2017 Washington Camping & RV Expo-Post Show Recap and honest opinions.
The wife and I spent 3-4 hours touring the units that were in our consideration set and avoiding all of the vendors that wanted me to sign up for their mailing list. After walking in and out of units, asking questions, sitting on couches and opening drawers, our list of priorities that we want in an RV has changed.
My open and honest opinions about the units we toured are below:
Forest River
We love our Georgetown so we figured "why not" upgrade within the same family
The showing dealer, Safford RV, was there in force with plenty of units and plenty of sales people. We walked through the Berkshire and the 1st thing that we noticed is that their "Show" price was $8000 more than they have it listed on their website. I really wanted to engage the sales rep with others around and point out this fact...but I let it go.
Walking through the Berk the look was dark, the floors and cabinets were dark. The storage cabinets were ok in quantity but very shallow. Other than that it was ok and nothing about the unit, the price or the sales rep made me say "OK Let's Sign On The Dotted Line NOW & Figure Out The Money Later".
I now see why Forest River is offering a $5k rebate off of the purchase price on this unit. The biggest turn off for me was the lack of storage space! The way that it sits low on the Freightliner Chassis cuts out some or part of the storage space.
The interior amenities made you feel like you were in a rental Class C. Also, it has a mid cabin entry which takes up a lot of valuable space
Thor Motorhomes
As I do every Saturday I read the RV Travel and this week had a story about a fellow camper who is not happy with the quality of his Thor Motorhome. You can read the story and watch the video by clicking here. I feel bad for this guy and pretty much had my mind made up that purchasing a Thor Motorhome would not even enter our consideration set.
I am not a fan of a Class A Diesel with a mid cabin entry (see comment above). The layout for our needs was a little bit cramped plus the cabinetry was...for lack of a better term "entry level ikeaish"
This unit has the front entry door but the lighting fixtures made me feel like I was heading into an Italian Restaurant as opposed to camping in Maine. Some of the wall sconces and light fixtures were as my lovely wife pointed out...That would be tough to keep clean.
Tiffin Motorhomes
Based upon previous interactions with this Reines RV (the local Tiffin Dealer) and the fact that they list only show the MSRP I have always discounted them as being a part of our consideration set of dealers to do business with.
These units by far exceeded our expectations. Based upon my prior experiences with the selling dealer, Reines RV, I didn't offer up much hope of getting excited by their units.
- Sales Reps from Reines-Friendly and informative, but not pushy.
- Units overall-basic, but very sturdy, no flash and sizzle (Selling point for us).
- All of the cabinets solid wood, aligned well, opened and closed as expected
- All of the materials used on the couch and chairs were nice, would hold up to normal camping scenarios.
- Everything about this unit screamed quality and longevity.
Luckily Mrs UrbanSuburbanRVer agree on the look and quality of the Tiffin Allegro Red line now we are playing out scenarios in our head in regards to who would sit or sleep where if we have the max number of people on the road with us.
Winnebago
This by far was the biggest disappointment of the day and left both the wife and I wondering how the largest Motorhome Manufacturer in the US..or maybe world, could turn out this unit and expect people to actually want to buy it.
As you enter the coach, if you are over 6-feet tall, you have to duck otherwise you will hit your head on the overhead bunk that is typically found in Class A Gas Motorhomes. How is this even legal?? If their is an emergency inside of the unit and everyone needs to evacuate you would waste precious time getting your loved one out of the bunk and the bunk up and out of the way just so that you could exit.
Once you are in the main area you look around and see a mish mash of RV parts.
Kitchen-The cabinets were a little bit off and 2 of them did not close flush, The stove cover was a clear plastic thing on a golden hinge. Since it was on a hinge there was a 1/4 inch of space where food could drop through.
1/2 Bath-The cabinets were deep enough to hold a tooth brush..maybe and for some wacky reason they did not have tops on the cabinets. The shower was OK
Master Bath in the rear-We spent a few minutes trying to figure out WHY? The positioning of the washer and dryer? The garage door cover of the dryer (which is located next to the sink)?
Bunk Beds-Were just the right size for a toddler..not an child or preteen.
This unit makes me think back to my childhood when I tried to build something..anything using lego blocks from 5 different sets of legos-->It wasn't pretty, it wasn't functional but eventually it all fit..well sort of
- Newmar (even though they are out of our price range I still want to see what you get for the money)
This is a high quality & pretty coach for people who like to travel and not really camp. Holy High End Batman. Everything is what you would see in a mansion..look but don't tough and definitely don't use. It was nice to look at but not a unit that we would consider buying.
Coachman
We also looked at the Coachman Sportscoach. This was an odd odd unit. The drop down bunk bed was 1-1 1/2 foot wide and 9-10 feet long and it was over the couch and dinette table. Nothing inside of the unit jumped out and said BUY ME today...it was pretty basic and normal.
Show Recap
I am glad that we invested the time to look see and touch units from many manufacturers. This time investment 1-Allowed us to see how we would live, love & laugh in that particular model & floor plan 2-Put our needs, wants and likes into a truer perspective (Do we really need bunk beds) 3-Paint a clearer picture of why they had Jerry Brown, the monkey man on site (keep the kids happy and occupied).
RV's that are in our Consideration Set (updated 01-15-17)
- Tiffin Allegro Red 37PA
- Tiffin Allegro Red??
- Tiffin Allegro Red??
- Forest River Berkshire??
- TBD
In closing it appears as if the majority of the newer RV's are being designed by people who have never camped before which is based upon the simple fact that of where they have placed certain items or the quality of materials used.
In our case we are in no hurry to replace our existing unit so we have the time to kick the tires on multiple units, research the consumer reviews (good, bad and ugly) of the manufacturers, RV models and selling dealership, which we will continue to do until we sign on the dotted line.
Cheers,
Eric aka The UrbanSuburbanRVer
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