Why did you buy an Excel?

[Greenthumb]

LindaH,

I don't get on this forum very often and am just reading through past threads. In one of them, you made the following statement.

<I'm with you Zrone90. We had a fiberglass roof on the New Horizons we had, and we never waxed it...just kept it clean.>

We also looked at the New Horizons before going with Excel. Some of the reasons were 1) being only part-timers, we couldn't justify the added expense, 2) New Horizons' anal attention to do nothing structurally to disturb the insulating properties of the coach meant that (at least at that time) they could not make a flat-floored slideout and they would not install ducted A/C.

I'd be interested in learning what were your reasons for switching from New Horizons to Excel.

Thanks,
Frank from Arizona

[Greenthumb]

LindaH,

I don't get on this forum very often and am just reading through past threads. In one of them, you made the following statement.

&lt;I'm with you Zrone90. We had a fiberglass roof on the New Horizons we had, and we never waxed it...just kept it clean.&gt;

We also looked at the New Horizons before going with Excel. Some of the reasons were 1) being only part-timers, we couldn't justify the added expense, 2) New Horizons' anal attention to do nothing structurally to disturb the insulating properties of the coach meant that (at least at that time) they could not make a flat-floored slideout and they would not install ducted A/C.

I'd be interested in learning what were your reasons for switching from New Horizons to Excel.

Thanks,
Frank from Arizona

[LindaH]

Frank, let me first say that we DID look at the New Horizons again when we decided to go back to fulltiming (we have had a couple of RVs between the New Horizons and the Excel, so it wasn't a matter changing from one to the other). However, for what we wanted, a New Horizons is now out of our price range. (When was the last time you looked at a New Horizons? They are doing flat floors now, and while I don't know what their current feeling is regarding ducted vs non-ducted A/C, they WILL do ducted if you want it...or they were willing to do so a few years back.)

So, once we found out that a New Horizons wasn't in our future, we stared looking at other alternatives.

Our first step was to look at the ratings provided by the RVCG. We looked at only fifth wheels that received a 4-star rating and were rated at least a snowbird unit. From that list, we immediately eliminated many brands because their shortest rig started at 34' or longer -- and we want to stay at no longer than 32', if possible.

Besides length, our list of our "must haves" included both a king-size bed and a washer/dryer. So other brands were eliminated because they didn't offer both of these options.

We finally narrowed down our choices to the Excel, the Carriage Cameo LXI, and the NuWa HitchHiker II LS. We then drove over to Phoenix to take a look at all three models.

While I think we would have been happy with any of the three, what swayed us to the Excel was the lower profile: 11'10" compared to 12'8" for both the Cameo and the HitchHiker. Plus the fact that we'd taken a tour of the Excel factory several years ago, so we were personally acquainted with their quality.

So we got everything we were looking for in a rig: no longer than 32', 3 slides, a king-size bed, and washer and dryer.

We would have preferred the fiberglass roof of the Limited models, but at a difference of $10,000+ between the Limited vs the Classic, we decided we could live with the rubber roof! (That's one of the reasons the lower profile was so important to us -- anything we can do to help mitigate tree branches tearing the rubber roof is a good thing. Of course, we'll still have to be vigilant when we're in the trees.)

[BookIIRoadtrash]

I wanted a wooden frame for the extra warmth in the winter and easier to cool in the heat.If you compare warranties with other manufactures Excel has probably the best' 2 year bumper to bumper {light bulbs included). I know some of the others if you are a fulltimer you are excluded from alot of the warranty.


I don't give em h*ll, I just tell the truth and they think it's h*ll! "Harry Truman"

[Highgturn]

Quality, warranty, zero degree guarantee, 4 star rating, Fiberglass roof, wood construction, strongest frame construction I have seen, fit and finish, reputation of the company, Flexibility of the factory to make changes just for us, innovative design of the slide out mechanization, eye appealing look, and recommendation of owners who all stated that they would buy another one. With that said, I was not in any way disappointed and yes, I would buy another Excel as long as they continue to stay at the top of their game.

[Greenthumb]

When we looked at the New Horizons in 2004, it would have cost $18,000 more than the Excel! At that time, they noted that a solution was in the works for providing flat floors without compromising the insulating factor. (Evidently, without their workaround, there would have been an uninsulated region about 3 to 6 inches wide the entire length of each slideout where the floors meet). But they didn't know when it was going into production.

Regarding ducted A/C, they would not install it for us. Instead, they offered to put a second A/C unit in the bedroom at no charge. We didn't want the noise in the second bedroom plus we would have lost the skylight.

We also bought the Excel for many of the same reasons you have all listed. However, another prime factor was the quality of the dealership. We originally looked here in Phoenix. However, we found out quickly that we knew more about the Excel product line than the salesman. NOTE: Excel has terminated its relationship with that dealer. I visited the new dealer recently and they seem much more competent.

We were so impressed with RV Sales in Moriarty, NM that we bought from them even though it is more than a day's ride from our home.

Frank

[litespeed]

They were the only 5th wheel manufacturer offering a motorcycle lift as a factory option, still covered by warranty etc.That said..I am glad to hear all the other good reasons from the other folks!

[LindaH]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Greenthumb:
We were so impressed with RV Sales in Moriarty, NM that we bought from them even though it is more than a day's ride from our home. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

After receiving the first price from the Excel dealer in Mesa (which we didn't accept), we contacted the dealer in Moriarty for their "best" price...which was HIGHER than Sunfire RV's first price they quoted us. The Moriarty dealer knew we had received a quote from another Excel dealer, but they still came is way too high.

Granted, we never gave them a second chance since the Mesa dealer came back with a much more reasonable offer. And, considering we would have had to travel to Moriarty in the middle of January to pick up our new rig, we decided to buy from the Mesa dealer.

[Still Working "NOT"]

First one, used '92 because it was built 160 miles from home. The '03 because the '92 left me very happy with the way it was built and force me to stick with Excel. Never look at SOB.

[unfinished91]

We decided on Excel after 14 months of looking. The other contenders were Hitchhiker, Holiday Rambler, Sunnybrook, and Escalade. We made it to all the factories and the thing that most impressed us was the workers and the way they do their jobs. Excel was the only one where the employees worked a regular day. All others would go home when the completed their quota for the day. It looked to us that the Excel employees were more concerned with doing the job properly than geting off early. It takes Excel 2 to 4 times longer to make a unit than the others. The others claimed to make a unit in as little as 3 days. The other main plus was the fact that Excel makes their own frame. Far superior in my opinion.
The Excel dealer in Moriarty, NM was the last deciding factor. We liked their way of doing business.