Brand new - help us decide

Some folks go through the "buy used first" routine, upgrade later to something they think they know they need, and still find something wrong or missing.

We tend to shop around for a long time, compare makes/models, then buy based largely on floorplan. We actually purchased our current coach knowing that it had most of what we wanted, but lacked something; We later remodeled to make the change/addition we needed. There's no real reason to buy another RV just because what you purchased doesn't have something you later find you need.

One exception might be buying an RV without slides, then later deciding you need them. Some friends and forum members went through this. I pleaded with them to buy a coach with slides, but they insisted they didn't need them; It didn't take too long fulltiming with a huge dog to realize they didn't have a lot of room to move.

We are also ones that bought all new RVs.  Our first RV was a 32' travel trailer, no slides that served as a weekend cottage for about 3 years.  Traded that for a nearly new (was used as a rental a few times) 1995 Itasca Spirit class C that we drove out west during our move to CA in 1995.  We used that for 2 years as a weekend RV and one 6 week trip to WI in the summer of 1996.  We also used it to attend numerous rallies, RV Forum and FMCA, until we bought our new 1997 Endeavor at the FMCA convention in Pomona in April 1997.  Each RV served us well for what we bought it for and we didn't ever regret not buying used.  When we were looking for our full time RV, there just wasn't anything on the used market that met our needs as well as the 1997 Endeavor.  We still live in it 16 years later.

The key is to look at as many RVs as you can, make a list of what you really want, and then buy one that meets all your needs, new or used.  In our case, there were no used ones so we bought new and don't regret it one bit.

there just wasn't anything on the used market that met our needs as well as the 1997 Endeavor

Click to expand...

Good point Ned.

We also bought our motorhomes new and have kept all of them for quite a while, several years at minimum.  We shopped a lot and knew what we wanted and what we didn't want.  We didn't settle until we found what we loved so we were happy to keep each one.  Also, none of them had major issues that caused problems.  Our very first one we bought at the 1972 Pomona show and left about two weeks later to circumnavigate the USA.  Had a wonderful time in it.

On the opposite side we met a couple who parked next to us at a rally.  They were brand new RVers.  They went to an RV show and fell in love with one of the motorhomes.  A couple of months later they went to a rally and found another motorhome they loved more than the first one so they bought it.  We met them two months later at another rally where they fell in love with a THIRD motorhome and traded in #2.  That's three high-end motorhomes in six months!  We figured they must have a lot of money to waste or were just plain crazy.  The point is, most of us don't do this.  We worked hard for our money and we want value, but we also want what suits us whether it is the floor plan or some specific feature we really want.

I always tell people to do their homework.  Read a lot of RVing magazines to learn a wide variety of background on what it's all about.  Read the articles in our Library (see button above) that were written by our members with expertise in a particular area.  Go to RV shows and go into a lot of RVs.  Talk about what you like and don't like about them.  Sit in the chairs, lie on the bed, sit in the throne room to see if you fit in there, stand in the shower, think about how you'll live in it and where you'll put your "stuff" such as clothing, linens, kitchen utensils, pots, pans, tools, food, computers, printer, camera equipment, hobby needs, pet beds and food, wet coats and bathing suits, and all the other things you'll be using in your RV.  Who will sleep where?  Will it be comfortable?  Is the kitchen usable for the way you cook?  Is there room to store the necessities?

We all want different things in our RVs and only you can decide what you need or want or would like to have.  We can help answer some questions but this is a very personal decision and there will be compromises.

ArdraF

We have bought one new RV and several used, and find little if any advantage in a new one. Every one of our used RVs had fewer problems than we experienced in the first year with the new one, but once we got over that hurdle it served us well. And we did special order that one new RV, after extensive searching and prioritizing our requirements.  The next time we bought, however, we decided to go back to used again.

While it is certainly possible to buy the right RV the first time, the odds aren't with you and financially its a big risk. If a newcomer knew enough about RVs and their wants & needs to special order one to their specs, I would say "go for it", but buying a new one off a dealer lot doesn't gain you a thing in terms of "rightness" or reliability or anything else I can think of. Yeah, a new one has a warranty, but that's there to take care of built-in defects that have already been taken out of a used one.

Determining your wants and needs and shopping for one that fits is the most important thing, though. If its not a good fit, it doesn't make any difference whether it is new or used, except that it is a less expensive mistake when used.

92GA said:

Tom's just trying to save them some money and aggravation with his advice.

Click to expand...

The advise I give about buying used only applies to people who have never been RVing in their life. One you have some experience then you will have better idea of what you want and can make a more intelligent decision and then you could buy a new one if you wanted.

There is one other thing to consider. What happens if you have never been RVing in your life and you decide to go out and get a brand new $200k class A and then after a few months you decide you absolutely hate camping and RVing? And to make it even worse, imagine you put down 20% and are making $600 a month payments for the next 15 years. You will be upside down and unable to sell the beast. And it has happened many times. There have been many posts from people who got in and couldn't get out.

Ned bought a TT first and that is just as smart as buy a used motorized RV. TTs are dirt cheap compared to a new class A. Once they were happy with the idea of camping then they upgraded to an almost new one.

We had another fabulous night with one huge exception.  I'd noticed DH staying outside as much as possible, but I thought it was because of his love of fishing, casting, working on his equipment, playing w/dogs, etc. I remarked for about the 10th time how neat it would be to travel around for a yr or 2 and seriously think about rv'ing full time..  if we didn't like it after that, we could always buy another house or condo.  Our house is big and yard work is becoming too much for him to do, even though he loves it.

Anyway, he wasn't giving me any feedback on the subject, and I asked what's wrong.  Now, he is the sweetest guy you'd ever want to know, and he's been devoted to making my life a happy life since college, so I could tell he was upset about something.  He said, it'll probably be okay but I feel really claustrophobic inside.  My heart sank.  I remembered he has never wanted bathroom doors closed, also he was unable to have an MRI, freaked out going in so they sent him somewhere else to have a more open one instead of the tube type. He wondered if his doctor could give him something for it, I told him I did not know.

Have any of you experienced this or had someone with this problem? 

The saddest ( and happiest) thing is my cousin and I were in his paddle boat late yesterday tooling around and he told me not to buy right now, that he and his wife had been discussing it and would probably buy a 2014 and we could have this awesome RV.  Of course I said nooooooo, he said yessssssss, I said we WILL buy it, he said you can donate to the cause if you want.. They have 2 foundations to help abused women & children and poverty.

What can I do??  DH says driving is no problem, sleeping is okay, bathing and sitting around is seriously hard.

Before I gave up, I'd look to the things that give a more open or spacious feeling. Put the shades up; look at lighter interiors; set the driver and passenger seats to provide the least obstruction, etc. I am claustrophobic,  including the problem with MRI's (solved with drugs) but I've not had a problem. We select units with light interiors and furniture and it works out.
I have noticed that high end units tend toward dark interiors. I guess that is because they are supposed to impart an air of quality. Even a smaller init can be a lot less oppressive.
I'd try renting a smaller unit with a light interior and then modify the Newell if it helps. Remember, you spend muchof your time outside anyway.
Hope this helps,

Ernie

Good catch on the claustrophobia. Folks who have never experienced it can't relate.

I'd noticed small symptoms over the years, but shrugged them off, until ... one day, at our last house, I was working in the crawl space, something I'd done on a number of occasions. This day, I was in a tight "remote" area of the crawl space, and had squeezed beneath some pipes/ducting to get there. That's when I had to get out of there.

When we bought our current house as our "future retirement home", I gave no thought to the smaller bedrooms and low ceilings compared to the other house. I'd wake up in the middle of the night and, although it was pitch dark, I'd be conscious of the low ceiling, and feel claustrophobic; I'd have to jump out of bed and turn the light on. This went away after some period of time.

Our current motorhome has a step-up to the bed, effectively reducing the ceiling height. When we first started using it, I'd wake up in the middle of the night, and I'd have to jump out of bed and turn the light on. Deja vu all over again. But the good news is that this too went away after some time.

Edit: Typos.

I feel sorry for anyone who suffers from claustrophobia. I can understand it since I have walked through many coaches that reminded me of being in a dark cave. I am not claustrophobic but I love having lots of light in my RV. One of the major points of any floor plan I look at is how much window area is in the living room area. My current RV has a whole lot of windows. The downside to lots of windows is that it is harder to keep warm or keep cool.

The normal course of action at this point would be to find an RV with the most open floor plan you can find, however that is a hard sell when someone wants to give you an RV.

Hey sis, tell our cousin if you don't want to take it I will ;D

This reminds me of a story. Back in the 80s I was on the Ventura County Underwater Search and Rescue team. Every month we had a training exercise on the first Sunday of the month doing a different specialty dive. One month we went to Lake Sherwood near Thousand Oaks (rich neighborhood, Gretsky lives there). It is a small lake and all we had to do was jump in and set a search line and search a small area for a gun. The problem was that when you got down below five feet it was total blackout, actually total puke yellow blackout. To see my gauges I had to put the gauge right up against my mask to see it. Three inches away I saw zero. Now I had to do some work in that environment. As the bubbles broke the surface of the water the smell of sulphur was overwhelming. After the dive all my gear had a slight yellow patina that I could not remove. So I guess I am not claustrophobic.

From what you have said so far, you are terrified of thunder & lightening storms, even in a stick house, and hubby is at least mildly claustrophobic. I think either of those would make RV living a very shaky proposition for you two. Near-constant anxiety is very debilitating and tough on relationships.

Even the largest RV is tiny compared to a stick house or even a small apartment. Walls are close and the ceiling relatively low in nearly all of them, and you aren't even considering the larger models (initially you said 26 ft was all you would ever need). And any RV will shudder and rock a bit in a thunderstorm, especially if in one of the the more open RV parks where the wind gets a good sweep. You are going to be very close to nature when she is at her wildest.

Judybird said:

We had another fabulous night with one huge exception.  I'd noticed DH staying outside as much as possible, but I thought it was because of his love of fishing, casting, working on his equipment, playing w/dogs, etc. I remarked for about the 10th time how neat it would be to travel around for a yr or 2 and seriously think about rv'ing full time..  if we didn't like it after that, we could always buy another house or condo.  Our house is big and yard work is becoming too much for him to do, even though he loves it.

Anyway, he wasn't giving me any feedback on the subject, and I asked what's wrong.  Now, he is the sweetest guy you'd ever want to know, and he's been devoted to making my life a happy life since college, so I could tell he was upset about something.  He said, it'll probably be okay but I feel really claustrophobic inside.  My heart sank.  I remembered he has never wanted bathroom doors closed, also he was unable to have an MRI, freaked out going in so they sent him somewhere else to have a more open one instead of the tube type. He wondered if his doctor could give him something for it, I told him I did not know.

Have any of you experienced this or had someone with this problem? 

The saddest ( and happiest) thing is my cousin and I were in his paddle boat late yesterday tooling around and he told me not to buy right now, that he and his wife had been discussing it and would probably buy a 2014 and we could have this awesome RV.  Of course I said nooooooo, he said yessssssss, I said we WILL buy it, he said you can donate to the cause if you want.. They have 2 foundations to help abused women & children and poverty.

What can I do??  DH says driving is no problem, sleeping is okay, bathing and sitting around is seriously hard.

Click to expand...

Better to find out now instead of a $150,000 dollar mistake. All the more reason to go used, and the price on that one sounds right. If your cousin is going to give it to you, maybe you and you DH can spend some more time in it to see if it is  right for you. Maybe he'll get used to it, maybe not.

I remember on our second class C, it had a very large bed over the cab, which I planned on that bed for me and the DW. The first morning I woke up and the DW was in a bad mood kinda. When I asked what was wrong, she said she couldn't sleep up there. Felt like the ceiling was going to come down on her. So the kids got the GOOD bed and we got the couch. Our first class A had a very large rear goucho that made up the bed.

Good luck with your adventure, hope it works out for ya.

We will test drive more, borrow cousin-of-the-year's beaute again, rent a winnebago and tiffin and just see if DH can get used to it.. I doubt we'll become full timer's anytime soon, he loves his workshop and I'd miss flowers.  This was a wonderful experience even though it wasn't what we'd normally find.  So we're gonna see if the public rv camps are something we'll enjoy, go thru a storm or 2, see if the dogs will like just being walked instead of being able to run free.  It was so much fun, and I really appreciate all the words of wisdom here. 

Claustrophobia can be very debilitating.  My mother had it and I learned it from her but have mostly overcome it.  Nevertheless, I walk into some of these dark "luxury" motorhomes with few windows and can't wait to get out.  To me they're very UNattractive and I wouldn't want one if someone gave it to me.  This is what you're facing.  You really need to go motorhome shopping and look for ones with light interiors and lots of windows.  Those were both huge factors for us.  A decade or more ago, the motorhome manufacturers got this crazy idea that dark connotes luxury.  Rubbish!  I've been expressing this opinion for years to no avail.  There ARE light interiors that are attractive and there are motorhomes with lots of windows.  For example, our bedroom has a side-to-side bed in one slide.  There is a very large window on each side.  These two windows provide lots of light and, for the claustrophobic, lots of cross ventilation.  We also have light-color counters throughout, light walls, white appliances, light-color fabrics and lots of windows everywhere.  Slideouts also make a motorhome seems larger.  In addition we have a large in-ceiling kitchen exhaust fan and two Fantastic Fans in each part of the bathroom.  We can walk into the motorhome on a very hot day, open the windows, put on the fans, and have it to a relatively reasonable temperature in a few minutes.  We also got a very light color exterior instead of the black, brown, and gray the RV industry seems stuck on having. 

Be honest with your cousin because you BOTH have to like the motorhome.  If it bothers your husband so much he doesn't want to be inside, then it's not the one for you.  Someone commented that you spend most of your time outside anyway.  Maybe he does, but we definitely do not.  We don't grill outside.  We seldom sit outside especially in buggy or humid areas.  The inside is the most important factor to us and you have to figure out which suits you both.

Make lists of what each of you think is important for a motorhome.  Then divide the list into Must Have, Would Like To Have, Will Take It If Offered, Don't Really Care, and Do Not Want.  The first and last lists are deal breakers.  This exercise should help you pin down what really is and is not important for both you and your husband.  Your ideas might change from one category to another as you shop around and that's okay.  It's what helps you make a decision you won't regret.  Good luck!

ArdraF

We were swimming last night, I can always get him to discuss anything while we're floating around, looking at the moon.  He did mention that he liked the lighter colored rv's.  Cousin's is dark brown and gold on the outside but has light, gold-ish/khaki colored leather seats and couches with light brown pattern floor.  He said the ceiling height bothered him more than anything.  I haven't looked to see if any have 7 ft ceilings.  That may be our best bet. 

Gulf Stream Tourmaster is among several different manufacturers that offer high ceilings. Here is an ad for one and it looks like a double decker bus:

http://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2007-Gulf-Stream-Tourmaster-40-108636106

That one looks nice and has low miles.
It IS in CA so you'd have to fly out and bring it back south.
A bro would do that sort of thing, ya know.  ;D

Judybird said:

That one looks nice and has low miles.
It IS in CA so you'd have to fly out and bring it back south.
A bro would do that sort of thing, ya know.  ;D

Click to expand...

I would do it in a heartbeat sis, but I am in Florida and I don't have wings. If I knew where you were located I could find one in your area.

We are in ATL, buckhead area.. sandy springs is where we've looked at new ones.

Neighbors who have a coachmen offered it to us anytime.  She's recuperating from surgery and can't go anywhere for weeks.  We may take it to the beach; I'll have to find a park that looks good.

We drove a Tiffin Allegro red!!!!
DH in love, I say what about FREE one from cousin??
He said this one better,
I said which body part do u wish to sell??
This one 2014, we're renting a 2013, (salesman's personal)
And taking to savannah rv park tomorrow.  Can't wait.
Salesman not stocking with luscious foods, LOL,
so off to grocery store, we do have the fever.