Motorhome purchase

My grand parents have owned several. The biggest question is how often do you plan on using it, and where would you go? They can be maintenance hogs, especially if they sit a lot. The bigger ones are great for longer cross country trips, but expect to get 8-10 mpg and it will barely fit in most parking lots.

If pulling, I’d strongly consider diesel.

And check the ratings on what it can actually do.

Depending on the chassis, MOST are overloaded when they roll off the line before you even put water and fuel in them.

Let alone a 700-900 pound tongue weight.


If your looking at a class C, look how they extended the frame and attach the hitch. It will shock you.


RV’s are junk.

They cost a lot. I used to build them in my younger years.


And I know all this and have still bought them for the past 25 years and planning to buy another (non-motor home) soon.

And the diesel pushers or super C’s….are not cheap but if you plan to tow, it’s the way to go.

Apparition said:

If pulling, I’d strongly consider diesel.

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Or long distance.

It depends. 4 times a year? NO RV!


If you are not using it once or twice a month and have money to burn….



It’s cheaper to rent.


And honestly….how far do you want to travel?

P man said:

I looked at renting and it's between 2-300 a night

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For 5-10 days a year, it'll take a very long time for the RV to start paying for itself.

My neighbor has a nice camper, probably $40,000 and a real nice truck to pull it with. $70,000. They go out at least three times a year for a total of maybe fifteen days out of 365 in a year. That’s $7333 a day for their yearly travel expenses. My hotels cost sometimes as much as $200-$300 a day.
im really envious of their camper set up, and wish I had one, but doing the math I cannot justify it.

Of course it’d be cheaper for me to drive a Prius than a Jeep too?!

Camper gets cheaper to drive every year, hotel gets more expensive every year?

Motorhomes are junk, maintenance whores, rolling time bombs that you cant justify owning.

That said I moved from a 5th wheel toy hauler to a used diesel pusher in early 2020, flat towing the TJ. So far having fun with it. Spent 2.5 months out in AZ last winter and plan to do it again. We went 45' long with pre DEF/Particualte filter diesel. As skills diminish we will downsize. You can park it anywhere a semi can go!

edit to ad: Age wise we're closer to 60 than 40 y/o. If I was looking for weekending, a decent used class C and flat towing / trailering is a great option. Watch weight ratings.

P man said:

Please tell me pros and cons of motorhome ownership that I may be overlooking. I am looking at a gas powered unit not too big. I need to sleep 4 people give or take. I have parking and hookups at my house. I would pull a car trailer or a jeep eventually.

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We've had a camper trailer from when the kids were around 6/8 years old. But we never just went to "camp" we would go to Oshkosh EAA and dry camp for a week. When the kids got into competitive shooting we stayed at the ranges. Seen lots of great country and met lots of good people in the process.

Some pros:
We're semi packed all the time. Load the food, take a couple laundry baskets of clothes and hit the road. Stop at rest areas for lunch breaks. For fuel, I use a fleet card at a truck stop, lots of room to maneuver. Class C, you can carefully use the gas station....watch tail swing when maneuvering.
We camp places where there aren't many motels or limited availability.
There's no afternoon angst trying to find a motel (in a decent area) toward the end of the day.
You don't have to shlep your bags up to the motel room.

The cons:
Poor fuel milage.
Storing, so many sit out rotting in the sun. Even a canopy would help protect it from the elements.
Maintenance: even with good preventive maintenance something will break, they're built from cheap components. We shake it down the road then fix / beef up what broke this time.

Between our F350 and the slide in camper we have about $90k in our rig. It is really not large enough for four people although we have frequently done three. We have been surprised at how much we like it. It may not be cost effective but it is so much better than staying in motels. We have it parked next to our house and it is ready to go at all times. I think that is key to utility. If you have to park your RV at some storage location and it takes forever to relocate it, power up and provision it as well as to load all your junk (and the reverse when you return), that takes all the spontaneity out of it. We just unplug ours and we are off. With the TJ flat towed behind it we have the best of both worlds.

P man said:

Please tell me pros and cons of motorhome ownership that I may be overlooking. I am looking at a gas powered unit not too big. I need to sleep 4 people give or take. I have parking and hookups at my house. I would pull a car trailer or a jeep eventually.

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Cons

Cost of acquisition
Cost of upkeep
Cost of insurance
Cost of upgrades to properly flat tow a jeep or pull a car hauler trailer
Cost per night of actual use vs. sitting parked by the side of the house


Pros

Too many to list

The worst thing you can do to a motorized RV is only use it 5 to 10 days a year. Belts, tires and anything rubber will disintegrate from lack of use.
I own a RV storage facility and see it all the time. Do the math, cost per day is less when renting if you only use it a few times a year. Take your emotions out of the thought process.

If planning to trailer or flat tow the Jeep make sure you check into the vehicles towing capacity. Friends just recently bought a pretty nice RV with the Ford V10. Towing capacity is 5k so they cant tow their JK on a trailer and are looking for a TJ to flat tow.

For that infrequent of use, I’d go with a travel trailer. Last year saw a huge surge in purchases and my prediction is that the used market will fill with inventory making it cheaper to purchase one barely used.

Lastly, the market has focused a lot the past few years on making lighter versions for SUV’s to pull which will expand your options based on what you have to pull it with.

I don't need to sleep four but this works really well for the wife and I. Look at the Sundowner haulers. Really well built, just need a truck to pull it. For me it was a better compromise, since I daily the truck and maintaining the trailer is far less complex than an RV. It has a one piece alloy roof and since I built it myself its easy to fix. If I could have swung a Sundowner I would have, they are really nice units.

Which ever way you go just buy used. You will save a bunch of money. the older work horse chassises w-24, w-22 were some of the best of those times. But they did not with stand the newer emissions when GM canceled the 8.1 that killed them. from then on ford is the only taser in the game. If you get a 30'+ only expect to get 5 to 7 MPG towing. I owned several gas rigs before switching to a Diesel pusher. Gas rigs are very noisy and hot Diesel rigs are very quite and smooth. We have a 45' class A and spend 3 to 5 months a year out in it. As @Farmergreg said get a fleet fuel card, TSD Fuel Card is what I use you can save a lot of hassle and cash. It is nice knowing who slept in the bed or used the toilet last and the wife loves the W/D and not going to the launder mats. It's nice to carry 150 gal. of fuel and not worry about a crowded fuel stop. We stop for fuel mid day truck stops are usually empty for the most part. These coaches need maintenance they are a rolling earth quake going down the road. I tow a JKUR with air force 1 braking system which works out great. towing with a trailer or dolly can be a pain when you arrive and need to store them. I store the MH fully covered under a metal cover when not in use which is a must or they will deteriorate fast in the sun and weather. If you own an RV you must be mechanically inclined or have lots of cash to pay for repairs. RV`s can be a nightmare or they can be very enjoyable.