gas vs. diesel engine motor home

That is a hard question to answer. We purchased a ten year old entry level Foretravel. Our ten year old entry level Foretravel has more features than any brand new gas class A Motorhome. The folks that say floor plan is the most important feature probably don't know or care about the eight outside air bag suspension that provides great ride and handling, the all wheel disc air brakes that provide the best stopping of any motorhome, the Allison transmission retarder that provides for safe and secure down hill passage without using the brakes, the air leveling system that provides for quite and effective leveling in parking areas where the hydraulic struts could damage the parking surface in places like Walmart, the power electric and water reels that make setup an easy chore, the side radiator engine that provides for less expensive maintenance and engine efficiency, the all wood custom cabinets and interior finishing, etc. I could go on. Resale and depreciation costs are unknown and hard to predict. If you are going to a state park less than a hundred miles away and plan to stay there awhile, buy the gas. If you are actually going to be traveling in the motorhome, buy the high end eight year old diesel, you will not regret it.

We had a gas for four years. This was our first rv ever. We drove a diesel and that was the end of the gas. The diesel also had the floor plan that we liked and had everything in it that was on our list of must have. Even ended up with 4 optional items like the washer/dryer and the refrigerator/freezer in the storage bay. Now if I can just get the 8.5 or better mpg.

In response to an earlier post, I have an Airstream Land Yacht DP. It has a passenger side center entrance door AND a 3 x 6 foot dual pane picture window at the rear. Be careful of posts that show a very limited knowledge of the world of diesel coaches.

rgatijnet1 wrote:

blangen wrote:
Aside from the diesel preferred answers above (I'm in that camp, too), the other pertinent criteria is depreciation. That new gasser will lose the greatest percentage of value in the time it takes you to sign the paperwork. If you go high end diesel (as recommended immediately above... and I agree for several reasons), your percentage of lost value over a six year period will be MUCH less.

Is that what you told your wife? :B
I posted on here about my friends high end Prevost DP,that cost in excess of $1 million and now, after 20,000 miles and ten years, it MAY be worth 15%-20% of what it cost. For the 3/4 million that he lost in depreciation you could buy a few other coaches.
It is nice to talk percentages but the REAL facts are dollars and the amount of dollars that you may lose in depreciation from a new DP will far exceed the money that you may lose with a new gasser.

Has something to do about bragging rights in the same category as the short person syndrome.

rgatijnet1 wrote:

blangen wrote:
Aside from the diesel preferred answers above (I'm in that camp, too), the other pertinent criteria is depreciation. That new gasser will lose the greatest percentage of value in the time it takes you to sign the paperwork. If you go high end diesel (as recommended immediately above... and I agree for several reasons), your percentage of lost value over a six year period will be MUCH less.

Is that what you told your wife? :B
I posted on here about my friends high end Prevost DP,that cost in excess of $1 million and now, after 20,000 miles and ten years, it MAY be worth 15%-20% of what it cost. For the 3/4 million that he lost in depreciation you could buy a few other coaches.
It is nice to talk percentages but the REAL facts are dollars and the amount of dollars that you may lose in depreciation from a new DP will far exceed the money that you may lose with a new gasser.

We're not talking about million dollar rigs here. By "high end", I mean the top of the line for any manufacturer... just not commercial bus chassis. Mine, for example is a 2004 Damon 4194, top of their line for that year. My thought is that each manufacturer does the best job they can on the top of the line coach and, maybe, cuts a few corners on the lesser models. By picking top of the line, one hopes to get longevity, both in use as well as residual value.

blangen wrote:
Aside from the diesel preferred answers above (I'm in that camp, too), the other pertinent criteria is depreciation. That new gasser will lose the greatest percentage of value in the time it takes you to sign the paperwork. If you go high end diesel (as recommended immediately above... and I agree for several reasons), your percentage of lost value over a six year period will be MUCH less.

Is that what you told your wife? :B
I posted on here about my friends high end Prevost DP,that cost in excess of $1 million and now, after 20,000 miles and ten years, it MAY be worth 15%-20% of what it cost. For the 3/4 million that he lost in depreciation you could buy a few other coaches.
It is nice to talk percentages but the REAL facts are dollars and the amount of dollars that you may lose in depreciation from a new DP will far exceed the money that you may lose with a new gasser.

If cost is very important to you, buy gas. If anything else is more important than cost, go diesel. The diesel will be better in every way, except for cost.

Aside from the diesel preferred answers above (I'm in that camp, too), the other pertinent criteria that hasn't been mentioned yet is depreciation. That new gasser will lose the greatest percentage of value in the time it takes you to sign the paperwork. If you go high end diesel (as recommended immediately above... and I agree for several reasons), your percentage of lost value over a six year period will be MUCH less.

First off, the most important statement that has yet to be made is that not all diesels are created equal. While a DP usually means higher end, that is not a universal statement, and there is some overlap where a higher end gas motorhome may be built considerably better than a low end diesel.

Generally speaking, I would lean strongly toward going older and higher quality, regardless of the fuel type. What ever your choice in quality is, you are married to it, with divorce being very expensive. 10 year old quality is still quality. Brand new junk is always junk, even when its new and looks fancy.

DP vs Gasser..... Some basic decision points:

How much use?
Weekends only? Gasser.
Weeks or months at a time? DP, because the house components are "generally better" built.

How many miles driven per year?
A few thousand? Gasser
5,000+ ? DP - The ride quality and chassis design are far superior.