2008 Winnebago View

We have the 2008 View and are very happy with it, but it is a turbo diesel, not gas. I'm getting 15 MPG. YMMV. No handling problems at all. You didn't say which floor plan it has as there are three available.


'08 View models brochure


Afterthought: The Navion models are almost exactly the same.

I have the V6 gas model. I get 10.5 to 11 towing my Mariner behind it, and that is up and down mountains in the west. My one trip with no toad, I got 13

I have been trying to get some information as to reliability of the gas powered engine and why it was only used one year. I also heard it required premium gas.

Any information on that?

The floor plan is the 24J from the description I have.

I also wonder about the difficulty finding a repair facility that can repair the engine other than MB facility, of course.

We have a 2008 Itasca Navion, which is virtually identical to the View. 24J. Diesel engine. We get on average 13 MPG not towing anything. We love it. The handling is fine. My wife loves it because its very easy to drive compared to the larger land yachts out there. It has a great turning radius. Very easy to navigate parking lots and downtown areas.I wish it had a little more storage space. We added a cargo rack to the rear hitch and that gives us a great place to carry firewood, coolers, grills etc. The diesel generator is loud and stinky, so we added a 245 watt solar panel and that keeps the batteries charged.
All in all, we are very happy with it.

Forgot to mention that Yahoo forums has a great Winnebago Navion /View owners group.
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/View-Navion/info
A wealth of information..

I perform regular oil changes and maintenance myself, but I haven't had any mechanical issues, knock on wood. I installed a scan gauge II so i can keep an eye on turbo boost, water temp, MPG etc. 56K miles so far.

nbking wrote:
I have been trying to get some information as to reliability of the gas powered engine and why it was only used one year. I also heard it required premium gas.

Any information on that?

My 3.5 gasser has been perfectly reliable. It is very similar to the engines used in some of the autos even today. Yes, it does take premium. I've only had to run an hour or so on a mix of a little premium and a quarter tank of regular to get me to a station that had premium. No issue that I could tell.

I have a theory on why only one year. (2007 chassis on 2008 Winnie) Sprinter used a 5 cylinder diesel in 04-05-06-07. It gets good fuel mileage, and lots are still around. But its hauling and towing capacity were a little weak. In 2008 they started shipping the 3.0 liter V6 diesel, and have improved it over time. I think the gasser was thrown in for a year as a stopgap until the new diesel was ready. The gasser never sold well. Of course the economy tanked in 08 so nothing sold well.

An interesting theory. You may just be correct. Thanks for your input.