Challenger or Astoria

[Rodneykrantz]

We love the Challenger Floor plan but we can spend $30000.00 more and get a diesel is it worth it to go diesel over gas.

[The Woodieboys]

If your are ever going to go into the mountains get the diesel. The power and more towing capacity will come in handy. Once you have had a pusher you won't ever go back. But is is a lot more money in initial purchase, yearly maintenance costs, and the fuel is more.

But that being said if you like the floor plan of the Challenger and more inportant the co-pilot likes it then you have to decide if the additional costs are worth the diesel or not.

Either way you are looking at two very good coaches. Damon (just cannot get used to Thor Motorized Services) has very good products and stands behind them.

[jcthorne]

'Worth' has to be in the eye of the beholder.

Except for a very few fulltimers that rack up LOTS of miles, there is no financial long or short term justification for the DP.

You need to drive both of them and decide if the difference in up front cost and continuing cost of fuel and maintanance are worth the difference to YOU. There is no right and wrong answer here. The DP (like motorhomes in general) can only be justified by WANT, not for financial reasons or NEED.

[teddyu]

How far can you go on the $30000 difference? With tune-ups at 100000 miles, in my opinion, the additional cost of the diesel is not worth it. The floor plan should be the most important concern. You live in the unit probably 70% of the time, while driving it 30%. Which does the CP think is more important? Engine or stove & storage? Bought a new 371 in 2008. The V-10 pulled the hills/mountains on I-90 & I-80 easily. Passed many DP in the proecess. Just my 2 cents

[The Woodieboys]

Again, this is one of those Ford vs Chevy arguments. Everyone is wrong and everyone is right. It really comes down to your decision on the coach, floor plan, mileage, power, maintenance, etc and what you feel is the better situation for you.

[larryellert]

Hi I will put in my 2 cents
In the last 25 years I have had 5 class A motor homes. My 26ft Winni. was a gas Dodge then a 28ft Pace Arrow on a P30 Chev.,a 2003 30ft on a Ford ,A 35 ft Diesel Monaco La palma on a roadmaster [with leaf springs] and my present 2010 Damon 40ft.Tuscany diesel with full air brakes and air suppension. My family and I have enjoyed them all. The diesel coaches seem to have more power in the mountians [North Calif] pulling my Toad. and get a little better fuel mileage. Two things that I like more in the diesels is the lack of engine noise up front.I do not have to turn up the radio as we climb hills or when desending hill with the turbo slow down feature. Also as the coaches got to be 30ft or more the air bag ride is a big improvement over leaf springs.These things maybe do not justify the added cost but to me and my wife they were things we desired.
Good Luck with what ever you chose
Larry

[SteveOGilroy]

We have a 2008 Astoria and have enjoyed every trip. We drove 11847 miles in as 93 day trip to Alaska, about mid-America then home to Gilroy CA and not one problem with the engine or chassis. I did have a problem with the bathroom facuet - a adult child was too tough on handling it! We enjoy the towing power and fuel economy. 10 trip average (calculated not from the digital read out which does not consider the generator usage) was ~ 10 MPG average.

[DBOL]

Floor Plan,Floor Plan and of course Power and ride we have Tuscany 2008 4055 like a small Home 4 Rooms and we like the Homey feeling!

They all cost to much,but you cant take it with you!

[powerboatr]

did someone mention FLOORPLAN ?
that is IMO the top of the list,
can you and your family live with the floorplan? is there enough storage and weight capacity to travel comfortably

I would go sit in both, open up the slides, crawl through the basement
get to know the floorplan and then see what makes YOU happy

as far as a Damon product....so far so good they have stood behind the unit
800 number folks take cs pretty serious, at least in my case

[195pilot]

Last year we bought a "new" 2007 Challenger (Ford F53) - a left over from the poor economy and the dealer was anxious to get rid of it. We've loved it! Put 11,000 miles on it last summer and autumn. We live in Illinois but drove two trips to Okla, one to Denver and one to Las Cruces, NM. We've been up to 9,000' elevation enroute to Las Cruces.

In my opinion the gas engine has adequate power, although it took all it had to maintain speed in the climb to 9,000'. On a really long pull, the cruise control kicked off, probably because it hit the stop. I generally cruise at 62-65 mph and in normal rolling terrain it holds speed nicely. Mileage is 7 mpg or so.

The front engine does make some noise when it's working hard - I'd expect that the DP is quieter.

I like having the entry door behind the copilot instead of having to fool with the steps in front of her when I need to get out to fuel, etc. And I also like having the door somewhat protected by the awning when we're parked and it's raining, but we want to use the screen door for ventilation.

We've been very pleased with our Damon. In fact my wife & I just went to the Chicago RV show last weekend and were delighted that we like our MH better than anything we saw there. That even goes for some that are significantly more expensive than ours! Thor/Damon seems to have done a good job of features vs. cost.

As others have said, the floorplan is what made it for us. I'll join them in recommending that you make the floorplan be your primary decision factor between the two.