Best selection of used class A

AZ offers a nice combination of reasonable prices and little rust. We bought ours at Fountain Hills RV near Phoenix. Also check out Yuma.

RF, very informative, thank you. Sounds like I should not wait until January.
Thanks

Billinwoodland - We bought the coach in my signature line 5 years ago at a consignment place in Mesa AZ (near phoenix). I researched for months before, many months, trying to narrow down to what was the best rig to buy. I am picky though and really like high quality mechanical things. Especially vehicles.

A week is enough time if you have done your homework before and know what models and types of coaches you are going to look at and have appointments to see and drive them. If you are just going to drive over and drive around to look at what is available very likely you will get totally confused and possibly buy something that does not fit your needs.

I went to AZ in Oct to look and bought in Nov. Labor day ends the camping "season" and in my opinion between the week after Labor day till end of Jan is the best time to buy. As far as January goes many RV's will be in Quartzite to sell. Jan 17-25 is the big RV show. I would guess there will be few RV sales people not at Quartsite that week. The metro Phoenix area is gigantic. I found more RV's in the Phoenix area than any other in AZ.

I would not wait until Jan. Start now. And do your homework without taking your checkbook with you. Don't let some good sales person sell you the second thing you look at. My experience is that many of the coaches in AZ were on Craig's List, ebay, and RV trader online. The best is when a coach is on all three, that way you know they really want to sell.

JimM68 wrote:
I wouldn't worry too much about the duramax, they power what, 25 million pickup trucks and another million medium duty's?

A traditional DP (with a raised rail chassis) has LOTS of storage. Ours is 8 feet long, over 20" tall, and the full width of the coach. Plus 4 other good sized basement bins.

All C's and gassers will have a full chassis and driveline interrupting potential storage. They still may have a lot, just not under there between the wheels.

Have you looked at a bunkhouse?

Bunkhouse layouts give a lot of extra "flex space", doubling as an office, storage, even someplace to put the pet bed or litter box.
There are a lot of bunkhouse units available, C's, gassers, and DP's.

Great info and thank you. Yes, we have looked at the bunkhouse models and that is workable for us (I think!). This has been planned for several years. We have been to a ton of motorhome show to look at floor plans and learn. And this forum has been an excellent learning tool. We are at the point now that we can walk into a coach and know within seconds if it is a possibility. Thanks again.

I wouldn't worry too much about the duramax, they power what, 25 million pickup trucks and another million medium duty's?

A traditional DP (with a raised rail chassis) has LOTS of storage. Ours is 8 feet long, over 20" tall, and the full width of the coach. Plus 4 other good sized basement bins.

All C's and gassers will have a full chassis and driveline interrupting potential storage. They still may have a lot, just not under there between the wheels.

Have you looked at a bunkhouse?

Bunkhouse layouts give a lot of extra "flex space", doubling as an office, storage, even someplace to put the pet bed or litter box.
There are a lot of bunkhouse units available, C's, gassers, and DP's.

JimM68 wrote:
The jayco Seneca's went to a freightliner chassis because chevy stopped producing the c5500. No problems with the Duramax.

There are a number of "new-wave" short DP's with "droppable" beds over the cab. Problem will be finding one used, this is a new "euro" thing, 2013 on perhaps. Assuming the DW see's it as a place to stash visiting grandchildren?

We looked at the Seneca's hard. Very nice machines, good floorplans, and enough carrying capacity to get the jobs done. Internet gripes are typical of C's and some gassers... Tail too long, too much weight behind the axle.

Thanks Jim. Yes, DW likes the idea of a second bed that can be made and is out of the way for the grandkids and other family members. Our old trailer had a loft bed that folded up nicely and was a breeze to drop down into position. I need to read more on the Seneca. I did see some negatives about the duramx fuel injection system. And the basement storage looked significantly smaller to me than the traditional DP.

The jayco Seneca's went to a freightliner chassis because chevy stopped producing the c5500. No problems with the Duramax.

There are a number of "new-wave" short DP's with "droppable" beds over the cab. Problem will be finding one used, this is a new "euro" thing, 2013 on perhaps. Assuming the DW see's it as a place to stash visiting grandchildren?

We looked at the Seneca's hard. Very nice machines, good floorplans, and enough carrying capacity to get the jobs done. Internet gripes are typical of C's and some gassers... Tail too long, too much weight behind the axle.

I would try Tim Dimartini in Grass Valley CA: http://www.rvdeals.net/

Well, wife and i looked at a used Seneca Super C over the weekend and she seems to like that more than the A's we have looked at. I've noticed that they went from the Duramax on the older units to the Cummins. This might be the wrong forum to ask,but are the duramax problematic? At least the option of a super C gives me some more shopping flexability.

Billinwoodland wrote:
Excellent suggestions and thank you all. RC, yes, I get your point about buying expensive items out of town. We plan to buy a MH that is new enough to still be under manufactures warranty. And BTW, I see you drive a C177. 182A driver here! It sounds like if we are going to shop in Az, the Phoenix area may be a better bet. And Mike B, yes, that is the style we like. The Forza has similar models as well. Thanks again, keep it coming!
Bill

Bill,

Yuma has a full time dealer there by the name of RV World. Have been in business in Yuma since 1991. Large inventory and excellent service. In fact, we purchased our current 2012 American Coach from them. Great folks.

Go to the link below and you can look at their entire inventory.

http://www.rvworldyuma.com/

Safe travels.