I am not basing my comparison from a P30 to a DP just on the one 1994 I had. We also had a 1982 34' P30 southwind that handled equally bad. All the suspension parts underneath are not made to handle the weight of anything besides an empty motorhome. Add water and all your stuff, guess what, you're overloaded. We broke a leaf spring and could never get the alignment right on the '82 due to inferior parts that were not heavy duty enough.
Now, the DP has several things that are different from the gas counterpart. Here are some of them.
1. The gas engine is screaming between the driver and passenger, the diesel is out back and you cannot hear it.
2. The diesel pusher almost always has an exhaust brake which aids in slowing the rig down considerably. And the DP will have air brakes.
3. The maintenance costs will be more on a diesel. More oil capacity, more expensive filters that have to be changed more often. It is easy to do all these things yourself if you're even remotely mechanically inclined.
4. Tires on a DP cost about twice what they do on a gas RV. I bought tires for my '94 P30 before I sold it. They were the cheapest new thing I could find, and they were $1600 for all six mounted out the door. Definitely more costly on the DP.
5. The handling on a DP versus a gas is a complete 180. Death grip on the gas, one or two fingers on the wheel with the DP.
6. Carrying capacity on the DP is a lot more. Pretty much load up whatever you want to bring, you'll be able to handle it without going overweight.
7. The storage bays on the DP are huge, some have pass-through storage on a few bays. This makes it really nice for putting in things that are long, like tables, flag poles, skiis, etc.
8. The diesel generator has enough power to run everything on board at one time if it's the 7500 onan quiet diesel. I can run both ac unit's, the microwave and all the lights. On a gasser, be prepared to shut down an a/c unit to run the microwave, depending on the size of the microwave and a/c.
9. A DP is not outside your price range. Go drive both and then report back to us. You won't believe the difference.
10. I'm not saying that the gasser is a bad choice. But I am saying that the resale value will be higher on a DP. Not to mention the ear to ear grin you'll wear as you're driving it down the road.
