2015 Winnebago Forza 34T, 340 HP enough?

DazedNConfused wrote:

FrontRangeRVer wrote:
I am the OP, and after driving our new unit up and down some of these mountain passes here in Colorado, the 340 HP from the deisel wins hands down over my hopped up 8.1 Workhorse. My 8.1 I traded in had the Banks full headers system, dual exhaust with Magnaflows, and an UltraPower ECM tune, and this new deisel blows it out of the water....at least in these high altitudes.

Anyone that says their gas unit is as good as a deisel pusher (in high altitudes) are crazy!

I would totally believe this. When the air gets thin, there ain't much a normally aspirated engine can do to overcome that. The turbo will really help.

I've towed my 12,000 lb fiver up the steepest stuff I have access to in the NC mountains. It isn't as gnarly or high elevation as the Rockies...but there is one 8-mile stretch of an 8% grade that I pulled up this past summer with my 3/4 ton 2012 Super Duty pickup. I didn't know what to expect. It was a total non-event. I tow in tow/haul mode with the cruise control at 67mph while on the highway. Ford engineers are smarter than I am...so I let the truck make the decisions on gear selection and such. On steep grades my truck will downshift out of 6th into 5th...and can accelerate up anything. On the above mentioned grade, when it got really steep, the truck downshifted into 4th gear. There was power and torque to spare...and I had plenty of acceleration. I actually enjoyed towing up that big steep hill at the same 67mph that I always run on the highway -- passing every Class A and tractor trailer that was in front of me. Would like to have seen what one of the big horsepower (500+) big boy class As could do up that hill. Guessing it would have also been a non-event for them.

Anyway...I bring this up...because part of the reason I am entertaining a Class A is to simplify the setup/teardown in hopes of doing more trips...including frequent summer trips to our NC mountains. I'll be hitting that 8-mile 8% grade every time I head into the mountains. I'm looking at a gasser Tiffin. Am sure it will make it up the hill...but was trying to figure out what pace it would be capable of. Guessing engine screaming all the way up...and about 30-35mph will be all it can muster. I'm sure I'll love the Class A -- but heading into the mountains I'll wish I had my old setup. :) Just wish big boy diesel rigs weren't so pricey. College for my girls is on the horizon...and given the choice between sending them off the college and having a gasser Class A or getting a big boy diesel rig and local community college....well...you get the point. :)

Of note, when I sent my above message, we were sans motorhome. We ended up ordering a Tiffin Allegro Red 38QBA. It's a diesel pusher bunk model that came with a Cummins 340HP, but was given a chance to get in early on a 360HP engine upgrade that also came with an Allison 3000 instead of the 2500. This is not an option on the 2016, but wasn't on the 2015. of note, the extra 20HP is nice, but where this engine makes a big difference is the extra 50ish ft lbs of torque all across the rev range. It really rips and is a rock star on all but the steepest hills and still gets 9.5 - 11.5 mpg depending on terrain.