Mfg order of quality

Second Chance wrote:

ScottG wrote:

WolfFox wrote:
I'm not going to say anything negative about other brands. We've been looking at 5th wheels since 2004. We retired in 2011, and purchased a motor home from a friend, because it was a deal we couldn't pass up. After looking at every brand out there , some not even made any more we finally made our decision last November and ordered a Grand Design, Solitude 5th wheel with the Residential and Weather Tek Package. For the Money, Quality and probably the best Customer Service in the industry Grand Designs products are hard to beat. There are other good manufactures out there. I would suggest, you look, research, ask those that own the product, Google "Brand Name" "Reviews". There are some manufactures out there that truly have some horrible track records, with obviously no quality control and the owners have told some real horror stories. On our POI with our Solitude we didn't have one issue. The are really solid built units.

If I were going to buy a new trailer today, it would be a GD. I think they are about the best out there right now.

We've been full-time in our Grand Design Reflection since August, 2015, and really like it. I'm not a Lippert "fan boy" (chassis, suspension and other components), but GD does have tremendous customer service - and you'll find Lippert components underneath 85% of everything made these days. In terms of quality, though, none of the mid-range brands are in the same category as the high-end "residential" units such as DRV Mobile Suites, New Horizons, and others. But then again - you get what you pay for...

Rob

Well, as I said above, I went through our RV with a fine tooth comb. I looked underneath at the springs, axles, frame, all the welds I could get too. I even took a screw river and removed the cargo wall access to where the plumbing, electrical and and looked at the heater vents and everything was as I expected it. I would liked to have had the MORRyde suspension, but that wasn't an option. We towed it to 1,500 miles back in January to North AL, through the Smokey's to Charlotte, NC to Columbia, SC to Atlanta, GA and back to Pensacola, FL. We had items on the counter and in the slots above the desk and it was still sitting there. The Equa-Flex Suspension, with the never fail bushings, did a great job. I know disc breaks are better over drums, but with my trailer break on our 2017 F-350 set at 6 stops the rig without any problems. Unless the Equa-Flex proves unworthy, I not going to worry about it. If I do anything, I may change out the breaks to hydraulic disc breaks, when it's time to replace the shoes. Right before we made our final decision, we looked at a couple of 125K Mobile Suites and I even made an offer on one, to see if they would take it which they accepted. After sleeping on it and going back and taking 4 hours going between the Mobile Suites and the GD Solitude, we kept coming back to the Solitude. IMHO there wasn't a 34,000 difference in the two units. It wasn't about the money. I wanted to get what my wife wanted. We weren't buying it for full timing or living in it in -0 degree conditions. The MS was over 7K more in weight. My wife liked the GD Solitude better. We both liked the Solitude's floor plan better, Yes, you do get what you paid for, but we feel we got more than our moneys worth. If, we decide down the road that we want to full time and our Solitude will no longer cut it, than we can always trade for something else. We have the truck to pull it, if we need something heavier.

Many rear cap units have a hitch receiver that is a much more secure connection point than the typical bumper.


Rusty

MN Ben wrote:
Rear cap? So if a unit did not have a rear cap, does that mean there would be windows in the rear?
Ben

Rear caps have nothing to do with windows. It's the layout that determines windows. Some RE trailers just have cabinets and a TV there. RL will have a couple recliners or sofa with a window behind them. RK units may or may not. Etc. Only draw back to a rear cap is sometimes having a bumper to mount something to is difficult. Most of the time with fiberglass rear caps the bumper is hidden behind the cap.
Fiberglass caps definitely add a nice finished look though.

Yes you still have the windows in the back with a rear cap or no Rear caps, 5er's without rear caps are called "flatbackers";) and have a Bumper like a pull behind trailer

Rear cap? So if a unit did not have a rear cap, does that mean there would be windows in the rear?
Ben

If your looking for high end I would consider DRV, New Horizon, Continental, Spacecraft mfg that can be built to your taste. I don't know about a lot of the new brands, time will tell. It seems like a lot of the new upstarts don't survive. Lot of very good mfg are no longer in business Nu Way, Excel, Travel Supreme, Numar,Teton among lots of others that truly built a quality RV. Unfortunately price point is what sells not quality. Keystone and Forest River are the major players now, they own most brands.

For me it came down to A great dealer and a floorplan I like of course and in my price range I wanted At least a 12in Frame, good Suspension,(Mor-ryde 4100) good quality pin box (Mor-ryde), quality of electronics(Sony or Samsung),rear cap,Standard G rated tires Saliun or Goodyear GY's), standard Central Vac system,standard fantastic ceiling fans and that is why I considered EVERY brand in My 5th range and Montana just had those things I wanted but like was said before quality is all pretty much the same on these rigs Just buy from a good dealer like I did and hit the road and Enjoy!:)

Good points. Thank you for your replies. One thing I did not consider is the different levels of rigs, for example - entry level, mid range and high end. I would buying be more in the high end spectrum.
I have a pretty good list of makes to take a look at now. Thank you.
Some quality differences I saw at the show were plain doors vs shaker looking. Tin round door knobs vs solid door handles. The fact that when an overhead cupboard door lifts up to open, it actually stays hinged open rather than me having to hold it up.
The kitchen counter backsplash of one model was actually painted on. This is not a bad thing, it probably defined its value level.
I saw Atwood stoves and ranges in sume models but then I saw a different brand in other models that seemed more residential. I forget the brand of appliance.
The insides are all pretty, but beauty is only skin deep. Long lasting quality goes a long way.
We also walked into a $500K Class A. I would take a upper class fiver any day over that Class A.
Did you know the slide outs slide out now??? I saw that for one of the queen beds.
One thing I was not fond of was an AC unit above the bedroom. I would think it would wake me when it kicked in at night.
Some had such a high ceiling, I felt it was a waste of space. I'm not really sure why they do that.
Just some of my observations.
Ben

After owning a DRV I don't believe the extra cost is worth the investment over some other options.

To each their own though.

mrkoje wrote:
Some folks will post that Northwood MFG (Artic Fox) is great. Been there done that and had the smae if not more issues than I do with my current Keystone. I think you need to go into this with the mindset that they all pretty much suck on quality.

Very true. It's exactly why Grand Design touts the best CS in the RV industry. While that may be true most of the time, there are others that you can get good service with too. The 3 CEO's from GD knew after being with Keystone for years that there's zero chance of making a better product given the current build conditions in the RV industry. Workers that can't pass drug tests or don't show up everyday, workers working in a dead end job on commission using poor quality parts and inadequate dealers that can't fix it or refuse for various reason. They figured the best way to set themselves apart was to go a different direction. They're basically saying we can't make it better so we will try and make your warranty work less inconvenient.