First timer looking for TT...so confused

[srockey]

Hello all,
My wife and I have been long time tent campers, occasionally going with friends in TT and pop-ups.
We decided we wanted a TT. I have a truck that has a trailer capacity of about 6000 lbs. I would like the price to be no more than the low $20K. We have looked at many TT. When I look at reviews on TT brands, some are good and some are very bad.
We found a Keystone Passport ML199 that fits our weight requirement and has the layout we want. BUT after researching Keystone, there are a lot of negative reviews. Then I look further and find that another website has them in the top 10 of manufacturers. So what is the truth?
I would like this TT to last at least 10-15 years, if possible.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Steve

[theoldwizard1]

donn0128 wrote:
Greetings,
Second. Do not buy new and expect it to go 20 years. Unless is sitting in a garage somewhere and never used expect life of 10 years for the bottom of the line trailer. One that light is light for a reason.
Third. NEVER EVER buy new as a first RV. Once you have it home you will start finding stuff you dont like. After a year or two most people trade for their next RV or simply get rid of it. RVs are a huge depreciating asset, so there is no need to throw your money away.

Concur with both statements ! Any TT that get "on the road" say 8 or more times a year, is going to be pretty "used up" by about ten years.

Price sells so TT companies want them to be as inexpensive as possible. Even the "high end" products for a manufacture seem to put the money in "bells and whistles" instead of making more durable campers. (Example - Coachmen makes a big deal out of the fact that their side walls are made with Azdel panels. Not the rear, front or roof. Why ?) Today's "rubber" roof do not seem to last more than 5 years unless you take meticulous care of them (washing and UV treatment more than once per year).

[lhenry8113]

Before you "buy" research the Dlr. and their Service Dept. After you own the camper-it's you and them. Secondly buy used-find the camper you like used-new to 1 year old preferably. Reason for used is generally they have the majority of wrinkles ironed out at someone else's expense and time and a lot of time the previous owner has added equipment at their expense. There are a lot of lightly used newish campers out there that for whatever reason are up for sales, still under warranty and assuming you buy from a Dlr. they should have gone through it and hand you a list of what they did. Lars

[K-9_HANDLER]

13 years and counting on my Keystone built entry level Springdale. Bought it new and continues to serve us well.

[azdryheat]

I'm the guy that comes on and says trailers are built as fast as possible, by workers payed by the piece, and kicked out the door without any quality checks being done. What you end up with only time will tell if it's any good. My trailer was listed at six figures but the problems it had it shouldn't have had had there been any quality control at the factory. Once fixed,however, it's been a good trailer.

My advice is to shop the floorplan you like and never mind who makes it.

[BB_TX]

Keystone is one of the top selling brands of TTs. The more a company sells, the more complaints there will be. Just a matter of numbers and percentages that have problems. If every brand has 5% of its units with problems, then the brand selling the most units will have the most complaints. But your odds of a problem with any other brand are the same.

Look at them all and pick the one that you like and fits your situation best.

[DutchmenSport]

Keystone Passport is a decent entry level TT for young families wanting a few good years of travel and camping experience. Plan on new and keeping it about 5 years, maintain it well, and in 5 years you will have a heftier tow vehicle and be looking at a different camper too as you camping style will have changed by then.

Nothing 8s wrong with Keystone products. What is wrong are people who don't take care or abuse them then scream how bad they are because they aren't industructable

I'm on my 4th Keystone camper. I have no complaints about any of them. I do have complaints about my own stupidity which has resulted in many fixes

[Lwiddis]

A pulling capacity of 6000 pounds is only one of the numbers you need to consider when looking at TTs and you already have the TV. What’s your TV’s payload and what is the weight of people and stuff you will carry in the TV?

With moderate use and good maintenance, nearly all TTs will “last” 10 to 15 years IMO.

[rockhillmanor]

drsteve wrote:

srockey wrote:
Hello all,
My wife and I have been long time tent campers, occasionally going with friends in TT and pop-ups.
We decided we wanted a TT. I have a truck that has a trailer capacity of about 6000 lbs. I would like the price to be no more than the low $20K. We have looked at many TT. When I look at reviews on TT brands, some are good and some are very bad.
We found a Keystone Passport ML199 that fits our weight requirement and has the layout we want. BUT after researching Keystone, there are a lot of negative reviews. Then I look further and find that another website has them in the top 10 of manufacturers. So what is the truth?
I would like this TT to last at least 10-15 years, if possible.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Steve

Most RVs are roughly the same. They all use the same appliances, electrical components, plumbing fixtures and systems, etc. Most are assembled with little thought to quality control. So, it is on the buyer to inspect carefully the unit they are purchasing, and get the dealer to fix all the factory screw ups before taking delivery.

An alternative is to find a lightly used TT a couple years old. The bugs are worked out, and the depreciation hit has been taken by the original buyer.

The main thing to look for is 1) can your vehicle pull the RV comfortably and 2) does the floorplan work for you. The best place to see lots of floorplans is at an RV show.

X10
Well said!

[Terryallan]

srockey wrote:
Hello all,
My wife and I have been long time tent campers, occasionally going with friends in TT and pop-ups.
We decided we wanted a TT. I have a truck that has a trailer capacity of about 6000 lbs. I would like the price to be no more than the low $20K. We have looked at many TT. When I look at reviews on TT brands, some are good and some are very bad.
We found a Keystone Passport ML199 that fits our weight requirement and has the layout we want. BUT after researching Keystone, there are a lot of negative reviews. Then I look further and find that another website has them in the top 10 of manufacturers. So what is the truth?
I would like this TT to last at least 10-15 years, if possible.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Steve

Quality is not that much different between any of them, Except Jayco has a longer warranty. and in truth. How long it will last depends entirely on you. It will last for decades if you take proper care of it.

[jfkmk]

I’ll go against the grain here. As long as you’re sure you want an rv, get new. There is no way to tell how folks have maintained their trailer and based on some posts, a lot of people don’t maintain them at all! Of course, if you know the seller, it’s a different story.

[SoundGuy]

srockey wrote:
So what is the truth?

The TRUTH is there is no truth - whether you end up with a relatively trouble free unit or one that causes you nothing but headaches is more a matter of luck than anything else. The thought you can preplan any purchase to avoid issues in the future is largely a myth, it's just the state of the N American RV manufacturing industry. As mentioned, many of the components are common across pretty well every brand and can either be trouble free or problematic no matter which brand of trailer it's in. The RV industry isn't the automotive industry which has made huge advances in quality control over the last few decades, get used to it, it is what it is. 😉

[donn0128]

Greetings,
Personally I think your pushing the limits too close at 5900 pounds GVWR.
Have you actually weighed your tow vehicle loaded ready to travel? Remember that published 6000 towing weight is likely for a stripped version of your vehicle with a 1/4 tank of fuel and one 150 pound driver. Let us know what your truck is so folks can make a better educated guess.
Second. Do not buy new and expect it to go 20 years. Unless is sitting ina garage somewhere and never used expect life of 10 years for the bottom of the line trailer. One that light is light for a reason.
Third. NEVER EVER buy new as a first RV. Once you have it home you will start finding stuff you dont like. After a year or two most people trade for their next RV or simply get rid of it. RVs are a huge depreciating asset, so there is no need to throw your money away. Unless that is you like to.

[gafidler]

I agree with buying a slightly used model for several reasons. As pointed out, the first owner will take the biggest depreciation hit, and will have worked out most warranty defects Which can sometimes have your unit laid up for weeks or months waiting to be fixed

[All_I_could_aff]

I agree with buying a slightly used model for several reasons. As pointed out, the first owner will take the biggest depreciation hit, and will have worked out most warranty defects Which can sometimes have your unit laid up for weeks or months waiting to be fixed.
Another reason to buy one that’s a couple years old is that it’s entirely likely that you will find some thing about it after a few uses that you realize you don’t like, and then will have a clearer picture of what you do want, and then not lose your shirt if you trade it in or resell it

[drsteve]

srockey wrote:
Hello all,
My wife and I have been long time tent campers, occasionally going with friends in TT and pop-ups.
We decided we wanted a TT. I have a truck that has a trailer capacity of about 6000 lbs. I would like the price to be no more than the low $20K. We have looked at many TT. When I look at reviews on TT brands, some are good and some are very bad.
We found a Keystone Passport ML199 that fits our weight requirement and has the layout we want. BUT after researching Keystone, there are a lot of negative reviews. Then I look further and find that another website has them in the top 10 of manufacturers. So what is the truth?
I would like this TT to last at least 10-15 years, if possible.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Steve

Most RVs are roughly the same. They all use the same appliances, electrical components, plumbing fixtures and systems, etc. Most are assembled with little thought to quality control. So, it is on the buyer to inspect carefully the unit they are purchasing, and get the dealer to fix all the factory screwups before taking delivery.

An alternative is to find a lightly used TT a couple years old. The bugs are worked out, and the depreciation hit has been taken by the original buyer.

The main thing to look for is 1) can your vehicle pull the RV comfortably and 2) does the floorplan work for you. The best place to see lots of floorplans is at an RV show.