I've been seeing A LOT of Class B's and Sprinter-based B+/C's on the road lately

[bigfatguy]

DW and I started seriously thinking about buying an RV maybe... 5-6 years ago.

At that time, it was basically impossible to rent a Sprinter based RV (I was able to find ONE company in Vegas, and a smattering of individual people hither and yon).

When we'd go to an RV dealership, they'd have a couple of Roadtrek's, and they'd actively work to prevent you from buying them. (I got into an argument with an RV salesman who basically told me to man up and learn to drive if I didn't want a big Class C.)

(I had one salesguy tell me:
    1: nobody wants to buy them
    2: they're always out of stock and hard to get
)

These days, the dang things are EVERYWHERE. If you discount rental RV's (Roadbear and the like), I drove past more Class B/B+ than Class A's on this weekend's trip to Arizona... and it was starting to approach the number of travel trailers and 5th Wheels. I'm even seeing them driving around town and in parking lots.

It's a good time to like tiny Diesel RV's.

 

[blw2]

I notice them a lot too.
Almost every time I see one I imagine how nice they would be for road trips.... for a single or a couple. 
Not really full timing or long terming maybe, but long road trips...vacation type trips
ability to boondock en route along the way
drive and park almost anywhere
good for short stays at places
no so crazy to mix in some hotel or resort type stays...
it's a great place to hang out while DW shops
bathroom and fridge onboard... and light cooking too

seems like almost all of the advantages of travelling in a large car or suv with most of the advantages of an RV too.

 

[jubileee]

  We went from a class A to a B ( Roadtrek) about a month ago and we?re loving it. Have a couple of day trips in and a 1800 mi. round trip. Leaving shortly for Battle Mountain NV. about a 1500 mi. round trip.
  Planning on going to balloon festival in Albuquerque this year and parking right in with the autos. ( or wherever). We?ve skipped the last 5-6 years because of the hassle with the class A, toad, and congestion.
  I?m still smiling at that 14.2 mph we got on the 1800 mile trip while fighting headwinds both directions.

 

[Isaac-1]

I own a small class A , 29'5" bumper to bumper and I too look at those 25-26 ft bumper to bumper Sprinters with a certain level of consideration, until I actually get in one and see just how much more space I have with an additional 4 ft of length, 6 inches of width and 10 inches of height.  I also see just how little cargo carrying capacity those 11,030 pound GVWR chassis have, less than 500 pounds a number of models for passengers, and gear, vs nearly 3,000 pounds of carrying capacity I have in my Safari Trek 2830 with its 17,000 pound GVWR with empty water tanks.      So sure they may be nice for a couple of a weekend or even day trip, I am not sure I would want to spend a week or two in one.

 

[blw2]

Yeah, maybe a good question...similar to what I used to ask about the old popup camper
in this case...
is it an upgraded SUV/car or a downsized RV?
Depending on which side of this question you're looking, I think might say a lot about your opinion of them.
of course I'm only speculating because I've only walked in a few at shows and watched a few youtube videos on them....

When we used to look at our popup as a upgraded tent, we loved it.... then over time we started looking at it as a really low end and limited RV that takes a lot of work to set-up.

 

[jubileee]

All good points. I equate the class B as the right choice at the right time in our lives. In 58 years of marriage, we went station wagon, tent, slide in PU camper, pop up, bumper pull, class C, class A, and now class B. All seem appropriate for the time. Could be there is a lot of us old codgers downsizing.

 

[bigfatguy]

I was told by more than one salesperson that engineers (of which DW and I are both one) seem to gravitate to Class B's... must be something with a love for efficiency.

 

[Hfx_Cdn]

    20+ years ago when we first started looking at RV's a customer of mine used to refer to the class B as "a divorce in a can".  Now we are back wondering if one wouldn't meet our desires once our summer cottage sells.

Ed

 

[UTTransplant]

I love looking at Class Bs for the same reason I like looking at Tiny Houses - they are just so cute! And I think they are popular for people who aren?t comfortable driving bigger RVs or who take shorter trips. It seems like the vast majority of people take a few weekends a summer plus one or two longer vacations, and a Class B would be great for that, at least for 2 people.

For a different demographic, we had a good discussion with a couple in Death Valley last year who had a Class B. They went with us in our truck to drive Titus Canyon, a rough but beautiful road that was suited to a SUV but not their Class B. (Side note: This is certainly something we are going to do at the Death Valley Rally. Great fun!) They were from the east coast, and they had a Class B they left out west between trips. Their trips were about 4 weeks long on average, and they did about 3 a year. She was definitely getting tired of the small space, but she was also really worried about driving anything bigger. She was surprised that I said she was capable of driving either a truck or RV. It really is just a matter of practice, instruction, and desire. She started talking about the low depreciation on their unit, and maybe they could get something bigger ...

 

[Murray]

We've hired class B (20ft) for 3 months last year and 6 weeks this year, both times taking it on roads with size limits that would have meant long detours in anything bigger. Touring for that time inevitably means driving in towns etc and parking, it fits readily in most supermarket car spaces. Also saw many more this year in 6 weeks than last year in 3 months and there are lots for sale secondhand or even new in stock in dealers.