American Motorhomes in the UK
Discussion
Nagsheadwarrior....those Monacos look nice. We are a family with 2 small kids and plan on taking some time off before the kids start going to school,
Tours of 6-8 weeks are planned, in the winter the south and in the summer up north. We need a family freindly floorplan. Most of the american RV's have impressive room, mostly because of the slide-outs. I also appreciate the real wwod cabinetry and proper sized bathrooms. The large engines and automatic transmision complete the package. However most of the floorplans are designed for 2 people, with occasional sleeping in form of a foldout couch.
The ideal floorplan would be a large double bed or 2 single beds arrangen lenght wise (possibly in analcove), a nice bathroom and a bunkbed separately. This could allow us parents to put the kids to sleep and still enjoy the living area and some privacy at night.
This comes the closest, the only thing missing is the single beds lenghtwise in the alcove:
http://www.dethleffs.de/reisemobile/globetrotter-x...
What main differences do you see between american RV's and the usual german stuff? It seems to me that the US Motorhomes offer a lot more value for money. The complete absence of slideouts on the european front is frustrating.
Do you know of any US rv's that offer a more family friendly layout?
Greetings from CH
Tours of 6-8 weeks are planned, in the winter the south and in the summer up north. We need a family freindly floorplan. Most of the american RV's have impressive room, mostly because of the slide-outs. I also appreciate the real wwod cabinetry and proper sized bathrooms. The large engines and automatic transmision complete the package. However most of the floorplans are designed for 2 people, with occasional sleeping in form of a foldout couch.
The ideal floorplan would be a large double bed or 2 single beds arrangen lenght wise (possibly in analcove), a nice bathroom and a bunkbed separately. This could allow us parents to put the kids to sleep and still enjoy the living area and some privacy at night.
This comes the closest, the only thing missing is the single beds lenghtwise in the alcove:
http://www.dethleffs.de/reisemobile/globetrotter-x...
What main differences do you see between american RV's and the usual german stuff? It seems to me that the US Motorhomes offer a lot more value for money. The complete absence of slideouts on the european front is frustrating.
Do you know of any US rv's that offer a more family friendly layout?
Greetings from CH
nagsheadwarrior,
thank you for the informative reply. I've also read in german forums that a lot of the US mobiles are of questionable quality, especially when one looks underneath the surface. Most of the stigma I attributed to the certain european "we do it better" attitude that is very fashinable. Certainly there must be some american brands that provide good quality. Triple-E from Canada seems to get good reviews but I am certainly open to be taught.
Thanky again
thank you for the informative reply. I've also read in german forums that a lot of the US mobiles are of questionable quality, especially when one looks underneath the surface. Most of the stigma I attributed to the certain european "we do it better" attitude that is very fashinable. Certainly there must be some american brands that provide good quality. Triple-E from Canada seems to get good reviews but I am certainly open to be taught.
Thanky again
The build quality issue is a bit too generalised, are there really no RV's from America that have decent quality to them? I mean manufacturers like Triple E that are based in Canada certainly know how to make a winterised vehicle. What exactly is this build quality problematic? Do the furniture pieces fall off the walls? Do these things go up in flames on a daily basis due to bad wiring?
Drawing parallels to the car world I see how badly bashed american cars are on the continent, always with this build quality argument. My experience has been that although the "Spaltmasse" (gapbetween individual components) may not be as small and accurate as top german brands, but mechanically most american vehicles are sound and reliable. The often cited teutonic "clunk" sound when closing the door is certainly not present in a Toyota, but although they may look fragile a lot of Japanese cars are a lot more reliable then their german counterparts.
I guess my question boils down to perceived quality vs. real world drawbacks.
I for one still do not understand the absolute lack of slideouts on the european market.
Drawing parallels to the car world I see how badly bashed american cars are on the continent, always with this build quality argument. My experience has been that although the "Spaltmasse" (gapbetween individual components) may not be as small and accurate as top german brands, but mechanically most american vehicles are sound and reliable. The often cited teutonic "clunk" sound when closing the door is certainly not present in a Toyota, but although they may look fragile a lot of Japanese cars are a lot more reliable then their german counterparts.
I guess my question boils down to perceived quality vs. real world drawbacks.
I for one still do not understand the absolute lack of slideouts on the european market.
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