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

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.

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

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.

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 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.

Having the hardest time buying a new class A | Good Sam Community

tropical36
Explorer
Sep 11, 2018
mark52 wrote:

There's a way to set your auto, so have you read your manual?
As far as I know, the side controls only operate the rear on any of them.
As for POWERGEAR, I still consider them one of or not the best and our 11 year old system, still works great.
I haven't read the manual yet. I actually just got it in the mail from the manufacturer because our dealer somehow misplaced it. I will check that out. I have researched it online in which people have said thats just how it is. I am only basing this off of our old motorhome that had a fantastic leveling system. You could set the "null" when you know the rig is perfectly level. After that was set, no matter how level you were, it would try to level even if that meant extending the jacks fully. In manual, there was 4 buttons, one for each wheel. If you held down the two left jacks, both left jacks would deploy. You could also go up and down as much as desired without having to "retract all jacks" first. That was a pretty nice set up if you ask me.
The problem with some of that is with people pushing buttons and twisting the chassis, thereby popping out the windshield and creating other problems.
I always thought these safeguards were in place for all of them, including the .....retract all jacks....feature.
mark52
Explorer II
Sep 10, 2018

There's a way to set your auto, so have you read your manual?
As far as I know, the side controls only operate the rear on any of them.
As for POWERGEAR, I still consider them one of or not the best and our 11 year old system, still works great.
I haven't read the manual yet. I actually just got it in the mail from the manufacturer because our dealer somehow misplaced it. I will check that out. I have researched it online in which people have said thats just how it is. I am only basing this off of our old motorhome that had a fantastic leveling system. You could set the "null" when you know the rig is perfectly level. After that was set, no matter how level you were, it would try to level even if that meant extending the jacks fully. In manual, there was 4 buttons, one for each wheel. If you held down the two left jacks, both left jacks would deploy. You could also go up and down as much as desired without having to "retract all jacks" first. That was a pretty nice set up if you ask me.
mark52
Explorer II
Sep 10, 2018
RVER wrote:
Your post has a 2018 Holiday Rambler in the signature box, is that the rig you chose for your new rig? Good choice, many of the ones you listed are ones I would AVOID so happy to see you did.

Yup, That's our baby. I know that once we get the electrical issue worked out we'll enjoy this rig for years to come
RVER
Explorer
Sep 10, 2018
Your post has a 2018 Holiday Rambler in the signature box, is that the rig you chose for your new rig? Good choice, many of the ones you listed are ones I would AVOID so happy to see you did.
tropical36
Explorer
Sep 05, 2018
mark52 wrote:
For anyone who was following this thread, we finally pulled the trigger and bought a new motorhome. We bought a 2018 Holiday Rambler Vacationer 35K about a month ago. We are happy with our purchase so far for the most part. It is an absolutely beautiful motorhome inside and out. The only draw backs so far other than minor warrantee issues is a potentially big warrantee issue - There seems to be problems with the chassis battery losing charge quickly for no reason and the house batteries also are severely underperforming. We are currently having that problem checked out. The only other thing that greatly disappoints us about this motorhome is the leveling system. HR used a "Power Gear" leveling system in this coach and it just sucks! Unlike our previous motorhome, you have to be almost perfectly level for it to work in auto. In manual, If you push the right side button, only the rear right jack drops. I though something was wrong with it until i researched it. Sure enough I have a worthless pile of junk leveling system. Im wondering if I can somehow upgrade to something that actually works in the future?

There's a way to set your auto, so have you read your manual?
As far as I know, the side controls only operate the rear on any of them.
As for POWERGEAR, I still consider them one of or not the best and our 11 year old system, still works great.
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Sep 04, 2018
OP: Thanks for returning and giving us an update. Glad you're fairly satisfied and hope you get the kinks worked out. Have fun!
D_E_Bishop
Explorer
Sep 04, 2018
In my opinion you are going to have a hard time shopping CA. When we were looking the only Pacific State that had fairly low, high prices was Washington. There are some good buys in AZ, FL and TX, and consignment places are fair and they can haggle.

And yes Washington is still above average retail but not as bad as CA. I think that the homeless market took most of the older rigs off the market and many folks are upside down mortgage wise. They also want to call everything on their coaches, "accessories", even those things that were standard.

Just keep looking but be prepared to travel some just to look at some of them.
mark52
Explorer II
Sep 04, 2018
For anyone who was following this thread, we finally pulled the trigger and bought a new motorhome. We bought a 2018 Holiday Rambler Vacationer 35K about a month ago. We are happy with our purchase so far for the most part. It is an absolutely beautiful motorhome inside and out. The only draw backs so far other than minor warrantee issues is a potentially big warrantee issue - There seems to be problems with the chassis battery losing charge quickly for no reason and the house batteries also are severely underperforming. We are currently having that problem checked out. The only other thing that greatly disappoints us about this motorhome is the leveling system. HR used a "Power Gear" leveling system in this coach and it just sucks! Unlike our previous motorhome, you have to be almost perfectly level for it to work in auto. In manual, If you push the right side button, only the rear right jack drops. I though something was wrong with it until i researched it. Sure enough I have a worthless pile of junk leveling system. Im wondering if I can somehow upgrade to something that actually works in the future?
tropical36
Explorer
May 03, 2018
RVER wrote:
I have read lately about Entegra problems but at the higher end it may be possible the quality may be a little better because they are not making so many at a time. NOW they are putting out lots and lots of rigs and not well built for the most part of the mid range and low range $$$ wise rigs.

Well, I'm not a newness sort of guy and only go with quality in the tried and proven, by year. If I was going for new in the Cornerstone price range for example, it would probably win out over an Eagle, as American has really disappointed me, with the direction their headed in, so it's not just the other guys, these days.
RVER
Explorer
May 03, 2018
I have read lately about Entegra problems but at the higher end it may be possible the quality may be a little better because they are not making so many at a time. NOW they are putting out lots and lots of rigs and not well built for the most part of the mid range and low range $$$ wise rigs.

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