older motor homes-jamboree, Tioga etc.

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Bill: That Bounder for sale-you sent me the link-what would you estimate it would cost me to drive that thing from here to where I want to be in the summer, 424 miles one-way. I would not be towing anything.....jeep, Plymouth Neon nada....it's a hilly 424 rising to 7000 feet from 598 feet above sea level...
 
desertguy24 said:
Bill: That Bounder for sale-you sent me the link-what would you estimate it would cost me to drive that thing from here to where I want to be in the summer, 424 miles one-way. I would not be towing anything.....jeep, Plymouth Neon nada....it's a hilly 424 rising to 7000 feet from 598 feet above sea level...


$150-200 in fuel assuming nothing breaks
 
I've got an '00 37' Bounder with the V-10.  Just drove across Hwy 64 in N New Mexico/Oklahoma.  Fuel mileage was about 5mpg in western NM(including 3 10,000' summits), and around 7 across eastern NM/OK(fairly flat). 
I usually try for 300-350 miles a day, so, basically 1 fill-up at around $115-$125 a day.  You get used to it after a while.
 
To many variables to give a fixed cost. I would use 6mpg as a planning number. If you get better mileage you are ahead of the game. I would use 6 with any RV till you have concrete history.
I would plan on setting the jeep up as a towed. Much cheaper to drive the Jeep to town for grocery's or to go exploring.
Bill
 
good info....but I believe my fear of vehicles and cost stems from my Mother giving me a fixed amount of money when i was a kid  to go to swim class in a taxi. i would watch the taxi meter-ping ping ping.....wondering if I had enough cash to cover the trip. Always hated that-especially when at a stop light going nowhere but the meter still churned....ping ping ping....I just want a simple conveyance with mileage not resembling one of Patton's tanks slogging through North Africa. My cousin JUST TOLD told me his 80s Sunrader achieves 17-18 mpg. I think it's AN '84. bILL, NO TOWING FOR ME! The wife drives the Toyota behind me.....
 
Garry, It won't help the OP but the new diesel's running DEF are getting better mileage because they don't have to dial back performance for emissions.

They are only "better" than the diesels built after 1/1/2007 but before DEF (1/1/2010). The DEF (SCR) engines get back the mpg that was lost when the 2007 emissions regs went into effect. Engines built prior to 2007 already got an mpg equal or better than DEF engines.
 
My cousin JUST TOLD told me his 80s Sunrader achieves 17-18 mpg. I think it's AN '84

The Toyota mini-truck based campers like the Sunrader and Dolphin did indeed get decent mpg, though I think your cousin is bragging more than a little!  Sunraders were built up until about 1990, so you might find one that isn't totally worn out mechanically. Whether the house body is Ok is still another question. And those are pretty small as well.

If you are much afraid of unexpected expenses, buying an old, old RV ought to scare the beejezus out of you. Especially one that was overloaded when it left the factory!


http://toyotarvforsale.com/tag/sunrader/page/2/
 
desertguy24 said:
good info....but I believe my fear of vehicles and cost stems from my Mother giving me a fixed amount of money when i was a kid  to go to swim class in a taxi. i would watch the taxi meter-ping ping ping.....wondering if I had enough cash to cover the trip. Always hated that-especially when at a stop light going nowhere but the meter still churned....ping ping ping....I just want a simple conveyance with mileage not resembling one of Patton's tanks slogging through North Africa. My cousin JUST TOLD told me his 80s Sunrader achieves 17-18 mpg. I think it's AN '84. bILL, NO TOWING FOR ME! The wife drives the Toyota behind me.....

Ok why do you hate your wife? If you can't budget 5-8 MPG for fuel expense quit wasting our time. THERE IS NO RV OUT THER YOU CAN AFORRD THAT GETS 17-18 MPG.
Your cousin  is lying to you.
Bill
 
starstarstarstarstar 1986 Winnebago Lesharo
by: Anonymous

turbo diesel, front wheel drive. 22mpg
I've owned 6 of these. I have gotten as high as 24 mpg once or twice.
(Random listing on the web....)
 
I own two Sunraders one is a 1983 with a 22R motor 4-speed 21ft. The other is a 1988 with a 22RE, auto trans, it is 18ft. Runs strong with over 200,000 miles on it. Gets 17 mpg on the highway.
Chuck
(Random web posting)
 
Unless you plan on driving it non stop, the mileage is not a big issue. Lots of mhs only get a few thousand miles a year on them. That is why there is so many 15 year old mhs with 30 or 40k miles on them. If you only have to fill it up four or five times a year, it hardly becomes an issue. As Gary stated, I would be more worried about buying something 35 years old. Unless it spent its life in Arizona and the frame was good, and the rest had been refurbished recently, I would opt for something late 90s and newer. Better motors, slides, and all around better mhs. I had travel trailers for years. They do the job and many are quite nice, but since going to the class A, I could not go back. Having had two 38 ft mhs as well, I would not go smaller either. The more you plan on using it, the bigger it should be. Cheers.
 
Great advice...I think Bill on this site is irritable because he owns a Bounder that gets about no miles per gallon.
I would be cranky, too....But he insists that that is how it is...Nope......The Sunrader has the superb engine and goes slowly. i don't mind....I simply must have 15-17 mpg or I will wind-up cranky like Bill....
 
Hey, my old Sportscoach with the 454 got 5-6mpg.  My Bounder gets 6-8.  I'm not cranky, just the cost of doing business.
I like having my full size queen bed with a topper, the washer/dryer, and room to pass my wife in the hallway without doing the limbo, and I'm willing to accept the mileage it takes to drag all that stuff around.
 
The newer Mercedes Sprinter-van based rigs get around 15-16 mg from their diesels. If mpg is your top priority, there are solutions available. 

But you originally asked about old Tiogoas and Jamborees, and the best of them never saw more than 10 mpg, downhill with a tailwind. Whether using the Ford or Chevy van as the base vehicle.
 
desertguy24 said:
Great advice...I think Bill on this site is irritable because he owns a Bounder that gets about no miles per gallon.
I would be cranky, too....But he insists that that is how it is...Nope......The Sunrader has the superb engine and goes slowly. i don't mind....I simply must have 15-17 mpg or I will wind-up cranky like Bill....
I get cranky when people make absurd statements when talking about mileage. We were talking mileage on larger class C and class A coaches.
By simply doing a quick search I find that you are making up your facts.
"Based on data from 11 vehicles, 378 fuel-ups and 78,316 miles of driving, the 1983 Toyota Pickup gets a combined Avg MPG of 18.96 with a 0.21 MPG margin of error."
This is from http://www.fuelly.com/.
Now trying to convince us you have some kind of miracle rv  that overloaded and has a huge drag coefficient gets as good of mileage as a empty truck isn't working.
You were given some good information, use it or don't, I am going camping, good by.
Bill
 
In accordance with forum rules let?s all address the facts and not personalities folks. Remember, this is the friendliest place on the web and we?re all here for the fun of it  :)
 
So desertguy24, there is all the help you can expect. Plan on about 8 mph. in an older class C. If that is no good, then buy a mini van.
 
I always get a kick out of people who claim double-digit miles per gallon on a motor home. Listen carefully...it ain't gonna happen!

Yes, you might see 10+ mpg on a short segment of a trip that's downhill with a tailwind, but that's a very unusual situation. With 95,000 miles on our 42' diesel with a 400 hp Cummins ISL, driven as economically as possible, it has averaged 7.4 mpg. That is a REAL WORLD NUMBER that is as accurate as can be.

As another poster in this thread said, if you can't afford 5 to 8 mpg, you're wasting your time.
 
Well, the old Dolphins and Sunraders on the little Toyota mini-truck chassis really did do better than 10 mpg. And the modern day Sprinter based coaches do as well.  So it's not really accurate to say that NO motorhome gets better than 10.
 
desertguy24 said:
I own two Sunraders one is a 1983 with a 22R motor 4-speed 21ft. The other is a 1988 with a 22RE, auto trans, it is 18ft. Runs strong with over 200,000 miles on it. Gets 17 mpg on the highway.
Chuck
(Random web posting)

It may actually get 17 mpg... but it will be at 54 mph on flat land with an egg under your foot.
 

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