Having the hardest time buying a new class A

[mark52]

So, we are looking to buy our third motorhome and are ready to make the leap into a non-"entry level" motorhome. After an old Bounder and our current '06 Hurricane that we bought in '09, we would like to upgrade to a quality motorhome with full paint. I think our biggest problem is we often boondock (A lot of desert trips and dry camping up in the mountains). Many of the 32' to 38' Class A's now days seem to be made for camping at campgrounds only. Most either have small holding tanks or an enormous residential refrigerator that would require hours of generator use a day to keep the batteries charged. That combined with a other few particulars like, darker color wood interior, non-white couches, bath and 1/2, & oven are proving to make this purchase difficult. New is preferable but were not ruling out slightly used (2016 and newer). with a budget of around 110K, we are at that mid range level and have been looking at Fleetwood bounder, Southwind, and storm, Thor Miramar and Challenger, Holiday Rambler Vacationer, and Georgetown. Ive learned that new motorhomes sell for approximately 20-30% below MSRP and if its more than a year old or if they really want to sell it, 35% below. This makes it really handy for those dealers that list the MSRP, but some don't. I have probably about 50 hours of research in the last couple of months pulling up specs to check out holding tank and towing capacities and have scoured most of the west coast but just can't find the right one. What am I doing wrong here? Please help!!
Mark

[mark52]

Tom/Barb wrote:
trying to stay below $110k for a 2016 coach that isn't an entry level coach, difficult chore.
I'd drop back a couple years, and go for a higher level coach.

This seems to be the consensus so far for the most part. I forgot to mention that we have also been looking at used Tiffin Allegros and Newmar Bay Stars.

[mark52]

DutchmenSport wrote:
What's wrong with your current RV? Sounds like it's a pretty tough-one to beat?

First of all, many thanks to all that have responded. Our current motorhome is doing us fine right now, But we are at a point where we will have to sink some money into it and do stuff like resealing some of the roof. The decals on the exterior are in bad shape because we have to store it outside in the sun. It looks fine from far away but close up-not so good. It did also pass up that 10 year mark that some RV resorts ask about when booking a space. All this combined with the fact that we will be taking our longest trip to date in mid-June and we'd love to have a new rig for the trip.

[Mr_Mark1]

MetalGator, I have never heard of dual holding tanks like you describe. Are the tanks connected to each other? Do they have just one discharge gate per pair?

MM.

[MetalGator]

Slightly above your budget but I noticed that you mentioned Miramar. We have a 2018 Miramar 35.3 and love it. We were able to get 31% of MSRP. It has two 40 gallon grey tanks and two 40 gallon black tanks. It does have a residential frig but it's not huge like some are. We haven't boon docked yet so I'm not sure how long we could go without running the generator. Currently it only has two batteries but it has room for two more. It has tons of storage underneath and most compartments are pass through.

Burch

[Ivylog]

Bruce Brown wrote:

Gottahaveit wrote:
You might want to look at an older Diesel Pusher that you can pick up for about 100K. They do hold their value and most will run longer than we will.

I'd agree with this. When I was reading the OPs requirements I was thinking "ours does that" and has everything he was looking for. Current market value on ours is well within his budget too, plus it's a quality built unit.

I recently upgraded from a 04 Dynasty to a 08 HR Navigator and I'm converting it to all electric...removing gas stovetop for induction and more storage. During the summer we boondock 5 days per week (went residential refer in the 04 three years ago)...BEST MOD EVER.

DO NOT rule out residential for boondocking if properly set up...two extra batteries and enough charging capacity or 400W of solar. Before going residential I had to run the generator 2 hours per day when boondocking...now with a 21 cuft refer only 1.5 hours. It draws 96W when running approx 40% of the time...a lot less than the house side of a big rig.

[Bill_Satellite]

If you want capacity, take a look at a used bus conversion. I carry 165 gallons of fresh and 200 gallons combined black/grey. That's a lot of dry camping. My coach has propane cooking but a residential fridge. Some solar would take care of all day time usage but we run the genny at night when we need it for cooking anyway but worst case a couple of hours in the AM and a couple of hours at night and you are good to go. We also have 4 8D AGM's so there's always plenty of capacity.
It's for sale for less than 1/2 of what you are looking so spend!

[DutchmenSport]

What's wrong with your current RV? Sounds like it's a pretty tough-one to beat?

[jplante4]

I inspected a 2000 Foretravel that did all that. All electric coach, Aqua Hot heat and hot water, residential fridge, electric range, 2-2000 watt inverters, an 8-GC2 battery bank and a 12.5 kW diesel genny. This coach sold for less than $100k. It was gorgeous.

[midnightsadie]

x2 camping to some is having everything including wifi right at the post.

[gbopp]

mark52 wrote:
Many of the 32' to 38' Class A's now days seem to be made for camping at campgrounds only.

I think nowadays many people don't camp, boondocking is a taboo inconvenience. They travel in their mobile motel rooms and just want to stop and plug in to utilities.
Good luck with your search, you'll find something that fits your needs/wants.

[Bruce_Brown]

Gottahaveit wrote:
You might want to look at an older Diesel Pusher that you can pick up for about 100K. They do hold their value and most will run longer than we will.

I'd agree with this. When I was reading the OPs requirements I was thinking "ours does that" and has everything he was looking for. Current market value on ours is well within his budget too, plus it's a quality built unit.

[2gypsies1]

We'd, also, have a very hard time finding a new motorhome to suit us nowadays. We wouldn't want all the stuff they put on them now. So much to possibly go wrong. We'd want a good quality basic MH. One to take on a gravel road for boondocking. One that wasn't all electric.

Our 2004 Newmar Dutch Star was perfect. Using it 8 years of full-timing, traveling constantly and driving gravel roads, it held up beautifully with no repairs. The new ones now are much too fancy; too much computerizing and glitz and too big of a price. Too many slides, too many bathrooms. Nope. Not for us.

I agree with Tom/Barb... look at older ones.

[Gottahaveit]

You might want to look at an older Diesel Pusher that you can pick up for about 100K. They do hold their value and most will run longer than we will.

[Tom_Barb]

dropping back a few years can put you in These coaches will serve you well

[Tom_Barb]

trying to stay below $110k for a 2016 coach that isn't an entry level coach, difficult chore.
I'd drop back a couple years, and go for a higher level coach.