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Gmom3510

Junior Member
What is best for hauling (bumper)?; good starter for newbie ( used)?; what is better rated?; basically, we have an 07 'burb' auto trans, 5.3 gas. Help me please.
 

C Nash

Senior Member
Start with your manual to see what you are rated to tow. Need more info to give opinion and how much your budget is? Will you be buying new or used? I would recommend used for first time. You may not like camping but cant imagine anyone not liking. Sunnybrook before Winnabago was a good unit IMO. Artic Fox, Holiday Rambler but JMO. Welcome to the forum and let us know what you do.
 

Gmom3510

Junior Member
Ty for advice, Nash. We like camping very much. Lots with a pop- up and 5 kids.. Now it's r time. The Burb is rated for 8000 lb for towing. And we thought used would be best to start. 10k out the door is monies to invest. Yes, invest. Considering we will trade up we can. looking at a palomino puma 2012 19RL, USED ONE TIME..so they say. An estate thing. But the reviews r vague.
 

Gmom3510

Junior Member
Oh no! Ihope not. I talked to these ppl several times. They said they had to get the title from CA cause TN Do not have titles on their trailers. I thought that was unusual. We haven't seen it yet, but we r going today to look at that and others ones. They have the title now though.
 

C Nash

Senior Member
Worth looking in to just be aware. Lot of these are also Fema trailers so inspect carefully. Look for holding tanks and if it has a regular commode in it thats a dead give way. so of the earlier Femas were rgular rvs before they were made to Fema specs. Femas can also be abused rvs. Dont jump into the first one you see. Do researh and ask questions. Let those of us that have made the mistake and found out the hard way help you to maybe advoid the same. AJMO Keep us posted
 

Gmom3510

Junior Member
Good info for sure. A pop up is much different than a trailer. We r actually getting stressed over this now. Trying to get the best bang for ur buck, we go to dealers and they are SO over priced. U go to pvt. owners and they ( not all) are not so forthcoming when they realize u have limited knowledge. In wish we had better direction for decent ratings.
 

C Nash

Senior Member
There is a book with ratings of rvs out there that takes no advertisements but cant remember the name right off. Is kind of expensive but may save you in long run. maybe some of the other members will know. Used even a well built brand can be a bad unit if it was not well cared for. Domt get stressed looking is part of the fun. Most important to me is look for water leaks (rain) A ice pick going around walls is a good tool for finding soft spots. Watch for bubbles in outer skin if its fiberglass. Any signs of leaks my advice leave it alone. Stains on ceiling is also indication of water damage. If you can see it it's a lot worse than it looks. Have fun
 

JCZ

Member
I used an internet based guide (don't accept any advertising) and it was also expensive but I didn't have anything else to rely on. I'd post a question about a particular make and a couple people would say it was OK and then somebody else would share some negative experience.....so we didn't have anything else to go on.

We were just about ready to pull the trigger on a particular make that we'd been looking at (hey, it "looked" very nice) but when we signed up for RV Consumer Group and saw the ratings we immediatly dropped that unit from our list and actually found a make and model that we weren't even aware of, with high scores for reliability, value, overall rating and rated as a "snowbirder" (because we plan on putting a lot of use on this trailer)......we bought one!

You might want to take a look at RV Consumer......it's kind of pricey but when you don't have anything else to go by, it may save you from making a big mistake.
 

C Nash

Senior Member
Thanks JCZ I just could not remember the name of the RV consumer even after I punched my refresh button. LOL Ever make out there has had lemons so you will get neg comments on them all. Do enough research on your own and then review it. I dont think I have ever had a unit I did not like and have owned tents, popups, converted bus, TT. 5th wheel to present MH. Yes, I have had problems with them all. The 3 Airstreams we have had proved to be the less problem. Great units Only new unit I have ever purchased was a Cougar 5th wheel by Keystone.
KCZ does the consumer group use new rv or used as references as how good they are?
 

JCZ

Member
They use customer feedback (they just sent a survey out a month or so ago.....even to non members), recalls, warranty repairs/replacement (where they could get that info. etc.), their own personal inspections where applicable, etc. Unlike Consumer Reports, I don't hardly think they get one of every model to test. I believe their personal inspections are done on the lots or at RV Shows, etc. Of course the surveys will provide a lot of personal experiences but overall, one gets a pretty good thumbnail sketch of each make, model and year. And yes, they provide info on older units also.

Pricey (just like Comsuer Reports Auto Pricing) but for somebody that doesn't know and doesn't have the experience, I felt like it was a good starting point. Of course, like you pointed out, every make and model will have a lemon somewhere along the way. We've loved our BMW cars however, we did sue BMW under the California Lemon Law on our 06 330i. I still think and speak highly of BMW even with that one negative experience.
 

Gmom3510

Junior Member
Thanks guys. The estate one showed the best, of all we looked at. It truly was evtherything the family said. We should b on the road this afternoon. Stopping down state to wait for Storm Q to get out out our way..lol. We are a disorganized mess for sure though. I'll check back in within a few days to get more advice from you seasoned fulltimers!
 
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