Forum Discussion

Yosemitebobr's avatar
Yosemitebobr
Explorer
Sep 01, 2013

Sold Class A for a 5'ver

And loving it already. New Keystone Cougar 331. Just got tired of all the motor maintenance on the class A along with the registration, etc. etc. No questions yet, but I'm sure I'll have some along the way.
  • Snowman9000 wrote:
    You folks talking about too much maintenance money on a gasser, or a diesel pusher? We only own a small class C, not a Class A. But I can't see how maintenance costs on a gasser A would be any big deal. I'm not trolling, I want to know, because we are headed for a bit bigger MH one of these days.

    We've gone the other way. Our fiver will be up for sale in the spring.


    Your going to do as your feel comfortable with. To be honest, I am sooo much more comfortable now with the 5ver. As was mentioned a set of tires are in thousands, brakes, very expensive, windsheld, replaced three times, big windows cost big bucks, insurance only covered some of the replacement cost. whenever I took it in it was 500 for this or that, and I did most just to save the money. Insurance on the trailer is 300, insurance on the MH 1500. I suppose if cost is not a problem, then you will enjoy. OH, towing a vehicle behind you, that adds miles to that vehicle as well and wear. This way with the 5ver, I put miles on one vehicle (not counting the trailer) I can do all the maintenance on the trailer.
    I sure what every you decide you will be happy. I have had a good time with all, just having a better time now for me.
  • Did the same thing, traded in our 05 Itasca gasser on a new 5'er. Simply got tired of putting money into the MH, it seemed like every year you could count on spending at least $1-2K on something with it (even with a an extended warranty). Any kind of chassis work on a MH is double or triple that of a conventional veh. That's in the past now!
  • We did the same thing last year after 9 years of motorhoming. We've spent about 4 months in the Winslow and put about 8k miles on it since we got it a year ago last June. The cost of travel is a little better as I get 11.4 mpg compared to the 8 I got with our diesel pusher. Our truck gets about 17 mpg around town and 21-23 on the road which compares favorably to the mileage with the Acadia we towed. Of course, diesel is a little higher than gas.

    The big difference is the cost of maintenance and repair. We just did a 4500 mile, 6 week trip and all I had to do when we got home was wash the truck and the Winslow. Never happened with the motorhome. Always something and never cheap. The wife misses the convenience of going down the road and the freedom she had in the motorhome but once we get there we have found the Winslow to be much more comfortable for living. With auto leveling set up is a breeze.

    On edit: Snowman, saw your comment after I had posted this. We had a diesel pusher for 7 years and they are a fun way to travel. We had a pretty good one but still had some issues as there are a lot of moving parts. Part of our problem was no one in our area would work on it and I either had to just do it myself or spend the time and effort to drive 150 miles to get it serviced or repaired. The cost of servicing the drivetrain are exponentially higher just due to the size of the engine and transmission. We replaced the tires and the cost of 6 22.5" tires is pretty stout. Only you can decide what is best for you so my comments may have no meaning for anyone else. For us, it was just a matter of peace of mind not having to deal with it and worry about what would happen if something major like an engine or transmission blew. I know something could happen with our truck but I tend to trade before the 5 year drivetrain warranty expires.
  • You folks talking about too much maintenance money on a gasser, or a diesel pusher? We only own a small class C, not a Class A. But I can't see how maintenance costs on a gasser A would be any big deal. I'm not trolling, I want to know, because we are headed for a bit bigger MH one of these days.

    We've gone the other way. Our fiver will be up for sale in the spring.
  • Yep, did the same as you. I've been a fiver owner for about 6 years now and happy with the switch. To be honest, though I have to admit the motorhome had some positive features about it. One thing I do miss is the ability to tow a small car. The fuel savings would be quite substantial when driving around town compared with my pickup. Sure, I could tow a small car behind the fiver but I didn't want to do that, besides the fact some states don't allow it.
  • Good luck with the new 5er. After 5 Motorhomes we finally got smart an
    Went for something more simple a 5er. That was 6 years ago and never
    looked back. Much simpler to maintain a pickup truck.
    Enjoy the simpler life.