Class C motorhome value decreases with age and these are usually very low mileage vehicles. Not at all unusual to find a 10 year old motorhome with 50,000 miles on the odometer.
The motorhome is fully integrated by the manufacturer. You can fill up the gas tank and the propane tanks and hit the road. With a pickup truck you become the integrator and then researching, buying, and installing tie-downs, camper wiring and battery isolator, turnbuckles, bed mat, overload springs, heavy duty shocks, higher capacity tires, rear anti-sway bar.
Then you get to try to find the right camper that will fit your truck and your budget. When you do you will find that the holding tanks are lower in capacity and the fridge is smaller and the living space and storage space is also less than with a Class C motorhome.
I can find a good truck for $25,000 and put another $3,000 to modify for hauling a camper, and then spend $20,000 for a used camper, and spending in total $48,000 or more. Piece of cake to find a Class C motorhome for less than that amount.
The only advantage with the truck camper is in being able to remove it and then having the use of a pickup truck, which is why we went that route and spent the extra money and a lot more time and effort to put our rig together.
The truck camper is something that I would recommend to people who have a do it yourself mentality and a high level of mechanical aptitude and hands on experience.
Before you decide go to local campgrounds and talk to people with motorhomes and trucks with campers and ask them what they like and dislike about their RV's. Go inside and get a sense of how much or how little room there is for gear, cooking, clothing, living space.
A Class B has two advantages over a truck and camper rig. One is that it is fully integrated and ready to go. The other is that your fuel economy is going to be at least 50% better. The B motorhomes built using the Sprinter chassis with the Mercedes 5 cylinder diesel engines get 23-25 MPG in real world use. My diesel powered pickup gets 14-15 MPG without the camper and 8-10 MPG with the camper.
