Upsizing from Class B

I have 24' no slide class C. I wanted minimum size possible but with the following: At least 40 gallon fresh water with gray and black tanks proportionate. Six cubic foot double door fridge. Both propane oven and microwave. Spacious dry bath. Dedicated sleeping area and table suitable for work area.

At one time I had van based class B. My current C will not generally fit entirely in one parking spot. I generally pull through two spaces at the rear of shopping center lot. I can usually deal with it with minor degree of hassle. But it does fit in nearly all campsites even smaller ones. As mentioned the handling is truck like with the bonus of big sail area. E series class C units do not handle car like or "well" by any stretch of the imagination, even after many expensive modifications. They are pleasant to drive on good roads in light or moderate traffic, with light winds, at an easy pace.

Concluding-I'd weigh priorities. How important is it that it will fit in one parking spot? How important is tank size, fridge size etc? Must have features? Trim and easy to drive? RV purchase tends to be a compromise of competing factors.

Just spent 3 days and 1200 miles in our 2014 Pleasure Way Pursuit.

The bad, It drives and feels heavy, is not nimble, gets pushed around in the wind, and only gets about 12 MPG.

The good, amazingly comfortable and roomy for 22'. 6'8" of headroom makes it feel bigger than it is. Only 90" wide allows us to park just about anywhere.We could pass each other in the galley with no trouble. We can set up 2 distinct seating areas (front and back)with the 2 included tables to allow each of us our own space when we needed it. The huge opening skylight makes it bright and airy. It comes with everything standard, there are no options. The real shower allows for a "real shower".

I am so impressed with the design and build quality that I think I could live in it (alone)indefinitely.

We went from a Class A to a B+ Triple E Regency with a Murphy bed. Unfortunately they are no longer available as they cannot get the Ford chassis. The same floor plan is made under the Leisure Vans name on the Sprinter chassis. We are really enjoying our new RV and it is nice to not be lugging a queen bed around all day when you only use it at night. This floorplan only works if you have the same sleep patterns though. The bathroom is awesome and there is ample storage for a 24 ft. unit.

We have a 2004 26Q, bought new, and chose and still like it for the same reasons as Old Radio's. Would not want any longer or shorter. We have driven down winding private access roads that looked too tight to negotiate without problems. The rig is near the practical limit in length for parking in public parks, local events, airshows, malls, on street parking, etc. No rig is perfect for all uses. Try to be sure that whatever you choose will suit your needs for at least five years including changes in your joints/agility and taking children or guests and pets along.

We went form a B to a class C this winter. We decided that the 20' B was just too small for longer trips we have planned. The bed was the main reason. We decided that a full time queen bed would suit us much better as we have different sleeping schedules. Decided that the 26Q floor plan at 27' would be the max length and I wanted the E450 chassis for the cargo carrying capacity/towing and the wider rear axle. The 26Q we found has little overhang and handles very well. It is still short enough to get into most of the places we like to camp and the queen bed is not sandwiched into a corner. Plenty of room for us and the dog and done with no slides to add weight and problems down the road.

It has a huge amount of storage space and we use the cab over area for light storage. Not as easy for a quick run to the store as the 20' but at 27' it still fits into a pull through parking spot with a few feet left over. We have a full bathroom and shower, and we don't have to keep putting up the bed. We are very happy with it.

Now I once again have egg on my face!

Instead of taking Winnebago's specifications at face value, I went out just now and actually measured my coach's width from left trim-strip edge to right trim-strip edge .... our Itasca Class C is 100 inches wide, NOT 101-102 inches. Since ours is on the wider-rear-stance Ford E450 chassis, each rear tire's sidewall comes out almost to the edge of each coach wall.

I'd much prefer Ron's Class C width since we sometimes travel on narrow off-roads ... but with still a cab overhead queen bed along with the rear corner queen bed. However, I have so far never found a non-Sprinter-based Class C with Ron's/our floorplan and an overhead queen bed that is only 93 inches wide ... but if it exists it will be using the lighter duty E350 chassis with it's narrower rear stance. One advantage (IMHO) of our Class C on offroads is that the rear duals do not sink down into the existing road ruts due to it's wide rear stance ... thus providing great middle-of-the-road rock clearance for it's differential, transmission, and oil pan.

pnichols wrote:
By the way, our widebody Class C RV provides a roomy enough feeling inside so that we do not miss or need slides - which we didn't want due to the structural strength and leak integrity that you compromise with slides.

All Phoenix Cruisers measure 93" wide across the entire outside width of the house portion, that being 8" narrower than pnichols rig. The mirrors stick out beyond the house but as pnichols says they can be folded in quickly and are then tucked in close to the van portion when road obstacles get you nervous. Some PC owners order short-arm mirrors so they won't stick out as far, but I appreciate them longer to see more behind the rig.

We slip into regular parking spots all the time when not towing. When parked we get into the habit of folding in the mirrors for others to walk between parked vehicles and I fear that a child will hang on them.

As pnichols mentioned about interior comfort, a little wider is always going to be a little more comfortable. Fortunately my wife and I are not wide people so we manage well with the 93" RV body. But still, our bath and bed could surely benefit from a few extra inches. You can see our rig interior (& exterior) by CLICKING HERE.

Like pnichols, we intentionally did not get the slide out option for our rig.....and we love it this way for the ~10 gains compared to the one loss. But it is just us two and no pets. I suppose if we had a house full of pitter-patter of sorts, a slide out would be of greater value to us.

jjson775 wrote:
Thanks pnichols for the excellent feedback. Does the 101" width of your RV include the extended mirrors?

No. This width does not include the mirrors, which of course stick out just a bit more than the coach's 101 inches so that you can see behind.

However, naturally the mirrors are mounted onto the sides of the cab window posts and the cab is a lot narrower than 101 inches ... so it's only the end mirror part that sticks out wider than 101 inches.

Our mirrors can easily be reached through the rolled down cab windows to be quickly be folded in for going through brush, past tree limbs, in packed parking lots etc.. Our mirrors are also remotely controlled so we can tilt them up to see all the way to the roof edges at the rear and all the way down to see the rear storage doors while driving down the road.

I think that the big rig truck trailers all over U.S. highways are around 101/102 inches wide too .... not including their mirrors sticking out from the sides of their cabs. This means that all narrow-feeling construction zone areas have to be able to allow big rigs to pass through ... so that claustrophobic feeling you might get in a "widebody" (101-102 inches wide) RV is just that ... only a feeling that need not mean you're about to scrape anything.

By the way, our widebody Class C RV provides a roomy enough feeling inside so that we do not miss or need slides - which we didn't want due to the structural strength and leak integrity that you compromise with slides. We sometimes take our small Class C mildly offroad and wanted to keep any bending or twisting distortion in the structure at a minimum when navigating rutted or tipped road surfaces.

One nice thing about Phoenix Cruisers -- they can be made with a Quigley 4x4 conversion. This will give a better ground clearance, and will allow slightly better roaming. It isn't cheap, and I don't know how the ride will be, but it may be an alternative.

Re mobility, we have had a 23' x 101" B+, and now a 25' x 101" C. We do all those things you mentioned, like staying at hotels, pulling into McDonalds, driving into tourist towns and parking, etc. I'm not claiming those things are as easy as they would be with a B, but they are not that hard. There is almost always a spot to park off to the side, by the back curb, etc. If not, we are not trapped, we just drive out of the lot and park on the street or whatever. The 101" does not include mirrors. But it fits, like any big truck, lol. I think you would get used to the size issue.

I think the bigger drawback compared to a B would be driving down the road, both in the effects of wind and in MPG. Our B+ (Chevy) got 11-12, and this one (Chevy) gets 10 or so.