How to tell a quaility RV

[KimandChris]

Hi Folks,

DW and I are ready to move up to our second toyhauler. We fulltime so would like a quality unit. I have read through tons of threads here and know the consensus seems to be the best are DRV and New Horizons. Both of those are out of our price range as is the Excel.The Grand Design seems to be universally praised and is at the top of our list at the moment.

My issue is, how can you tell the quality of an RV? Detail I am most concerned with(frame/axles/wall construction, etc) does not seem to be available online. Most info seems to be about available options. I would much rather put my limited $$$ to a stripped down quality RV but am having a hard time determining which that is.

Even within manufacturers, it is difficult to determine what the actual differences are. The grand Design M-class is advertised as 'lighter'. As far as I can tell, that is the only difference. There seems to be a few options in the M-class that are standard in the TH class, so we are leaning towards the 348M.

What about KZ? We currently have an entry level Sportsman Sportster which has treated us very well for the last 6 years. I see very little about the Inferno and almost nothing about the Stoneridge(their full time rig). Are they all on the same frame? same axles? I need details! 🙂

Thanks for any insight.

Chris

[nvreloader]

Depending on what part of the US you are located,
take a good hard look at the Northwoods Desert Fox line,
well worth the time and trouble, IMHO.

Tia,
Don

[Puttin]

KimandChris,

In the first paragraph of your post you mentioned three respectable brands. I am personally familiar with DRV but they are all great brands. You can get a handle on quality by just looking at them. Warranty periods are sometimes longer too. If you've found a floorplan among those three that works for you- go for it. Don't beat yourself up about axle capacities, frame limits, etc.

[Macs_Dad]

Do and search for them on the Internet for Toy Hauler Reviews or Best toy haulers. I saw some on "Roaming Times" and somewhere else a while back. Not sure of any other place except here you could ask that question.

[tinner12002]

Do some factory tours and then suggest some changes to frame/susp and see how they react. I toured the new Weekend Warrior factory and was impressed with what all they told me they could do within the boundries of not having to redesign the whole toy hauler but just to add different things that I requested here and there to the interior and things on the frame. Going up this next week to tour the Forest River XLR factory and see the difference between the cookie cuter manufacturers and a factory direct like Weekend Warrior.

[KimandChris]

phillyg wrote:
Compare the frames and running components, including tires, from different mfgrs. to see if there are meaningful differences.

This is exactly what I want to do....having trouble finding this info on the net.

[_plit]

i just spent the last year looking at Toy haulers. I narrowed it down to Raptor, Voltage, Cyclone and Grand Designs. The quality across the board varies greatly from unit to unit. We bought a Grand Designs momentum and it arrives at our place today 🙂 The easiest thing to look at on a lot of the units was simply just the caulking/alignment between panels both interior and exterior. Some of the cyclones i went into there were trim pieces falling off, lights hanging out et but some were pretty decent. We felt that the raptors were really nice as well but in the end it seemed and felt (to us - OP's vary) that GD was the best built rig. Also i went to the owners forums and read a lot on all these manufacturers to see what people dealt with. There is a ton of storage space in the GD Momentum line. My wife liked the voltage a lot but i couldnt get over the schwintek slides..I would say narrow it down to the floorplan that suits you and then find the manufacturers that built that style and check out the quality. Being a fulltimer i am sure your needs are more than mine! good luck! Split

[Bedlam]

If you are looking for quality frames and axles, look at the companies that make car and horse trailers with living quarters. These are built on a chassis that can handle more weight and many now are available with slides and upscale options that make you forget about the utilitarian underpinnings.

[2oldman]

Other than price and weight, it's a challenge.

[FrankShore]

I know nothing about Toy Haulers but have you looked at Lance? They're mid-priced and constructed very well. I really like my newish Lance Travel Trailer a lot and I know that they started making TH's a few years ago, if I'm not mistaken.

Lance Toy Haulers

Some info on how Lances are built

I saw one at the dealership and I didn't care for the interior colors and the cabinet facings, but to each his own. Someone must like it!

[amandasgramma]

I'm not a handyman by any means.....but I can tell when I step into most rigs. If the cupboard doors wobble wobble when you open and close, if the mouldings don't line up or are falling off (seen that in brand new rigs), if shower door is flimsy and doesn't seem to line up, the drawers are stapled together....badly, and if the outlets are set in crooked or the hole is showing around the outlet cover .....is ALL a sign to me. Yes, I've seen those mistakes (or lack of caring in new rigs). Don't be afraid to open and close EVERY cupboard door.... I saw one that looked so good for us, then opened the cupboard doors in the kitchen. They had NO cupboard space. Two of the doors actually covered the plumbing....NO place to put fry pans, etc!!!!!! If you REALLY look a rig over instead of looking at the pretty curtains or the glitz, you can tell. BTW -- a toyhauler we looked at one time had a hole in the bottom left side in the garage.....the hole was big enough for an adult to crawl thru. I asked what it was for....the vent the garage. Hmmm a small vent would have worked. The hole didn't have ANY moulding around it besides being a GREAT way for someone to break in and steal from you. Ironically, it also showed us just how THIN the wall was!!!!!! One sheet of wall panel and the outside covering.......NO INSULATION!!!!! I think that company went out of business.

[Dick_B]

Check out the RV Consumer Group, www.rv.org, to see what they have to state about the quality and reliability of the rigs you are interested in.
I'm really not a fan of the `lite' versions. If they are really lighter in weight they have to reduce something to minimize the pounds. Maybe it's the frame thickness or the cabinet/countertop material, etc. it has to come from somewhere.

[phillyg]

It's difficult. Rather than looking at the glitz, root around inside cabinets and cubbies, crawl inside the front storage compartments and look at plumbing and electrical wiring runs, and for sloppy and/or cheap components like bathroom faucets. Compare the frames and running components, including tires, from different mfgrs. to see if there are meaningful differences.

I knew I was not buying a top of the line FW, but here's just one example I can share: after determining I had a very small leak somewhere in my plumbing (new FW), I removed the access panel for the washer/dryer hookup and discovered one of the four screws holding in the panel was screwed into the hot water line! That's sloppy workmanship IMHO. Not only that, I discovered the PEX lines throughout the FW have numerous unneeded joints and fittings. PEX is designed to be flexible (to a point) and I could have eliminated up to 20 unnecessary fittings (and possible places to leak) in just one 15' run of hot and cold water lines. It had to take the workman longer to put in all those joints than run straight lines, which doesn't make sense if these units supposedly are built so fast as to make them cheaper.

[downtheroad]

After owning 4 RV's all from different manufacturers, I have come to believe that yes, there are slight differences in quality. Generally, the more you pay the slightly better the quality...

But, what you are really paying for are more options, add ons, and fluff.

In reality....the handier you are with tools and fixing/tweaking the happier you will be with what ever unit you have..

RV's (all of them) need constant attention.