Zebedee wrote:
first you tell me what I should and shouldn't post... Now you're telling me how I should respond to posts? I'm sorry if I'm not perfect like you.
Give up, Zebedee. This is not actually a forum about RVing. This is a place for bored, snarky old men to spew.
One thing the snarks have been saying is correct: your inquiry is a bit too broad. You have to decide what you want and then research popular brands within the category or categories you prefer. Your available price range (as well as your budget for maintenance) should factor into the decision.
Going down the line: Class A's are often shockingly badly constructed. You find quality only when you approach the $250,000, behemoth category. Class B's are hideously expensive for what you get, but they are more car/truck-like than other RVs and thus, are constructed with some semblance of quality. The prices reflect this. Class C's are better adapted to the chassis they are built on than Class A's, but you'll run into the same quality issues. If you get a fifth wheel or other trailer, the quality considerations will only apply to the "house."
Unfortunately, as far as the chassis goes, the vast majority of RVs (as opposed to trailers) are built on American chassis with American engines and transmissions, with all that implies. In particular, avoid anything built by Dodge/Chrysler, unless you are just buying an RV to decorate your driveway.
The sad fact is that the weight, drag, and inertia of even a small "house" exerts stresses on American truck/van chassis that well exceed original design limitations. You can tell when you fire one up and slip it into gear. It shudders, stumbles, and lurches forward at a snail's pace. The poor thing is working much too hard, especially because it's American-built. There is a reason why RVers consider a rig to be pooped out at 50K miles and junkyard fodder at 70K.
So if you want reliability, you have to get an engine that was designed to pull heavy, high-inertia loads. That means low-end torque, which means a diesel. You want a chassis that was designed to handle such a load, not a repurposed truck or van chassis. So you have to go the diesel (pusher) behemoth route, or there are some European conversions such as diesel Sprinter vans that you can explore.
My experiences with American-misbuilt RVs have been that something quits/breaks/falls off roughly every three minutes (every thirty seconds if the rig is actually moving). This is especially true for RVs built during Detroit's Age of Awful, roughly 1970-2000.
So the sad fact is that if you want quality, you have to get a van conversion, preferably European, or rob a bank and buy yourself a diesel behemoth that's built on a semi-truck or bus chassis.
To those who will no doubt have a rich array of comments in answer to this post: thank you so much for your levelheaded, reasoned, well-considered opinions, offered without any sarcasm/insults.
