Best Motorhomes For Full-timing - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Howard · Host

Best Motorhomes For Full-timing

Darrell and Judy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Less than 100K - Didn't find anything worth considering unless buying used.

100 - 200K - Allegro Bay, National products, Newmar products, Winnebago (Itasca) - These arel gas units.

200 - 300K - Allegro, Newmar Dutch Star, Winnebago (Itasca) - These are Diesel pushers.

300K and up - Didn't have enough money to even consider anything in this price range. These would have more bells and whistles added to the 200 to 300K range (just more stuff to break).

Keep in mind - the more you own, the more you are slave to it!!!!

jomago · RV-Dreams Family Member

Was looking yesterday at a New Fleetwood Southwind MH.

Think it was about 33ft w/2 slids (bed room rt,front lt),Ford V10, ice maker in frig and all the other usual things. Full body paint, double glass windows,plus other goodies. It had 22.5' wheels which should limit tire/load problems. Realized it's not a Prevost but it looked pretty good for my need.

Had a MSRP $114K, but from other MH MSRP/verus actual price, indicate it should be had for around $80K.

Of course I had intended to get a 40 ft Monaco Diplomate w/4 slides. $220K with a quoted actual seeling price of around $150K. I don't need that much room now for full timeing. Also I'm not in any hurry so Gas is fine for me.

If you haven't seen this one you may be interested to see what may be coming to lower cost MH's

-- Edited by jomago at 10:55, 2006-10-12

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Up to $100000 - If the National RV Sea Breeze is still under $100,000 than I would recommend it. We liked our 2002 Dolphin, but don't like the new ones.

$100,000 - $200,000 - National RV (watch the carrying capacity), Newmar, Tiffen gas motorhomes (I am not a fan of Bounders, Winnebagos, or Alfa units, but many disagree with me and full-time in them.)

$200-300K - Newmar (this is where our Dutch Star lands), Tiffen, Monaco brands (Holiday Rambler, Safari, Beaver and Monaco)

Over $300K - same as $200-300K with Foretravel added. Foretravel motorhomes live forever.

For those who want to do it themselves I will recommend doing your own bus conversion or finishing one someone else started. "Bus nuts" seem to be some of the happiest out there only rivaled by the owners of classis GMC motorhomes.

Watch for companies that stand behind their products and don't mind your being a full-timer.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

I realized I was thinking only of Class A motorhomes, the ones with the bus fronts. Under $100,000 there are some quite nice Class C motorhomes like Lazy Daze that people are happily full-timing in. Class C's are the type that are built off a truck chassis.

I know a couple who drives across the country a lot in a year and had a Monaco diesel motorhome they drove to death in four years, about literally. They went to trade it in for a new model and they would have been out about $160,000 since the trade-in value of their old one was almost nothing. They bought a Gulfstream Endura Class C for less than half that amount and figure if it lasts over two years they are ahead of the game. They are past the two year mark and think it will last at least four years.

Georgia · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hello all,
bjoyce, am hoping you see this post. I was hoping you could elaborate on why you aren't a fan of Alfa coaches. We don't intend to fulltime but will use the coach for seven to eight months a year. In your opinion, would the Alfa be a good choice for part timing? My husband seems to be locked in on buying an Alfa, he saw the video (put out by the owner btw) claiming they are the best! I am not as convinced as he, after all, what else would the owner say. LOL... I understand if your'e not comfortable expressing your dislike of the product on this forum, but any info you could offer would be appreciatied.
Thanks,
Georgia

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Every brand has people who like them and every brand has people who don't. Alfa's go for tall ceilings and a big open feeling, but do not have the storage that they look like they have. I don't understand why shorter people buy them. A friend removed every screw and replaced them with a larger size since the originals were too short to hold. He then told me how much he likes his Alfa and how well engineered it is. Alfa's never appealed to my wife and I, but we have good friends that seem to love them. Only the standard Se Ya makes sense to me at all and that is what about every happy owner has. If you want to boondock don't go for the Founder's Edition since the electric fridge will eat all of your batteries. If you want to stop at Wal-Mart, don't buy the So Long since it unusable with the slides in. I don't understand why people buy the Gold edition.

To get some of the owner pulse for those with high speed internet I recommend joining the owners groups on http://groups.yahoo.com/ . There are Yahoo groups for about every brand, sometimes multiple. You will hear people who have to tell you their pet problem over and over, you will hear happy owners, you will hear very unhappy owners, etc. I recommend not getting the emails at first but browsing through the archives of messages. Then if you are still interested get the daily digests.

ahoweth · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Howard:

Boy, you really like to light the fuse!

Regardless of the price range of a motor coach I believe a must do is a visit to the manufacturing facilities for multiple coach brands. You really need to see how the coach you buy is built in comparison to all of the others. I had the opportunity to make a tour of these facilties before we purchased our American Tradition motor coach. Yeah, I know "EXPENSIVE" right. Well, I haven't seen any armored cars in any funeral processions, have you? I visited Damon, American Coach, Monaco/Holiday Rambler, Monaco/Beaver, Monaco/Safari, Allegro, Fleetwood/Southwind, Fleetwood/Bounder, Country Coach, Overland, Newmar, Winnebago, National and Foretravel. What I found was an eye opener. Suffice it to say, after all of that we bought an American Coach (Decatur, IN). I seriously considered Allegro, (Red Bay, Alabama) and Foretravel (Naccadoches, TX) as my other best choices for best built coaches but my spouse preferred the interior of the American coach. After that, the next most important consideration was finding a dealer I trusted and could work with. Things will go wrong with whatever RV you own but getting it fixed reliably, quickly and inexpensively as possible are VERY important to us. The American coach people say that three things seperate them from other manufacturers, Service, Service and Service. We have owned our Tradition for going into our 6th year now and they still service it when we need it. In our 37 years of RVing we have owned many other RVs and they do not service them like American coach does. This has been our experience. I am certain that other folks have had good experiences with other companies as well. But how many will still give you service on your unit after 6 years?

bago40 · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have too many other payments to buy new right now, and I'm glad because I need to get the wisdom of those who have been out there a while. I bought a 1997 Winnebago Vectra (Grand Tour edition) It has alot of bells and whistles. I drove it from North Carolina to St. Petersburg two weeks ago. It was windy then but the coach handled very well on the road. It has the optional upgaded motor (Chevy Vortec 7.4 SFI, 290hp) for that year. I plan to buy new in the future and will take my time as well as visit the sites of the various Manufacturers. I do like my coach though, it is very comfortable to live in and has alot of storage space. Most of these particular models are in the 40,000 to 60,000 range, Mine needs exterior paint and the owner just wanted to be free of it so I got it for 20,000. There are great deals out there for those who are just starting out but you have to be patient and look around. I found mine at rvtraderonline.com. My personal advice for anyone bying used is to make absolutely sure the roof has never leaked. water can be the death of your rig depending on the construction of the coach.