Mike09

I am looking into a travel trailer and wanted some feedback. I have a 2016 screw 4x4 xlt with 3.31 gears and the 3.5 ecoboost. Payload capacity is 1910.


I wanted some feedback (likes and dislikes...quality comparisons, etc) between the grand design imagine 2400bh and the Cherokee alpha wolf 26dbh-l.

on the surface it seems like the grand design (both when researching and comparing features and specs...as well as opinions in the marketplace) is off a little higher quality. Just my wife and three year old kid. No plans on any more
chitlins.

I am pretty sure I would be ok towing both. The alpha wolf is getting to the max on the total length I would want to tow for sure but both are within my capacity in terms of payload.

thanks in advance.

bikendan

i'd take the GD over the Alpha Wolf in a heartbeat. Much better quality and i'm a 2x Forest River product owner.

Bruski

I would also take a grand design all day long over the alpha, way better quality. The problem I see with most camper manufacturers is they seem out of touch with what quite a few people including myself want. Mainly storage, all my wife wants is a small closet and could care less about having a couch or a fireplace inside. If they could stay under 30ft due to access to many of the state parks we enjoy camping at. Have you looked at the is one?

https://rv.campingworld.com/rvdetail...20k-OCA1694991

Mike09

yeah I have seen the Coleman. I always thought they were a good manufacturer (not based off ownership but more off reputation in general for camping products). But I hear a lot of mixed reviews.

and yeah, I feel like the grand design is of higher quality. I do however like the fireplace and the dinette and couch in the alpha wolf as opposed to just the dinette in the grand design.

Bruski

i have heard mixed reviews on the Coleman as well, we went and looked and them and we’re disappointed in a few things.
Everyone one has their preferences, we love the lance campers. We have the 2285 and are going to be getting the lance 2445 next year. Have you looked at the lance TT.

Mike09

I just looked at the lance 2445 online. Looks nice. What is the price on that? The website did the old...submit request to get everyday low price.

Bruski

50k. It’s very well built and has a ton of features

Mike09

That’s more than I want to spend. Definitely want to be mid 20s-ish

Johnny Paycheck

You're just going to have to pick what you deem as the lesser evil. I have a Forest River wildwood X-Lite and haven’t had anywhere near the lousy quality show up that others have. That being said, I’m not sure what all the first owner put up with. I’ve only had to replace junk LED overhead lights inside, which didn’t thrill me on a ‘17 model trailer.

Trailer manufacturers are there to push everything out ASAP, anything else be damned.

TerryD64

Check out the RV froums. Build Quality is a total crapshoot regardless of "Manufacturer". Some of the very high end models are different but you will pay for those. The bulk of the RV industry is owned by Thor Industries with Winnebago following in second place. "Grand Design" originally several Keystone (Thor) executives that left Keystone and started GD is now owned by Winnebago and quality has been declining since then at least according to the forums.

The RV "manufacturers" are actually assemblers as they actually make nothing just slap the components together as fast as they can. You will see "Suburban" heaters, Air Excel and Coleman Mach for the AC units, Atwood and Dometic for the Water Heaters, Frames and chasis components by LCI the list goes on and on. They all use the same components. They do have different floor plans and finishes.

The most important part of the transaction is your choice of dealer and the relationship you have with your dealer. The dealer is the one performs the Post Delivery Inspection (PDI This is actually the QA department for many manufacturers) and pursues warranty issues with the mfg. A good dealer will investigate and advocate for you on warranty issues. The Mfg does not know your name and generally does not deal with consumers. The dealer and their reputation is much more important than who the manufacturer is.

If you want to keep your cost low, then find a dealer with a good reputation (or at least not a bad one) and find a gently used model 2 or 3 years old that meets your needs. This has had the bugs worked out and corrected and will often be in better shape than a new unit. The best part is, you don't have to eat as much depreciation or have the sad fact of I spent 25K and it's broken on the first trip. Plenty of horror stories around the forums about this. My next RV will be a gently used model.

I got lucky on my current rig, I had a great dealer who treated me fairly and honored all warranty issues. They did a great job on the PDI and prep and mine had very few issues all of which were addressed in a timely fashion.

Importance in order as I have learned them
1. Choice of dealer,
2. Choice of Floorplan,
then manufacturer of RV and everything else

Best of luck.