Thanks for the suggestions so far. To answer a few of the questions that have been asked:
LTV and Pleasureway both make great products with really nice build quality (we glanced at a few of them at the show), but as far as I can tell none of their offerings are at all suitable for a family traveling with children. PW discontinued the Lexor TS4 a several years back and has focused intensely on the 'two people traveling together' market with all of their new offerings. We were interested in the LTV Free Spirit SS when we saw the initial videos, but as others have mentioned, it was discontinued in favor of the Unity (a two-person focused model).
Advanced RV is in this same group - their single layout is not really well suited for use with a family and would require a complete overhaul to make it workable. Besides, from what I have heard their prices are quite high and would really require someone using them full time to justify what they cost.
GWV was not at the show as far as I could tell.
Sportsmobile is interesting. I have read quite a bit about people's experiences with them and while you do get a layout that is exactly what you think you want there is no way to be sure what you think you want is actually what you want until it is too late.
We looked briefly at the full length Zion at the show, however it was configured with a rear dinette instead of a rear sofa. We strongly prefer front-facing seats for the kids. It is available in the longer length with the rear sofa according to the sales rep, however that version was not available to see at the show.
As for the smell - DW may be more sensitive then average about it, however I can say with certainty that from my perspective all the Roadtrek demo units had a much stronger smell then any of the Winnebago or LTV units that we looked at. We didn't spend enough time in any other manufacturer's vehicles to know if the RT smell is common.
There are a few small class C units we looked at, the Winnebago Trend and View, both which were quite nice. The Trend with the center ceiling-retractable bed was particularly appealing. There are a few issues with them however, most concerning of which is that at least some of the passenger seats are side facing instead of forward facing. The Trend also, from my brief review of the specs, seems to be nearly at the weight limit of the Promaster chassis and has limited cargo carrying capacity.
The larger issue with going to a class C is that it means that we would need to purchase another car to use around town and that the RV would spend much of its time parked. Since parking is somewhat tight at our house for two cars plus a largish RV I do not really see this as a great option. It seems would would loose a lot of what we love about our class B, particularly the way we use it all the time for day trips, long errand runs, hauling furniture or home supplies, etc. I also really like that we are able to get it serviced and repaired at a local garage. The nearest RV dealer is about an hour from where we are so being dependent on them for repairs would be a huge inconvenience.
