Four Winds 23A. Ex cruise canada rental, had 2nd owner after that. I'm paying 18.5k plus taxes. This includes the dealer getting a 3rd party coach and engine inspection and making good on the problems.
I didnt think it was an outstanding deal but that it was fair given the external inspections. As a newbie, these are important to me. Would this 3 year difference change things?
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26035008.cfmthere are quit a few of us on here. Most are happy. On a Ford page some people are getting 250,000 to 300,000 miles on those motors. Reason I asked question is because in the past years it is not uncommon to change or swap the RV part of the vehicle. Which is usually better for the buyer anyways. Lately (last maybe 5 years, not so much changing or swapping the house part because most rental fleets are paying more for labor to swap the house part and just get rid of them when the tax benefits are gone. Don't know if your talking US or Canada money? We paid (US) $19,900 in 2009 for model 23P which they were getting rid of because of newer smaller units. We've been more than happy. Now the 5.4 your right the year that Ford had a better idea for their spark plugs. Make sure you do your homework on them. They are easy if you know what your doing. Ford calls for believe it or not 99,000 miles before change (atleast on 2003) Dealer wanted way to much money. But I can see why they get that much $$ as getting to them is a real hassle. It is no big deal, just be aware of the spark plug and could take some $$. We also put about $1,000 into front end, drawer supports, tail pipe weld job. We wanted one but had to back several times to get one that wasn't beat up very bad. Your maybe getting a new "house" part because front end got totaled? In my state lic fees are based on model year of VIN so you would make out. Look for tell-tell signs. Ours had 80,000 miles and a re-built trans and new right side axle tube and after changing axle lube had new bearing kit. You said your a newbi. Go into a RV place that DOES NOT sell rv's and see what is would cost you to have someone inspect it for you. There might be several items that your overlooking. Our 5.4 leaves the drive way at 10,300 pounds and has a hard time getting out of its own way. Our combined max weight is 15,000. But when up to speed it just purrs along on the west coast and gets 10 to 10.5 mpg. That is on F350 frame. Don't know if your F350 or E 350 or maybe 450 frame. Our sales guy couldn't blow his nose without calling Corp and they would not budge on price. We would buy again and hopefully people will keep slamming rental places and prices will come down even more. If you do your own maint it really isn't that hard. It took about 3 hours to learn about those COP (coil over plug) and about 4 hours to change. Yes the oil is 5w20 and make sure to use the motorcraft filter. The filter has a valve in the that prevents oil from flowing back down when not running to prevent "cold start up" every time you start the engine. We have small tanks (fresh, gray and black) in process of making bigger. And the mattress is the hardest thing I've ever slept on. One night and it was off to Costco for a foam topper mattress. Most rental units have their units made to stand up to the abuse the public gives them. If you get it send me a PM and I'll send you a list of stuff we did to make it ready for us. Ours is basically a 20 ft truck camper, you won't believe how many people want to check it out. Most RV lose in depreciation the first year what we paid for the whole thing. We refer to it as our "stand up B". Go to Cruise America web site. Happiest people you can find in a RV. Don't put in any injector cleaner (seafoam). I learned the hard way. Seafoam cleaned it out so good the junk plugged up injectors. Just wait for them to go bad and when you replace injectors then use cleaner every now and then. We're very happy customers and would do it again. For your reading pleasure search Cruise America on this site, a lot of info. Stare at the front of that thing. That is where your gas milage is going. Your hand is about 4 inches by 6 inches, that is 24 square inches. Now stick your hand outside of vehicles going 60 mph and multiply by how many square inches you have to drag your unit thru the air going 60 mph. Get the idea? Over coming the "drag" is what kills gas milage. I get 10.5 going 57 mph. Get 9mph going 65. Your in BC so you probally know this road: got 5.5 going from on I-90 Vantage to Cleulm in big head wind and of course up hill.
P.S. ask for maint records, we never did get ours.
2003 Majestic 23P... Northwest travel machine
2013 Arctic Fox 25W... Wife "doll house" for longer snowbird trips
2001 "The Mighty Dodge"... tow vehicle for "doll house"
