I told everyone on this list, that I would give an update on my purchase of a Cruise America 28A after having it for a year. When we purchased it, it had about 130,000 miles on it. We have put about 5 thousand miles on it with zero problems. We took a trip and stayed in Arizona for about 2 months and traveled there and back and got an average of about 8.5 miles MPG. Had we drove on the Interstates more, we would have gotten a little over 9,I believe but we took the back roads so we could see more of the areas and visit friends and family. We have also taken several trips around areas in our home state. There were no problems with the motorhome at all. We never felt underpowered or uncomfortable at all. My wife did not like the faucet in the kitchen so I replaced it and when I did, I did not get it tight enough and had a small leak but that was my fault not the MH.
A did as complete a job of inspecting the motorhome on the lot before I sighed the papers. CA let me do that over a 2-day period and provided employees to help me and answer questions. But even with doing as good of an inspection as I could I have found that apparently someone made a tail swing error and the left corner of the coach must have been damaged as I can see signs of repair inside the storage compartment and the storage door on that side is obviously new.
HERE is what I consider the down side of a motorhome like this. And please remember that this is just me, my wife and dogs and our life style. So what I am going to say may not be pertinent to you or your family. If you are a person that travels from camp site to camp site maybe staying only a day or two in one place, then the CA motorhome will be great for you. It is designed to be idiot proof. No awing to remember to take down, no steps to remember to bring up, no TV antenna to take down, no sliders to bring in, no leveling jacks to bring up. The amenities are pretty Spartan so you do not have to worry about over wearing the furniture, carpets, or other things like that, as they are selected for durability, not particularly for style. The rig is manufactured to be used hard by beginner MH users who do not understand all the things you need to do to manage a modern MH and to be blunt idiot proof.
BUT BUT if you are a family or person who wants to stay put for a longer period of time, let’s say 2 months in Arizona like we did. The walls are going to start coming in on you with no sliders. If you travel with pets, they have to sleep somewhere and unless you have them in bed with you they are going to be in the way when you are trying to cook or just move inside the MH. I know get rid of the pets. That is not going to happen. With a slider you would have a lot more room. An awning would also help in this regard, but in some places like Arizona it is just too **** hot for us Northerners to sit outside even with an awning. Motorhomes without at least one slider seem to us to be very scarce unless you are looking at a rig that is very old. You kind of feel out of place.Many other MH owners know that a Majestic is a name for a USED CA renter motorhome and make comments like “Oh that is one of THOSE old high mileage rental returns, isn’t it?” Kind of looking down their nose like you are some kind of trailer trash or something. Of course you have to go into some kind of tirade to defend your purchase. Maybe this kind of snobbery does not bother you but if you stay someplace for a time, you may hear it. We did in Mesa Arizona. So be warned.
I have made many upgrades to the unit I have. I did not like the very cheap curtains that come with the MH, so I upgraded them to better quality blinds. We got tired of pulling them back each day. The modesty panel in the front was a pain so we bought one of those aftermarket panels that goes over the windshield and connect with magnets. That was much better and did not get in the way of us watching the TV we put in the upfront area. We put in a TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) in the MH. 9 miles out a tire valve extender started to leak and the TPMS gave us enough warning to allow us to find a safe place to check it out. As I had roadside insurance and it was raining hard I called them and it was taken care of. Without the system I may have had to stop on the freeway in an unsafe place. Well worth the money in my opinion. I installed a TV and DVD system so that we can watch TV. I have a Garmin GPS system that is wonderful as you can customize this one to the size of your motorhome and with the aid of the traffic warning system is was just great in guiding us through places like LA. Without it I may have still been there wondering around the many highways out there that seemed to intersect with themselves. Upgraded the mattress and bedding. What comes with the MH in our case was a new queen size mattress (the RV industry says is queen size but not close to the one you may have in your home), to a much better mattress. Sleeping on the **** they gave us, was like sleeping on a rack. And don’t think because there is a bed in the rear that it will be easy to make. You have to be just about a person with 10 foot arms to make the bed. My wife is a NAZI on making the bed but had to just fluff it up many times which did not make her happy. There is just not enough space to get around the bed on both sides and still tuck things in as you may like. Many MHs have slides in the bedroom and makes this activity much easier. And in my case my wife much happier. I also put in a wireless back up camera system. It helps like it is supposed to in baking into some of the tight camping places.
NOW here is my point in listing some of the upgrades I have done. They can all be removed and moved to another MH if you don’t get them on the newer rig you may want to buy. That is one reason I would NOT put an awning, car towing package or solar system on this MH or any MH until I am SURE I am going to keep it a long time, as removing them would be almost be impractical and may cause damage to the MH in doing so. In our case we are going to spend much of our time in Arizona not because only that the weather there is better than it is here in Washington state but one of our daughters lives there with grandkids so we enjoy being with them.
SO I am sorry for this long rambling post but I promised to give you all an update after my first year, so here it is. I am very happy with the MH it was as advertised and I may keep it until the wheels fall off or I am on the other side of the grass. But in our life style we feel we need more space and creature comforts. I hope this helps anyone trying to decide on buying a CA used motorhome. The company is honest and very helpful in my experience. I visited the remanufacturing facility while I was in Mesa. They do a great job in bringing the used MHs up to what they were like new as can be expected.
