You people scare me!

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Whopper Stopper

Active member
Joined
Aug 10, 2010
Posts
35
Location
Minnesota
We bought a 2003 Minnie a couple of weeks ago. Reading through the Winnebago archives the last couple of days has been an eye opener. I thought we were making a good brand choice based on how long Winnebago has been in business. With a whole 4oo miles on our new to us MH you have me thinking maybe there were better built coaches out there.

I do realize that a big market share belongs to Winnebago. None the less I hope ours holds up better than some I have read about. I enjoy this board immensely! Keep up the good work.

                  WS
 
Remember only believe 1/2 of what you hear and even less what you read on forums.  Squeaky wheels get the grease but hopefully not with WD 40.
 
WS

Also remember that when there is a problem, there is always a complaint. When things are going good, you won't hear very much. We have a lot of Winnebago owners on this forum and I would say the vast majority have not been heard from regarding repairs. There isn't an RV manufacturer out there that doesn't have problems at times. Overall, I would say that Winnebago is as good or better than many others out there. If I was buying a new coach today, I would consider a Winnebago product.

Don't worry about it and enjoy your new (to you) coach.
 
  For years, we have been told that our choice of a Coachmen was an error as they make low end units.  Well, it is now 10 years old, we have owned it for 6 of those years, and I do not believe that any of the problems, major or minor had to do with poor manufacturing or design.
  Take care of your rig, and it will last longer, and shouldn't give you problem, but remember, motorhomes start having problems if they are not serviced regularly, are driven over salt & snow, parked for extended periods on moist grass, or other similar situations.  A little common sense and it will last you a lifetime, there are many who frequent this forum who have motorhomes well over 15 years old, and still going strong.

Ed
 
Good comments.  The only way of really understanding the rate of defects would be to look at some selected Winnebago internal reports, and my guess is they aren't sharing that information  :D.)  Folks are drawn to forums (among a variety of reasons) to seek a solution to a problem (or to gripe about a problem in some cases), so it is not prudent to evaluate Winnebago's quality based on what you see in a forum.

I am on several forums (Heavy Equipment, Jeep, Mini Truck, etc.) and a common thread is somebody looking for help with a problem, so it isn't just Winnie.

You made a good purchase.  Winnebago is financial healthy and builds a good product.  They have made some design, engineering, and production oops for sure, no manufacturer is immune from this.  What drove our purchase decision was the good engineering I observed, a great design (for us anyway), electrical outlets almost everywhere you looked and the on-line availability of wiring and plumbing diagrams (not a complete list though!)

Are you going to have problems?  At some point, probably yes.  You deal with it and move on.
 
We have a 2004 Winnebago Sightseer. We like it. We did have a couple of simple things that were covered on recalls. And because the Sightseer is designed for weekend/vacation use and we use ours 6-8 months a year, the upholstery in a couple of spots hasn't held up well. When we get the "bug" and start looking at replacement motorhomes, we always look at Winnebago along with several others.

Go enjoy the coach.
Wendy
 
BernieD said:
There isn't an RV manufacturer out there that doesn't have problems at times.

^ This.

The majority of problems you'll read about anywhere here (not just the Winnie section) are universal in nature, meaning they can and do occur with any make or model.  As others have said, preventative maintenance and an overall understanding of how the systems work in your RV will keep you sane and able to handle most hiccups without setting you back too much.  ;)
 
Whopper Stopper said:
We bought a 2003 Minnie a couple of weeks ago. Reading through the Winnebago archives the last couple of days has been an eye opener. I thought we were making a good brand choice based on how long Winnebago has been in business. With a whole 4oo miles on our new to us MH you have me thinking maybe there were better built coaches out there.

I do realize that a big market share belongs to Winnebago. None the less I hope ours holds up better than some I have read about. I enjoy this board immensely! Keep up the good work.

                  WS
Good thing you didn't get a Fleetwood product.
OOPS, bashed my own coach. :eek: :(
I've had Champion, Honorbuilt, and two Fleetwoods.
They have all been bery, bery good to me.
J
 
On our 3rd Winnebago, 2 new and 1 used have not had a major problem with any of them (rap on wood). 
 
Just make plans to fix something each time you go out.  On our very first trip in a brand new coach we had 2 different leaks in the washer/dryer, the leveling jacks wouldn't retract, and the closet rod fell down.  Another trip required the replacement of the coach water pump due to it leaking.  Another trip one of the engine thermostats came apart causing the engine to overheat and had to be replaced after getting back home.  Last year the rear camera cratered requiring a new one to be mailed to the campground along with the shuttle valve on the HWH hydraulic system in order for the slideouts to come in and the leveling jacks to operate.  This year the water heater quit needing new thermostats and the bathroom vent cover  broke loose at the pivot point which required a complete new cover to be mailed to our current campground.

Wouldn't be without one of these coaches considering the other alternative of having to use motel/hotels with all their dirty linen and bed bugs but they do require constant work.  An RVer once told me I should be prepared to work on one about 2 hours for every hour of use.  I'm beginning to think he underestimated the worktime required.    Anyway, have fun with your new toy.

Allen
 
I have maintained my coach very well but these things can and will test your patience.  On our current trip, during the first 3 days of travel (our first stop being the Winnebago factory for some service I could not do myself), the following things cropped up:

1.  air horns quit working
2.  fog lights stopped working
3.  could not get the genset started at one point....finally got it going after about one hour of diddling with it.
4.  heater core sprung a leak spilling engine coolant on the lot of a rest stop in Illinois.  This is my 2nd heater core in this 8 year old coach.  I bypassed the core and we proceeded on the trip.
5.  at one point, we could not get the heat pump to work.  I carry a spare RVP thermostat and while removing the existing thermostat to replace it, the heat pump started to work. 

I've decided it is the nature of the beast and that anyone who owns and keeps one of these things is a little bit crazy.  We love it but sometimes I feel motorhome ownership requires a special form of incurable insanity. 
 
Boo!

BOO!

LOL, WinnieB is ok.  The wiring is first rate, especially the marking system.  Even if you don't buy all the options, the wiring is there for future upgrades.  The plumbing seems to be fine and the chassis is what they buy...  Fit and finish seem ok and the equipment is on par with others since they all buy from the same suppliers.  I've notice that they are not very competent with structural glue joints and they have a really annoying habit of terminating the rain gutter in the middle of the only access door to the coach.  They use a lot of steel in the frame and the roof is substantial.  I really enjoy the commercials that make fun of WB...

I don't know who picks the names for the various models... not a poet for sure.

The big thing nowadays, they are still in business and you can get parts, most of the time and a human answers the phone sometimes. 

Besides, if you don't like it, you can probably sell it for half what you paid for it.  Oh well, the forum is cool, relax and have fun.

 
John-et al: the sad truth, as shown by this thread, is that people will post if they are satisfied with their coach and they will post if they are not satisfied.

In fairness to the manufacturer relative to this thread they, are the largest and would  have the largest number of complaints BUT I have found that when people post their troubles it is usually AFTER the Company has either blown them off or simple refused to take any action.

Its troubling to read posts that justify all the issues with rv ownership due to this or that, the fact is that if Winnebago, or any other manufacturer is unable to market coaches which are legal and stay put together then they should be held responsible.

These things ain't cheap in cost but industry wide they are cheap in build quality, it isn't right.

Do I expect to have no problems at all, no-but I don't expect to see/hear about some of the very-very serious failures that are posted on nearly every rv forum-in a word, its criminal.
 
Criminal? :eek:

Do you believe that there are ANY manufacturers who produce what you would consider a quality coach?  If not, wouldn't that suggest that the issue is with expectations?

Rick
 
  BB, having been around the automotive industry since 1971, what you are talking about is the reason there is only 1 North American auto manufacturer that hasn't gone bankrupt.  If you recall, the Japanese or the Korean vehicles were "CR#P" when each were first introduced.  They quickly understood that their competition were selling vehicles that were almost as defective, but they had a strong dealer body that could repair the defects.  Unfortunately, when they started, most of the people they could attract as dealers were not well financed, nor well skilled to quickly repair the problems.  So, they chose to improve the quality of their vehicles.  Hence for years they made superior vehicles, and the world now perceives Asian vehicle are much better built and trouble free.  (Albeit, that point is highly debatable now)
  Unfortunately, while there are a few RV's manufactured offshore, it is just not cost effective.  So, virtually every unit sold in North America is built here by a limited number of manufacturers.  They cut every corner that can be cut.  They are in business to make money, so as long as they can sell the product, every dollar saved in construction is a dollar earned. 
    That's free enterprise, not criminal.

Ed
 
what you are talking about is the reason there is only 1 North American auto manufacturer that hasn't gone bankrupt.

Ed

Actually the only reason Ford didn't go into bankruptcy was because of a very astute bean counter in management who got Ford to get very, very, very financially liquid in the period leading up to the economic crash. It was able to downsize and provide customer financing with far less reliance on outside lenders than GM and Chrysler.
 
Hfx_Cdn,  I think you are correct however with regard to off shore rv production this may be changing very, very quickly.  Someone has inked a deal with a Chinese bus manufacturer which has a capacity of producing 2,000 buses (two thousand) per day and you know what, I hope they take the US manufacturers to the cleaners because they-those in the States-simply do not care-about anything.

Get it made as cheaply as possible and get it out as soon as possible and fix it only when you absolutely have to; and even then make it as difficult as possible for the consumer to get reimbursed: its been that way forever the ONLY thing that has changed is the materials have gotten CHEAPER.

Orick, I agree that quality is relative but all one has to do is read posts here and at other forums to realize that the industry has very, very serious problems. 

Let me ask you this,  should  anything fall off a coach that someone has paid near $100,000 for?-should an owner have to be concerned with being overweight when the rv is being used AS INTENDED?

These poor people really pretty much sum up the state of the US rv industry,

http://www.betsy-tom.smugmug.com/

 
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