KitsapEra
Advanced Member
Hi-
A new user here. Have never owned a motorhome/van before, but we did have a Coleman tent trailer for most of our children's childhoods. Towed it behind 6 cylinder Toyotas... Recently we started looking at class B and C options. For a number of reasons, I'm not into towing a trailer anymore, even though I know it is a much cheaper solution than a motorhome. With our children now grown, it would mostly be used by just the wife and I, but also sometimes the grandparents (although I may do the driving for them) and sometimes our adult children.
After a lot of discussion in the family, and looking at a number of small class C's, we moved to looking at class B's. Thanks to these also being known now as "Covid campers" in these parts, there is currently very little for sale locally (PNW) but we did recently find a very slightly used 2018 Era 170M. This is the model with a slide-out, murphy bed, and dry bath. It's appealing for a number of reasons:
1. Being slightly used (2300 miles) it's considerably cheaper than new. My calculations are that it had a list of about $156k (it appears to have all options), and given what I know of typical discounts (pre-covid) it probably sold for around $125k new. But I could be wrong. But Seattle is an expensive area and nothing here is discounted much, except rain.
2. Being on the 2018 chassis, it has the older cockpit, and my wife MUCH prefers the driver/passenger seat to all new Sprinters. She has chronic neck/back issues so this is really important to us. I'm fairly confident we will never own a 2019 or newer Sprinter, period.
3. Same issue causes us to want a real bed, not fold down cushions to sleep on.
4. Some in the family are really dubious of the concept of a wet bath. Never had one, but it certainly doesn't look ideal if you are actually going to shower in it every day.
5. The slide-out creates enough floor space for my wife to do stretches/exercises within the van.
My big concerns are:
1. General quality. I gather Winnebago isn't really the best, or even better than mediocre?
2. The slide-out in particular. Where there issues with this (other than high cost) that caused Winnebago to discontinue it?
3. Other things that I as a motorhome noob aren't aware of but should be?
My thanks in advance!
-dm
A new user here. Have never owned a motorhome/van before, but we did have a Coleman tent trailer for most of our children's childhoods. Towed it behind 6 cylinder Toyotas... Recently we started looking at class B and C options. For a number of reasons, I'm not into towing a trailer anymore, even though I know it is a much cheaper solution than a motorhome. With our children now grown, it would mostly be used by just the wife and I, but also sometimes the grandparents (although I may do the driving for them) and sometimes our adult children.
After a lot of discussion in the family, and looking at a number of small class C's, we moved to looking at class B's. Thanks to these also being known now as "Covid campers" in these parts, there is currently very little for sale locally (PNW) but we did recently find a very slightly used 2018 Era 170M. This is the model with a slide-out, murphy bed, and dry bath. It's appealing for a number of reasons:
1. Being slightly used (2300 miles) it's considerably cheaper than new. My calculations are that it had a list of about $156k (it appears to have all options), and given what I know of typical discounts (pre-covid) it probably sold for around $125k new. But I could be wrong. But Seattle is an expensive area and nothing here is discounted much, except rain.
2. Being on the 2018 chassis, it has the older cockpit, and my wife MUCH prefers the driver/passenger seat to all new Sprinters. She has chronic neck/back issues so this is really important to us. I'm fairly confident we will never own a 2019 or newer Sprinter, period.
3. Same issue causes us to want a real bed, not fold down cushions to sleep on.
4. Some in the family are really dubious of the concept of a wet bath. Never had one, but it certainly doesn't look ideal if you are actually going to shower in it every day.
5. The slide-out creates enough floor space for my wife to do stretches/exercises within the van.
My big concerns are:
1. General quality. I gather Winnebago isn't really the best, or even better than mediocre?
2. The slide-out in particular. Where there issues with this (other than high cost) that caused Winnebago to discontinue it?
3. Other things that I as a motorhome noob aren't aware of but should be?
My thanks in advance!
-dm