Choosing a Motorhome vs Fifth Wheel RV. Watch this first!

if you're ever in McAllen Texas you need to stop by Mambo's and pick up a mango lava with some chili spice on it it is amazing so hey everyone so I wanted to make a video that compared the purchasing decision between a fifth wheel and a class a Motorhome I'm going to talk about both gas and diesel classes because if you've done any research on class A's and you know there's a huge difference in price depending on different variables of course gas classes are dominated pretty much by front-mounted Ford v10 jassi's generally ranging in price between about ninety to one hundred and sixty thousand dollars versus pushers pretty much meaning diesel engines in the rear of the coach generally ranging in price between one hundred and fifty thousand all the way up to the millions now for the sake of this video I want to focus more on one hundred and fifty thousand one hundred and seventy-five thousand class a motor homes I chose this price range pretty much because I imagine that most of our viewers are looking to decide between a truck and a fifth wheel versus a Motorhome and that's generally the category that you know purchasing a new truck and a fifth wheel are going to fall into you know on a truck and a fifth wheel assuming you don't already have the truck you're going to spend between 50 and 80 thousand dollars on the truck and probably another fifty to ninety thousand dollars on the fifth wheel depending on of course which one you get of course there are units that are you know quite a bit more expensive as well as some dealerships that sell their units for much closer to the manufacturer's suggested retail price or MSRP I imagine though that the vast majority of fifth wheel pick up truck combos run in that price range so if you take that sum of the two required vehicles the truck and trailer you're going to be roughly in the same price range as one hundred and fifty one hundred and seventy thousand dollar Class A now if you already own a capable 3/4 ton or one ton pickup then of course the cost of the fifth wheel would be significantly less than a new class a Motorhome now let's talk about some of the differences that are pretty obvious between the two setups again keep in mind that though many of the comparisons can be universally applied to all fifth wheels and Class A's there are models that can differ from what I'm talking about so generally units made by brands that are quite a bit more expensive than what I'm comparing are going to be the ones that are the outliers that are really going to show the big differences of course between the two first you know of course a Class A is going to include the motor and the drivetrain as well as the RV in one unit generally the v10 engine is going to be upfront and the diesel engines are going to be in the rear depending on if you get gas or diesel a fifth wheel would require a tow vehicle of course generally a one-ton pickup truck and in some cases a class 4 through 8 truck depending on what you're towing or what your preference is most of the time the pickup is going to have a diesel engine and many of the times it's going to be a dually in all cases the diesel pickups can have the engine up front and I'll talk about why I mention that later and it has something to do more with comfort of ride as well as the amount of noise second the Class A is going to almost always have the bedroom in the rear versus a fifth wheel which about 80% of them have the main bedroom up front in the overhang you know of course there are dozens if not hundreds of floor plans available in fifth wheels just mainly because of the nature of how they're designed and the platform they're built on you know you can get 5th wheels with bedrooms up front bedrooms in the back bedrooms you know slightly back from the front if you have a bathroom up front front living room rear living room mid bunk all sorts of different models the main point is that you're definitely going to have more floor plan choices with a fifth wheel versus a Class A third a Class A is generally going to have much stronger frame and better suspension system versus a fifth wheel since they usually are built on commercial truck chassis a fifth wheel frame is usually going to be a 10 to 12 inch tall eye beam and the steel might only be about a sixteenth of an inch thick most of the time your class days are going to ride on C channel usually quarter inch thick or Aitor high-strength steel mainly because your class aids are generally going to ride on commercial truck frames that need to be able to support the beefy commercial axles and chassis components now on to number four engines available in Class A s at the price range we're talking about are generally going to be the 6.8 liter Ford v10 or the Cummins 6.7 liter is B engine pretty similar to the 6.7 liter that comes in Ram diesel pickups now these engines are generally detuned and usually have between 300 to 340 horsepower and around 650 to 700 pound feet of torque with v wheels the pickup truck tow vehicles generally going to have a Cummins power stroke or Duramax engine depending on which make or model a truck you get in some cases you can get a v8 gas engine but most people and I would suggest you opt against it simply because you lose a lot of the towing convenient payload capacity towing capacity as well as stopping capabilities that you get with diesel engines all of these engines in one ton trucks are going to be available with at least 370 horsepower and 900 pound feet of torque which is far more than some class aids in this price range now the fifth and final difference is going to be that fifth wheels will have a far less robust suspension system as well as smaller tires than your typical Class A at least in the price range we're talking about a Class A is generally going to have twenty-two and a half inch commercial wheels and tires that are far more robust incapable of supporting heavy weight also most diesel classes will have air brakes while fifth wheels will pretty much rely on electric drum brakes as well as the tow vehicles brakes which on newer trucks will be hydraulic disc brakes of course there are disc brake conversions that are available in fifth wheels on the aftermarket and even on some higher-end units of standard equipment but generally not in the price range we're talking about beyond those differences I'm going to talk a little bit about some of the pros and cons of owning each type of coach first let's focus on one of the Class A pros you know with the Class A you get a combined unit which means you don't need a pickup to haul your coach since the coach has an engine you know this can be great for boondocking or dry camping when you may not need another vehicle to get around you know now a negative of class a is you're generally going to need a tow vehicle or towed which is a towed vehicle if you plan on connecting to campground or an RV park and you need to get around while your RV is connected this can be an added expense plus a challenge since only a few car manufacturers still make doable vehicles manufacturers like Jeep forward RAM and Chevy still offer options but many have gotten out of the business of making a vehicle that you can tow behind a RV without needing it to be lifted off the ground completely and put on a trailer manufacturers like Toyota and Honda I don't even think make vehicles that you can tow anymore without putting them on a trailer don't worry though there's a lot of newer vehicles that are on the market to choose from but keep in mind that this is going to be an added expense which you know if you're paying 170 thousand dollars for a Class A you pretty much need to add an additional 10 to 20 thousand dollars more depending on the used vehicle you purchase also connecting a towed or tow vehicle to the back of your motor home is about the same amount of time as connecting a fifth wheel to a pickup so don't expect that disconnecting from an RV park or getting ready to leave for a trip is going to take any longer shorter period of time with either set up again unless you plan on manually dry camping or boondocking with your Class A and you don't need to tow a vehicle behind you you know another advantage of a Class A is that if your boondocking or dry camping you don't ever have to leave the coach you simply shade your front windows and you're ready inside your RV this can be really convenient and safer in some areas than having to get out of a pickup truck walk to the back into the fifth wheel or the trailer and really not have a good Vantage of what's going on with the truck itself so in a Class A of course you have Windows pretty much all around and you're going to be able to see or hear what's going on all around the coach at night and that can really come in handy now along the same lines if there's bad or inclement weather it's pouring down rain you don't have to depart a trailer or a fifth wheel to run up to a pickup truck if you have small children or a baby that can be kind of disconcerning it can be a problem especially from a safety perspective versus already being inside of the coach and just walking to your drivers seat taking off now a pro for a fifth-wheel is that when your boondocking or dry camping or simply using your fifth-wheel at an RV park or campground you're able to use your pickup truck to get around and leave your fifth-wheel at the RV park it's nice to have a single vehicle that can be used for both towing your coach and getting around when you need transportation now another negative to a 5th wheel is that while you're traveling it's really impossible for eating a stretch your legs or move around use the restroom in the pickup truck since it's towing the fifth wheel you're generally going to have to either pull over or wait to get out at a rest stop also passengers in a pickup are more likely to get carsick and develop aches and pains from being forced to sit in the same position for a long period of time especially if you're traveling with young children or baby a Class A gives you far more room to stretch out as well as move around or use a restroom or access the refrigerator or any other quick thing while you're traveling and that can really be a convenience factor if you have children or babies that you travel with now a negative to a Class A is that since your RV has an engine if that engine becomes disabled or damaged in any way the entire RV is probably going to be out of commission until it's fixed and many times the only places that are going to work on motorhomes especially larger ones are going to be a commercial truck shop if it's a diesel Class A then you're probably going to find that you could be in the shop for weeks at a time depending on the workload of the diesel shop at that given time even for minor probably gas Class A can sometimes be taken to a local Ford dealership to have the v10 service which can be convenient but you need to be able to make arrangements and have a place to stay if your RV is disabled and it's in the shop so the added expense of hotel rooms as well as if you bring pets with you are they going to accommodate them all the little things that you're going to have to really work out in the event that you have an engine problem or a major mechanical problem with your motor home are things to consider when you have a 5th wheel you have far less issues that could arise with the mechanics of the fifth wheel that would leave it completely disabled and you know you always have a pickup truck that you can then use or if your pickup truck becomes disabled you still have the play that you're staying and you're not giving up your home as well now another Pro to a fifth-wheel and this isn't always the case but generally you should get better gas mileage with a modern diesel pickup truck towing a fifth wheel than you would with either a gas or a diesel class-a you know a v10 gas engine is going to get pretty bad gas mileage usually between about 8 and 11 miles per gallon when you're not towing or going uphill now if you do a lot of towing or you're going to be going uphill with it through the mountains you're going to see your gas mileage drop significantly generally to the five to eight mile per gallon range depending on what you're towing and what type of hills you're going up a diesel Class A again in the price range we're talking about not the four or five six hundred horsepower ones will generally get between about nine and thirteen miles per gallon if you're towing or going uphill then that's generally going to drop to between six and ten miles per gallon mainly because the smaller diesel engine just doesn't produce the power that the larger engines are capable of on the other side of fifth wheel depending on the size and a modern diesel pickup truck towing it should get between nine and fourteen miles to a gallon when you're towing just a fifth wheel if you're going uphill that's probably going to drop between eight and ten miles per gallon so you should be getting a little better gas mileage with a pickup truck towing a fifth wheel than either a gas or diesel Class A in that hundred and fifty thousand dollar price range now a big pro for both the fifth wheel and a Motorhome or a class a Motorhome is that you can generally in this price range ops to have an Onan generator at least fifty five hundred watts included with both packages and that should be big enough to power pretty much everything on board both rigs and the only reason I mention that is because there are some dealerships that don't even include any type of generator as an option in a fifth wheel and some that you can build them out in spec it with a generator I would always recommend if you can get to fifty five hundred watt Onan generator included in your fifth wheel purchase do so because that can be a big difference between a Class A that includes one versus a fifth wheel that doesn't and in that fifty to ninety thousand dollar price range once you hit about seventy to seventy-five thousand dollars and up you should be able to opt to get a Onan generator included in the package now negative to a 5th wheel is that generally when you buy a new 5th wheel unless you're getting one that's 70,000 to 80,000 dollars plus you're going to be stuck with some pretty horrific tires cheaper tires have pretty much become the norm on travel trailers and 5th wheels until you get into again $75,000 and up 5th wheels that come with either say loon Goodyear Michelin tires as part of the package now the nice thing about Class A's especially classes with 22 and a half inch wheels is that you're generally going to get a Michelin a Goodyear or a Firestone Tire that's commercial rated it's usually going to be a G load rating and it's going to be a really good tire that can easily handle the load whereas a lot of these 5th wheels and travel trailers just come with inferior tires the end up having you get replaced along those same lines a Class A is also usually going to be much more reliable over poor road conditions than a fifth wheel mainly because the shackles and the hangers and the different components that support leaf springs on the fifth wheel are going to be nowhere near as robust or capable of withstanding harsh road conditions like a class A's truck chassis would now finally I saved probably the single biggest Class A negative for last and this one's important when you're not using your Class A it's far more susceptible to problems while in storage mainly because you have an engine you have a drivetrain you have a chassis not just the coach itself engines like to be running not sitting fuel likes to be consumed not stagnant fuel tanks like fresh fuel not to be empty you're holding old fuel their additives that can help prolong the life of both diesel and gas however you can still find that you know prolong storage for several months or years can cause damage to your fuel things and even your fuel system growth of algae and diesel fuel tanks can kill fuel filters and keep you stranded in a second as well as rust the tank out these are actually fairly common with diesel pushers that have been stored for long periods of time with less than full tanks and no algae preventer adding these aren't problems at most fifth wheel have to deal with mainly because the pickup truck that tows the trailer is generally driven as a personal vehicle and cycles through fuel before it has a chance of getting that old other problems can occur while classic is are in storage as well such as rodents getting into the engine destroying wires hoses and other vital components also storage generally isn't friendly on RV tires and a class that it will often require much larger more expensive tires than a fifth wheel now even though 5th wheels generally have four tires unless the six wheel toy hauler you also have to think about the truck tires which will add another 4 or 6 additional tires to the equation when it comes time to service or replace them often this is inconsequential mainly because the truck tends to be your daily driver and goes through normal routine service anyways this is just my quick list of pros and cons I'm sure you guys can think of reasons why one is better than another or your personal experiences with either a Class A or a fifth wheel I hope this helps if you're in the market for one or the other I didn't want to try to sound too negative on one or the other you know I'm a 5th wheel owner we love our 5th wheel but we've also considered a Motorhome if you enjoyed this video please give me a thumbs up and take a moment to subscribe to my channel if you haven't thanks everyone Oh

Channel: Big Truck Big RV

Views: 218,777

Rating: 4.8638258 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: GhwFlojZUpw

Length: 16min 54sec (1014 seconds)

Published: Thu May 18 2017