Any Winnebago factory workers lurking?

toyota just extended warranty coverage on a small defect on my Highlander.
bumpy

Winnebago creates a Class B RV that beats everyone in price. There may be a reason for that and you get what you pay for. That's the trade off. As for the workers, Forest City is probably located in ground zero for the best American factory workers. I suspect they care very much. They are better educated than most all states and grew up in a positive and ethical work environment.

Yes, no offense to anyone, but I wouldn't use Toyota as an example in 2015. I'm not bashing Toyota either, but just speaking about realistic expectations. Toyota had a reputation at one time for that type of top-of-the-line workmanship, but that was partially a backlash against mediocre U.S. products at that time (and needing an automotive hero). I never really ever saw it to the degree people talked about it (envisioned it). And further at that time, if you kept the Toyota long enough, the bubble burst a little later on,as on average people were not so pleased at all about the paint and rust out (usually still pleased about most of the mechanical though). I'd be more than happy to wish Winnebago as the Dodge of the RV trade (low price for the every-man, great warranties, hungry dealers, and very decent customer satisfaction). But that is just little Dodge-fanboy old me, in the minority once again.

So anyway, back to RVs, I don't know enough about the specific issues and certainly the paint problem on a brand new example sounds significant. I am very interested to read on, as this thread becomes fuller. We'll see where the posts and conversations go, but once in a while stuff does happen on vehicles and orders. A delayed special order delivery date is not all that unusual for autos. I'm not meaning to take away anything from the very valid customer complaint that is described, but give it a little time to be discussed to see what the full picture. I'm guessing the article is alluding to past issues as well? I am interested to read more, since I would have a future eye on the Travato.

401nailhead wrote:
Yes, no offense to anyone, but I wouldn't use Toyota as an example in 2015. I'm not bashing Toyota either, but just speaking about realistic expectations. Toyota had a reputation at one time for that type of top-of-the-line workmanship, but that was partially a backlash against mediocre U.S. products at that time (and needing an automotive hero). I never really ever saw it to the degree people talked about it (envisioned it). And further at that time, if you kept the Toyota long enough, the bubble burst a little later on,as on average people were not so pleased at all about the paint and rust out (usually still pleased about most of the mechanical though).

No offense back at you. But, have you ever actually owned a Toyota? I have owned quite a few of them (and many other marques as well). I can honestly say that the Toyota experience is in a whole higher league than any other brand I have ever owned. My 2005 Sienna with almost 140,000 miles absolutely refuses to give me an excuse to replace it. Last month, I needed to replace a small section of exhaust pipe. This was literally the first dollars (beyond routine maintenance) I have EVER spent on this vehicle. This is typical of every Toyota-built vehicle I have ever owned. Unless my next car turns out to be a Tesla, I'm not sure I will even bother to shop beyond Toyota models. I sure wish they would start selling their Sprinter-equivalent in the US. Now, THAT would be a B-van!

Back to RVs: I have a lot of respect for Winnebago as the "value" brand. Obviously not top of the line, and, yes, you are giving things up for the sake of price-point. But, IMO, they are the most cost-effective of all the major brands. For someone on a budget, I would recommend them in a heartbeat.

Thanks for the insight. I guess one of the more famous (infamous?) dissatisfied Winnebago customers was winnebagoera.com. I read his horror story with his ERA (on the Dodge Sprinter chassis) and still bought our 2016 ERA 70X. David, who posted above yours, mentions that Winnebago workers are the best workers in America. Maybe so, but perhaps the Winnebago systems are not what they should be. There appears to be little concern with the fit and finish of the Winnebago products. Seems to me that an automated saw could cut out most of the wood and trim pieces, but if you look at a new Winnebago, they seem to be each cut separately by someone who is not skilled with power tools (ragged edges, misaligned joints, etc.) Don't get me wrong, we are fond of our new RV. But Winnebago needs to put more focus on quality. I'm tired of the excuse "you get what you paid for". I hear that a lot when commenters are replying to posts by consumers of other RVs, MH, TT, etc. As RV consumers, I'm not sure why we seem resigned to the status quo of mediocre build quality. I am lucky in that McClain's has done right by me with my warranty issues. Anyway, complaining sure makes for good forum content.

I also agree with the Toyota analogy--and price does not necessarily correlate to quality. A 2015 Toyota Corolla costs $15,000 and a 2015 Dodge Dart costs $16,000. Guess which one will still be running at 125,000 miles?

I hate to say it, but we DO need to keep in mind what industry we are talking about. In the RV world, you certainly pay for what you get, but you don't necessarily get what you pay for. The poster child for this is Airstream. Our last rig was a 2005 Interstate. There was a lot to like about it, but the initial build quality was frankly a disgrace. I won't bore you with the specifics, but a lot of them were beyond ridiculous. If this thread:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f240/airstream-quality-control-137852.html

and many others like it over at the Airstream Forum is any evidence, things have only gotten worse in the intervening years. It took about 10 minutes at Hershey for us to cross Airstream off of our list. I mention them in particular only because you pay maybe a 30% premium for the Airstream name compared to the competition. As far as I can see, you get NOTHING for that premium beyond the name. I wasn't blown away by Winnebago at Hershey, either. But compared to Airstream, they seemed like a class act.

To the OP, your expectations are unrealistic for the price you are paying for your unit. Even the $150k+ units have issues when they roll out. More so in fact. Look at all the issues you see on Roadtreks and Airstream class B's that people have recently been posting on their forums.
We know a lot of folks that have boo koo issues with their new RV's, 2 of which had to go back to the factory, be completely disassembled, and started over again from scratch, (neither of which were WGO units)


It's the RV industry as a whole, not just WGO......

Edit: incidentally, the guy that had the 2009 ERA Dodge Sprinter with all the issues? Most of those were dealer caused items. Admittedly the pre 2012 ERA, the '09's and '10's were not up to the standards they should have been. That's the main reason WGO stopped for one year at 2011, fixed the main issues and materials, and resumed with the 3500 chassis in 2012 with the 70X, then the 70A & C were added.
The current take rate on these models is overwhelmingly in the favor of the 70A, like 70+%, with the X & C taking up the rest of the numbers

Hi bobojay5. Like many on these forums, I'm old enough to remember what cars coming out of Detroit were like in the mid-70s to mid-80s. At that time, people said the same things about new American cars--It was a given that you probably would have to take your new Olds, Chrysler (K-Car), Ford, etc. in for adjustments/warranty work, that's just the way it was and if one thought otherwise, they too had unrealistic expectations. It took Japan to show that Americans need not settle for that status quo. American car makers are still behind, but at least they are doing better, quality-wise. That's what competition does.

I'd love to see an RV manufacturer capitalize on the current state of RV manufacturing and produce a near-zero defect product (Six Sigma anyone?). The fit and finish defects on my coach could have been fixed at the factory at little additional cost. But as long as we are content with mediocrity, things won't change. I do not apologize, as an RV consumer, for demanding excellence and quality from all American RV manufacturers. The fact that others are resigned to sub-par RV products is instructive as to why China is kicking our butt in manufacturing! Cheers! Mike

Six Sigma: Data metrics to disguise poor management, suppress common sense and discourage initiative. Been there, done that, and have seen the results. I thought you were on to something until you brought that up. You just have a burr under your saddle.