Learn me Motorhomes-- or RVs? What's the difference and what should I look for?

Now that I live in middle Michigan which seems to be surrounded by weekend family trips I'd like an RV. I'm looking at up to $7,000 grand total -- which includes everything short of insurance and the gas for my first trip.

What should I be looking at? The bigger the better for inside play space for a 2 and 4 year old and presumably another in the next couple years; I'd probably even pull any couches out just for room for Barbie houses during rainy days. And I don't want a trailer because half of the advantage is that the kids don't have to stay strapped into their seats the whole time. I'm assuming gasoline would be better than diesel for repairs and upkeep?

I imagine it would be most cost-effective to get something in great mechanical shape and make a project out of the interior but we just have zero time for projects so this has to be one and done.

Thoughts??

No motorhome is ever in great mechanical shape.

They spend 99% of their time sitting and something will always be broken or not functioning when you want to take them somewhere.

Seals dry out, gas goes bad, water gets into the brake fluid, mice get at the wiring, etc.

We stick to trailers and even they have issues. My CO detector is acting up in mine, causing a loud beep every couple of minutes. I need new batteries this year and probably new tires. My trailer is a 2013 model.

You wrote... 

And I don't want a trailer because half of the advantage is that the kids don't have to stay strapped into their seats the whole time. 

Everyone thinks, "it'll be great, we can make dinner while we go down the road." 

It's generally really hard and generally unsafe to be walking around a moving vehicle.  I know, it seems like it should be easy and fun.  It's a really easy way to fall down. 

There are a lot of motorhomes out there that have low mileage on them so a lot of time the chassis/engine condition can be pretty good. However, $7000 is not going to buy you much even though I’m sure you find some in that range. The biggest issues with RV’s be they motorhome or trailers is water leaks. The older the unit the bigger the problem. Early RV’s used a lot of wood for the construction and that plus water equals rot that may not be visible but is still there and very hard to repair. Plus RV systems are (plumbing, electrical, etc.) are often done cheaply simply because the units are just not used (couple weeks plus a few weekends a year) much and the manufacturers can get away with it. I would not buy an RV over 10 years old unless it is someone you know well and how it has been taken care of. 

I would not allow children or anyone else to walk around or play in a moving motorhome. Even at very low speeds it is very dangerous. I know of bruises and even a broken arm from unexpected quick stops while motorhome were traveling inside a park going to a campsite at less then 10 mph.

we have owned several motorhomes so I think I can speak with some experience about the amount of maintenance that should be performed but often is not on RV’s. My advice is with the amount of money you would like to spend a smaller and newer travel trailer would be a better selection. Still provide a lot of fun without having to rebuild or constantly work on.

$7000 will get you a project. It will be a usable project, but nothing truly nice and big enough for a family goes that cheap in my experience looking for the past couple years. Cheapest i see things that look truly ready to rock is about 10k, but sometimes things come up cheap and get snapped up at that price level that do look really good. 

Considering the massive expense of an RV breaking down in a way that you personally cannot fix on the side of the road, I'd first ask yourself if there's a style of drivetrain you're more likely to be able to fix yourself. That might make a big van-based class C a better choice than a big class A, or it might not. 

I think overall the worst thing about RVs is roof leaks, so I'd look for something with the least amount of roof damage or prior really E36 M3ty repairs.

I just put 10 spark plug thread inserts in a ford V10 rv and am driving it to california in a couple weeks. Wish me luck.. 

In reply to P3PPY :

A $7000 budget is a really dangerous area to be in. Cheaper than that, say $3000-5000 and you are buying as cheap as they get.  $15,000 will buy a decent running RV with some life left in it.  

$7000 is likely a $3000 one that someone did a little work on to get running and fix the obvious items that need attention.  

A $7000 can quickly become a $3000 one  or need $3000+ to get it back on the road reliable enough to risk taking the family 

Your best bet is buying one from someone who bought it new to retire in, made some trips, vacations etc in it then life interfered with health issues, old age or something.  

But save money for repairs, tires, brakework etc  

I'm all for buying older RVs and mine is a 93 that I got for close to your price range. But the front AC didn't work, the jacks have some foibles, there was a slight leak in the windshield area, bushings were shot in the front suspension, front airbags were shredded, and there were a couple other things. 

If you want to just buy and camp, you're going to have better luck with a trailer.  You can get a much nicer towable for the money, but it is nice to be able to let the kids go to the bathroom or have the wife make me a sammich without having to stop.

I must be in the minority, which seems to be my happy place anyway. We have put around 15,000 miles on our 1981 Wanderlodge, and there is nothing better than cruising down the highway, kids playing a game at the kitchen table, and my wife whipping up tasty snacks in the galley. We have 10 seatbelt but they do not get used as much as they should be, if I am honest. Flame away if you cannot resist. It does need regular maintenance, but I paid $10,000.00 and this is a gearhead community after all.

My recommendation other than buy the best you can afford is look for a one piece roof and have an expert who knows where to look to go over it for water damage which Is what kills many of them.

You know how every new to you used car needs tires, brakes, a battery, and fluids changed? And how every new to you used trailer needs some wood on the deck replaced, paint, bearings packed, and work to get the lights to work right? And how that cheap hotel you stayed in at the beach had stained upholstery, an awful mattress, random cracks and leaks in the bathroom, weird smells, and glitchy AC?

Yeah, an RV in your price range is all those, in a package that's a cross between a Model T and a cheap spec house that has spent a year in one continuous earthquake.  Every part is maxed out so you can't get away with four $50 tires; instead you are going to need six or seven $250 ones. There is going to be $500 worth of batteries and that noisy, leaking, heavy AC unit on the roof, the one that is functionally equivalent to a $99 Walmart window unit sells for $800.

In reply to bearmtnmartin :

A Wanderlodge is one of the only rvs I wouldn’t worry about buying used as they are not built from sticks and hope like most others.

bearmtnmartin said:

I must be in the minority, which seems to be my happy place anyway. We have put around 15,000 miles on our 1981 Wanderlodge, and there is nothing better than cruising down the highway, kids playing a game at the kitchen table, and my wife whipping up tasty snacks in the galley. We have 10 seatbelt but they do not get used as much as they should be, if I am honest. Flame away if you cannot resist. It does need regular maintenance, but I paid $10,000.00 and this is a gearhead community after all.

My recommendation other than buy the best you can afford is look for a one piece roof and have an expert who knows where to look to go over it for water damage which Is what kills many of them.

10k seems like a great deal.  I never come across them that cheap.

Not to knock the rv lifestyle, but add up the maintenance costs, the insurance, registration, tires (annualize them), etc. what is the number? I really have no clue, but how much is it annually? How many nights at a remote Airbnb or VRBO would that get you? 

I am not an RV guy, but if I was to get into it there would be very few that I’d actually buy. Airstream is first on the list, but there are others as well (wander lodge being a good example). Most of them though, I wouldn’t touch. 

I've rented from cruiseamerica (or canada), three times and would recommend trying them first. 

Very reasonable outside of summer and mayor holidays.

It's also nice to do a fly and rent on another part of the country, vs spending three days getting there. 

The last one we rented in Seattle, to go over to Vancouver island, had close to 100k and was starting to have issues inside. Camping on the beach was nice. 

A Wanderlodge started life as a commercial chassis.

P-chassis GM based motorhomes, buses, etc are built to handle it.

Conversion vans and anything built on a 1-ton or 3/4 ton van or pickup chassis is going to be pushing those components very, very hard.

RV service is tough on engines and engine bay components, transmissions, etc. Think long, hard, full-load pulls up hills for hours on end. It eats wiring, manifolds, gaskets, everything.

Most people don't realise that, if they were to read their owners manuals, their day-to-day driving would actually fall under the "severe service" part of the maintenance schedule. Now put an RV body on that and put it under even harsher service.

An acquaintance of mine just finished putting a rebuilt 351 Windsor in his extended conversion van that tows his dirtbike trailer. Why there is a Windsor of any kind being put into that service is beyond my comprehension. That's a job for a 460.

I know I sound like a pessimist and a wet blanket but motorhome service is pretty much the harshest operating conditions for anything mechanical and it will need attention accordingly. Also, if it's a van chassis, it will punish you accordingly too.

You take a vehicle that sits for 9 months of the year, beat it hard for a week or two and then ignore it for another 9 months and expect it to work well.

As a parts tech who worked in a shop that did a lot of motor homes, my recommendation is to stay far away from them.  A trailer is financially much safer.  If you really want a motor home, a class c is generally a better bet.  Parts availability and servicing are generally better on those.  Class A motor homes can get very strange, to say the least.  Parts, even for the chassis, can often be hard to find and costly, if available at all.  And don't even get me started on the mickey mouse wiring..... 

In reply to P3PPY :

One other consideration.  RV’s sitting outside will eventually leak. It’s a flat roof after all.  In addition paint and interior will fade.  Not to mention what the sun will do to tires. 

So unless you have dry indoor storage be prepared to deal with all of those issues.  Nope, only a very few will fit in a normal garage.  Depending on design and equipment even a 12 foot high door might not be sufficient. 

Finding indoor storage for a Motorhome will be a challenge.  Likely a very expensive challenge. 

On the other hand if you’re shown an RV that has been stored indoors a lot of the warnings you’ve heard won’t be valid. A few weekends and an occasional annual  vacation  won’t do a fraction of the damage that sitting outside for years/decades will. 

John Welsh said:

You wrote... 

And I don't want a trailer because half of the advantage is that the kids don't have to stay strapped into their seats the whole time. 

 

Everyone thinks, "it'll be great, we can make dinner while we go down the road." 

It's generally really hard and generally unsafe to be walking around a moving vehicle.  I know, it seems like it should be easy and fun.  It's a really easy way to fall down. 

The advantage of the RV over a trailer is space.  Not   When your camping they are pretty similar there, but when you’re traveling.  Kids can sit at a table and play games. If they want pop  or chips ( OK apples and Juice) they are handy and can ask if it’s safe enough to go to the bathroom etc.  Maybe crawl into a bunk? Might I remind you that airlines flying at over 400 mph  allow people to unstrap and get up? Yes, there is a risk but slight. 

Kids strapped in their seats get squirmy and hour upon hour of roads calls for a discipline that’s not natural to children.  How do you train a whole family to hold it until the gas tank needs refilling? To sit strapped into that seat for hour after hour of the same highway?  

Dad wants a cup cup of coffee? How long would it take to to get pulling a trailer?  Pull off the highway, find a place that he can pull in, park, get out, wait to be served, get back in. Then get back to the highway?    Or if Mom started the pot a while ago and all she needs to do is pour a cup. 

Now add bathroom breaks, get out and stretch breaks, etc etc Not to mention a trailer needs a truck to pull it, one that you’re tempted to use as a second vehicle? ( which is a lousy and expensive choice). 

Finally we are after all about race cars.  Pull a camping trailer or a race car trailer but not both!  

I second the suggestion to rent one for a weekend, one as close as you can find to the type you would purchase. No better way to learn the pros and cons.

John Welsh said:

You wrote... 

And I don't want a trailer because half of the advantage is that the kids don't have to stay strapped into their seats the whole time. 

 

Everyone thinks, "it'll be great, we can make dinner while we go down the road." 

It's generally really hard and generally unsafe to be walking around a moving vehicle.  I know, it seems like it should be easy and fun.  It's a really easy way to fall down. 

It is true you don't need to strap the kids in, because everyone is likely to be killed in any collision anyway.  Plywood construction doesn't pass a lot of crash tests.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Not all Motorhomes are plywood construction. For example almost anything built since 2000 and many before that. For example The GM , Cortez’s,  etc. 

Danny Shields said:

I second the suggestion to rent one for a weekend, one as close as you can find to the type you would purchase. No better way to learn the pros and cons.

The variety of types doesn’t make that very realistic. Both types of vacations and types of RV’s 

Family  cross country trip?  Wilderness camping? Race track event, personal camping, sporting event attendance, sea side trip, College reunion. Etc. 

In reply to frenchyd :

There are LOTS of different construction techniques- plywood, fiberglass, laminated panels, aluminum, stainless steel...

NONE of them would ever pass a crash test. The commercial bus chassis units would do the best, but they’d still fail miserably. 

You cant make a big open box strong without making  it unbelievably heavy. 

RVs have been a huge part of my family. I’ve been doing it for over 50 years in all different types. 

I’ll try not to rant about this, but letting kids wander around an RV while riding down the road at 70 mph is NO DIFFERENT then letting them jump up and down in the bed of a pickup truck at highway speeds. It’s stupid. 

With all due respect to everyone who is gonna disagree with me, kids can be taught to be comfortable strapped into appropriate seats.  The way you train them does not include letting them run around the coach sometimes, but strapping them when  in a car.  The way you train them is consistent parenting.  Properly belted at ALL times in ALL vehicles.

I have 5 kids. They’ve all traveled  extensively.  Never had a problem wearing seatbelts. 

$7000 is a bad price point for a motor home. Especially for a first time owner. 

Rent one. See how you like it. Learn what features you need and want.

THEN make an informed decision. 

Ive always owned an RV. It would have been much cheaper if I never did, and given me more creative vacation times more focused on my family. 

Original question...

An RV is a recreational vehicle. It can include motor homes, trailers, 5th wheels, pop-ups, virtually anything that is a vehicle you can recreate in. Sometimes even includes water craft. 

A motor home has its own motor. There are different sizes and classes.