I am back home from my test drive and have a headache! I never get headaches. I guess it was from the stress and excitement.
As you can guess from my title, the National Tropi-Cal was not a match. Actually it almost was for me, but Craig wants to look further and I think he is a little leery of the "orphan" status of the Manufacturer. I did do a lot of research last night, and got some good comments on the RV Dreamers forum "Buying and RV" thread.
The coach I test drove is 33' 10". A good size for a first coach, and a good size for two people who are "any-timing." It has a good amount of Cargo Carrying Capacity, and a reasonable amount of basement storage. The kitchen counter was larger than many that I've seen, and there was a good amount of cupboard and pantry space.
One minus was it had only a two door refrigerator freezer. I would like a four door.
A plus was there was no carpeting on the floors except for in the bedroom. A minus, the vinyl tile looked a bit tired.
I know most people like the tables, but I have no objection to a booth and it had additional storage in the booth seats.
The driver's and passenger seats looked good, but the upholstery on the couch was a less than pleasant brownish green and looked worn. I could live with that. Reupholstering would be easy for me.
It drove wonderfully! The turn radius was unbelievable. It has a 55* wheel cut, and I felt like I could turn a complete circle without much more radius than it's length. No long overhanging tail.
Craig says we need to see more, and drive more before buying. I guess I agree. This one was very close, but last week the Itasca was #1. Will I fall for every one I see?
It's so scary. It's so much money!
One good thing that came out of the day is I have established a relationship with two salesmen at La Mesa. One that I talked to on the telephone, and one that I had talked to at an RV show last year, and remembered me. They work as a team, the second one took me for the test drive. They are both named "Bob." I asked how it would work if I did buy the coach, and Bob said they split commissions. They both treated me with sufficient respect and I feel they took me seriously even if I was a female.
I have been honest with all salesmen, if I'm looking alone I tell them that if I like it, my husband has to see it as well, but if I don't he doesn't need to.
In other words, I have found a dealership that I'm comfortable with and that I think will look for a coach to fit our needs. At least I hope they do.
Another small "happy." When I checked email when I got home I have another order. A Large Buffalo for Park City Utah. Shipped an armadillo yesterday! Had him done already and just put him in a box and mailed him off.
Craig and Merikay at Avenue of the Giants, California
I agree with Craig - you need to test drive many many RVs before you settle on one. Even if you don't think they're what you want, try them on for size. Good news about the new order.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those few people that prefers a booth! :) Good for you for doing the test drive. Did you do the highways and byways with it?
ReplyDeleteFirst, congratulations on you next order! Good for you! Wow! You make driving a motorhome sound easy. You're an inspiration Merikay. It's good the two of you are looking and sorting through all the details with each unit. You'll end up with something that you both love. You're getting closer all the time. John and knew exactly what we wanted when we looked for our unit and we've been happy for nearly two years in it. It took both of us to choose it.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the housing market, we have decided to just sit on the stick house for awhile. We are in the RV for 3/4 of the time and having a ball. I am in love with the RV we have now. A forty two foot Tiffin Phaeton. When you find the right one you will know!
ReplyDeletetrying them on for size is a great idea!..you will find the ONE!!
ReplyDeleteMany people are intimidated by the Motor Home's size but they are actually easier to drive than they look. Ours is 33' long & we've had it in some pretty tight places. One of the biggest bug-a-boos about many Motor Homes is the lack of kitchen counter space so the more counter space you can get, the better. Might not seem like much when your looking but when your traveling in your coach, the lack of counter space becomes very annoying. We took out our uncomfortable booth, couch & tub chair replacing it all with Ikea furniture. Check out as many coaches as you can because once you sign on the dotted line....that's it!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the salesman treated you right. That's a big thing, to get along with the salesman. I agree, a 4 door refrigerator is better. It might not be a deal breaker though, as you can usually upgrade.
ReplyDeleteIt's always a good idea to keep checking until you find the one that's just right. You'll know it when you see it!
ReplyDeleteThat's all good advice, I'm sure. Us? We went to a dealer's vacant lot sale, saw two rigs, picked the second one, and have driven it for nine years. Could we have done better? Dunno. Don't want to worry about that. We've loved our Rosie, and she's been good to us.
ReplyDeleteWhy did we choose the second one? The first one had an electric-operated fold-out couch bed, and we knew that unit would stop operating shortly after we began to want to use it. The less fancy stuff like that, the better, IMHO!
Of course you would be great with reupholsterty (spell check that please!) but one thing we noticed in used RV's is the foam of booth type dining arrangements always seems to go soft and uncomfortable pretty quickly... i.e. if you're sitting there while computing; playing games and such...
ReplyDeleteJust some more info to consider!!