Well the time seems to have finally come, hubby is winning out on his desire for a DP. Seriously thinking now of upgrading our 2003 37ft Gas Southwind RV to one of the following:
Manufacturer we are totally torn about as changes have occurred over the years and we've monitored those that have had issues upon new deliveries. Don't get me wrong I understand that there'll be a few teething problems, but we have a huge problem with spending hundreds of thousands on a rig for it not to have gone through the utmost Quality control to avoid a lot of this. Dealerships in our early years were a nightmare for us, just commission focused and would tell you anything it felt like, albeit the one we purchased our 5er off initially and then our Gas A was awesome, but we went through a lot of questionable sales people till we found them.
Newmar (now taken over by Winnibago so what's going to change on reliability/quality?)
Entegra (now part of the big Thor conglomerate, so how reliable/quality now?)
Tiffin - (quality/responsiveness to issues going forwards as Bob's son's taking over?)
So about 4 years ago, I stumbled upon a lovely Tiffin 37ft floorpan with a two access doored roomy bathroom. (biggest bone of contention is our small bathroom past 17 years). Loved the overall floor plan but not sure about the quality of doors hanging off hinges and some other things.
Newmar's reputation for years has been out there, but we were put off by over elaborate ceilings
and too many mirrors and bevelled edged ones sparkling at us (think Joan Collins in Dynasty = NAH). I believe they used to have a 3 year warranty that reduced and talking to those in service bays they told us fantastic stories on the service/warranty they received from Newmar on even little things in Year 3 being replaced.
Entegra - the reputation a few years back with Joyce resolving and handling many issues was huge on the forums, and we liked a lot. However, we wonder how that might have changed with the sell out and take over of a very large volume company today? Followed a few that had a couple of "rogue" rigs for want of a better description ?2014 timeframe.
Tiffin - over the years it seems there's been almost a close to "cult" following of Bob Tiffin, and for sure we've heard of some unsavoury experiences on new build deliveries a few years ago through Lazy Daze. What one person went through for 5 months on their lot was atrocious and should have been a second new build from scratch again rig instead of a constant battle for months before delivery of the second rig. One guy who's doors were falling off his cabinetry and he had a 69 point list of defunct items (that's way too many if it'd undergone a good quality control check prior). Bob does seem to be customer satisfaction focused for reputation, however, he is stepping down more and more and the younger more, more profit focused generation is stepping into play. Our concerns here are is this going to be at the expense of bad quality or service going forwards.
I absolutely would consider a second hand rig, hubby not so inclined (shiny new syndrome). I know for the sure the toilets would be the first thing pulled out and changed by him, and anything connected to that likely!
So besides our dilemma of which manufacturer, we love several floorpans of the above, ranging from 37ft to the 45ft Cornerstone, so therein lies the second issue. How much would it affect us going to 40ft, 42ft, 45ft. We typically hate campgrounds so boondock by lakes, rivers, streams, mountains etc where we can fish, so that has to be forefront of our considerations for accessing being right besides these type of locations.
Thirdly, I said to him, what about the Tailswing at traffic lights and junctions when turning in higher populated areas we sometimes go through with a big 45ft???
Fourthly - How hard are all these new coach systems to get to grip with? DEF, VEGA TOUCH, AQUAHOT, SOLAR Arrays, Automatic this that and the other. How much goes wrong with them? How much extra maintenance? Must admit after watching many of Angie NIRVC videos I do like how much tidier and easier access today the coaches seem to filters, batteries etc.
Right now, thanks to awesome folks like you over the years on these forums, we've learnt to be able to do soooooo much on our current rig - from winterising, oil, filter changes engine & generator, monthly maintenance, hub oils, greasing and U bolts, replacing Norcold with residential as well Tube TV's with flat. Designing a 1000w 800a solar system and so much more. We'd like a coach that we can easily maintain as much as we can ourselves. Knowing it's generally done right and in our time frame not months in a facility or otherwise.
I'm a great believer that it's all fine and dandy paying a hefty price up front for a house whether static or on wheels but it's the ongoing running costs one needs to be cognisant of in the big scheme of things so .........
Really looking forward to your constructive feedbacks on what you'd be seriously thinking and why if you rolled like we do = travelling not sitting for months at a time! Boondocking not campgrounds ideally maintaining ourselves more than using third parties.
As always thanks in advance to all that share so much here.
It Takes No More Effort To Aim High Than To Aim Low - Reach For The Stars
