mweiner

Bill - yes, I'm merely pointing out that the group of Class Bs... made a conscious choice to have a lighter foot print and get the better fuel economy... that's all.. The advantage of this is the higher mobility at a fraction of the fuel consumption..this have to be compared to something... It is what it is. My cost of going 10,000 miles is only $1,665 per year. That is almost what you might find in an SUV.. There's plenty of Class A'S selling brand new that are "gasoline engines" under $100,000. The Roadtrek RS Adventurous sells for $150,000 brand new... I was very lucky to find a clean used one for half this price. Even with the price of the coach and the fuel, and some repairs, I don't think I'll hit the $150,000 mark driving 100,000 miles... that's my point. Yes, as far as the number of posts.... you get as much as you put into the club... ---Mark

desertdeals69- "Modifying and up grading is a hobby of mine as I retired from the rv service industry in 1999." Question-. What's the most significant upgrade?? Or upgrades?

You mean "desperate sellers"....? People who buy them new and in a few years have "buyers remorse".... I suppose you focus on three to five maybe six years old coaches? Ones in good condition?

OK, how's that exactly?? Why 30 MPG? Just as a point of information.... My van is 23 feet long.. We could take out the two front armoire cabinets put in the extra bucket seats behind the driver and passenger with two or three in the back.? This discussion was aimed at Class B owners, but, I appreciate your input.

Hi Brett, if it were not for the extra armoire cabinets ( optional that came with our coach), that we installed we could have 4 people eat and seat four people up front plus, there's room to seat another three in the back. for a grand total of 7 passengers.. We don't use it this way. Just the two of us.... We do spend time outside as well.. As it is a diesel, I expect that it will be probably good for 150,000 miles or more. It's a little more luxurious than a VW camper.. I definitely know what those are. This is pretty quiet and handles well... Not bad on the pickup either and holds its own climbing hills. ---Mark

Interesting, how do you "buy low and sell high"....do you purchase these at wholesale prices? Auction? Outfit them with upgrades??

Do you have solar panels?

Did the arithmetic work in your favor to sell your primary home, purchase a new or late model rig and go full time? As I see it, maybe you'll save some money on your mortgage payments, etc. but, it's still a depreciating asset and that's a problem. Please explain your reasons why you went full time and how this affected your health care.

Let's face it, us Class B owners purchased a smaller rig and on a square footage basis, these things are very expensive units .... sometimes cost between $100,000 to $150,000 brand new. And, we are giving up space for extra fuel economy, my average mileage is 18 MPG. But, we have increased mobility, ease of parking and more accessible to smaller parks. Some National Parks won't allow rigs over 40 feet. So, if you drive 100,000 miles that's $16,665 or 5,555 gallons of diesel fuel based on an average $ 3 per gallon. Compare that to a 40 foot rig getting 5 MPG, the same 100,000 miles would 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel at $3 per gallon or $60,000 . That's a difference of $43,335... very significant. SO, was this a huge factor for you??, it was for me. Please share your thoughts.

How often do you think about trading in your old motor home for a new model? 10 years? 100,000 miles, 150,000 miles? And, do you sell your motor home privately? Or just trade it in for a new or late model? I recently purchased a five year old motor home, a 2012 Roadtrek and plan to keep it at least five years and then re-evaluate where we are. Please share your experiences.

Wayne, thanks for your reply.... I just made the decision to cancel my GS policy and handle the repairs myself. Yes, I know it's a gamble either way and you're more "into it" as it were than i am. If I had made nine years of payments, i might be staying with it as well. I don't know, maybe you had all of these incidents in the past three or four years.... did you? And, I don't have leveling jacks, slide outs and other complicated items, it's a Class B... I had a $500 deductible, so, the way I figured it, even one incident per year would cost me $936 + $500 or $1436 BEFORE they paid any money at all. It's very likely that I'll only keep my motor home five years.... it only has 29,000 miles on it. Even if I put 50,000 miles on the thing, I'll still be able to sell it easily.

SO, Bill, how's that working for you..? Are you ahead or behind on this bet? No, I don't think I'll keep my Class B for 20 years.... and the price goes up on the Good Sam after three years about 20 percent... which makes the situation even more of a financial slippery slope. The $20,000 is just a macro budget number, ... if you pay less than it works to your advantage, but, here's the kicker.... Each incident for repairs has a $500 deductible, so, the amount they are really covering you for is about $400 per year in actual benefits if you have one incident per year. If you had more incidents the costs would be higher still with the $500 deductible every time for each repair and there's a lot of excluded items. Finally, my vehicle is five years old, compared to a 1988 vehicle that is almost 30 years old, huge difference and I have only 29,000 miles on my Roadtrek. I've found that generally, time is just as much a factor as age, and I'm starting to think that in five years I may want to sell the Class B. How many actual miles do you have on your 1988... ?

In reviewing the excluded items in my Good Sam warranty, I'm beginning to wonder if the policy is more beneficial for them than it is for me... Yes, it covers some of the main engine components and a number of coach items, but, the link of exclusions is almost longer than what is actually covered and then there's a $500 deductible per incident..... Even though I'm paying $936 per year or $78 per month.. that's essentially $1,500 per year with just one incident.... Seems like I might be money ahead to just skip the warranty and set aside the $1,000 per year.... after 20 years that's $20,000... Any thoughts on this??? What's your plan?

Carl, Question, how many miles did your Mercedes Benz have on it when you acquired it? And how old was the vehicle? I hope you're not saying that you purchased it new and had a problem at 12,000 miles? ---Mark

Thank you... I've recently read elsewhere that 100,000 miles is pretty normal... Thank you for your time to confirm this.

My question is could the previous, original owners, have mistreated the glow plugs by not starting properly?

Kay,. Just found this.... https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=743 Apparently, from other threads, the glow plugs not only warm up the cylinders on the Mercedes Benz 3 litre diesel, but, they are an integral part of the engine running and fuel economy.. so, if you have malfunctioning plugs, it's possible to have an engine misfire, reduced performance or poor fuel economy.

Thanks, aside from these little nuisance issues, the van drives beautifully, and has plenty of power.. my year's model says 190 hp and 325 torque. Remember, I'm only half the size of most of you. Do you have any opinion on the glow plugs issue I raised?

Thanks, I appreciate your input and the tip of getting a 10 percent discount, every little bit helps. I'll look into a Cummins dealer. I guess if you have as many cars as Jay Leno, you'd better know how to fix them.. or have his budget.

Sorry to hear about your brother... I'm not rich, which is why I purchased a five year old coach.. and it's not that I don't want to learn.. I understand more of the concepts of how a lot of mechanical things operate, just don't want to be a wrench... and, cars or RVs, are all run today by the ECU.. remember, this is German engineering for the vehicle, the generator, OK, Cummins /Onan ... First, the generator is located and mounted just over the rear wheels directly in the center of the coach, a sturdy spot, but certainly not easy to get to.. Everything on the coach fits exactly like a glove... not one bit of wasted space. Thanks for your input and suggestions.

Kay, thanks... It's not that I don't want to know how, but, I don't actually work on any of my vehicles, RV or cars, and I have two cars plus the RV. WHY? I know my limitations. Look, cars today are basically rolling computers, if you don't know what you are doing, you can actually cause more problems, and I expect all my vehicles to be running in top flight condition always, just like an airplane. I put a very high priority on this. I can afford a professional, if I can't do it, I wouldn't have the vehicle. Fortunately, the smaller Class B is going to be less expensive than a really much larger coach. Just a few days ago, my CEL came on and I had to go to the Mercedes Benz dealership... Turns out I had a bad glow plug, number 4. I figured it was just a matter of time before the others would fail and they charge two hours labor for the work and diagnosis. When I asked them how much for the remaining five, they charged me only one extra labor hour to install the other five plugs. I did not want to revisit this in a few months, so, I had them to all of them together. The dealership was a little surprised that this occurred at only 28,000 miles.. could it be possible that the original owners didn't pay attention to the proper two stage starting of a diesel engine??? Anyway, it's done and someone told me that they should be good for the next 80,000 to 100,000 miles. I personally think that the generator is a bad starter... when I push the button inside the coach, nothing. And, Mercedes check out all the connections under the hood and even tried to start the generator right at the unit. They confirmed that the unit was getting an electric current, it just wouldn't start. The original owners hardly ever used the generator and we're plugged in most of the time. I'll take it to an RV shop and let them diagnose the generator. ---Mark

"If the timing of this "no start" was coincidence with changing the batteries, am skeptical of generator issues that just happened at the same time." This was a guesstimate on my part....we haven't run the generator much and frankly could not tell you the exact date we last used it, but, it was definitely before the batteries failed so I concluded that it was after that incidence .

Brett, it's an Onan 2500 propane generator. I could get a digital voltmeter , however, I don't work on my own vehicles.

Hello, had a CEL yesterday, and brought my Mercedes Benz to the dealership for a scan.. turns out that it was bad glow plugs at only 28,000 miles. I acquired this vehicle at 26,000 and the dealership said it was the first time they ever saw a vehicle with such few miles and this problem. Glow plug # 4 went bad, but I figured that it would not be long before the others failed as well, so, for an extra hour of labor, they replaced all six .. one would have been a minimum of two hours labor, so 3 hours for all six seemed reasonable. My question is whether it's possible if the original owners didn't follow the two step starting procedure, could this have prematurely worn out the glow plugs. What's the average time or mileage for these item? Also, with a modern diesel engine like the Mercedes Benz 3 litre V6, having a failed glow plugs would affect engine performance and fuel economy?

OK, diagnosed at Mercedes Benz dealership... house batteries are connected to the generator with full power, no blown fuses, and they tried to start the generator right at the unit. Won't start .. nothing, no sounds. Probably a bad starter in the generator or bad solenoid... Comments please?? Do you agree?