2006 Chevy Roadtrek 210

sehsteve@gmail.com

Advanced Member
RV LIFE Pro
Joined
May 25, 2019
Posts
52
Location
southern california
I am thinking about replacing our 2002 Dodge 3500 Road trek 190 Popular (104,000miles) with a low mileage 2006 Chevy 3500 Roadtreak 210 (<40,000 Miles). Any and all advice appreciated. Our Dodge is fine but the Chevy has slightly bigger twin beds (nice), a larger refrigerator and seems to drive better on my short test drive. However I am wondering if the macerator pump and small line are reliable on the Chevy are trouble spots. I am used to the 3 " gravity feed on the Dodge.
Also does anyone know gas mileage on the Chevy? I get 14.5 - 15 mpg on trips with the Dodge.
The Chevy has a generator which I am not likely to use much and the Chevy bathroom has been modified so it is actually a little larger. Ah, what to do?
 
We bought a 1996 Dodge 190P new and enjoyed it a lot for years. Then we ordered a 2007 RT 210P with all the goodies and still own it. Our 210 gets around 14 mpg on the highway and I never check it closely because whether I will enjoy it or not does not depend on a mile or two per gallon either side of 14. We have an enclosed bath and the larger 5cf refrigerator. We also have twin beds and prefer them over the more usual power couch in the rear. The twins allow for a very large storage space in a 210 accessed from the back doors. And so on.

You might go to the Roadtrek website and look at the information on there for your 190 and compare it to the 210 you are thinking about. You can see all the spec differences.
 
Thank you so much for the information. For whatever reasons I track mpg, but I agree with you that a few miles either way don't matter. We mostly travel out of state on 3 to 4 week trips. Our Dodge has been great but I am considering moving to the Chevy the because:
such low mileage for an '06
Chevy seems quieter and to drive better,
the wider twin bed sleeping would be great over the very narrow twin arrangement we now use,
the larger refrigerator would be nice (and this one is new, just installed in 2023)
I don't care about a generator and that might be a hassle,
window curtains are much better,
macerator dump would be easier (but how reliable?) than the gravity feed,
enclosed toilet is nicer of course but not a big deal to us,
Dodge ride height is better but we aren't going into rugged areas anyhow
Thanks again for your information and thinking with us.
Safe and fun travels,
Stephen
 
We have an 07 190P which we chose because of the quite low load capacity and wide width of the 210.

Generators are are nice if you need that much power for AC on batteries but we removed ours quite a while ago. They are high maintenance and sometimes troublesome.

I have several discussions on the forum about the Roadtrek macerators, including how to fairly easily increase the reliability by fixing Roadtrek's installation problems. They also cover our adding of a redundant gravity dump system so we can easily dump if the macerator does fail. We are on our 18th year without a failure, although I did put in a pump with reversed orientation a long time ago.

Mileage is pretty variable in the 4 speed auto Chevies depending on speed ad driving style. We can vary from 16-1/mpg at 50mph to 13.5 at 75+ on no wind highway segments. We do go fast on the freeway and often on two lanes with lots of small town slowdowns, plus the often slow and hilly to trailheads and such. We have historically averaged 14.5mpg (our odometer/scangauge have been valibrated to be accurate, stock ODO was about 2% off to the giving higher than actual side for miles and milage.

Clearance is an issue for many users, and many of us have done lifts that get back empty new van height.

Lots of help here on the Chevies.
 
Thank you so very much for your wise help. I think we will go ahead and upgrade/buy this one. I will have to be back here to search out best advice for the macerator. It does seem it will be easier than having to get the 3" hose out, hook it up etc, although not really a big deal. It is my understanding that the macerator dumps both thanks, the black then the grey?
I really appreciate your information.
Steve
 

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