Are there any quality RV manufacturers?

[Floowid]

I bought a Crossroads Toy Deck TH last year, and I am not at all happy with the quality of materials and workmanship. It is an inexpensive unit, so I figured I kinda got what I paid for and decided to sell it and get a nice 5th wheel garage toy hauler.

We have looked at Fuzion, Road Warrior, Cyclone, Voltage, and now Torque, and I see the same shoddy workmanship in these $40,000 - $80,000 units. Shelves and cabinets coming apart and falling off. Doors not straight, screws at odd angles or stripped, drawers with bad or missing keepers, sawdust and scraps everywhere. I can't believe what some of these RV manufacturers deem ready for public consumption.

I didn't like what I got with the Crossroads, but over the last year and a half I have worked through a lot of the issues. I am almost to the point that I keep the crappy trailer I know, rather than dump a substantial amount of money in another crappy brand new piece of junk.

Does anybody know of one manufacturer who shines above the rest? Failing that, is there a dealer in the Salt Lake City, Utah area I can trust?

[AMG63]

DRV Is a nicer trailer yet still has a rubber roof that will leak, a steel structure that will rust and wood floor and ceiling that will rot.

[invstr55]

The good news is that DRV is starting to build Toy Haulers, no they are not cheap but nothing of this quality is cheap. The floor plans and pricing should be released in the next few weeks.

[FrankShore]

I'd go with a Northwoods Mfg or a Lance.

[AMG63]

lawnspecialties wrote:

danojeno wrote:
Aluminum Trailer Company HERE and HERE

These look like the kind of quality I want. I don't want faux luxury stuff. I want a tough trailer, built to last.

We have a fairly large dealer here in NC that sells a lot of Featherlite and ATC. They said they much prefer the ATC on race trailers and horse trailers because they're excellent quality and their willingness to custom build for a customer.

I have seen structural issues with ATC too, that's why I skipped them. It's true that Featherlite does not what to build custom trailers. I started with a $40k trailer from Featherlite made a few changes and it turned into a $80k trailer. They are better at flimsy cookie cutter trailers (nice but not sturdy.)

A quality rv trailer? Nope. It's 99% cheap junk. The fact is, cheap is what works for most people and allows them to get out enjoy life. Then they take that cheap trailer make it nicer and appeal at a higher price point., still same junk.

[Fixed_Sight_Tra]

2008Wildcat wrote:

KATOOM wrote:

2008Wildcat wrote:
You take a home, and put it on wheels and drive it all over the country, and you don't want to have any problems with it??


How cute.....

You take a car, expect to be able drive it everyday far from home and you dont want any problems with it.....you take a boat, expect it to float, bring you back to shore and not have any problems with it.....you take a plane, expect it to fly thousands of miles in the sky and not have any problems with it..... Is that being cute too? :h

So you're saying you've never had a car or truck break down, boat not float, and plane break down?

Happens every day, and they cost a whole lot more for what they are than an RV.

I've broken trucks, cars, boats and airplanes. Airplanes are even less fun when they break than an RV. Higher pucker factor.:E

[KATOOM]

2008Wildcat wrote:

KATOOM wrote:

2008Wildcat wrote:
You take a home, and put it on wheels and drive it all over the country, and you don't want to have any problems with it??


How cute.....

You take a car, expect to be able drive it everyday far from home and you dont want any problems with it.....you take a boat, expect it to float, bring you back to shore and not have any problems with it.....you take a plane, expect it to fly thousands of miles in the sky and not have any problems with it..... Is that being cute too? :h

So you're saying you've never had a car or truck break down, boat not float, and plane break down?

Happens every day, and they cost a whole lot more for what they are than an RV.

You bet it happens every day as nothing is impervious to problems, but nothing compared to average RV problems. If my cars broke down as much as my RV's have issues then I wouldn't have a job. If my boat gave me as many issues as the RV's I've had, I wouldn't trust it out on the water. Planes are statistically the safest so you can only imagine how long it would take before no one would take to the sky if planes had the reputation RV's do. I think my analogy was perfect.....

I've also heard the argument many times that if RV's were more regulated then they'd be more expensive. Well maybe thats an accurate statement but I believe in the true capitalist system and eventually the less desired garbage would be weeded out in competition. And in regards to your comparative analysis.....a $250,000 RV is NOTHING compared to a $250,000 boat, nor a $250,000 car. Granted a $250,000 plane isnt as luxurious as the other two but its still going to be nice and problem resistant. As I mentioned earlier, I had the privilege to cross the country for a month in a $250,000 diesel motorhome and it was a problematic pile of issues from day one. TOTALLY unexpected from something so expensive. Heck, the slides barely worked right half the time. The only item which didnt give us trouble was the engine.

I cant remember where I read it but there's a recent (within the past year) RV website story about a retired couple who saved forever to finally order a $450k-$500k class A to travel full time in. When they finally picked it up there was so many issues that I want to say I remember they ended up in court with the manufacture. Lots of trivial things like many interior and exterior doors didnt fit or work, non functioning appliances and electrical issues, but more importantly was things like the front axle was bent and a few thousand over vehicle gross weight without any liquids or gear in the unit. Truly they were ripped off and purchased something more costly than most peoples homes and they couldn't use it. Yeah.....thats everyday acceptable quality control from the RV industry. If I find the story again I'll post the link.

Dont misunderstand my comments too. I'm not saying EVERY RV/trailer is a going to be nothing but endless repairs and constant on the road issues but more that there's a pretty bad reputation within the RV industry and I dont think defending it is even justifiable. They just need to step up the quality.....but as long as people keeping paying big bucks for them, they'll keep building them.

[2008Wildcat]

KATOOM wrote:

2008Wildcat wrote:
You take a home, and put it on wheels and drive it all over the country, and you don't want to have any problems with it??


How cute.....

You take a car, expect to be able drive it everyday far from home and you dont want any problems with it.....you take a boat, expect it to float, bring you back to shore and not have any problems with it.....you take a plane, expect it to fly thousands of miles in the sky and not have any problems with it..... Is that being cute too? :h

So you're saying you've never had a car or truck break down, boat not float, and plane break down?

Happens every day, and they cost a whole lot more for what they are than an RV.

[2008Wildcat]

I think it is all relative to what you think it should be....

Boats are not cheap, and float on water. The larger ones, with full living quarters (as to compare with an RV) are much more expensive for the same size. Built better? I would hope so..

Cars and trucks are not homes, and are mostly steel.

If you really think about the amount of money you are spending for a trailer to tow around, it is not much compared to more durable items.

A 30 foot airplane is a whole lot more expensive than a 30 foot RV.

Even a custom built home is better quality than a "box" built home, so where do you draw the line for quality versus pricing??

It is all relative, people....

Do I think the industry should build them better? Of course, but then a $50,000 5th wheel will be a $75,000 5th wheel, and we would all complain about the price.

[Floowid]

2008Wildcat wrote:
You take a home, and put it on wheels and drive it all over the country, and you don't want to have any problems with it??


How cute.....

That's pretty condescending.

To be fair, after I have "driven it all over the country" I would expect some problems. What I don't expect is a laundry list of problems after I have driven it home from the dealer.

I appreciate everybody else's helpful suggestions. I can see that the industry as a whole has some serious build and QC problems. I looked at the Tesla 3212, and it was nice, but still suffered in a few areas. I can't afford (don't want to) the Momentum, so we will probably deal with the problems we have rather than buy some new ones.

[KATOOM]

2008Wildcat wrote:
You take a home, and put it on wheels and drive it all over the country, and you don't want to have any problems with it??


How cute.....

You take a car, expect to be able drive it everyday far from home and you dont want any problems with it.....you take a boat, expect it to float, bring you back to shore and not have any problems with it.....you take a plane, expect it to fly thousands of miles in the sky and not have any problems with it..... Is that being cute too? :h

We all know there would be far less of these discussions if you could drive your RV/trailer all over the country and only have a "few minor" problems.....let alone a couple short camping trips a year.

[BigBlockTank]

My two cents worth: I would never ever buy a new RV. There is too much loss soon as it's purchased.

Then, these things are not made as well as a high end home, it's an RV, and can only weigh so much to make it light as possible.

Now, I understand you concerns with things not assembled correctly. Since it's new, take it back to the dealer, and have them repaired.

Most of all, get out with it, and enjoy it the most you can. I don't get to use our new ot us motorhome near as much as I'd like to, but we're going to be fultimers when I retire again, in 4 years.

Good luck...

[Bedlam]

If the RV industry followed marine standards, there would be less issues.

[2008Wildcat]

You take a home, and put it on wheels and drive it all over the country, and you don't want to have any problems with it??


How cute.....

[KATOOM]

I saw this thread and had to laugh.....

To answer your question, NO, there are ZERO quality RV manufactures in business and out of business who build/built an RV for the average person. Since there are no mandated regulations in the RV industry all manufactures kinda seem to do whatever they want as long as they can produce a model and make as much profit as possible in doing so. The only things which are seemingly common within the industry are the appliances. Granted thats the idea behind capitalism but definitely there seems to be a disconnection between the average consumer and the desire to receive something worthy of the money they just paid. Instead they're happy driving off with a fragile, overpriced, problematic product which looks like a bunch of teenagers assembled it, and also depreciates in value faster than the next hottest cell phone coming out of Japan. I'll never understand why anyone buys a brand new RV/trailer but then again if they didn't then there would be no used ones either.

That said, I'd say this general rule only tends to apply to the average everyday and moderately financial stable person since the high dollar rich mans RV stuff seems to be of higher quality. But then again, I've driven in a $250,000 motorhome and I was shocked how crappy this thing was built and how many problems it had in the few weeks I was in it. How come you buy a $50k truck and you expect it to take you everywhere, everyday and have very little problems during the hundreds of thousands of miles you drive it. But you buy an RV and you're lucky if you can take it camping right from the dealer on that 100 mile trip without a list of problems to be fixed when you return. Simply put.....if ANY auto manufacture built cars with the same quality control as the RV builds everyday, there would be no cars on the road today because they'd be out of business.

[BigDog235]

danojeno wrote:
Aluminum Trailer Company HERE and HERE

These look like the kind of quality I want. I don't want faux luxury stuff. I want a tough trailer, built to last.

ATC builds the VRV/XTR trailer, I have the 26fb model and love it! It is actually my second VRV, the first was a 22 model with no bedroom or bath. When Tom, the designer, switched over to ACT for the manufacturing the front bedroom model was introduced. Check out VRV's facebook page.