Gas class A advice

[Hedgehog]

A friend of mine is looking at purchasing a gas class A motor home and wanted some advice. He is looking at something around 35' with a few slides. His main concern is build quality and reliability. Even though I currently have a diesel pusher, I am not that current on the newer gas motor homes offered today. I remember back in the 2004-2006 era were fleet wood had a lot of water leak issues but I don't know how they are today. Any input would be appreciated.

[JimM68]

We had a '99 Fleetwood, it was good for it's age, no complaints.

Generally, gasser hierarchy will be the same as DP's...
Newmar, Monaco, and holiday rambler on top.
Fleetwood, Winnie, and Itasca next.
Everyone else on the bottom.
gorgie boy and Miranda, forest river, thor, nuff said

[dezolen]

Tiffin Gas highly recommended. Compared them all.

[Hedgehog]

I know one of the brands he was looking at was the Georgetown XL. How are they built?

[MagillaGorilla]

I have a 22,000 pound Gasser that has the Triton V10 and sits on 22.5 inch wheels. So they do exist. After driving this one with the 22.5s I would recommend it. What a difference. My last MH had 16s. Yes you read that right, sixteens.

[the_silverback]

I had 2 Fleetwood's. The roof leaked on both. I have had 2 Winnebago Adventure's. no problems. Enough said.

[jwoodie]

The GM Workhorse 8.1 liter W24 chassis with Allison tranny was the best gasser until they stopped making them in 2011. Still easy to find service at any Chevy/GMC truck dealership.

[AllegroD]

Tiffin makes a great gasser.

[willald]

PastorCharlie wrote:
Ford chassis come in four (4) levels. 17,000; 22,000; 24,000; 26,000# are available. The 24,000 and 26,000 come on 22.5 wheels.

Newmar makes quality homes on all gas chassis with multiple slides and floor plans.

..Don't forget the 19,000 and 20,500 lb version of the F53 chassis. Ours is built on the 20,500 version (see signature), and we're very happy with it.

[tropical36]

Hedgehog wrote:
A friend of mine is looking at purchasing a gas class A motor home and wanted some advice. He is looking at something around 35' with a few slides. His main concern is build quality and reliability. Even though I currently have a diesel pusher, I am not that current on the newer gas motor homes offered today. I remember back in the 2004-2006 era were fleet wood had a lot of water leak issues but I don't know how they are today. Any input would be appreciated.

And it just has to be a new one, eh? Problem is with brand new ones, is that there's no tried and proven testimony to be be had anywhere.
You're pretty much limited to a Ford chassis these days, so hopefully one will like the Triton V10 and I wouldn't have a problem with it, in that regard.
Speaking in general, the cheaper ones are entry level and won't have the quality house build, like some of the others.

[janstey]

Ditto on Fleetwood MHs!

[PastorCharlie]

Ford chassis come in four (4) levels. 17,000; 22,000; 24,000; 26,000# are available. The 24,000 and 26,000 come on 22.5 wheels.

Newmar makes quality homes on all gas chassis with multiple slides and floor plans.

[mowdoc]

I took delivery of a new Jayco Precept 35UN yesterday. I have no experience with it yet but the PDI went very well and things look like they may work.

Since I have been shopping for a few weeks I can tell you his only choice in chassis will be Ford F53 for gasoline power. The F53 comes in two versions - 17k lbs. and 22k lbs. GVWR. A 35 footer SHOULD be on the 22k platform. Both will offer a 5k lb. towing capacity for trailer/vehicle towing.

My second choice was a 31 foot T30 Itasca. I looked at a lot of units and narrowed them down to these two. I went with the Jayco for cargo space, 22.5 tires, warranty and interior look/feel. Your friend may have much different taste or plans for his use so he needs to pound the pavement and shop.

I can tell you if he plans to use this RV in temps above 90f, he will want/need two A/Cs with 50 amp service and that helps narrow down the field a lot.

The choices are many and price seems to run very close so shop, shop, shop. I was able to get my new unit out the door taxes paid for right around 2/3 MSRP if that helps him with price. It takes a lot of screaming and trumpeting (like breeding elephants) but the dealer will yield after time. Just gotta keep after him. Use the internet to shop as well. I finally made my deal after I told the dealer there was an identical rig 250 miles away for my price and I had time to go get it there.

You are going to hear stories about every brand in a forum, good and bad. Remember most people only make noise over the bad. For every bad unit there are hundreds of good ones made by same company. Most all RVs are built with same components anyway. Look at fit and finish, loose nails/screws, door latch fit and things like that to determine how well the unit was put together. A motorhome experiences many jolts and jars as it travels so things are going to get loose or break. Expect that to happen and be prepared.

[dahkota]

We have a Fleetwood. We have had no problems with the Fleetwood parts of the rig nor with the Ford parts of the rig. However, the OEM stuff (satellite, fridge, steps, leveling jacks) seems to be less than road worthy. Since these OEM products (dometic, winegard, kwikee, power gear) are in most every make and model, any manufacturer can have problems.

In general, we are very happy with our Bounder. We just wish the OEM peripherals would perform to the same standard.

[Fiesta]

Personally I would buy Fleetwood. I'm on my third with great luck.
All systems on most RV's come from the same Mfg'er and sources.
Inspect, inspect, check internet, ride, drive, thoroughly check out everything before you buy.