Newbie shopping - need advice on C vs small A

[shalbleib71]

So I'm looking for a potential full-time RV for one, maybe a pet eventually. I've been looking at C's pretty much exclusively (some B+s) but then I thought what about small A's?

Primary concerns for the decision would be:
- Gas mileage
- Service costs
- Drivability - I plan to boondock when possible and am aware that road conditions can be a bit more primitive.

Anything else I should be considering, and what's your recommendation? Any other pros and cons would be very beneficial.

Thx in advance!

[zul]

Have you considered a bumper pull travel trailer? Lowest purchase price and lowest maintenance cost. If you have a tow vehicle, this is a great choice. Versatile and cost effective.

If you have a large budget, go with A.
Moderate budget, go C.
Diesel is better in these categories.

I just don't like purchasing an extra motor and transmission that A, B and C require.

[momdoc]

Welcome to the forum. For one person and a maybe a pet I would vote for a moderate sized Class C.

You are joining a good group of folks here with good info to share. Read the various threads here and ask questions as they come up or add info if you can.

Good luck with your search and enjoy the adventure!

[RvNaut]

Originally Posted by shalbleib71

So I'm looking for a potential full-time RV for one, maybe a pet eventually. I've been looking at C's pretty much exclusively (some B+s) but then I thought what about small A's?

Primary concerns for the decision would be:
- Gas mileage
- Service costs
- Drivability - I plan to boondock when possible and am aware that road conditions can be a bit more primitive.

Anything else I should be considering, and what's your recommendation? Any other pros and cons would be very beneficial.

Thx in advance!

I have been considering the same choice.... I have a large dog, so I already have the pet, and I am running solo.. I decided on A to give me more living space. While a C will go a bit farther off road than a C, it won't like it
any more.... gas mileage will be roughly the same, and not great. I am going to be full-timing and boondocking. I also picked to mount a rack and a moped on the back for local transport.

Durability and maint is a toss up depending more on how previous owners did things, although the front end of a C is better built and will offer more crash protection, however any head on impact is going to result is the contents of either leaping forward.. so yeah..

A friend just got back from about 2 years on the road. They were all about the big windows of their class A.

Cost wise.. it looks like a 35' class C that is 10-20 years old will run about the same as a similar aged A.. once they get beyond 10 years it seems prices drop fast.

So for myself I decided on a couple of models.. and no I won;t tell... I want one for myself..

I also noted, having spent the last month browsing ads for used RVs that there are many owners out there that have inflated opinions of the value of their rigs.. seeing rigs asking for $20-25k on rigs valued at $12.5k .. unless they are the original owner, that kind of price isn't going to stand up.

I assume that when buying a used RV, it is likely to have to pour in several thousand within weeks of ownership for something.

Now then.. if your budget gets you up into $30k range, you choices become much broader...

Have fun!

[twinboat]

Thor makes the Axis/Vegas line of class A type RVs on a class C E450 chassis.

[Teamfoxy]

Go for a smaller A at 30+ feet. On a Ford chassis, it will have The same V10 engine as a class C. So no difference in fuel economy or maintenance costs. You will have more storage and cargo capacity. Any class C over 25 feet will likely be overweight on the rear axle and many older ones have leaks and develop rot in the cab over bunk area.
Make sure that you get one built on the F53 chassis, have a wheel base that is at least 55% of the overall length and not one with a long rear overhang. The longer the wheelbase, T he better it will handle.
When shopping used, you will find that the As are often less expensive than the Cs.

[jacwjames]

If you are not in a hurry to buy taking your time may be beneficial.

Right now there appears to be a surge in RV purchases. People are getting tired of being cooped up so are buying RV's for vacations and traveling. As soon as the pandemic winds down and people realize the cost of RV ownership (you are paying for it whether you use it or not) there will used RV's on the market and the prices may drop. You should be able to get a good deal down the road.

Take time to shop around an look at what features and floor plans you like. We owned a Class C and although it served us well we wanted something with a better floor plan. We ended up with a 38' DP and won't go back to a smaller rig.

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi ! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined us!

If you are seriously thinking about much driving on primitive roads then I would suggest you concentrate on Super C's. JMHO

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

[Isaac-1]

I am also in the small under 30 ft class A camp, as will be noted by the fact that I own one. You typically get a 16,000 - 18,000 GVWR chassis, some even have a 20,000 GVWR chassis, vs the 12,500 - 14,500 of a typical class C, or the 9,300 - 11,000 of a typical B / B+.



Comparing my 28 ft Safari Trek to say a Winnebago Travato, I have 80 gallon Fresh Water, 40 gal gray and 40 gal black tank, vs 18 Gal Fresh, 15 gal gray and 11 gal black on a 21 ft long Winiebago Travato 59G. I also get 32 gallon vs 6 gallon propane tank, and about triple the cargo weight carrying capacity.

[RvNaut]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

I am also in the small under 30 ft class A camp, as will be noted by the fact that I own one. You typically get a 16,000 - 18,000 GVWR chassis, some even have a 20,000 GVWR chassis, vs the 12,500 - 14,500 of a typical class C, or the 9,300 - 11,000 of a typical B / B+.



Comparing my 28 ft Safari Trek to say a Winnebago Travato, I have 80 gallon Fresh Water, 40 gal gray and 40 gal black tank, vs 18 Gal Fresh, 15 gal gray and 11 gal black on a 21 ft long Winiebago Travato 59G. I also get 32 gallon vs 6 gallon propane tank, and about triple the cargo weight carrying capacity.

You've pretty much made my case for me. I have been studying and searching RV's less than 30' for .. over a month now.. with a plan to buy sometimes on Oct/Nov....

In digging into it I came down to two models that I have narrowed in on and the Safari Trek is one, either a 28 or a 24... late 90's or early 00's


What year did you get in on...? Diesel?

What about the Bed.. have you had to replace motors? Can the bed come down if the motors are cheesed? What about going back up?

[Isaac-1]

I bought my Trek in 2016, for about $22,000 (NADA is $15,105, which is not real world on a Trek, I spent 5 months shopping) and have put about 20,000 miles on it since then, averaging about 75 nights per year of use, until this year. So far I have not had any issues with the bed, or bed motor, getting the bed down if it ever gets stuck in the up position due to motor failure is a big chore, of course so is getting it back up if the motor fails in the down position. Some Trek owners carry spare bed motors just in case, getting one is on my to do list, but at about $350 it is an expensive spare part to carry around. It seems many bed motor failures are caused by abuse, running the bed hard into ceiling due to mis adjusted stop switches, etc. and breaking the motor mounting brackets. There is a lot of information on bed and how to repair them if needed over on the Trek Tracks forum, it is a members only forum, but anyone can join, I can't link to specifics as outside links don't work if you are not a member.



As to the engine, I am generally a pro diesel person, have a diesel F250 and a number of pieces of diesel powered equipment, yet on the Trek, I opted for the 8.1L gas engine, as diesel in this application just did not make sense to me, plus the 6.5L diesel offered in this generation of the Trek was not the best diesel out there. With some parts for the 6.5L becoming unobtainable, I feel this was the right choice, of course the 8.1L Trek has some hard to find parts too, but at least for now they are still out there.


When it comes down to deciding which model year of Trek is best, assuming condition is equal, it is a trade off. In general the Trek kept improving until the Monaco buyout in the summer of 2001, at which point more and more coast cutting measures were seen each model year, with the 2002 model being very similar to the 2001, with only minimal, mostly painless cost cuttings, primarily taking some standard features in 2001 and making them optional in 2002, ie no more hardwood floor standard in the kitchen. Of course the underlying Workhorse chassis continued to improve as years went by, so while the coach itself was encheapend post 2001 the chassis continued to get better.


If you are planning on boondocking much, you should be aware that the 01-02 slope nose Trek has more of a tendency to tail drag than the 95-00 Trek due to the lack of the raised angle rear compartments on the 01-02. See the brochure collection of Trek models here https://www.nwtfc.com/about-the-trek...y-of-the-trek/


Ike


p.s. you should be aware that there is only about a 30 inch length difference between the 24XX floor plans and the 28XX floor plans, the model numbering can be deceiving. Initially I was shopping for a 2480, before eventually buying my 2830, and in the end one of my main reasons to get the 2830 was about a 30% higher cargo weight carrying capacity.

[shalbleib71]

Originally Posted by zul

Have you considered a bumper pull travel trailer? Lowest purchase price and lowest maintenance cost. If you have a tow vehicle, this is a great choice. Versatile and cost effective.

If you have a large budget, go with A.
Moderate budget, go C.
Diesel is better in these categories.

I just don't like purchasing an extra motor and transmission that A, B and C require.

Not really. I want everything self contained.

[shalbleib71]

Originally Posted by JJSimonds

I have been considering the same choice.... I have a large dog, so I already have the pet, and I am running solo.. I decided on A to give me more living space. While a C will go a bit farther off road than a C, it won't like it
any more.... gas mileage will be roughly the same, and not great. I am going to be full-timing and boondocking. I also picked to mount a rack and a moped on the back for local transport.

Durability and maint is a toss up depending more on how previous owners did things, although the front end of a C is better built and will offer more crash protection, however any head on impact is going to result is the contents of either leaping forward.. so yeah..

A friend just got back from about 2 years on the road. They were all about the big windows of their class A.

Cost wise.. it looks like a 35' class C that is 10-20 years old will run about the same as a similar aged A.. once they get beyond 10 years it seems prices drop fast.

So for myself I decided on a couple of models.. and no I won;t tell... I want one for myself..

I also noted, having spent the last month browsing ads for used RVs that there are many owners out there that have inflated opinions of the value of their rigs.. seeing rigs asking for $20-25k on rigs valued at $12.5k .. unless they are the original owner, that kind of price isn't going to stand up.

I assume that when buying a used RV, it is likely to have to pour in several thousand within weeks of ownership for something.

Now then.. if your budget gets you up into $30k range, you choices become much broader...

Have fun!

LOL, well maybe after you make your purchase, you can LMK what models you narrowed it down to. My budget is going to be right around that $30k mark FYI.

[Gary RVRoamer]

If you have a large budget, go with A.
Moderate budget, go C.

I don't know why people think a Class A is more expensive than a Class C of similar size and equipment. It's not! Granted, many A's you find on the sales lot will be more extensively equipped than a typical C, but you are getting more too.


IMO, if shopping for a motorhome of 30 ft or more, a Class A is by far the best choice. At 30+ feet, the body size/weight demands a more robust chassis than a E450/4500 van can provide, plus you get a bit more interior space and usually a lot more basement storage. I'm talking conventional C's on a van chassis - a Super-C on a medium truck chassis would be a different story.