Isaac-1
Well-known member
Given your budget, as well as plans for only keeping it for about 2 years, I would suggest looking at something that is 5-7 years of age, negotiate in a new set of tires if it still has the original tires, and invest in a good extended warranty to cover any expenses that come up. I would say 8-10 years old, but that gets you into the 2009-2011 production years where companies were going out of business left and right, and many companies were cutting every corner they could find, resulting in sub par build quality in an industry not know for it at the best of times.
Having said that, buying the right motorhome is not easy, you may find a floor plan that you think you like, just to find things you absolutely hate about it after living in it for a while, these may be things that never occur to you when you are shopping. Let me give you an example of one of those things from my coach, it has top hinged cargo compartment doors, that I hate because, 1 I end up bashing my head on them when standing up, and 2, if they are wet or if it is raining they funnel water past the hinge and into the cargo compartment when I open them. One thing my wife hates about our current coach is the shower, which is a 32 inch neo-angle shower, which is relatively spacious for an RV shower, what she does not like is the relatively narrow doorway and the cold metal trim when getting in and out of the shower.
As to market placement for any given brand this is a complicated issue, some brands only build mid to upper tier coaches, other brands have a wider spread, and on top of this over the years some brands, and even specific models have moved both up and down market.
Take Holiday rambler as an example, They have been on a near constant downward trend in the marketplace for the last 35+ years, slowly going from a premium brand, to a mid upper, brand, to a general mid range brand, though even 15 years ago they offered both entry level models as well as premium models (well at least mid-upper end). Then you have specific models, take the Tiffin Allergro Bay for example, 20 years ago it was an entry level coach, that may have been slightly better than some other brands entry level models, but nothing special, today it is still Tiffins lowest tier model, but Tiffin as a whole has moved up market, making the Allegro Bay today line up with mid to upper mid range offerings from some other brands.
Having said that, buying the right motorhome is not easy, you may find a floor plan that you think you like, just to find things you absolutely hate about it after living in it for a while, these may be things that never occur to you when you are shopping. Let me give you an example of one of those things from my coach, it has top hinged cargo compartment doors, that I hate because, 1 I end up bashing my head on them when standing up, and 2, if they are wet or if it is raining they funnel water past the hinge and into the cargo compartment when I open them. One thing my wife hates about our current coach is the shower, which is a 32 inch neo-angle shower, which is relatively spacious for an RV shower, what she does not like is the relatively narrow doorway and the cold metal trim when getting in and out of the shower.
As to market placement for any given brand this is a complicated issue, some brands only build mid to upper tier coaches, other brands have a wider spread, and on top of this over the years some brands, and even specific models have moved both up and down market.
Take Holiday rambler as an example, They have been on a near constant downward trend in the marketplace for the last 35+ years, slowly going from a premium brand, to a mid upper, brand, to a general mid range brand, though even 15 years ago they offered both entry level models as well as premium models (well at least mid-upper end). Then you have specific models, take the Tiffin Allergro Bay for example, 20 years ago it was an entry level coach, that may have been slightly better than some other brands entry level models, but nothing special, today it is still Tiffins lowest tier model, but Tiffin as a whole has moved up market, making the Allegro Bay today line up with mid to upper mid range offerings from some other brands.