Grand Design. I keep hearing very good things about them...

[Homeby5]

Looking at a Grand Design TT. I've spoke to a couple owners and they both really rave about how great quality they are and if a problem does come up, they stand behind thier product. I have heard some third party stories as well.

Anyway...I realize that service is a horrible topic right now but was wondering if GD does in fact have a good reputation? I'm really handy, have built two houses and owned a marine repair shop so I'm not too concerned about normal tightening of stuff. I'm more concerned about quality of parts, frame construction, etc..

Thanks

[Dnmatt]

Originally Posted by Homeby5

Looking at a Grand Design TT. I've spoke to a couple owners and they both really rave about how great quality they are and if a problem does come up, they stand behind thier product. I have heard some third party stories as well.

Anyway...I realize that service is a horrible topic right now but was wondering if GD does in fact have a good reputation? I'm really handy, have built two houses and owned a marine repair shop so I'm not too concerned about normal tightening of stuff. I'm more concerned about quality of parts, frame construction, etc..

Thanks

We have a 2018 (pre pandemic) and love it. Better quality? Yes and no, all will have warts. We bought ours used (like new) and have had very few issues. I am a DIY person and that helps a lot. If I had to take a trailer (any trailer) to a dealer for every problem, I wouldn't own one for long. GD does seem to stand behind their products which is a little rare nowadays.

[Yosemite77]

Grand Design does have a fairly good reputation. Parts quality is a bit of a nonissue as all manufacturers pretty much use the same parts.

Good service is more a dealer issue than that of a manufacturer. Given that your pretty handy, my guess is that you will bring your trailer back to the dealer for warranty work, and after that do all the work yourself. Keep in mind that dealers are swamped with repair work these days, so bringing the trailer in for repairs might mean that you’ll be without it for an extended time.

[xrated]

Another G.D. owner here....the Momentum 394M with a triple axle setup. I've owned it since early 2019 (new 2018 model) and I'm very impressed with the build quality. Can I truthfully say zero issues....No! Every trailer will have some issues and if you are the type of person that can do some DIY stuff, you'll likely be able to fix things on your own. If you are the type of person that doesn't do well with some DIY stuff, the most important thing to know/find out is a reputable dealer or highly recommended mobile service tech(s). I've had a few minor issues, plus I had to make an adjustment to the dinette slide. All in all it's been a very dependable trailer/camper and we just did a little over 5000 miles from the Knoxville, TN area to Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, and Moab, then back home. One issue during the entire trip. The hanger for the 3" sewage drain broke....not the pipe itself, just the hanger. Three electrical zip ties took care of the issue until I returned home and made a proper repair. I'd give a vote for G.D. as THEIR customer service (not the dealer) was very good the one time that I used them.

[00 Buckshot]

All I can tell you about the GD is the campground we spend the summer in, it is by far the best represented brand and every owner I talk to is very happy with their RV both 5th wheel and bumper pull.


By the way this is a senior park so that might tell you something.

[Cumminsfan]

Depends on which line you're looking at. The Reflection line is the best of the 3 TT lines.
The Imagine has 1" aluminum studs for wall framing and puts weaker suspension component's under it. 1" studs makes for very thin walls with much less insulation.
The Transcend is the low end model and is a good bargain IMO.

All GD trailers are way overpriced at this time. I read the GD owners forum daily and have since it's inception. GD has had several price increases and IMO are priced way too high right now. But thats the case for many other brands too.

[sirtate]

I've owned a Transcend travel trailer for 1 yr now.

Things I've noticed;
It's heavy for its size. (About 800# more empty than my brother in law's ultra light of the same size)
It has much bigger tanks than other brands.(60gals of fresh water, 80 gals of grey, 40 gals of black)
The floor doesn't 'squish' when I walk on it.
Not as many 'flashy' gadgets.
I paid $5k more than my BIL.

I had minor warranty work done on it, no problem getting GD to step up and get the work done.

Comparing my BIL's forest river product to mine;

He has a fancy full length rainbow coloured LED light strip under his awning. I have a 1ft white LED porch light.

He has fancy under cabinet rainbow LED mood lights in his kitchen. I don't.

He has a fancy corner shower stall that looks like it came out of home Depot, mine is standard RV.

His Furrion radio is a newer model.

My air conditioner came with one of these installed at the factory (https://rvairflow.com/)

His floor 'squishes' when I walk on it.

His door doesn't close properly unless he levels his trailer 'just right'.

Using my trailer in below freezing temperatures isn't an issue, his gets cold easily.

Mine still feels 'new', my BIL has used his 4 times and his cupboard doors aren't closing properly already.

It seems to me that GD spent money where it counts, and may not be seen. Forest River spent money on 'Showroom Dazzle' and went cheap behind the walls.

We essentially were using the trailer 4 days a week from Mother's day to the end of September, and nothing failed, and the warranty work was just a couple of adjustment issues with the slideout. (It was dragging on the floor for about 6 inches, I put a scrap piece of linoleum down to protect the floor. GD arranged for a guy to come out and 'tweak' it.)

We have the 12v Furrion fridge with the factory solar package, I like it.

We primarily boondock, and all systems work well for that use.

[Gigattime]

We purchased a GD Momentum 350M new in 2016. No major issues, no regrets. We are pleased with our unit.

[mike91eagle]

Originally Posted by Yosemite77

Grand Design does have a fairly good reputation. Parts quality is a bit of a nonissue as all manufacturers pretty much use the same parts.



Good service is more a dealer issue than that of a manufacturer. Given that your pretty handy, my guess is that you will bring your trailer back to the dealer for warranty work, and after that do all the work yourself. Keep in mind that dealers are swamped with repair work these days, so bringing the trailer in for repairs might mean that you’ll be without it for an extended time.

Sorry if I seem to hijack this thread but to me it's the right place to post my comments.

I agree, good service is more a dealer issue and yes the dealers are busy right now but, the big reason they are so busy is because of the poor build quality and I'm not the only one saying this.

I spoke to a warranty claims person at a major dealership and was told that she could not believe the amount of claims due to poor quality of construction.

[2Curtass]

Originally Posted by sirtate

I've owned a Transcend travel trailer for 1 yr now.

Things I've noticed;
It's heavy for its size. (About 800# more empty than my brother in law's ultra light of the same size)
It has much bigger tanks than other brands.(60gals of fresh water, 80 gals of grey, 40 gals of black)
The floor doesn't 'squish' when I walk on it.
Not as many 'flashy' gadgets.
I paid $5k more than my BIL.

Not really a fair comparison about the weight differences. Ultra light trailers are made to be lighter for smaller tow vehicles. Kinda like comparing my Ford Pinto Wagon is not nearly as fast as my BIL's Z06 Corvette!!

[varmonter]

We looked at GD tt before we bought our outdoors
Rv. We liked the quality and rep of the orv better.
Gd seemed like just another Elkhart shove out the door as quick as you can...maybe i could go as far
As saying they are in the top 10 of whats made
In that region. That being said i do see alot of them in campgrounds and going down the road.
So they do have a good following..
Chk over at the GD owners group here on irv2.

[Cumminsfan]

Anyone interested in a GD product should spend a couple months reading on the Grand Design Owners Forum.com. There's plenty of bad to go with the good.
I will say though that they have undoubtedly the best brand owner forum period. It's loaded with topics to click on for all models. Also no banning anyone for disparaging comments about their GD product so you get honest rants or raves.

[Dave Pelletier]

Originally Posted by varmonter

We looked at GD tt before we bought our outdoors
Rv. We liked the quality and rep of the orv better.
Gd seemed like just another Elkhart shove out the door as quick as you can...maybe i could go as far
As saying they are in the top 10 of whats made
In that region. That being said i do see alot of them in campgrounds and going down the road.
So they do have a good following..
Chk over at the GD owners group here on irv2.

I'm sure that many love thier GD and there are many worse choices but the one I looked at didn't compare well from a quality perspective to my ORV. The use of OSB everywhere vs. plywood was all I needed to see (bed, floor, roof)....but it was far from the only thing.

Dave

Dave