Considering First Motorhome Purchase

Keep looking, RV Trader and other websites...if you Google Gulf Stream Ultra 6316 for EXAMPLE-

1)2004 Gulf Stream ULTRA 6316 @ $28,500
In Hendersonville, NC.."LOOK AT THIS 31 feet 2004 Gulf Stream ULTRA 6316 WITH ONLY 19400 miles THAT IS IN SUPERB CONDITION".

2)$22,830 for another 2002 in Ohio, and yet another

3)2005 Gulf StreamConquest Ultra $26,000
Cedar Rapids, IA

4)2005 GULF STREAM CONQUEST ULTRA Super 6316-C ~ 31 feet ~ Super slide out with Chevy Chasis.

And there's many more!

When buying my first Class C (in 1991), I set a top price and made a list of must-have features. I wasn't too fussy: under 22 feet long (fits in my parking area at home), a bed, a bathroom, a ceiling high enough to allow standing up, and a door that locks. Oh, and no signs of leaks and no super high miles. Even living in a major metropolitan area that is absolutely crawling with RV's it took me 6 months to find one good enough to buy. For my list, the most difficult features to find were acceptable odometer reading, length, and no leaks.

Your list and budget will be different, and so will the pool of available vehicles. Keep looking. Be patient. Your RV is out there. Good luck!

WE just bought our first Motorhome last week. It was listed at 20,000. It is a 2002 Chateau with 62,000 miles. WE downloaded a checklist to review as we looked through the MH. We also had some advice as to what to look for such as a stable bar and a close look at the ceiling and the roof. We ended up paying 12,500. The MH is beautiful. Don't expect to pay the asking price if getting from a dealer. Expect 40 percent off the asking or walk away. Don't over pay. Good Luck! We live in CT.

Hi Josh44:

You noted that you "don't know much about motorhomes". I suggest that you pick up a copy of a Buyers Guide to Motorhomes that lists many RV manufacturers, specific units, floor plans and other specs. It will provide you with information and help you become familiar with RV specific terms and lingo. Yes, the prices will be list and for new units, but it may help you see the cost difference between high-end and low-end RVs. If you have the time, go to an RV show so you can see various floor plans, build quality, and options that you might be interested in buying. You can also purchase at the shows and you might be able to get a new RV for what you might be willing to pay for used.
Most important is to check out the unit's OCCC (Occupant and Cargo Carrying Capacity). This is the max. amount of weight a particular chassis can carry and includes all passengers and all stuff no matter the space or room available. OCCC is reduced with options, particularly slide-outs and leveling systems. Also, keep in mind that tires on RVs should be replaced at 6-7 years or when cracks develop in the sidewalls no matter the tread wear. Finally, water leaks into the coach are not good, and are expensive to repair and take time away from enjoying the RV. Most folks on this board would walk away from a leaky RV.

Best wishes for success. Bob

Thanks for all the advice so far. Sooper and Tiger, are you suggesting I move on because there are too many miles on the vehicle or are there are reasons--like this make or model is just not a good choice overall? I did see a few comparable MHs like Sooper has pointed out with less miles but the prices are bit higher than this one. I guess mileage makes that big of a difference. This one in particular has all our required features and a few more so when I saw it listed for under 20,000 I thought that the price was great but wondered why the price was so good.

Dvdlprt, that sounds like a great deal. Is it really true that I should be able to expect to pay that much less under the asking price at a dealer? If that is the case I could really raise the upper limit of MHs we are looking at. I have been looking at a 20,000 dollar MH expecting to pay maybe a 1000 less or something around there, but if that much of a difference is typical than that really opens some doors for us.

Thanks Bob for the tips (Go Steelers!). I have been reading quite a bit on these forums and I did see the info about changing tires (even if they don't look bad) every 6-7 yrs, which I would have never thought was necessary so I am glad to have read that. I have had some experience with pop-ups and leaks in those are a pretty big pain so I imagine leaks in a MH are even more so--I read that in Class C I should be extra careful about the area above the cab because they tend to be a problem spot. Good point about the OCCC as well. I will have to think about how much weight we will likely be carrying on a typical trip.
Lots of things to think about and thanks for the info. Appreciate the advice and I am always open to hearing more.

It will be hard for you to figure out what model/length and floor plan will be best for you since you have no experience. Do a lot of reading here. There's lots of opinions, experience, and answers.

I'd start with what type of camping do you like to do?
There is a difference in general RVing and camping. For example we like to "boondock" in more remote campsites. We don't use hookups very often and the campsites we like will not usually accommodate anything over 27 feet.

On the other hand if you just want to go to places where you can hook everything up and don't mind being close to your neighbors a longer RV is usually OK.

Once you decide on what general length would be good for your type of use you have to start looking at floor plans to see what you must have and what you can live without.

As an example (everyone's wants are different), again we like to boondock and don't plan on living in it full time so less was better for us. I did not want slides, automatic steps, and levelers as it's not if but when they will give you problems at some point down the road. We had a smaller B class camper van and my wifes requirement for this one was a full time queen bed that we did not have to climb over each other to get in and out of (we have slightly different sleeping schedules). She also likes to cook/bake so an oven was required.

As far as what chassis, I wanted something that could easily pull a car or trailer and had enough cargo carrying capacity. Cargo capacity is extremely important and worth researching on any size model you are considering as there are several models that are close to overweight already when you add the gas, water, and passengers. Handling will usually suffer when your close to capacity.

Of the three gas chassis the Ford E450 was my choice over the Chevy or narrower Ford E350 chassis and engines. The E450 has the highest capacity in both towing and cargo but it still depends on who made the box so check the weights.

If you don't plan on towing anything a long distance the Chevy has a little more leg room for the passenger but also extends the front a few inches. Some say they get a little better gas millage with the Chevy but it's nominal and figure they are all around 8 MPG unless you really baby it. If you never plan on towing and want a short camper the Sprinters get much better gas millage but are generally smaller, cost an arm and a leg, and don't have much storage space.

So now I'm looking for a Ford E450 no longer than 27' with no slides, levelers, or electric steps, lots of storage and capacity, an oven, and a queen bed you don't have to crawl over each other to get in and out of. NOT an easy task.

We looked at new ones and almost dropped $70,000 on one that was a slight compromise. But after six months of searching we found a used 2006 27' with only 17,000 miles that met all our requirements and looked like it was right off the showroom floor. The plus was it was from a dealer for under $30,000. We asked a lot of questions on the phone. It had just been traded in and had not even been prepped yet. We drove to the next state, looked it over, test drove it and jumped on it. We saved ourselves over $40,000. Be ready to buy when you are actually looking because if it's a really good deal it won't sit long. We got lucky.

Your requirements will be different so just start looking to see what's available and go to some RV shows if you can and walk through some to get a feel for what general floor plans you can live with and what options you can live without. When buying your first it's pretty hard to get everything right but researching it and trying to figure out what you want as far as use and floor plan will help.

The most important thing is don't make the mistake of buying anything just because it's a good deal. If it's not what you want and is not a good fit for your type of use then it's not a good deal for you.

If you buy used, try to buy no older than 3-4 years old, 27 feet long to have a rear bedroom with RV Queen bed, ample cargo area and interior cabinet space, and convertible sofa or dinette for guest/kid sleeping, overhead for additional kid sleeping, and supplies. Buy a name brand, beware of any water leak damage, have rig checked over by an independant truck mechanic and a trusted RV repair place and get an itemized estimate for any thing that needs repair. Don't get tired of looking and buy on impulse. Replace tires older than 5 years by date code with proper name brand tires. Buying, owning and maintaining a motorhome is an expensive hobby but worth it if you enjoy using it often.

J0SH44 wrote:
Sooper and Tiger, are you suggesting I move on because there are too many miles on the vehicle or are there are reasons--

Miles: no. (My first Class C had 79K miles on it when I bought it, 149K when I sold it 15 years later. As far as I can tell from the California DMV smog database, it is still on the road 7 years later.)

Age of unit: possibly.

Make/model: I have no idea. Do its features meet your criteria?

An RV should not be an impulse purchase. You say you don't know much about RV's, so I'd say read a lot and look a lot and know what you want before you buy.

Thanks Tiger, we do know that we want an RV with four beds as we imagine we will have guests with us often, which is the main reason for us gravitating toward the Class C with the extra bunk above the cab. I used to go camping with my grandparents and they had a Class A with a pulldown bunk over the driver seats but I don't really see that on current Class A vehicles. We know we want the queen in the back--although I really like how my grandparents had a large table and benches along three sides in the back that a lot of people could sit around and then convert into a bed at night, but I don't see that on modern ones as well--which means that we will need at least a 27 footer. I would like to keep it to no more than 30 feet in length to save on weight because we would also like to have a slide in the eating/cooking area. We have some other preferences but they are not as important to us as budget.

Thanks Bordercollie for the feedback. I don't think our budget will allow us to buy something only 3-4 yrs old and still have the features we want--the ones I pointed out above. Is there a reason to keep it within that age range--other than everything is a bit newer? As far as name brand, I guess that is what I was trying to ask in my initial post, I am just not sure what name brand is in the RV world. I wasn't sure if Gulf Stream was name brand or not. There are some names I definitely recognize but there are others that I did not but after reading are definitely highly regarded. As far as getting everything checked over by a truck mechanic and an RV repair place, is that a pretty common request for potential owners to make with a dealer? I assume we would take it to a mechanic and RV repair place prior to purchase and then take the list back to the dealer to talk about. Is there a typical price range for such service from these places?

Thanks again for all the info. Between this thread and all the reading in the forum I feel like I have a lot better idea what to look for in a potential purchase.