2007 Winnebago View Diesel

Thanks, Ron. I like driving pickups and have had a number of campers, so I think your advice would work well for me. I've been having a lot of concerns over what the View might entail for me mechanically and I think the Ford would be more suitable. Now to find one I can afford...

2lazy4U wrote:
I'm leaning towards getting a regular gasser at this point.

If I had an older sister age 65, that is what I would advise her to do.....shop for a motor home built on the Ford E350 or E450 chassis with standard V10 gasoline engine. If you found a very short 21 footer to your liking and it had the smaller V8 engine, that will work in that length. Keep life simple and easy for you are not going to get dirty with mechanical issues that come up. You will be dependent on service centers of which they are most knowledgeable with the ever popular E350 & E450. The Ford E-series pair are not as comfortable to drive as the Sprinter, but you'll get used to it soon enough. They are built solid and also decent in quality and reliability, more good reasons to go that route. As with every choice, there are trade-offs. But where it matters most for a 65 year old woman, I think the Ford E350/E450 with a gasoline engine will be a wise choice.

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
For ease/cost of finding service and parts, a 7.3 diesel E350 motorhome is what I would be looking for.

Thank you for this post, as it reminds me that simplicity is the best way for me. I love the View, but I think I would get frustrated with the maintenance issues, as other previous posters have also mentioned. I'm leaning towards getting a regular gasser at this point.

For ease/cost of finding service and parts, a 7.3 diesel E350 motorhome is what I would be looking for.

2lazy4U wrote:
PSW, this is part of my concern. I'm in Glenwood Springs, which isn't really that rural except for this kind of thing. The nearest View mechanic is about 90 miles away (Grand Junction), though there's one in Moab, where I spend a few months each year. I've called everyone in the vicinity to see who could service this and no one has the rack for it. I'm not very handy (65 year old woman with a bad back), but I can figure things out (have a degree in engineering), just hard for me to fix them. This is my most major concern about this rig. I would fulltime in it for a year to be able to pay it off.

Note that a 2007 View will be on a 2006 chassis, the last year of the 5 cylinder, and known to Sprinter people as the T1N model (Transporter, 1 gen, New). Beginning with the '07 chassis/ '08 View, the diesel engine was a 3.0L V6 (also found in a few rare Jeep Grand Cherokees of the same period, and the Sprinter and View also had a 3.5 Gasoline engine option that one year) and that chassis and on up to now is known to Sprinter people as the NCV3 (New Concept Van 3rd generation). Also of importance is whether the View you are considering is a H model, a J model, or the fairly rare B model. H as a cab over bed (climb the ladder) or a flip out couch (jacknife couch) and I don't even consider the dinette conversion to bed. The J model has a permanent double bed in the back, with one corner lopped off slightly, and the cab over bed or possibly storage cabinets instead, plus the dinette. The B has bunk beds in the back and the Cab over bed or storage.

You can find the original brochure for the '07 View at this link.

http://winnebagoind.com/resources/brochure/2007/07-View-bro.pdf

The BEST Sprinter maintenance you can get will be in Golden, about 150 miles from you.

http://www.lindenengineering.com/

ALSO...... Spend some time on this web site............

http://winnieviews.blogspot.com/

Lynne has been full timing in a 5 cylinder T1N Sprinter Based View J model with the corner bed, since August 2014, and before that she had a '08 H model, and prior to that a Freightliner badged T1N Sprinter van, and a teardrop sometime way back. If you read her blog, it will, if nothing else, be an inspiration to you. She is quite a good wildlife photographer and posts many of her best photos.

Charles

Well, 2lazy4U, Glenwood Springs is a nice place and no, it is not too rural. I really, really wanted to order a View for my retirement two years ago and I am pretty handy and fix everything myself on the rv that has to do with the RV stuff. I have been doing it for more than 30 years. For the chassis, I just don't have the knowledge to do much and I really don't want to do it. I ran my Ford E350 down the street half a mile to a quick lube type place (cut above most, this is independent and has been owned and operated by the same family for 25 years). I pulled in, they checked everything, changed oil and filter, did the whole shebang and looked it over good from down in their pit. Cost me less than fifty bucks total. Now, I asked them out of curiousity about servicing sprinters. NOPE.

The problem when I checked it out when I was really hot to buy one was a lot of independents that would do mechanical work on MB have shops that cannot accomodate a Sprinter. It is certainly something to think about.

Honestly, many people just love them but I have also talked to owners that didn't check out the service aspects before they wrote the check.

PSW, this is part of my concern. I'm in Glenwood Springs, which isn't really that rural except for this kind of thing. The nearest View mechanic is about 90 miles away (Grand Junction), though there's one in Moab, where I spend a few months each year. I've called everyone in the vicinity to see who could service this and no one has the rack for it. I'm not very handy (65 year old woman with a bad back), but I can figure things out (have a degree in engineering), just hard for me to fix them. This is my most major concern about this rig. I would fulltime in it for a year to be able to pay it off.

2lazy4U, I have a very basic question for you: are you handy and can you service this chassis yourself, or do you have a friend that can do it for you? In your first post you indicated you lived in a rural area of Western Colorado. Being very familiar with that area, parts are real rural! How far is it to get these specialized fluids and filters at reasonable prices?

Do you know a local mechanic that could help you? You might ask around before you put down 40K.

View/Navion had option for diesel generator, at least for 2013, our model year. Our used one has a diesel gen.

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
Diesel is a little more than gas around here lately, about 10c/gal more.

Agree, but a few years ago it was much higher than gas. Ten cents I can live with. In Quebec recently diesel was usually same price as gas.