Forum Discussion

MetalGator's avatar
Jan 24, 2017

Miramar vs Hurricane vs Newmar

The wife and I went to the Tampa RV Supershow this past weekend. I think this is our 6th or 7th show now. We purchased a TT back in July of 2011 and we have been researching Class A motorhomes the last few years. The last two shows, we had pretty much made up our minds that we wanted a Newmar 3401. We really like the floorplan and the quality.

Fast forward to Saturday. I had seen as add for a Hurricane 35M in the recent motorhome magazine. I knew the quality wouldn't be the same but the "bang for the buck" price was really intriguing. We looked at this model and the wife fell in love with the floorplan. We also looked at the same floorplan Windsport but we liked the colors and floor options better in the Hurricane. The fit an finish was OK. Nothing great but it didn't feel cheap or anything.

Then I made the mistake of going back to the show Sunday. Right across from the Hurricanes were the Miramars. The Miramar 35.3 is exactly the same floorplan as the Hurricane and Windsport 35M. The Miramar had the full body paint, had 22.5 inch wheels vs 19.5 on the Hurricane. The taller tires gave quite a bit more storage space underneath. Inside, the cabinets and hinges were much better quality as was the furniture. Of course, this model was $20K more. I found the quality of the Miramar similar to the Newmar models we looked at. I see all the postings about "don't buy Thor" but I read the same thing about Forest River when we purchased our current Surveyor TT. So, does anyone of the forum have a Miramar RV and if so what are your opinions? The sales person mentioned that the Miramar had the More Ride (called something like that) suspension with Blistein shocks and front and rear anti-sway bars that the Hurricane didn't have. I looked at the brochure when I got home and couldn't find any info on the suspension. The wife originally said we could buy the Hurricane and then get the Motorhome we want in 7-8 years but I would rather get what we want now and then keep it a long time. I hate the depreciation on new RVs but I figure if I get the model I want, I can keep it a long time and won't have any reason to upgrade later. It's just to two of us and our dogs.

Burch

64 Replies

  • Effy wrote:
    I think at that level the Hurricane and Bay Star quality is the same.


    That's interesting. When I looked at the Hurricanes, they had wrapped cabinets with particle board wood. Also, the cabinet hinges were very basic/cheap. The Baystar had real wood cabinets and heavy duty hinges on the cabinets. The furniture was also a little better quality. Not a huge difference but the Baystar definitely had better quality cabinets. The overall fit and finish just seemed a little better. That being said, I'm not sure the quality was worth $20-25K more!
  • azdryheat wrote:
    My experience is you get what you pay for. You might want to look at this quality builder - Tiffin.


    We looked a quite a few Tiffins at the show but I wasn't really impressed. It wasn't that I didn't like them but I didn't think the quality of the Tiffin was any better than the Miramar and in our size range we didn't really like the floor plans. Maybe it was because I had higher expectations about them since I always hear about how great Tiffins are here on the forums. I will say the quality was better than the Hurricane but was really on par with the Miramars.
  • My experience is you get what you pay for. You might want to look at this quality builder - Tiffin.
  • Effy's avatar
    Effy
    Explorer II
    I think at that level the Hurricane and Bay Star quality is the same. I know folks will disagree but I've been in enough of both and have never seen anything that speaks better quality on the Newmar bay star at that level. I like Newmar and they make a nice coach from Canyon Star on up the food chain, but the bay star is as entry level as anyone else. The Miramar is actually a step up from the Hurricane or Windsport. It's really their top of the line gasser so no surprise that it has more bells and whistles and better quality.