Renting in USA - from Italy

[whitestar2000]

Hi friends...I'm Italian...and I'm a lover of RV!!! Now I'm thinking around an American RV. I saw a coachmen Mirada...what do you think about this Class A? Obviously in Italy I will use it with  LPG...the gas costs too much in Italy!!!!
Could it be a good purchase???? Is better a forest river class C (sun seeker)?
A need a bit of help...please ))) I don't know anything about American RV market....if someone can tell me something about this argument......

and...again....at the end of this year...I will come in the USA for holiday...I will land in Los Angeles and I have to travel to S.Francisco (I'll take off from there.....), we r 4 people...and we r thinking of renting a Class C for travelling around those areas and visiting cities and parks....what do you think? could it be a good idea? can you give me some suggestion??????

thank you very much....i hope in many answers....

Fabio

 

[Carl L]

Class As come in gasoline or diesel.   Propane I have not heard of.

If you land in LA, I would recommend renting from either El Monte rents or Cruise America.  Both firms have a large European customer base and should be easy to work with.

In December/January the RV scene turns to the deserts of the southwest:  Death Valley, Quartizite (see elsewhere on this forum), Tucson, Phoenix, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, and the Las Vegas area.    San Diego is nice at that time of year also.  San Franciso will be a bit on the cool side.  Yosemite will be snowed in, lovely but best toured in a car and stay in the hotel or lodge.   San Franciso is not to be toured in a motor home either, any time of the year.  However, the town has excellent transit and cab service and loads of tour buses.   LA is easier to handle by motorhome but best handled in a rental car.  LA has the various theme parks but also has an excellent range of museums, restaurants, and live venues, theater, opera, concert, clubs, etc.  Good sight seeing also.  LA even has 4 or 5 mountain ranges at your disposal.  Weather is perfect as in San Diego.

 

[whitestar2000]

thank you very much for your answer.....so you think I have not to rent an rv in usa during my holidays...??? is better I rent a car and I sleep in a hotel....?  if I want also to visit the city of s francisco and LA ?


can you also tell me something about the Mirada? I'd want to buy a new one in italy...but i'm not sure it can be a good choice.....???? what do you think?

thank you very much.....

fabio

 

[MLCBFarrell]

Ciao, Fabio!
My name is LuAnn and I just wanted to say welcome to the Forum! My family lived in Naples from 1996-2000, in the small town of Licola. Our home was right near Magic World, and my husband was in the U.S. Navy working at NATO headquarters.  We loved Italy and miss it very much! I think that a class A motorhome, like the Mirada, would be very large to drive around Italy. After driving many of the roads around Naples and other parts of Italy, I think that a class C would be better for you. I know that many of our American made cars were bigger than most European cars we saw. For example, a Volvo or Mercedes might be considered a large car in Italy, but here there are larger cars. A class A motorhome is both taller and wider than European RV's.  You may have difficulty on certain roads, and it may be too large for many campgrounds. You actually may want to look into class B motorhomes.  Many of the Forum members have been to Europe and will be able to answer many of your questions. I have a friend that comes from the Netherlands (Holland) to visit us one or two times a year. He bought a TomTom GPS unit that has maps of Europe, Canada, and the USA and he rents a car when he comes to travel, and stays in hotels. The TomTom is a big help to him in finding his way around our large country.
I hope that you find this information useful!

 

[Carl L]

thank you very much for your answer.....so you think I have not to rent an rv in usa during my holidays...??? is better I rent a car and I sleep in a hotel....?  if I want also to visit the city of s francisco and LA ?


can you also tell me something about the Mirada? I'd want to buy a new one in italy...but i'm not sure it can be a good choice.....???? what do you think?

thank you very much.....

fabio

Motor homes are completely unusable in San Francisco.   Folks with them stay in campgrounds outside the City and tour in cars, towed or rental, or hire tours.  Best comparison that I can think of is imagine trying to drive a motorhome in London or Naples.

Los Angeles is more friendly to large vehicles like motorhomes but most parking will be difficult.  There are RV parks near Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farms and Universal City has a lot of parking.  

If you intend to just tour LA and SF do not rent a motorhome.  If however, you would like to tour the National Parks and desert wild areas by all means do so.   A lot would depend on how long to plan to tour on your holiday.  How long would you want to tour here?

As far quality of any particular motorhome, I cannot answer but maybe some of our motorhome gurus will spot these messages.  Better yet, ask about the Mirada in the Motohome section of the forum.

 

[Tom]

Better yet, ask about the Mirada in the Motohome section of the forum.

That's what he already did 

 

[whitestar2000]

Hi Luann,

hnk you a lot. I'm very happy you likr italy and you stayed herefor some year! Me too I went to naples and sleeped near the nato headquarter....I live near milan (60 km sw) but util 2 years ago i travlled a lot around italy for businness...i hope we can keep in touch and become friends....and why not meeting when we came in USA for holidays...

around the Mirada me too i think that probbly it's too large for our street, although I'choosing th entry level Mirada , the one with 96" of width. The problem is that I'm charmed by USa motorhomes.....

in any case I have also some european alternative...an Hymer mobil with 27' of lenght and 93" of width....always a big mh but smaller than mirada.....


thank you again....

fabio