# Newbie warning!



## 99412 (May 25, 2006)

Hi there, having just discovered this forum, I spent 3 hours last night reading the posts. What an informed and helpful loy you all are! Loads of questions were answered, and lots of the myth & legend about ARVs was put down.

One big question remains for me: just as we all have a 'pecking order' of build quality in european cars. is there a pecking order of build quality in ARVs? I noted some caveats from board members about stapled together fittings, and some makes using fibreboard rather than something more substantial. So which makes do you consider to be top notch and which less so?


----------



## 97993 (Mar 5, 2006)

Welcome to the forum, Im a european M/H user so will leave all the answers to the RV fraturunity (I keep looking at them though so you never know)
A lot of them will be away this weekend so info may be slowr than usual
Geo


----------



## 88927 (May 10, 2005)

Hi DaMann
Welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy your stay. Hopefully you will love it so much that you will subscribe and stay a while longer...
In my opinion the Monaco coach range takes some beating, they are the bees knees, to me anyway, and if my piggy bank ever gets enough in it :wink: :wink: :wink: 

I assume you are asking the question because you are thinking of buying an ARV? If so what have you seen that takes your fancy???
Fleetwood are a good manufacturer as is Damon.
You will really need to get out there and see them for yourself because of the many different layouts and finishes.....

Good luck

Keith


----------



## olley (May 1, 2005)

Hi Damann welcome to the forum, we all have our own ideas of which are the better quality RV's, my own thoughts are that its down to price, if you see a brand new 30-34' for much less than £100,000 then you need to look very carefully at what you are buying.

Other's will no doubt disagree :lol: 

Olley


----------



## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

DaMann,

The USA RV market is massive and highly competitive, which means that in the main you get what you pay for, all the more so if you compare realistic transaction prices rather than MRSP/sticker prices. Frankly, I don't think there is much inside knowledge to a bargain. The money may be spend in different areas, of course, and the laws of marketing would lead one to expect money saved in areas hidden to a casual buyer, which is one good reason why for long-term reliable use I would always *prefer* to prioritise in order of chassis, engine/transmission and finally layout.

However in *practice* for legal European use you willl be limited to a very small sub-set of the RV market in any case, so I would narrow things down on the basis of width, length, diesel or petrol/LPG and number of slides, by which time you will find, certainly if buying new, you will not have that wide a choice over layout, manufacturer, chassis and engine/transmission anyway, even less if your price range is restricted. If by that time you find you have a plethora of manufacturers, go for the big names with larger production. I still find Winnebago a very good middle-of-the-road yardstick.

Dave


----------



## Guest (May 26, 2006)

*Newbie warning*

Concerning European versus American:

With so many variables there is no substitute for experience.

I bought an old Chevrolet with a diesel engine and all the usual American standard equipment such as large fridge, freezer, cooker, air conditioning, large shower/bathroom and automatic gearbox.

I have learned from my experiences and know better what I will eventually buy long term.

Decisions like engine: diesel or petrol/lpg 
cooking with LPG installed or buying propane/butane bottles
(eg gas heaters produce water. Do you want that extra moisture inside such a restricted space?)
Is the extra volume of a slide worth the considerable weight?
Is there a length limit worth the hassle of manoeuvre problems?
Is the truck type width a cause of problems for you?
Can you cope with left hand drive in UK?
Other problems include:
Can you legally drive such a vehicle with your existing driving license?
Can you get insurance cover?

You are unlikely to get it right first time anyway. I strongly suggest you dont buy new as a first time buyer.

It was a whole new world for me and I am very glad I joined it.
Good luck.
Skywriter.


----------



## 99412 (May 25, 2006)

The criteria we have are: 30 foot or less, less than 7.5 tonnes, double bed you can get to at leat 2 sides on. pref 3 and A class. Oh yes, and after reading elsewhere, less than 2.55 metres wide. This has brought us down to 10 European and 19 American. I am pretty sure that this will drop further on second pass due to weight or width.

Interesting though isn't it? :lol:


----------



## Scotjimland (May 23, 2005)

Hi

All good advice so far, I strongly agree with DAB about prioritising chassis, engine, layout then length. 
Under 30ft and 7.5ton will almost certainly rule out a diesel pusher which in the opinion of many RVers, including myself, is the preferred engine chassis layout but if you aren't going to fulltime then a front engine diesel on a shorter chassis would be fine. 
Running costs are also a factor to take into consideration, as previously mentioned, insurance, running costs, maintenance etc are all considerably more than a European .. owning an RV can be expensive, you may need deep pockets but don't be put off by scaremongers. 
A couple of questions, do you have a budget in mind and how will you use it ?

Our choice was based on the following criteria.

1.Budget. 40-50k, so it would need to be second hand. 
2.Size, we needed a bus large enough to fulltime with two kids, so it had to be 34-36ft 
3.Engine/ Chassis, I wanted a Cummins or CAT diesel pusher on a Spartan chassis. >>Spartan<< 
4. When the above criteria were met we then looked at the quality of the coach, finish, layout, history etc etc .. 
Best of luck in your search and come back with more questions, meanwhile have a look at this UK site for rv enthusiasts www.rvfulltiming.com


----------



## 97785 (Feb 19, 2006)

olley said:


> Hi Damann welcome to the forum, we all have our own ideas of which are the better quality RV's, my own thoughts are that its down to price, if you see a brand new 30-34' for much less than £100,000 then you need to look very carefully at what you are buying.
> 
> Other's will no doubt disagree :lol:
> 
> Olley


In some ways I disagree with that because I know of a few good quality new A class RV's with up to three slides such as the Forest River Georgetowns, Coachmen Auroras, Winnebagos, Trail Aire.

Try Freedom, Griffin's, Dudley's.

Craig


----------



## 99412 (May 25, 2006)

It's very difficult to decide on the 'unseen' things is RV design. By that I mean petrol or diesel, chassis type etc. As I have only ever used a diesel fiat based MH in the past I have no real understanding of the pros and cons of diesel / LPG or engines position etc. If anybody can help I eager to learn.


----------



## 97291 (Jan 15, 2006)

Hi DaMann,

Whilst I was over in the States last year I was going around all the RV salerooms looking at maybe importing a disabled converted RV, I posed the question on the difference in price to petrol and diesel RVs, there reply was with petrol being so cheep to sell the diesels the build quality was more superior external and internal, with that one of the sales men showed me over a selection of petrol and then the diesel range and yes I can say he was right.

I'm still pondering whether to go for an ARV or a purpose built one here.

Vince


----------

