). To get the same fit and finish elsewhere you have to pay quite a bit more. Compared to the companies that produce high-end units, most of which are admittedly even higher quality, the Pleasure-Way unit is a bargain, not "real expensive". You frequently get what you pay for, and on the scale of what you get vs. cost PW is extremely good by that metric.

Rather than dealing with a company that does custom units, you are dealing with a cookie-cutter type of unit and that has a lot of benefits. With cookie cutter units, a lot of the kinks are worked out because of other customers, and a lot of the niceties that get put on are due to this as well. Sure, there isn't as much variability, but this allows a company to keep up their "bang for the buck" ratio.

One of the things that turned us off to the PW Ascent was the small, nearly unusable, bathroom. We would have bought the Plateau model because it had one of the largest bathrooms for Class B units. When we first purchased our unit, we knew absolutely nothing about camping and planned to use the on-board shower and toilet almost exclusively. That turned out not to happen. We do use them quite a bit for convenience. The first year of traveling, however, I almost never used a public shower, but I quickly found that the onboard shower just doesn't compare to the campground showers--well, usually anyway. Regardless of what precautions you use, however, you will probably get fungal infections from public showers, but they are easy enough to address. One thing that isn't are plantar warts. It took me over a year to get rid of a case of them that I probably caught in a public shower.

Yes, we are a bit germophobic, but we feel there is a real threat and we are not just paranoid.

As far as a large bathroom goes, though, I've been very happy to have one the couple of times I've caught a "bug" on the road and got diarrhea. For people with any chronic urgency issues like irritable bowel (IBS) or enlarged prostate, a large easy to use on-board facility can be a blessing. We chose the unit with the largest bathroom for a class B in the industry--which at our time was the Great West Legend SE. It also had the largest refrigerator, and the XL model had the largest bed. But it sounds like you are an experienced tent camper and none of those issues would apply.

The size of the PW Ascent (I keep wanting to call it an "Agile"), is the best for maneuverability and parking, and tolls, etc, but on the low end for comfort and claustrophobia. This is a balance that every RV camper has to address from their needs perspective. Our unit is 22' 9" long vs. the 19' of the Ascent (and Agile) vs. the 24' 1" of the EX version.

There have been dozens of times I have wished that we had the EX version for the larger bed.

There have been dozens of times also where we found that HAD we had the larger version, we couldn't have parked or driven on a road or camped someplace. And there have been dozens of times where we couldn't do something that we could have done with a 19 foot unit.

In camping, size matters, and every camper must choose a point somewhere between a mini-cooper and a Semi Tractor or Articulated Bus platform. Every point on that scale allows some things and causes problems other places. But I'm stating the obvious--but I believe the obvious isn't stated enough in this respect.

Cons: The Pleasure Way units are purchased through a dealer when new, and the dealers of RV's are notorious for being universally awful ethically. Even the best of them are rated in the low threes (of five stars) on Yelp and other rating sites, which of course is awful. This is real and the reasons can be found by viewing the videos about RV legality on You Tube by attorney Steve Lehto. Anyone considering buying an RV should watch these videos to prepare them for what they are up against.

We contacted the PW Corporate offices because of their policy of not extending the Warranty to a second owner. We didn't know if we were going to use the unit once and re-sell it, and if that happened, we knew that having 4 1/2 years on a valid warranty would be worth several thousand dollars to a prospective used market buyer. When we asked them to extend the warranty to a second owner should that happen they declined and lost the sale to us. We bought the GW unit and found that we really liked "camping" (if you can call it that). Plus, GW went under owing us thousands of dollars in back warranty reimbursements. (We had been filing for over a year and they were giving us the run around.) We did get a few thousand dollars of warranty stuff done that was paid for, though.

I've heard that PW changed their policy on non-transfer-ability of warranty since we bought, but from your post it sounds like I might be wrong and they may still have that issue.

I've seen a number of places that the tow capacity on these rigs is quite a bit overstated and someone else addressed that earlier. No personal experience to bounce off of on this issue, sorry.

There are fuel issues between the US and Europe. I've heard that diesel can be spotty some places, but they use a lot of diesel cars in parts of Europe. Again, no personal experience to offer on this point.

While the lack of Duallies provides increased MPG or MPL in your case, the stability of the unit is compromised vs a dually unit. I've test driven the smaller units and have found them to be fine from that limited experience, but your experience may vary.

The best deals I've found on newer used units are units that someone has purchased, used once, and found they didn't like RV camping. You will be competing with dealers for these prime units, so they won't be a total steal, but the dealers will want to offer about 20K less than what they would sell the units for (and about $30-$40K less than what they would list them for), and that could be quite an opportunity if you come in about $5K over what the Dealers offer. I've been tempted to buy some of these type of units I've seen as a second rig, but my wife always vetoes those purchases.

[jgmarcotte]

Look at the Canadian made Panoramicrv.com see ultra mobility review and the interview with the CEO

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by avanti

I agree that surface rust on the commutator surfaces is the biggest potential issue. That is the only real reason I believe in "exercise" at all. But I have never seen evidence that half a year is going to do any permanent damage. This is after many years experience with gensets, snow blowers, lawn mowers, and motorcycles.

OTOH, when you DO run it, be very sure that it runs long enough to get good and hot. Otherwise you are just pumping in damaging water vapor that never gets cooked away. Give it a good run, or else just let it sleep.

I'm not telling you what you should do, but, the Cummins dealership would not advise you to leave it sit for 6 months...if you can help it.

I don't know... why do you think they would say that? They're only the manufacturer....

As this applies to propane and gasoline models... alike.

I'm just saying.... that's their business.... I would definitely pay attention to that. You can make whatever choice you want.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by Roadtrek Adventuous RS1

I'm not telling you what you should do, but, the Cummins dealership would not advise you to leave it sit for 6 months...if you can help it.

I don't know... why do you think they would say that? They're only the manufacturer....

As this applies to propane and gasoline models... alike.

I'm just saying.... that's their business.... I would definitely pay attention to that. You can make whatever choice you want.

"I don't know... why do you think they would say that?"

Same reason 'they' would say that a 2.5/2.8 generator is quiet?

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Bud

"I don't know... why do you think they would say that?"

Same reason 'they' would say that a 2.5/2.8 generator is quiet?

...and the same reason "they" can't repair their own, simple engine?

Kind of funny.

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by avanti

...and the same reason "they" can't repair their own, simple engine?

Kind of funny.

What's your make and model?

[booster]

Onan is doing a KYA on some of this stuff, not surprising at all.


When you are talking commutator corrosion, I can tell you with absolute certainty that it is the conditions the genny is stored in that make by far the biggest issue. We had an Onan in our 07 until a couple of years ago and it sat for a year before we sold it after removing it, plus it would almost always only get run maybe once over winters. BUT, and this is a big but, it was stored over winters in our very air tight and always above freezing (mostly 50*+) garage. When it sat for a year, it was in an engine bag and in out crawlspace in the house.


When I pulled it out to sell it, the buyer wanted to see it run and check the output of it to spec. Smart guy to want that, but it meant me setting it up to do that. It started up fine with new gas (old was drained and run dry before storage) and immediately on warmup it put out OVER spec at nearly 3K watts. This generator was a decade old and had something like 30 hours on it.



If this generator had been in an outside stored van here in Minnesota, it would not have done well, I am very certain.


The absolute worst place to put the generator is under the van as the heating and cooling of the metals lags the air temp by a whole lot. You will repeatedly be getting moist air onto a generator that is below the air dewpoint of the air and condensing. Warm sunny days will melt snow right by the edge of the van and under it from the the warmer air and it drifts right under where the generator is still cold from overnight or colder weather.


I have a similar issue in the garage only in the summer as the garage is very will insulated and can run 25* or more less than outdoor temps in the summer. If I open the doors on humid day I get condensation on all the stuff in the garage that has high thermal mass like the vehicles, steel workbench and welding table, lathe and mill. That was the only time I worried about the generator, but those doors aren't opened often or very long so it was infrequent enough not to matter enough to show up. If bench didn't rust, I knew I was OK.

[Mfm]

Originally Posted by Knit

BTW, as a Roadtrek owner subject to the rear seat issue I have to agree that it sucks. Luckily I have had few rear seat passengers in the past and now plan for non in the future.

Can you tell me more about the rear seat issue-I have a 2015 RT Agile

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by Mfm

Can you tell me more about the rear seat issue-I have a 2015 RT Agile

You can check the Roadtrek seat issue out at this thread.

http://www.classbforum.com/forums/f5...fail-9317.html

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by booster

Onan is doing a KYA on some of this stuff, not surprising at all.


When you are talking commutator corrosion, I can tell you with absolute certainty that it is the conditions the genny is stored in that make by far the biggest issue. We had an Onan in our 07 until a couple of years ago and it sat for a year before we sold it after removing it, plus it would almost always only get run maybe once over winters. BUT, and this is a big but, it was stored over winters in our very air tight and always above freezing (mostly 50*+) garage. When it sat for a year, it was in an engine bag and in out crawlspace in the house.


When I pulled it out to sell it, the buyer wanted to see it run and check the output of it to spec. Smart guy to want that, but it meant me setting it up to do that. It started up fine with new gas (old was drained and run dry before storage) and immediately on warmup it put out OVER spec at nearly 3K watts. This generator was a decade old and had something like 30 hours on it.



If this generator had been in an outside stored van here in Minnesota, it would not have done well, I am very certain.


The absolute worst place to put the generator is under the van as the heating and cooling of the metals lags the air temp by a whole lot. You will repeatedly be getting moist air onto a generator that is below the air dewpoint of the air and condensing. Warm sunny days will melt snow right by the edge of the van and under it from the the warmer air and it drifts right under where the generator is still cold from overnight or colder weather.


I have a similar issue in the garage only in the summer as the garage is very will insulated and can run 25* or more less than outdoor temps in the summer. If I open the doors on humid day I get condensation on all the stuff in the garage that has high thermal mass like the vehicles, steel workbench and welding table, lathe and mill. That was the only time I worried about the generator, but those doors aren't opened often or very long so it was infrequent enough not to matter enough to show up. If bench didn't rust, I knew I was OK.

Unless they are kept indoors in a temperature controlled environment most vehicles rust out in the Northeast....

This is not the case especially in Los Angeles. We don't live close to the beach and our vehicles sit outside on the driveway and they don't rust. We've had many cars that were over 20 years old with zero rust issues.

Generators should be run and exercised, it's right in the owners manual...

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Roadtrek Adventuous RS1

Unless they are kept indoors in a temperature controlled environment most vehicles rust out in the Northeast....

This has not been true for a long time now. I live in the Northeast. I have historically tended to keep vehicles for a very long time. The last ones that experienced any significant "rust out" were vehicles build in the 1990s.

Modern metallurgy and paint technologies have long since solved this problem.

(There are exceptions, such as the T1N Sprinter with the cheap white paint. This problem, too, has been corrected. It is also true that aftermarket RV add-ons such as brackets, propane tanks, etc. are often not up to the same standards as the chassis themselves and often exhibit rust issues.)

Generators should be run and exercised, it's right in the owners manual...

Do decades of direct experience by multiple users mean ANYTHING to you? If not, why are you here?

[Knit]

Originally Posted by Mfm

Can you tell me more about the rear seat issue-I have a 2015 RT Agile

The issue is the 2nd row of captains chairs don’t meet Canada/US safety testing criteria. But good news for you - the Agile does not have a second row of captains seats.

[Davydd]

I think coastal cities where fog comes in from the sea is the most corrosive. Inland, I can avoid road salt by not driving. You can't avoid sea salt laden fog.