Roadtrek 170 as a daily driver
Well, I admit it. I miss my Roadtrek! But I also love our Class C Phoenix Cruiser. We are using the Cruiser for boondocking a couple of weeks at a time and it fits the needs perfectly at this stage...
Forum Discussion
I live in a commuting suburb of NYC where the parking can be crowded and tight (generally 18') so the 170's short parking length and stealth appearance were critical to me. I have other vehicles so I wouldn't call my RT a daily driver, but I do use it frequently for purposes other than camping/road touring. For one, with 6 belted forward facing seats, it's the people and load hauler of my household. While gas mileage isn't great on a 4-ton vehicle, I have (had) unlicensed kids that I need to chauffeur, and having a "mobile home" allows me to comfortably wait (read, nap, TV, iPad surf, etc), rather than drive home and back out again (1 round-trip vs 2). We also have a dog, so it's the vehicle we take when we don't want to worry about rushing back for his bathroom relief, and it's the best vehicle with which we can control temperature. As an outdoor nut, I love having the RT as a base station - I have a folding bike and Pakraft stored under the back seat/bed and have happened upon many impromptu hiking, paddling, peddling opportunities, with a shower and extra clothes for afterwards of course.
As far as parking is concerned, the only thing that sometimes causes issues is the extra length of the spare tire carrier, and ceiling height for underground of course. Otherwise, as long as you are comfortable with backing in (we have a back-up camera), I really haven't found a regular sized parking spot I couldn't maneuver into. Lastly, the reasonably stealth appearance is huge plus for me - with tinted windows all around, I just need to put a sunshade in the windshield and nobody would know you're in there (at night, I use dim-able flashlights).
All that said, I couldn't use my RT as my ONLY daily driver for a few reason - gas mileage, winter road salt on RV components underneath, constant summer sun baking of the kitchen supplies, and security/theft reasons.
As far as parking is concerned, the only thing that sometimes causes issues is the extra length of the spare tire carrier, and ceiling height for underground of course. Otherwise, as long as you are comfortable with backing in (we have a back-up camera), I really haven't found a regular sized parking spot I couldn't maneuver into. Lastly, the reasonably stealth appearance is huge plus for me - with tinted windows all around, I just need to put a sunshade in the windshield and nobody would know you're in there (at night, I use dim-able flashlights).
All that said, I couldn't use my RT as my ONLY daily driver for a few reason - gas mileage, winter road salt on RV components underneath, constant summer sun baking of the kitchen supplies, and security/theft reasons.
