List of RV manufacturers with fewest new purchase mistakes??

[Jim_Bo]

We are sick and tired of the "first time buyer horror stories" surrounding RV manufacturers! Trust me, setting in the Winnebago parking lot, while having our previously owned View inspected for its one time 12 month "look," and listening to the horror stories - principally from owners of high end motorhomes e.g., Ellipse, Tour, Meridian and Journey - was eye opening and sobering!!!!!

Thee editor of the RV Travel Newsletter has been on a mission of illuminating those manufacturers who continue to present/proffer crappy products AND pushing manufacturers and the industry "spokes holes," e.G., RVIA, to get involved..........including the promotion of establishing more campgrounds and parks!

So - anyone know of a published list that highlights the good, bad and ugly manufacturers??? I don't care about personal anecdotes or opinions....a published list reflecting survey(s) is really what needs to appear AND updated as manufacturers improve, or not, their products.

Ideas??? Best regards, Jim Rodenkirch
Saint George, UT (home to a top notch Camping World!!!!)

[Dave-Oh]

Have you tried RV Consumer Group? RV Consumer Group - We Rate RVs. Used them for my second RV purchase and found their reports helpful when I narrowed my search down to the two most likely.

[Jim_Bo]

I would prefer to see the RVIA take up the mantra, "we are watching you RV manufacturers and will publish the good,bad and ugly."

$139.00 for a yearly subscription isn't that expensive, but....

Originally Posted by Dave-Oh

Have you tried RV Consumer Group? RV Consumer Group - We Rate RVs. Used them for my second RV purchase and found their reports helpful when I narrowed my search down to the two most likely.

[bobmac]

Jim Bo

Given the RVIA is an industry organization, you have to be smoking something if you think they would get involved. Don't forget lots of the issues are from suppliers to the manufacturers and don't become apparent until the product reaches end users. They are also overwelmed by demand and are likely not as diligent as they should be to get product out the door. Think the industry should understand the loud and strong message from their customers that quality has to improve. If you want a new RV with no issues, even the highest end units are not problem free.
Personally, I wouldn't recommend RV'ing to anyone who isn't "handy" and willing to solve simple issues themselves. If you can't do that, you will likely have your RV parked mostly at a dealer awaiting service. I wouldn't get overly wound up by what you hear on service parking lots either. I do strongly agree with you that there is lots of room for quality improvement.

[becks]

I also feel being handy is a big plus. I do all my own service and repairs. Having very deep pockets works also. If lacking one or both of those MH ownership may not be a good choice. Everyone must decide for themselves.

[Mike and Cha]

Originally Posted by bobmac

Jim Bo

Given the RVIA is an industry organization, you have to be smoking something if you think they would get involved. Don't forget lots of the issues are from suppliers to the manufacturers and don't become apparent until the product reaches end users. They are also overwelmed by demand and are likely not as diligent as they should be to get product out the door. Think the industry should understand the loud and strong message from their customers that quality has to improve. If you want a new RV with no issues, even the highest end units are not problem free.
Personally, I wouldn't recommend RV'ing to anyone who isn't "handy" and willing to solve simple issues themselves. If you can't do that, you will likely have your RV parked mostly at a dealer awaiting service. I wouldn't get overly wound up by what you hear on service parking lots either. I do strongly agree with you that there is lots of room for quality improvement.

X2....I have read many complaints that were regarding things that should have never left the manufacturer and agree those things should not occur. But you do read many complaints that are simply just small adjustments, or regular maintenance issues where people will leave their MH's sitting in a shop for days or weeks, when they could have easily done the repairs themselves. Also on this forum you mostly only hear about the problems, not necessarily from all those who bought a new quality MH that had very few if any problems after the purchase. Sometimes just reading these threads makes you doubt whether RV'ing is really worth it and makes you worry about things for nothing. Either we got extremely lucky(which is usually not the case for me) or there really are quality MH's being built as we have had no issues other than minor adjustments needed, or things I have repaired myself. In either case our MH has never had to be left at the dealership even overnight.

[Easyrider]

We bought our RV new back in 2005 and I can't think of a singe issue that we've had that I could actually blame on Winnebago. We've had issues, the serious ones were covered by our warranty thankfully, but I would say that the things that developed problems were things that were made by other manufacturers and were then purchased by Winnebago to be used to assemble motorhomes. And that may be contributing to the problem, the actual manufacturer of the equipment that changes a box on wheels into a motorhome is insulated from the end purchaser. And since so many motorhome brands are made with the same equipment as all the other brands the percentage of bad units per supplier is probably low enough to go under the radar. I agree that being handy with a screwdriver makes motorhome ownership much more affordable.

[Gary RVRoamer]

My list of RV manufacturers with zero defects follows:
1.

[harleyjt]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

My list of RV manufacturers with zero defects follows:
1.

I think that is the most accurate list ever published.
jt

[Jim_Bo]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

My list of RV manufacturers with zero defects follows:
1.

Please read my original post --- a list of the good, the bad and the ugly - we all understand there's no such thing as a zero defect RV product.

I did chat with Chuck Woodbury, the editor of the RV Travel Newsletter, and he said he knows of nothing like that lost but thinking of starting something....we'll see what appears.

Good day all, Jim Rodenkirch

[computerguy]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

My list of RV manufacturers with zero defects follows:
1.

Gary, you are very optimistic having one.

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by Jim_Bo

We are sick and tired of the "first time buyer horror stories" surrounding RV manufacturers! Trust me, setting in the Winnebago parking lot, while having our previously owned View inspected for its one time 12 month "look," and listening to the horror stories - principally from owners of high end motorhomes e.g., Ellipse, Tour, Meridian and Journey - was eye opening and sobering!!!!!

Thee editor of the RV Travel Newsletter has been on a mission of illuminating those manufacturers who continue to present/proffer crappy products AND pushing manufacturers and the industry "spokes holes," e.G., RVIA, to get involved..........including the promotion of establishing more campgrounds and parks!

So - anyone know of a published list that highlights the good, bad and ugly manufacturers??? I don't care about personal anecdotes or opinions....a published list reflecting survey(s) is really what needs to appear AND updated as manufacturers improve, or not, their products.

Ideas??? Best regards, Jim Rodenkirch
Saint George, UT (home to a top notch Camping World!!!!)

Jim;
As with any survey there must be clearly defined parameters of what you are going to measure and how you are going to measure it.

Are you measuring the workmanship only?
or
Are you including all of the items in the box including third party supplies?
or
Are you including defects/damage caused by improper use and claimed under warranty?
or
Are you including customer support?
or
A combination of all of the above?

Are you going to base the survey on the number of complaints?
or
The frequency of complaints based on production?

Certainly sitting at the Winnebago facility would/could be disheartening. Winnebago was producing 200 units per week when we were there two years ago. I understand they have increased production.

The same stands true for Newmar. Two years ago they were producing 40 per week. I understand they are now producing 50 per week??

IMO all of the manufacturers are approximately the same based on a frequency rate per 1000 units. We need to get another player in the game to competitively challenge the current offerings. Perhaps the Japanese? or Germans?

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by Jim_Bo

The editor of the RV Travel Newsletter has been on a mission of illuminating those manufacturers who continue to present/proffer crappy products AND pushing manufacturers and the industry "spokes holes," e.G., RVIA, to get involved..........including the promotion of establishing more campgrounds and parks!

Personally, I think this particular editor is so over the edge with his 'complaints'. He's doing a 'one size fits all' critique on RVs, campgrounds and with his latest rant on people in campgrounds, WalMart usage, dumping techniques, etc. His statements are all about 'everyone' and 'everything'. He is really not credible.

There are many, many good RVs manufactured and many, many good people using them responsibly.

RVing is definitely not spiraling downward as he suggests. In fact, more and more are getting into Rving.

[Jim_Bo]

Gordan - a spot on overview of the boundaries to consider when measuring an RV manufacturer's product usefulness and quality!

I am not speaking for anyone here but I'd limit the "measuring" to workmanship (the integration of the 3rd party components AND the construction of the RV) and customer support - that's going to be a big enuff effort!

I suspect most RVs, up to the middle range of high-end products, integrate like 3rd party/non-OEM components ---- in short, like microwaves and refers break at the same rate no matter which RV is being evaluated; I know that's not a 100% correct assumption BUT, for now, it's close enuff.

Great post!!! Jim R.

Originally Posted by Gordon Dewald

Jim;
As with any survey there must be clearly defined parameters of what you are going to measure and how you are going to measure it.

Are you measuring the workmanship only?
or
Are you including all of the items in the box including third party supplies?
or
Are you including defects/damage caused by improper use and claimed under warranty?
or
Are you including customer support?
or
A combination of all of the above?

Are you going to base the survey on the number of complaints?
or
The frequency of complaints based on production?

Certainly sitting at the Winnebago facility would/could be disheartening. Winnebago was producing 200 units per week when we were there two years ago. I understand they have increased production.

The same stands true for Newmar. Two years ago they were producing 40 per week. I understand they are now producing 50 per week??

IMO all of the manufacturers are approximately the same based on a frequency rate per 1000 units. We need to get another player in the game to competitively challenge the current offerings. Perhaps the Japanese? or Germans?