Jayco Quality?

[bengreen]

I'm in the process of purchasing an Entegra Esteem 29V motor home, which is made by Jayco. Reading through the forums I'm not seeing/hearing good things about Jayco? Thoughts and opinion? Is Jayco a brand I should be avoiding? What about Winnebago? Their Winnie Minnie 31K seems to be a similar floor plan to the esteem 29v.

I'm a bit concerned by some of the posts I'm seeing on the forum about Jayco.

 

[DonTom]

I'm in the process of purchasing an Entegra Esteem 29V motor home, which is made by Jayco. Reading through the forums I'm not seeing/hearing good things about Jayco? Thoughts and opinion? Is Jayco a brand I should be avoiding? What about Winnebago? Their Winnie Minnie 31K seems to be a similar floor plan to the esteem 29v.

I'm a bit concerned by some of the posts I'm seeing on the forum about Jayco.

No matter what type of new motorhome you buy, expect a few problems. The problems vary and most of it probably depends on luck more than the brand.

You can always pay for an RV inspector, but I have my doubts that even they can find everything wrong, but I am sure they can do better than the average owner.

I am happy with my. . .well, see here.

But it did have a few small issues, as expected.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Onyrlef]

I'm in the process of purchasing an Entegra Esteem 29V motor home, which is made by Jayco. Reading through the forums I'm not seeing/hearing good things about Jayco? Thoughts and opinion? Is Jayco a brand I should be avoiding? What about Winnebago? Their Winnie Minnie 31K seems to be a similar floor plan to the esteem 29v.

I'm a bit concerned by some of the posts I'm seeing on the forum about Jayco.

The fabric coverings will start deteriorating in ~2 yrs, by year 5 or 6 they'll look so bad a homeless encampment wouldn't have them. They use the same material for window treatments and accents, it will need replacing as well. Jayco has known about the issue for almost 15 years, but since most problems arise subsequent to the expiration of the warranty they're good with it and tell the owners to go pound sand. The cost for recovering seats, cushions and etc. in a Jayco Class A can run $5-10k

 

[Oldgator73]

Like Don said whatever you purchase there will be problems. Hopefully you will be able to fix them yourself since the dealer nor the manufacturer will be of much help. There’s a woman on YouTube that chronicles folks problems with their RV’s and the travails they encounter trying to get them fixed. The last one I watched was about a couple that purchased a new Tiffin class a diesel pusher for nearly one million dollars. There were so many problems they were trying to get Tiffin to buy it back. Just proves it doesn’t matter how much you spend.

 

[Onyrlef]

Like Don said whatever you purchase there will be problems. Hopefully you will be able to fix them yourself since the dealer nor the manufacturer will be of much help. There’s a woman on YouTube that chronicles folks problems with their RV’s and the travails they encounter trying to get them fixed. The last one I watched was about a couple that purchased a new Tiffin class a diesel pusher for nearly one million dollars. There were so many problems they were trying to get Tiffin to buy it back. Just proves it doesn’t matter how much you spend.

A sample of 10, much less one, isn't exactly proof. Whataboutism notwithstanding, the OP is concerned with Jayco's poor QC record and their use of shoddy materials. He's right to be concerned.

 

[Oldgator73]

A sample of 10, much less one, isn't exactly proof. Whataboutism notwithstanding, the OP is concerned with Jayco's poor QC record and their use of shoddy materials. He's right to be concerned.

Not sure what you are getting at. What I was intimating was no matter what you purchase, whether it be entry level or high end, there will be problems. I would posit every manufacture has poor QC, even if they use high end materials.

 

[gwinger]

Most of the time, only bad reviews are posted.

 

[Oldgator73]

Most of the time, only bad reviews are posted.

Given the testimonials here I would posit there are many bad reviews. Folks new to the game are maybe more apt to complain because they don’t know what they are getting into. The couple I mentioned above with million dollar Tiffin are veteran RV’ers with several buys under their belts.

 

[Ohiosnowbird]

I'm in the process of purchasing an Entegra Esteem 29V motor home, which is made by Jayco. Reading through the forums I'm not seeing/hearing good things about Jayco? Thoughts and opinion? Is Jayco a brand I should be avoiding? What about Winnebago? Their Winnie Minnie 31K seems to be a similar floor plan to the esteem 29v.

I'm a bit concerned by some of the posts I'm seeing on the forum about Jayco.

I wish we had asked similar questions. We bought a brand new Thor and there have been many serious issues we’ve dealt with at great expense and time to us. We just “assumed” new meant hop in and drive it away. You know what they say about the word “assume”. Someone once said to us, I’d be concerned about anything produced during the recent “greed fest”, they’re right. Lessons learned. Do your homework!

IMHO, it’s not so much the brand of the RV as it is the quality of the work at the factory. I imagine there’s great turnover in the manufacturing end of the industry and each build crew is different. I’m pretty sure the crew that put ours together smoked crack on a regular basis and probably while assembling it! I’m not sure anything made after 2018 will have reliability or quality of the past.

 

[Onyrlef]

I wish we had asked similar questions. We bought a brand new Thor and there have been many serious issues we’ve dealt with at great expense and time to us. We just “assumed” new meant hop in and drive it away. You know what they say about the word “assume”. Someone once said to us, I’d be concerned about anything produced during the recent “greed fest”, they’re right. Lessons learned. Do your homework!

IMHO, it’s not so much the brand of the RV as it is the quality of the work at the factory. I imagine there’s great turnover in the manufacturing end of the industry and each build crew is different. I’m pretty sure the crew that put ours together smoked crack on a regular basis and probably while assembling it! I’m not sure anything made after 2018 will have reliability or quality of the past.

The pandemic created the perfect storm for poor quality. The plants lost many if not most of their experienced staff coupled with skyrocketing demand. The mfg’ers hired anyone with a pulse and began running extra shifts, QC would have slowed down production so it went out the door. The objective was to make as much money as possible while the getting was good. IMO, a person is better off buying a 2-3 yr. old coach where the original owner has done most of the suffering. The notion that a professional inspector is going to uncover many of the defects that may not arise until months down the road is magical thinking.

 

[PancakeBill]

Jayco is typically a decent quality coach, and Enter is the upper end of their brand,. Regarding the material on the upholstery, if it is the fake leather, maybe, maybe, the manufacturer has figured it out. It is on a chair that was purchased from another manufacturer, Jayco is not building furniture. if you have the option, opt for fabric.

My nextdoor neighbors have an Entegra and are happy with there, but they are not posting praise, only people with issues post, either to vent or to get help.

 

[Onyrlef]

Jayco is typically a decent quality coach, and Enter is the upper end of their brand,. Regarding the material on the upholstery, if it is the fake leather, maybe, maybe, the manufacturer has figured it out. It is on a chair that was purchased from another manufacturer, Jayco is not building furniture. if you have the option, opt for fabric.

My nextdoor neighbors have an Entegra and are happy with there, but they are not posting praise, only people with issues post, either to vent or to get help.

You’re right, Jayco has figured it out. They figured out the upholstery doesn’t usually start disintegrating until at least after the warranty has expired and so they’re still using it.

 

[PancakeBill]

Not just Jayco, it is the furniture manufacturer using that material. It goes across many brands.

 

[DonTom]

We bought a brand new Thor and there have been many serious issues we’ve dealt with at great expense and time to us.

When I was RV shopping, the Thor Axis was the very first looked at as I was shopping for a small Class A. To me, it looked like it was cheaply built compared to the Class A that I did buy. Also, cost a bit more, but I felt was well worth the price difference. But even it had its share of issues, as expected. But it was all small stuff that I could take care of. Except for this.

But that will not happen often.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Oldgator73]

We purchased a Thor Signature 5th wheel in 1998. Less than a year later I had it at the factory replacing the front cap, wiring harness and middle axle. We didn’t have a computer or internet so I couldn’t complain to millions of folks.

 

[Onyrlef]

Not just Jayco, it is the furniture manufacturer using that material. It goes across many brands.

There are other furniture brands and other type coverings. No one is holding a gun to the heads of Jayco decision makers forcing them to buy and install that garbage. “Other people suck too” doesn’t mean you suck less.

 

[PancakeBill]

ya ya ya,

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

In my recollection (some30 years of RVing), Jayco used to be one of the better brands. Back in the days when it was a small-ish manufacturer, owned and operated by the Bontrager family. As it grew and expanded, it became more corporate and now is just another division of the Thor conglomerate (even though there is still a Bontrager as CEO).

Most all RV makers suffer from inconsistent quality, where flaws in design, materials, and workmanship are allowed to escape the factory. The dealer system is supposed to catch those escapes at the dealer, but the extreme customer focus on sale prices (discounts) discourage any real effort to find and fix problems prior to delivery. The bottom line is that any new RV you buy is likely to have bugs and some will have many and some will be serious. Jayco seems no better or worse than others in that regard. Without having any data to back me up, I'll opine that 25% of new RVs have either many flaws or a few serious ones, while another 25% are pretty good, with only a few small glitches. And the remaining 50% are somewhere in-between.

 

[Oldgator73]

It’s not only the defects in materials and workmanship, it’s the difficulty in getting the dealer and/or manufacturer to fix these defects.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

It’s not only the defects in materials and workmanship, it’s the difficulty in getting the dealer and/or manufacturer to fix these defects.

That too - a warranty isn't much good if the repairs take many months to get done or the dealer shop does shoddy work. Both of which are more the rule than the exception.