Grand Design owners

We are in market for 5th wheel for full time living for about 2 years. Looking at used and new. My DH wants new, I?m on the fence. Read bad stories about both. Looking for input from experienced RV 5th wheelers. We have also looked at a 38 ft Shasta Phoenix that I like but husband isn?t sold on it. Help with suggestions and ideas. Thanks

What is your plan after two years?

I have a business to sell so for next 6 months we will be in an RV park. Then we want to travel and see the US and Canada. Eventually we will probable settle in North Carolina where we own property.

Once you settle you will sell the trailer or live in it?

We will keep it to travel in but plan to build a home in NC. But, that really depends on how much we like the full time RV life.

If either of you is convinced that only new is acceptable, you should buy new.  You don't want that kind of potential friction lurking in the background, ready to spoil your RVing adventure.  Just keep reminding yourselves that "new" doesn't guarantee a trouble-free experience, whether at the dealer or subsequently. You still need "due diligence".

If your base plan is to use the RV for 2.5 years and sell it, or maybe just revert to "once in a while" use, then the financial aspect gets more important. Even assuming you buy at a steep discount, the early year depreciation hit is large. You take a cash hit if you sell early, or you have a rapidly depreciating asset sitting around unused. In that scenario, used is a much better choice financially but carries with it the marriage risk I mentioned above, plus the greater difficulty in shopping for exactly what you want plus inspecting for flaws. 

Thanks for all the replies and advise. Tomorrow will be on the hunt for our home on wheels.

2+1 for the road said:

We are in market for 5th wheel for full time living for about 2 years. Looking at used and new. My DH wants new, I?m on the fence. Read bad stories about both. Looking for input from experienced RV 5th wheelers. We have also looked at a 38 ft Shasta Phoenix that I like but husband isn?t sold on it. Help with suggestions and ideas. Thanks

Click to expand...

My data points may be irrelevant, as we're not full-timing, and it's not a 5er....
The DW and I bought our Grand Design 2670mk in August - it's a TT, but perfect size for the two of us.  I was leaning towards something smaller, and we both started looking at used, but the lighter interior ("pebble") of the 2020's caught and held her eye.  There was no going back to even considering used after that.  Happy wife, happy life.  I did get to upgrade my 2008 F-150 to a 2015 F-250, so that was a win too.

"bad stories" - that's the thing about the internet.  Someone else posted (either on one of the GD facebook groups or another forum platform) something to the effect of Grand Design has been in business 5-6 years and by now has sold probably well over 100,000 units.  The bad stories - whether Grand Design or another brand - truly only represent a small fraction of owners.  I joined this forum, and one or two others that may or may not have been brand-specific, and read the same stories.  Whether it is Westlake China bombs, broken leaf springs or hangers, or the quality has crashed since Winnebago bought the company - I read them all.  We purchased new anyway.

I'm happy to report that after taking delivery on August 9, we've logged 30 nights in the unit, a combination of 4-day weekends and two week-long trips, and towed it from Virginia Beach to Charlottesville, on up the Shenandoah Valley to Front Royal, and back to the beach, with two trips up on the Eastern Shore.  We store it in the backyard, so we've done a pretty thorough shakedown on it.

My most major shakedown or initial quality issues: 
--the driver side pass-through door (in 2020 newly equipped with a slam latch instead of a cam latch) was slightly misaligned.  If closed and locked, a good tug would pop it open.  That would be bad on the interstate.
--the edge (and only the edge) of the desk top laminate is peeling back, about 8" of the edge is de-laminating 1-2cm.
--one of the kitchen drawer faces was misaligned (not square).  No issue with the track or function of the drawer, the face just wasn't on straight.

I've got no complaints about Grand Design quality - for all the reading I've done - I'm very excited if those are the worst of my issues.

The 307 is the 5er version of my floorplan, but is limited to dealer stock only.  The 320 is the other, a bit larger.

Happy shopping!