First Time Buyer...Updated 03/06/2006
This post is intended to be helpful to the first time buyer of a motor home. For those of you who don't fall into that category or believe this post is incomplete or off the mark, do us all a favor, a...
Forum Discussion
Here’s my two cents!
My wife and I purchased are first Class A 7 years ago. We are in our early Forties. We have 4 boys starting at 14 yrs- 22 yrs. They commonly go with us on our trips but not all the time. We like getting out on the road at least 1 time a month with 2 15 day trips a year.
We decided to limit the amount we spent on the MH to about 30-40K and a max size of 34 feet to see how we liked it. It was affordable and easy to sell if it didn’t work out. After dealing with this 93 Southwind DP for three years, we learned what we liked and didn’t like and what type of adventures we were going on ie. ( lots of driving, or lots of time parked in a RV park or trying to get into small restricted campgrounds with size limits or just always lots of people with us!) My office manager a year or two after stepped up and purchased a brand new Fleetwood Excursion 39S 3 slides DP at about 165K.
Well, we found that the Bigger the better and too many slides ( two living room slides) make it hard to travel for big mileage trips ( 4500 miles in 10 days) but nice once you have landed! and what kind of extras you would like and what extras are useful, expense in fuel and power to climb hills, tow.
The real nice thing is that we easily sold our MH, lost very little money on it, and purchased the unit that best fit our habits, we all have different likes in a MH and the first time out you can’t know everything that will make your adventures in RVing the most it can be. So I think starting slow and be in the mind that you may only keep your first rig for maybe 2 years and work your way up, it’s a safe way to do it.
My manager has owned their 39S for 2 years and wouldn’t buy the one they have again, not because of problems but thing they thought was important when they bought it and found that now after 2 years the thinks they liked 2 years ago they just don’t use and find the coach falling short of their needs. They can’t sell the unit very easily and will lose a sizable amount of money when they sell, they are now shopping for a unit that is a better fit for them now.
I’m not done movin-up. But each year I’m learning more and more, and before I drop the BIG MONEY DOWN on a real nice rig, I’ll have the experience to make a good decision.
My 2 cents!
My wife and I purchased are first Class A 7 years ago. We are in our early Forties. We have 4 boys starting at 14 yrs- 22 yrs. They commonly go with us on our trips but not all the time. We like getting out on the road at least 1 time a month with 2 15 day trips a year.
We decided to limit the amount we spent on the MH to about 30-40K and a max size of 34 feet to see how we liked it. It was affordable and easy to sell if it didn’t work out. After dealing with this 93 Southwind DP for three years, we learned what we liked and didn’t like and what type of adventures we were going on ie. ( lots of driving, or lots of time parked in a RV park or trying to get into small restricted campgrounds with size limits or just always lots of people with us!) My office manager a year or two after stepped up and purchased a brand new Fleetwood Excursion 39S 3 slides DP at about 165K.
Well, we found that the Bigger the better and too many slides ( two living room slides) make it hard to travel for big mileage trips ( 4500 miles in 10 days) but nice once you have landed! and what kind of extras you would like and what extras are useful, expense in fuel and power to climb hills, tow.
The real nice thing is that we easily sold our MH, lost very little money on it, and purchased the unit that best fit our habits, we all have different likes in a MH and the first time out you can’t know everything that will make your adventures in RVing the most it can be. So I think starting slow and be in the mind that you may only keep your first rig for maybe 2 years and work your way up, it’s a safe way to do it.
My manager has owned their 39S for 2 years and wouldn’t buy the one they have again, not because of problems but thing they thought was important when they bought it and found that now after 2 years the thinks they liked 2 years ago they just don’t use and find the coach falling short of their needs. They can’t sell the unit very easily and will lose a sizable amount of money when they sell, they are now shopping for a unit that is a better fit for them now.
I’m not done movin-up. But each year I’m learning more and more, and before I drop the BIG MONEY DOWN on a real nice rig, I’ll have the experience to make a good decision.
My 2 cents!
