Yesterday (Friday), my wife and I attended the Tampa Supershow and had the pleasure of meeting Ed Gray and DriVer. We had a nice chat with Ed at the Workhorse booth. I got to test drive a UFO and we also had a nice chat with DriVer while we were on the test drive because we were privileged to have DriVer himself take us out.
All I can say is WOW! I like our W24, but I am REALLY impressed by the UFO. The first thing you notice is how quiet it is. After I turned the key, I almost turned it again because I thought the engine didn't start. But when I listened carefully, I could hear it purring in the back. When driving along, even at interstate speed, pretty much all you can hear is a little road noise from the front tires. My hearing isn't the greatest, but about the only time I could hear the engine was under hard acceleration. I know I have the same engine and similar gearing and I know this motorhome wasn't loaded like ours, but the acceleration seemed much quicker. Maybe the lack of transmission whine and engine noise made it seem more effortless and therefore faster.
I thought the suspension was smooth and quiet. The ride was better than our W24 and there was much less thumping from the front suspension going over pavement cracks and expansion joints. The coach tracked well with no sway or wandering.
IMO, however, the best part about the UFO is the handling. We drove some of the surface streets around the fairgrounds and since the fairgrounds are near the intersection of I-4 and I-10, we got to take a number of interstate ramps. Driver kept urging me to give it more gas, take the ramps faster, and to actually jerk the wheel to make abrupt lane changes (after checking for traffic). No matter what I did (and I really thought I went MUCH faster than I could have gone in our W24), at no time did the UFO feel unstable. There was no body lean or roll on the tightest curves and no porpoising over dips.
Overall, I am VERY excited about the UFO. The ride and handling are outstanding. Driving the UFO feels more like driving a van than driving a 38' motorhome.
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