Thinking about buying a new RV. Any advice? (1 Viewer)

[0rion]

The advice on RENTING before buying is solid. You must absolutely do that first. Check out Outdoorsy.com for rentals in your area.

Someone else mentioned that RVs are cheaply made. Again this is spot on advice with very few exceptions. The biggest exception being Airstream. Their travel trailers last for decades with care. It’s going to cost twice as much as that Vibe you’re looking at but it’ll last you the rest of your life.

RVs, except Airstreams, depreciate quickly. Just be aware.

One more thing is to consider your tow vehicle. You need to know the GVWR, tongue weight, tow capacity, etc., etc.. Do this BEFORE you even look at travel trailers. Also, does your tow vehicle have a trailer brake controller? If you come to Colorado, you’ll need one unless you like playing with death. Also, consider the WET weight of the trailer. That’s the fully loaded weight of the trailer. Make sure your tow vehicle exceeds that weight. In many cases you’re looking at needing a HD pickup of some kind like a Ford F250 or 350.

Oh, Ford and Ram make trailer steering systems that make backing a trailer into a small area an easy process. The Ford system takes a bit of effort to setup but works great. I haven’t seen the Ram system in person but the demo videos make it look even better than Fords.

I have my own back up "system". It consists of 2 slightly intoxicated buddies on either side of the camper not in mirror sight so I can't see them. One is yelling "come on back" and the other is yelling " woah woah woah". Oh....and it's dark and I'm backing in to the blind side haha

 

[DaveXA]

You don’t have to confirm or deny, but I want to believe you were an itinerant preacher when y’all were in the 5th wheel

Yes we were. But I actually didn't travel that much with it. We probably made one trip the entire time we had it. I used our car for the itineration part and family stayed put. Then sold it for what we bought it for, so basically lived rent free in it for 8 months. With the cost of living here what it is, we probably saved over $10k just that one year from that.

 

[jrdbrn]

Well, I am going into it willingly and I know that they are all just different levels of junk. I figure knowing that beforehand helps. I’m pretty handy at DIY so I can repair most things.
sorry you had a bad experience.

FWIW, I sold the camper and bought a boat LOL. I guess I enjoy buying problems.