Winnebago Minnie 25B - good choice?

It is a Winnebago, so it will be well made, with diagrams and parts available from the maker. It is on an E-350 chassis -- par for the course. It also has a fiberglass roof, which is important.

Just make sure it has the options you want, like heated drainage and a generator.

Yes, fiberglass roof is one of the main reasons I am looking at this model.

I have the 2014 model and am still very happy with it after 7000 miles. However, I did think long and hard about what type vehicle would be right for me before I purchased. I have the Chevy chassis which rides well and handles the east coast mountains with no trouble. There have been no problems with the coach or any of its systems or appliances and no issues with the fit and form. But I did require a repair of the Onan generator early on (faulty fuel pump) and the fuel line on the chassis (cracked connector during manufacture) as well as two recall repairs on the Chevy. The only thing that seems low-end are the faucet fixtures. Otherwise it seems very well put together. Fully loaded with everything I needed for my trip up the east coast, including water, fuel and me, I still had 1000 lbs cargo weight reserve. It doesn't come with a spare tire so I added one in external storage. It cools and heats very easily. I replaced the glass shower enclosure with an Extend-a-Rod and shower curtain wihich was a significant space improvement. I also added 2 vent covers on the roof.

MobileBasset wrote:
I have the 2014 model and am still very happy with it after 7000 miles. However, I did think long and hard about what type vehicle would be right for me before I purchased. I have the Chevy chassis which rides well and handles the east coast mountains with no trouble. There have been no problems with the coach or any of its systems or appliances and no issues with the fit and form. But I did require a repair of the Onan generator early on (faulty fuel pump) and the fuel line on the chassis (cracked connector during manufacture) as well as two recall repairs on the Chevy. The only thing that seems low-end are the faucet fixtures. Otherwise it seems very well put together. Fully loaded with everything I needed for my trip up the east coast, including water, fuel and me, I still had 1000 lbs cargo weight reserve. It doesn't come with a spare tire so I added one in external storage. It cools and heats very easily. I replaced the glass shower enclosure with an Extend-a-Rod and shower curtain wihich was a significant space improvement. I also added 2 vent covers on the roof.

I have not seen any 2015s on the Chevy chassis.
All I see is Ford.

custom order?

It appears that you are now considering a new unit, not used as you were looking for earlier. If you like the 25B, perhaps the 22R would work just as well, or better, for you. It has an "advantage" of being a few feet shorter, as well as being a few thousand less in price. With your 2 small kids, I think it would be fine.

how about the same rv on a sprinter chassis? a lot more leg room and double the mpg.

New or used, used would be better

midnightsadie wrote:
how about the same rv on a sprinter chassis? a lot more leg room and double the mpg.

I like sprinters, but I would imagine that there are a lot more shops that work on Sprinters vs Ford and Chevy if I need service down the road.

Veik wrote:

MobileBasset wrote:
I have the 2014 model and am still very happy with it after 7000 miles. However, I did think long and hard about what type vehicle would be right for me before I purchased. I have the Chevy chassis which rides well and handles the east coast mountains with no trouble. There have been no problems with the coach or any of its systems or appliances and no issues with the fit and form. But I did require a repair of the Onan generator early on (faulty fuel pump) and the fuel line on the chassis (cracked connector during manufacture) as well as two recall repairs on the Chevy. The only thing that seems low-end are the faucet fixtures. Otherwise it seems very well put together. Fully loaded with everything I needed for my trip up the east coast, including water, fuel and me, I still had 1000 lbs cargo weight reserve. It doesn't come with a spare tire so I added one in external storage. It cools and heats very easily. I replaced the glass shower enclosure with an Extend-a-Rod and shower curtain wihich was a significant space improvement. I also added 2 vent covers on the roof.

I have not seen any 2015s on the Chevy chassis.
All I see is Ford.

custom order?

The Chevys were phased out in 2014 so you will only find them on used models

Note that Winnebago offers this line in a basic Minnie Winnie configuration, and in an optional configuration with their "Premier" package. I would recommend that one opt for the Premier package. Their Itasca Spirit and Itasca Spirit Silver models may be exactly the same in build quality and features - although I would study the Minnie and Itasca models very, very carefully to make sure to see if the Itasca models don't include some very subtle upgraded features or different construction techniques as standard. If so, I'd go with the Itasca "equivalents", instead.

HOWEVER there may be a red flag: Looking at the front end photographs of the Minnie Winnie, Minnie Winnie Premier, Itasca Spirit, and Itasca Spirit Silver models, I see that their one-piece fiberglass roofs appear to be completely, or almost completely ... flat instead of crowned, and .... that the side edges of the roofs do not appear to be rolled downwards over-lapping the vertical walls from front to back. In other words regarding rolled edges, there may be a seam all along the sides where the roof joins the side walls. This is not the best way to configure one-piece fiberglass roofs for long term leak-proofness with minimum maintenance, although most every manufacturer using one-piece fiberglass roofs may now build this way because it's less costly for them to do so. (For some reason, our 2005 Itasca Class C came with a crowned single piece fiberglass roof with rolled over side edges.)

When considering a purchase, after studying extensively in these forums I would inspect very carefully in person any model of Class C to make sure of what you were getting ... inside and out, up and down. You'll see long lists of what to look for in these forums.