Opinions on Airstream Land Yacht XL?

[kdzgon]

Hi,
We are looking to purchase our first (used, though new to us) Class A coach. Today we looked at a 2000 Airstream Land Yacht XL. Has the Ford V10 on a Freightliner chassis, ~36,000 mi, Onan generator, 2 slides, leveling jacks, ducted AC (2 units). Tires are from late 2012. The interior (corian counters, tile and carpet floors, table and chairs rather than booth) is in excellent condition overall with one exception - small dent in the LR wall behind the barrel chair; looks like someone stored something behind the chair and misjudged while pushing in behind. Other damage is a missing fender skirt from a tire blowout. Salesperson told us it was a 35', but web ads show 32' and 33' (they had a near-identical unit with no missing fender and that unit was 35').

If we move forward we would have an RV mechanic check it out, but before doing that I was hoping to get some feedback.

• Is Airstream a quality Class A coach (gas version)?
• Does it hold its resale value well? (Due to the year I know the value will fall more slowly than new or nearly new, but curious if airstream holds value better or worse than other brands)
• Some posters here seem to be familiar with the area of the dealer - it's RV Kountry in North Fort Myers. any feedback on the dealer?
• Can anyone give me a range for what might be a reasonable price for this coach? I know it depends on condition so I'm looking for really rough ranges. (Asking price is $24,000.) I'm having difficulty finding comparable units for comparison.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[Mr_D]

The Airstream units were built like tanks although in aluminum. Very high quality units. Should hold it's value better due to it's construction. They are kind of rare and getting to be classics and "collectable". As far as equipment, everything in it should be fixable or replaceable with new units so no worry there.
My parents had an Excella 500 back in the 60's, their Wally Byam # was 8008.

[dateem]

We have a 2001 Airstream Land Yacht, 31' with similar equipment. Trouble free. I keep an eye on Airstream units as there are not relatively a lot of them out there. They seem to hold value very welland nearly everyone who have them really like them. I don't think you will go wrong with it.

[ga traveler]

The land yacht motorhomes are not aluminum. They are fiberglass. Airstream does make a quality product. They also have design people who actually use them. This means they are designed with campers in mind. I have had two Airstream motorhomes. One fiberglass and one aluminum. I liked both of them.

[Rrzasa]

I purchased a 2003 30' Land Yacht in February and took it out on my first trip this past weekend. We looked at many early 200's smaller class A's and decided on Airstream for their reputation, quality and reliability. Our Land Yacht had 52,000 miles on it and it was in pristine condition. First thing I did was take it to our local RV service center to have it gone over. Every thing checked out perfect and I had a great conversation with the service tech who did the inspection. He came out to ask me a few questions about the LY and he jokingly told me that the salesmen were glad to see my coach leave because many buyers had asked if my LY was a recent trade and if it was available for sale.

It garners a lot of attention since they are so rare and even at the beach, I had more than a dozen people comment on it and ask questions about it.

I'm not sure about the resale but I was also told that they hold their value well. If I end up selling it down the road, whatever the difference I bought it for and what I eventually sell it for i'll consider as cost of ownership and the longer I hold it, the more it will justify the difference.

The price seems good depending on the condition of the coach, I spent a little more than that on mine but it's a few years newer that the one your looking at. In my search I saw them as low as $ 10,000.00 and as high as $ 65,000.00 so the price is right in the middle of that range.

One thing I would make sure you have are all the manuals that came with it when it came off the production line. The previous owner of my coach kept every scrap of paper, every receipt, every service record all the way down to the original bill of sale and letter from Airstream thanking them for the purchase. The manuals have been a great learning tool for me to get to know my coach and all the service records let me know that the coach was kept up well during its life.

Everyone I asked about an Airstream all told me the same thing: You can't go wrong with an Airstream.

I'm 100% satisfied with my purchase and if I had to do it again, I would. After just one trip, I told my DW that our next coach will be a 36' Airstream XC Diesel but that will have to wait for a year or so.

Good luck in your search and I hope my experience with Airstream will help you in your search and decision.

[UncleBilly]

Saw one on the road last week. First one ever 😜


1996 Country Coach Intrigue 😜

[kdzgon]

Originally Posted by Rrzasa

...Good luck in your search and I hope my experience with Airstream will help you in your search and decision.

Thanks so much for the detailed info. It would have helped a fair amount except when we returned to the dealer to arrange the inspection we had requested we were told the unit was sold. Salesman claimed it sold an hour after we left.

Unfortunately, we are not knowledgeable enough to do our own inspections so this is a chance we will need to continue to take. My gut told me it was a good unit overall but right now I need more than just intuition to pull the trigger, and "more" in my book is not described as "salesman's opinion" no matter how much I liked the guy and/or dealership...

[UncleBilly]

Always get an inspection on chassis and house done! Don't worry about losing a deal over this, more rigs are out there. Took me over 10 months too find mine...


1996 Country Coach Intrigue 😜