Rich: Interesting comments. When we were ready to commit to our Class C, I told my family that I was not interested in buying an expensive lawn decoration. I would use the RV as much as we could, and expected that they would go along with that position. If not, there was no point in spending the big bucks. The result is that we have put on about 30K miles on the RV in 2.5 years. But, DW and I are retired so we have more traveling time available than someone still in the work force.
As to your second question/point. Some on the forums suggest that you might be better off buying from a rental company as opposed to a dealer. This is not something that we have done, but simply reporting others' comments that might be helpful to you. The benefits seem to be that rental units are usually well cared for and maintained. Usually, all service records are available, and at the time of purchase, all appliances are working. Not sure about warranties. Good luck with your search.