Looking for Advice on Class C

[TA Hippies]

Looked at first RV today.  Gulfstream conquest 6245.  love the layout and size.  walk around bed!!

Thankfully did not take the checkbook!

After reading the post about diesel or gas, am leaning towards gas.

Ford or Chevy?  Like the drivers seat in the Chevy, Ford sat too low for me.

Levelers or not?

8 cu ft fridge or 6?

All of the gulfstreams seem to have the same capacities for water/holding tanks/ lp

What do you watch out for in a used rv?

 

[JasonJ400]

If New then layout and price will have to be factored about what you know about quality of construction.
If used, your greatest concerns will be roof / exterior condition and layout as well as full check out of function and what you know about the quality of the builds and how many older ones are out there and what is their condition and resale price.
Most of the Class C RVs that use Chevy chassis are smaller, lighter rigs that tend to be a bit cheaper. Many RV makers push the Gross weight of the chassis with their EMPTY weights so that's something to consider.  The Ford E-350s are tried and true and have been used on the larger Class C RVs for like 40 years. If used DO look for the Ford 7.5 L (460 CI) EFI gas Fords as they are pretty bullet proof but avoid the Triton V-8 and V-10s (seriously) .
I have not seen ANY gas powered Chevy Class C rigs over 20 years old running and driving much less in camp ready condition for sale or running around in the last 4 years I have been looking that have not had the drive trains upgraded .

Levelers are great but depending on where you camp $25 worth of leveling blocks and wood boards can do the job. The leveling gear is also one more thing that can break and some of the ones I have seen on newer rigs can cause frame damage to the rig if used for a long time and or on high grades.

Maybe a good idea to rent some for a long weekend to see how the layouts and all work for you.
 

 

[Spring Creek]

I would by a Ford V10 any day.  I?m a die hard GM guy and am very impressed (I?ve put on about 40,000 miles over 3 of them).

I am also not aware but would stand corrected if there are issues I?ve not heard about but, I?ve not read much if any bad posts about the V10 on this forum.

My opinions and observations....FWIW.

Also my opinion, don?t buy anything with a corner bed? You, or your spouse will never be able to make it ?

 

[Kevin Means]

I'm like Kurt, a die hard GM guy, but I think the Ford V-10 has proven to be an outstanding RV engine. The 1999 version we had in our previous coach never had anything go wrong with it in the 12 years we owned it.

Kev

 

[Old_Crow]

I'll go these guys one better. 
I was a service tech at various GM dealerships for over 20 years. In fact, for about 8 years I worked exclusively on motor homes with the P30 chassis. 
I could give you a list of the vehicles I've owned over the years and up until I got into Jeeps the list was almost exclusively GM products.
When we first decided to go full time we owned a Class A on a P30 chassis that was too small.  We sold it and bought one on a Ford chassis with a V-10.  Very happy and don't see going back to GM anytime soon.

 

[LarsMac]

Gas seems to be the standard for most Class C units.

Ford seems to be almost standard, these days, as well.

Levelers: I love having the levelers. I will likely never go without automagic leveling systems, again.

The larger the fridge, the better, in my book.

>>>What do you watch out for in a used rv?
The Cab: You will be spending hours in the cab of a class C. It needs to feel comfortable. The Ford E-450 was not designed for comfort. The "Passenger seat" in many of them is not a comfortable place to sit for  long time.
Water damage around windows and doors. Critical issue.
Look underneath. check for grease and grease stains, rust and, again, water stains, or signs of dripping.

 

[skydivemark]

I agree with others on the Ford V-10. Our first C class had about 115k miles on it when we bought it so I talked them WAY down from asking price. We had it close to 7 years and sold it with nearly 140k miles on it. Other than air filter and regular oil changes it required nothing.

 

[TA Hippies]

So Ford has the most votes!

Thanks, we already decided NO corner bed, looking at many floor plans. 

 

[JasonJ400]

Yeah I will stand corrected on the more modern V-10s. Also, many motor homes rarely see the mileage where the Triton V-8s started to have head gasket and timing chain issues (over 150K) .
What kind of mileage are you V-10 class C drivers getting?

 

[LarsMac]

Yeah I will stand corrected on the more modern V-10s. Also, many motor homes rarely see the mileage where the Triton V-8s started to have head gasket and timing chain issues (over 150K) .
What kind of mileage are you V-10 class C drivers getting?

We can get up to 11 mpg without the Toad. With the Toad, that only happens when we're going downhill.
On our run last summer, we ran 5275 miles, and consumed 532 gallons of Regular Gas.
That included about 138 hours on the Onan Genny.
I think that's close enough to 10mpg to claim it.

 

[wae]

So the big block Ford hasn't been in the E-series chassis since the mid 90's.  Not a bad motor but in that era I'm a little partial to the 454 BBC.  I assume The General put those in the van cut-away chassis, but not sure. 

The 6.8L gassers have proven to be pretty reliable.  There were some problems with cam phasers and timing chain guides in the 5.4 and 4.6 V8 motors, but the 6.8 doesn't have cam phasers and while it is possible to break the guides it's not really that common in the V10.  I think that the newer Chevy class C chassis, the biggest motor they offer is the 6.0L Vortec.  Not a bad engine, but the 6.8L makes a little more power.  Honestly, if you're looking at buying something that's a couple years old, I don't think you'll go wrong with either one, but in my opinion the Ford is a simpler design.

 

[Spring Creek]

Mileage:
5.5 mpg with a stiff headwind (30+ mph)
9 mpg with the same mph tailwind

Normal: 7 mpg give or take 0.5 mpg

All numbers towing 4 down at 65mph

 

[decaturbob]

Mileage:
5.5 mpg with a stiff headwind (30+ mph)
9 mpg with the same mph tailwind

Normal: 7 mpg give or take 0.5 mpg

All numbers towing 4 down at 65mph

similar to what I have seen for 4 years as well