A Question of Value

My advice.....buy a unit that was once a rental. Cruise America and El Monte both have good reputations with selling their units. You will pay much much less than you would for any other unit, and when time to sell, you will not loose a ton of money.

Have you considered a Class B?

They may be suited for your planned type of RVing.

gbopp wrote:
Have you considered a Class B?

They may be suited for your planned type of RVing.

Yeah totally, since she said she was drawn to the spaciousness of a 5ver!
Maybe check out pop ups too......

Deanes, being in your 70s you should know the difference between depreciating assets and appreciating assets. Which do you think an rv falls into?
You want the least amount of depreciation, buy something old that has lost the vast majority of its value. You want something with a toilet that's never been used before, buy new.
Want a good combo of value and modern, buy 5 years old give or take and private party, not from a stealership.

Do you have a towable car now? Or one you could put on a dolly?

You can find a good quality USED Class A for sometimes equal to or less than buying a truck and 5th wheel, especially if the truck is new(er).

There is no right or wrong. It just depends on your budget, what you find on the used market (and there are very good deals) and what you want to drive. You can get more for you money if you buy one 2 or 3 years old.

We full-timed 8 years very comfortably with a 5th wheel but absolutely hated driving the truck around to sitesee. We also had a travel trailer prior to that and again, the truck. We then full-timed another 8 years in a motorhome towing our car. We enjoyed it so much better.

Everyone is different. You'll just have to decide depending on your comfort level. Good luck!

Motorhomes are generally easier for those that aren't used to towing and hauling.
If you get a MH, unless you plan on parking it and vegetating for your trip, tow a car for exploring and running around.....unless you get a little C and like setting up and tearing down a bunch.

My wife and I are also in our 70's, and have been RV'ing for various periods since 2005. We started with a small 21' Class C after many years of travel trailer ownership during our working years. We loved the little C, but soon learned that it was a bit confining if we were stuck inside for several days of rain. From the C, we moved up to a 33' Class A with a floor plan we really liked. It didn't have any slides, but we were fine with that, and the separate bedroom even meant we had the space to be apart now and then, if we wanted to watch different TV shows, etc. By then we were spending 9-10 months of the year traveling in it. Since then, we've moved on to our current 34' Class A with a single 14' super slide, and would never willing go back to no slides. The advantages of a motorhome over a 5'ver for our style of travel with numerous short 1 or 2 day stays interrupted by 1 to 5 week stays at destination locations are that we can pull in to a new pull-thru site and do our basic setup, leveling, extending the slide, etc., without even stepping out the door. That's particularly important in bad weather. A quick run to plug in the power, and were good for the night if need be. If it's really bad out, we can even just remote start the generator for power until there's a break in the weather. We do 4-down tow a car behind us that either one of us can handle hooking up or unhooking, although it goes a bit quicker when we do it together of course. After watching the work that TT and 5'ver owners seem to go through to get set up even for an overnight, we've never regretted choosing a motorhome over a trailer. I can certainly appreciate that a trailer makes more sense for other folks though.

Grit dog wrote:

You want something with a toilet that's never been used before, buy new.

Good advice, or you can do what we did, buy used and replace the toilet with a new one. The mattress too... :B

If you've never owned any of them before maybe renting would be a good start. If you decide you don't like it at all you've only lost a little rent money.
If you're only using it once a year for a two or three week trip, renting may still be a good option. It would mean no maintenance, licensing or reselling.
Good luck!

All this is really great folks. Much to consider. Please keep them coming.
Dutch,
In your experience is the Class A easier to setup-break down than the other Classes? What towing setup are you using. We were told the gear needed to tow a car behind a Class A was very heavy and could be hard for us to move around. Good point about the Class C in having to setup every time you sight see.

Deane