Mom is looking for a Class B motorhome.

Mom, rented a motorhome to tour the PNW last year, it worked well for her now she wants to buy one.  

For what she wants to spend, around $20k, will this get her into a mid 2000s?   Do we have a preference of chassis, Ford, Dodge, GM, VW.   Is any brand the one to look for or stay away from.

Anyone have one to get rid of?

I personally prefer the Ford chassis in the class Bs, mostly for the front suspension but also because I like the ergonomics a bit better inside.  The front end is just beefier.  There is a reason that 80% of the class Bs out there are on Ford E-chassis.  I won't say the GM is cheaper for the coach manufacturers, but as a very general observation, the quality of the coaches I see on GM platforms are of lower quality than the ones you usually see on Ford chassis.

I will also say (although I haven't driven or played with the imports for a long time), the last time I looked they were a stretch... meaning, they are great at building small vehicles since their country of origin uses little trucks, but they don't have much experience upscaling things to heavy use.  American truck manufacturers have a very long history of borrowing from their larger chassis and a lot of experience with HD stuff.  This may have changed since I was in the medium duty market, but it can mean a world of difference in how it drives and handles things like braking, cross winds, etc.  The ones on the new Ram Van chassis I can't speak intelligently about having never driven one, but the Ram Van seems to be a well-liked thing.  It also completely depends on how big she wants.  If you're doing a 26', go Ford.  If you're doing a 14', who cares.  A souped-up Hyundai Entourage could probably handle that.

As far as the coach itself, I'm also a wee bit out of the loop.  The newest RV I currently own is a 1999.  There used to be several really good manufacturers, then RV corporations took a big hit in the early 2000s with the bubble/recession and they all seemed to switch parent companies.  What used to be the cream of the crop (like Holiday Rambler) got bought (by Monaco) and their quality tanked to stay profitable.

The nice thing is, its pretty easy to use a couple quick indicators that at least suggest quality in the rest of the build.

Cabinets.  Open a cabinet door.  Grab it and push up and down.  Most of them have the world's cheapest and flimsiest hinges.  Even the trip from the factory to the showroom, they'll start showing sagging, misalignment, and fatigue.  If the cabinets are made of luan with a 1x1 scab in the corners, just run.

Carpet.  Nearly all will use the thinnest, cheapest carpet you can buy and it will look 5 years old after one year of a few weekends of camping.  Good carpet is a good sign.

Upholstery.  Leather is usually pleather and remarkably thin and cheap.  Assess the quality of the upholstery and it will give you an idea of how much effort/money they put into building

The rest is just layout preference and options.

May seem like a thin distinction but closer to 2000 than mid-2000s with that price range. RVs depreciate so steeply that there are huge price differences across a fairly small year range. In fact, for the first 4 years or so I wouldn't be surprised if the price difference was 10k/year. 

Anyway, i see a lot of ~99-03ish Class Bs around 20k, and I look fairly often. The only Class B dodges were swollen unibody full size vans, so no big box bodies with actual room like on a GM or Ford. Those will fit almost anywhere, but a tall person won't fit inside them. How tall is she?  

The Ford v10 and auto trans are pretty great but spark plug torque needs to be maintained or they'll hammer all 3 threads loose and eject the plug requiring what COULD be a very expensive repair depending on whether you're a female being treated poorly by an automotive shop that thinks they have you over a barrell because woman/RV/far from home etc. Good news is you can drive a LONG way on 9 cylinders!! Just verify that the hole isn't puffing gasoline into the engine bay.. Fords are actually good about turning off injectors on dead cylinders but it's still easy enough to unplug the injector once the doghouse is out. 

GM 6.0, 8.1, 4l80e and Allison are all pretty good as well. 

Really, i would rule out the Dodge or not based on whether you want a swollen van or a true stand-up box-body RV whose bathroom at no point includes standing in the hallway.  From there I would pick GM or Ford based mostly on condition and what's available at a good price. I'd also take the roof that's least likely to leak over the drivetrain that's least likely to break, personally. At least if it's an older rig (20k? yep..) that she plans to keep for a while. 

I had a Pleasureway 2006 Class B+ 20' van from 2007 to 2010.  It was heavy (over 10,000 lbs) and used an E-350 chassis with the 5.4 motor (actually a fine motor and had plenty of oomph for the load).  My problem was the chassis and rear wheel setup.  It had a fairly short wheelbase and LOOOONG rear overhang on a fairly narrow SRW axle.  This led to really sketchy handling and positively terrifying over 70 mph.  It really felt like it would lose control and "come around" on you while driving in a straight line.  My dad couldn't drive it, he tried for an hour of Alabama interstate and quit.

TLDR: whatever she gets. she needs to test drive it in different situations and make sure the handling is acceptable.  Dually would help.

Class B's tend to hold their value well.  You can find them cheap, but it'll take awhile to find a good one. 

Each chassis has their defenders and haters. But for a vehicle 15-20 years old, you're buying the owner and maintenance as much as the vehicle itself.  I would actually be more inclined to buy a high-mileage B that has good service records from a private seller than a low mileage B that has spent most of its life sitting.

Otherwise, previous comments apply. 

I think there is some kind of "rule of thumb" that RV's wheel base should be a minimum of 54% of total length for handling which deals with the long overhangs. Also long overhangs tend to drag when going over and up inclines. I have actually seen RV,s with casters or skid bars hanging down. Because Class B coaches use van chassis it would also be important to know how much actual weight can be added in gear, food, water, etc before exceeding the gross vehicle weight.

In reply to Curtis :

You seem to be thinking of a class C.

 B's are based on a van.

Yeah it's suddenly hard to find a roadtrek type class B for less than $25k.

Friends had a couple so I thought you could still find them, but CL is not filled with them any more. 

It's easier to find a smaller class C for a reasonable price. But you have to worry about the box rotting out more often. 

You seem to be thinking of a class C.

 B's are based on a van.

Most Class Bs and Class Cs are long boxes stuck on a van.  The Class Cs are longer and usually have two or three sleepable areas. Class Bs rarely have more than one sleep area.  For the majority of each you could mostly boil them down by size. Even two identical length RVs would be separated to B and C by one having a sleeper over the cab and one not. I personally tend to think of Class Bs mostly stopping around 25'. 

As I understand it, Class B is based on a van and Class C has the overhang bed over the cab.  Class As are custom built, non-factory frame.

The Vixen I was looking at is a Class A, though it's only 21 ft. long, it's A because of its custom made frame.

Class B:

Class C:

Class A:

Vixen.

914Driver said:

As I understand it, Class B is based on a van and Class C has the overhang bed over the cab.  Class As are custom built, non-factory frame.

The Vixen I was looking at is a Class A, though it's only 21 ft. long, it's A because of its custom made frame.

Class B:

Class C:

Class A:

That Chevy looks like a sweet ride.  I bet that with a 6.0 it can hold its own in traffic too.

As I understand it, Class B is based on a van and Class C has the overhang bed over the cab. 

Yeah, the Class B designation is pretty silly. It doesn't necessarily mean it will fit in a garage or that it isn't 11 ft tall. It doesn't necessarily mean it is shorter than the shortest Class Cs. It doesn't necessarily mean it's not a box-body. The general thing about the Class C having that overhead sleeping bunk seems like a more reliable rule than anything about what makes a Class B.

The Vixen fits in my garage, the only reason it's on my radar.

I know 2 people that have a Rialta, which is based on the VW Eurovan.  Both of them have had no issues and chose it for its size. I'd assume like other VW stuff it has a cult following and is probably more $$ than a comparable Ford, GM, etc. but figured I'd toss it out there

Vigo said:

As I understand it, Class B is based on a van and Class C has the overhang bed over the cab. 

Yeah, the Class B designation is pretty silly. It doesn't necessarily mean it will fit in a garage or that it isn't 11 ft tall. It doesn't necessarily mean it is shorter than the shortest Class Cs. It doesn't necessarily mean it's not a box-body. The general thing about the Class C having that overhead sleeping bunk seems like a more reliable rule than anything about what makes a Class B.

In general, a Class B is a glorified conversion van and usually around the same dimensions; built on a base cargo van, although heavily modified. 

A Class C is typically a stick & tin (although sometimes metal or fiberglass) box built onto the back of a van chassis-cab. Usually longer than a B with a long rear overhang. The wheelbase can vary depending what the manufacturer offers in the base chassis-cab configuration, but for the most part the mechanical components will be untouched by the RV manufacturer.

The easiest "tell" is the rear side doors - a B will have van doors whereas a C will have an RV door.  Of course, there are also some "B+" variants which can kinda blur the differences.  A B+ is often one that looks like a normal B but is actually based on a chassis-cab, with the main benefit being they will usually be a bit wider than a standard van.  That Chevy pictured above could be considered a B+.

These are very general. The RV industry is huge and there are many exceptions and off-the wall builds.

Great info guys, she is looking to buy early 2020.   I totally agree with buying one with higher mileage as sitting is bad for all vehicles, more so for one with extra points of failure.

Would a 6.0 chevy in a motorhome have the same DOD or AFM as the trucks.  That would be a no sell for me.  Three of three guys that I work with got new motors or trucks from that issue.  Maybe just add an eliminator if she got one of those.

GRM did a story on tag behind trailers and or RVs a while ago.  Try to find it, Margie put out a lot of good information and things to watch for.

Dan

In reply to 914Driver :

You got it