1st timer, please help! Best RVs 34-40' under $350k ??

[SenorApples]

Hi everyone! I'm BRAND NEW to the awesome RV community and would really appreciate some advice on this stuff. I'm looking to buy an RV soon but there's so much info out there, I'm feeling a bit lost.

The question is... Who truly makes a well built coach? Every site/blog I read seems to say something different.

So far I have my eyes on Tiffin, but I want to know what y'all think is the best! How do you feel about Nexus or Entrega?

I'm looking to get a Class A diesel between 34 - 40 ft. and under $350k.. any thoughts???

[DallasSteve]

soren wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
Boy, you either have a lot of money to throw down the drain, or you really have no clue.
Spending that much as a first timer on a deprecating asset is a huge mistake. If you were to spend 350K today to buy that luxury motor home and six months or a year from now wake up and discover you really hate the life style. What now? You basically try to sell it and discover that it is now worth maybe 200K. Even less if you drop it at some dealer on consignment. Maybe you should rent a MH for a few weeks first. Heck at those prices your apparently looking at a diesel pusher. Having that much disposable income I have to assume your prepared to spend thousands a year on maintenance?

Spending that kind of coin, and being a newbee, is an extremely dangerous move for many. As donn0128 so correctly notes, you drive out of the lot with a new beast like that, and you just threw $60-80K or more, right out the window. If you have never been a part of this world, take it slow and determine if it's even to your liking. I have met many people who spent the last few years of their careers daydreaming about hitting the road, full time, in their new RV. A significant number of those spent a few months on the road and said, "gee, this isn't what I expected". In fact I spent this snowbird season next to a couple that did exactly that. They were smart enough to find an older fifth wheel and diesel pick-up owned by an elderly man, who couldn't do it anymore. The whole rig is real sharp and ran them about $20K. They discovered that they are not thrilled with the lifestyle, and are probably going to bail. They will end up getting very close to what they paid for their RV and truck, maybe a few grand in depreciation. If you buy a new $400K rig, you are looking at a few grand of depreciation a MONTH, in the beginning.

I'm of the camp on this forum who believes that most new RVs are a foolish way to waste your money. If you have to get a big class A immediately, a 6-8 year old one is the sweet spot, and a my order of preference would be Newmar, Tiffin, then Winny.

Good luck, I hope you find what makes you happy.

We don't know who the OP is. If he's worth $10 million then $400K is nothing to him. But then would he be posting here if he's got that kind of net worth?

[valhalla360]

donn0128 wrote:
Boy, you either have a lot of money to throw down the drain, or you really have no clue.
Spending that much as a first timer on a deprecating asset is a huge mistake. If you were to spend 350K today to buy that luxury motor home and six months or a year from now wake up and discover you really hate the life style. What now? You basically try to sell it and discover that it is now worth maybe 200K. Even less if you drop it at some dealer on consignment. Maybe you should rent a MH for a few weeks first. Heck at those prices your apparently looking at a diesel pusher. Having that much disposable income I have to assume your prepared to spend thousands a year on maintenance?

I might have said it a little more gently but if you have no experience, that's a lot of cash for most people to risk without any experience.

At the very least, consider a used rig, so the worst of the depreciation hit is past.

[bullydogs1]

Entegra, Tiffin and Newmar....I am very partial to Entegra as they have bent over backwards (just as Tiffin would do) to keep me happy....your dealer makes all the difference as well as does your location...Tiffin Factory is in Red Bay Alabama...everyone else is in Elkhart IN area...Entegra has a 2 yr warranty...although both Tiffin and Entegra do go out of their way to help their customers. You should take a tour of each factory before you make the decision to see how each is constructed. You can PM me if you wish more info or a recommendation on a dealer.

[soren]

donn0128 wrote:
Boy, you either have a lot of money to throw down the drain, or you really have no clue.
Spending that much as a first timer on a deprecating asset is a huge mistake. If you were to spend 350K today to buy that luxury motor home and six months or a year from now wake up and discover you really hate the life style. What now? You basically try to sell it and discover that it is now worth maybe 200K. Even less if you drop it at some dealer on consignment. Maybe you should rent a MH for a few weeks first. Heck at those prices your apparently looking at a diesel pusher. Having that much disposable income I have to assume your prepared to spend thousands a year on maintenance?

Spending that kind of coin, and being a newbee, is an extremely dangerous move for many. As donn0128 so correctly notes, you drive out of the lot with a new beast like that, and you just threw $60-80K or more, right out the window. If you have never been a part of this world, take it slow and determine if it's even to your liking. I have met many people who spent the last few years of their careers daydreaming about hitting the road, full time, in their new RV. A significant number of those spent a few months on the road and said, "gee, this isn't what I expected". In fact I spent this snowbird season next to a couple that did exactly that. They were smart enough to find an older fifth wheel and diesel pick-up owned by an elderly man, who couldn't do it anymore. The whole rig is real sharp and ran them about $20K. They discovered that they are not thrilled with the lifestyle, and are probably going to bail. They will end up getting very close to what they paid for their RV and truck, maybe a few grand in depreciation. If you buy a new $400K rig, you are looking at a few grand of depreciation a MONTH, in the beginning.

I'm of the camp on this forum who believes that most new RVs are a foolish way to waste your money. If you have to get a big class A immediately, a 6-8 year old one is the sweet spot, and a my order of preference would be Newmar, Tiffin, then Winny.

Good luck, I hope you find what makes you happy.

[ricklord2001]

Good advice already posted so I'll take a different route and post my experience. I've owned 3 rv's the 1st was a gas 36 ft the 2nd a 40' diesel the 3rd 43' plus a few inches and loaded with everything, all the bells and whistles. Well all those bells and whistles are potential problems. I was much happier with the 2nd RV which was a basic but nice diesel pusher very few problems and fixed quickly. The last one seemed to always have something needing fixing. Motors for shares going out, fancy cabinets needing latches, aqua hot needing something, heated floor leaking and on and on. Also at almost 44' and 13' high towing a car you had to be very careful getting off major routes with out planning. Seemed like everytime I did I got in some kind of situation. We did full time during that period and traveled a lot, it would of been easier to just drop it off and have them fix it and go home but we found sitting in waiting rooms with 2 dogs was not our thing.

[ncrowley]

I would look at Newmar. I purchased a used one and they have been great to work with and the workmanship on my coach is really good.

[Branson_N_Tucso]

Tiffin only way to go. Best service and backs their coaches .
Had a furnace go out, out of warranty, Bob sent me one over night with zero charge. Only way to go.

[Bill_Satellite]

For that kind of money you can actually buy THE BEST! Take a look at the used Prevost market and you will find many very good 40 foot coaches (none shorter) and they were built better to begin with and will last the rest of your RVing life! 165 fresh water, around 200 gal black/grey, 200 gallons of fuel, best ride around and a chassis built for 3,000,000 miles. You cannot do better.

[Songbirds]

First, all Class A, B, and C fall under 31-foot motorhomes. So you need to thank a bit more about what you want as to the floorplan. You are NOT going to find a washer-Dryer and most don't care. So next is WET-BATH or DRY-BATH? as the Class B's fall down here with only a few showing a DRY-BATH like the Winnebago ERA 70M. Next up would be a Class C FUSE 23T. Now it becomes an RV-MAKE and right MODEL GAME.

[old_guy]

you have to ask yourself a lot of questions before you take that big step. like where are you planning on going, who's going with you,entegra web site has a list of questions that might help you make up your mind on what type to buy.

[Artum_Snowbird]

OK, so you want top end new rig. Tiffen is good, Newmar is good. There is multiple models built from top quality to get the brand and not the top quality. Most have similar drive train engines and transmissions.

Your quest is to determine where you want to slide into the market, new or slightly used perhaps, and learn to live in the $$$$slide you enjoy as they depreciate. Spend the time to look at floor plans and engine options, and figure out where your family and future looks best.

[pianotuna]

Buy a used rv.

[donn0128]

Boy, you either have a lot of money to throw down the drain, or you really have no clue.
Spending that much as a first timer on a deprecating asset is a huge mistake. If you were to spend 350K today to buy that luxury motor home and six months or a year from now wake up and discover you really hate the life style. What now? You basically try to sell it and discover that it is now worth maybe 200K. Even less if you drop it at some dealer on consignment. Maybe you should rent a MH for a few weeks first. Heck at those prices your apparently looking at a diesel pusher. Having that much disposable income I have to assume your prepared to spend thousands a year on maintenance?

[Les_Balty]

Tiffin is good, but so is Winnebago and THOR offerings. Get what your chosen dealer sells. Any will be poison for a newbie if the service department is not good. Make sure that your are comfortable with them. You will usually get priority service from your selling dealer ... but not always. Any indication of an unhelpful attitude or worse, hostility. Move on. Interview the service department before you check the sales lot. The sales people are always nice.

[Ductape]

New or used?