Where is quality?????

charming wrote:
Reading over this topic with an update. We took our RV out for our first long trip this week. We are sitting here in VA freezing our butts off because the heater doesn't work!

When we called the dealer where we bought this thing we were told closest dealer was Raleigh, NC. I've been on the phone with THor and the first repair they gave me does not have a mobile repair and the second doesn't open until 9 am. We will see. So, great start to our vacation.

R U referring to the actual MH lpg furnace or the engine heater(dash)
do you not have any heat pumps or a Walmart style forced air 120V 1500 watt heaters neither?

Reading over this topic with an update. We took our RV out for our first long trip this week. We are sitting here in VA freezing our butts off because the heater doesn't work!

When we called the dealer where we bought this thing we were told closest dealer was Raleigh, NC. I've been on the phone with THor and the first repair they gave me does not have a mobile repair and the second doesn't open until 9 am. We will see. So, great start to our vacation.

I think we made a pretty good purchase with what we have and for what we paid, but not so sure about the later models in the same price range. Still a long way from perfection and does have a few questionable quirks of what where they thinking, like any that one might encounter in their quest for the ideal coach.
However we don't have a 46" flat screen with a fire place below it and Manufactures are starting to recognize what sells.
I call this the WOW factor.
The next time you're at a show and see people staring and commenting on the wow features, ask them about the chassis, drive train, tail overhang behind the wheels, size of the wheels...etc....or even if they know anything about the wood quality of the cabinets and frame work.
That said, it's the buying public's fault, not the fault of the manufacture, who always tries very hard to give the public, what they want and are asking for and again, it mainly that said... wow, wow factor.

Bill.Satellite wrote:
I sure wish that were true. The reality is that if it were true then all the manufacturers would slow down and use the best materials. The reality is that the consumer demands the lowest price possible for the most RV available. That means that if 1 manufacturer did what you consider to be the right thing they would have to charge more and they would get run over by the competition. It's really not the manufacturers fault. It is our fault for demanding cheap RVs.

Very good point Bill that I should have considered!

Last year I saw some new Tiffin DP's and they seemed to have issues requiring service. Then I ran into one of them in a rest area on the way home and he had the tool kit and duck tape out . His wife said they had a bunch of trouble. On the other hand I read about the great warranty service of Tiffin so that is great. I have had more little things with my last two Winnebagos than prior ones. Handled well by Winnebago.

Actually looking back on my 9 year old Fleetwood Discovery, the coach itself was pretty decent aside from the jack problems that now seem to work good after the update. But I am disappointed with some of the products used by Freightliner. Poor radiator clamps that all failed in 5 years, poor material in the exhaust system, alternator that failed at 40,000 miles, now it's poor material used in the air to air intercooler tubing that has rotted out. This is all with less than 50,000 miles. Maybe this is why I drive Toyota's and Honda's.

Over the years in the search for quality and SAFETY I went from 10 years old ClassA to 15 years old DP to 32 years old bus conversion.
The last one was the best and after some updating, after 12 years of ownership sold 44 yo coach to happy new owners.

the silverback wrote:
In answer to some of the questions listed above. 3 units had to have the roof AC replaced. 2 had water {plumbing} leaks. 1 had a problem with the slide outs and 1 had to have the water heater replaced.

You stated in your opening post that these were all NEW RVs. In our 16 years of full-timing and being around folks that use their RVs daily, I've never heard of anyone needing a new AC..... and you say these were NEW RVs? A water heater might go out after 10 years of use. Plumbing leaks can happen - even in a stick house. Slide issues do happen but our slides were in use for 16 years without a problem.

I think there just might be a little exaggeration here to have all these issues on NEW RVs in one campground and that you would know about it. :)

3oaks wrote:

ScottG wrote:
When I've walked around RV shows it always looks to me that some of the material and technology has gotten better but the actual workmanship is even worse than it was 10 or more years ago.

I agree whole heartedly. That is certainly the case with my new 2016 Arctic Fox TT. The workmanship totally stinks!

I sell those. they have some minor micky mouse issues(sloppy caulking is one that comes to mind) but overall good unit
if a proper PDI is done by a attentive dealer the small stuff missed by the home build group is fixed overall there a pretty decent well made RV.
But there a 40K trailer not a 150K gasser or a 300K diesel pusher

3 units had to have the roof AC replaced. 2 had water {plumbing} leaks. 1 had a problem with the slide outs and 1 had to have the water heater replaced.

so 4 had non related manufacturer RV problems and 3 had actual poor workmanship DIRECTLY related to rv manufacturing but people tend to
put all 7 problems down as RV manufacturing faults

very unfair