Community Forums

Gary RVRoamer · 12-29-2005, 04:49 AM

Brad,
Most C's will tow a small car just fine, subject to their GCWR limit and the rating of the hitch. In general, I would suggest cars weighing closer to 3000 lbs than 4000. A 3100 lb Suzuki Grand Vitara is a good choice if an SUV is OK with you.

Performance will vary of course, depending on the power train and your own expectation as to what is "good performance".

brad03ca · 12-29-2005, 04:58 AM

Thanks Novi...the link in a previous post is like what I'm looking at. One slide, generator, etc. I think this may be just jake-a--loo for me and momma. Not sure what the prices should be for a 2003+ model, but I may come across a number I can live with.I quit like the Minnie Winnie in the link I have listed

brad03ca · 12-29-2005, 05:01 AM

Thanks Gary... We have a Pontiac Vibe I was thinking of towing. Is the hitch, wiring, etc for a toad difficult to wire?

Novi · 12-29-2005, 05:21 AM

The manufactures have made some good improvements in C's since I had one and I think they are roomier. There is a place in London Ont. It is called the London RV Centre, they are an RV consignment broker and they had A's and C's and trailers. The owner of the RV sets the price and the company tries to sell it. They have been there for years they are not fly-by-night and usually the prices are reasonable depends on how bad the owner wants to sell it. I don't think they have a web site but I'll look around. Nope they do not have a web. site.

FC Ontario · 12-29-2005, 03:55 PM

We had a 98 Fleetwood Tioga 29 ft Class C and it was a great MH. Did not have any slide outs but had sleeping for a real 8 people. We towed a Saturn or a Chev Cavalier behind with no problems. Our longest trip was to Wyoming and we loved every minute of it.

brad03ca · 12-29-2005, 04:36 PM

Never owning a Ford in my life and knowing zero about them, can anyone vouch for the Ford V-10 engine. I worked in GM all my life and my loyalties have always been with them. Now that I'm retired.......

TXiceman · 12-29-2005, 04:40 PM

The 6.8L V-10 is a very strong engine and has the power. It is thirsty like all big dispalcment engines. They had some problems with piston slap and spark plugs blowing out of the heads, but have not heard of any problems for some time now.

You can get more info on the Ford trucks and cars HERE.

Ken

Novi · 12-30-2005, 04:07 AM

Morning Brad: I too have been mostly a GM owner, but I have had 2 Ford 460's and both were good engines with few problems. Our friends had a 6.8 V10 in their 37 ft. Bounder and for the 6 years they had it there were no complaints, it certainly had more climbing power on the hills than my 460 with a banks. The only issue was water getting in the air intake when it rained, Ford finally made a kit to fix this problem but that is all I know about it.

brad03ca · 12-30-2005, 09:25 AM

Thanks Novi. I would imagine there are a lot of the V-10's around . Any "bugs" should be worked out by now...?

TXiceman · 12-30-2005, 01:34 PM

There never was a water intake problem on the class C's.

Brad, the 1999 we had for close to 3 years was flawless. Once I hit 10000 miles, I went to Mobil 1 oil in the engine and the tranny. I also had the Banks Power Pac with the headers, big exhaust and the Transcomand. I never went to the Ottominder on the engine. It did make a boost in the midrange performance...plus the exhaust sounded pretty good, but not loud.

The engine has to be revved to get the power, so it is happy when wound up. We made a run from Phoenix north to the Grand Canyon when the temp was 102 dF in Phoenix and was towing a 3000# dinghy. Never a problem with engine temp or power. If you can't have a diesel, the 6.8L Triton V-10 is pretty good.

Ken

Novi · 12-30-2005, 02:15 PM

Your right Txiceman from what I understood it was only a problem on the A, and maybe not on all of them.

brad03ca · 12-30-2005, 02:43 PM

Banks Power Pack, Transcomand, Ottominder. Sorry Ken, this is all Greek to me. Need a short class on Ford Engines.

TXiceman · 12-30-2005, 03:46 PM

Brad,

Banks puts together power enhancement items fro Ford, Chevy and Cummins engines. The Transcommand is a black box that firmed the shift points on the E4OD tranny. The Power Pac was a header and Monster exhaust that was tuned for torque. The Ottominder was like a chip for the engine. It basically recalibrated the fuel and spark on the engine. They advertise in Motorhome and Trailer Life.

The 1999 engine did not have as much power as the newer versions. It is still one heck of a gas engine.

Ken

mimikv · 12-30-2005, 03:56 PM

Hi Brad we have a 2003 shasta 31' motorhome with one slide up front which we purchased brand new in sept,2002. i like the motorhome for the two of us and our 2 dogs - it does get a little crowded when we take the grandchildren. i think i would check out the class a motorhomes if i was doing it again. the front passenger seat of most class c motorhomes are very small - not much leg room at all - and i seldom sit in the back of the rig i sit up front to help with directions etc. we would consider trading our class c for a class a but i don't want to take the hit and lose all that money so we will just keep it. we tow a 2005 honda cr-v - just purchased it new in feb,2005 very good luck with this so far - we traveled all the way up to newfoundland and back to pa and had no problems and towed 4 wheels down. a few areas that are sometimes difficult is making the bed in the back - it is difficult to get the sheets on the mattress, - the couch - the couch seat is narrow = not a wide or deep enough seat to be comfortable to sit on as compared to living room couch at home. also we do not have surround sound in the motorhome and sometimes the tv is hard to hear since it is all enclosed in the cabinet in the entertainment center - we did purchase additional speakers but sometimes it's a pain dragging all that stuff out especially for short stays. another thought is heat - we use additional ceramic heaters inside because our motorhome doesn't seem to get real warm. i am glad we moved up from a pop-up to the motorhome - but i think we did not even consider a class a because we thought they were way out of our price range - but now i see that some class a motorhomes are not as expensive as i thought they were = i wish we would have looked more because i do think a class a 31' would be more roomy than our class c. one thing i really have no problem with is storage - i have plenty of room good luck with your shopping mimi