How Long to Keep Our Solitude Before Replacing?

[roegs01]

We like everything about our S-Class and were sad to see Grand Design discontinue that line. Our 2930RL is now 5 years old and am wondering at what point we'd replace it. Many people replace vehicles every 3-5 years just to keep maintenance costs down and ensure reliability (I realize that's not always the case, but many feel that new = reliable). Our trailer has been basically flawless so far, but I'd also like to move into something newer before we get to the point of things starting to degrade and needing replacement. Is there a 'sweet spot' where a person should consider trading / selling for a new one?

[Bungy]

. Is there a 'sweet spot' where a person should consider trading / selling for a new one?

My Solitude is 6 yrs old and I have no intention of replacing it. My theory is that if it’s not broke don’t fix it! This also applies to my 16 yr old Harley, car and 18 yr old truck.

[Steven@147]

Howdy, I think RVs are a different animal than say a car or truck. Many people trade up 3-5 years on them. But RVs ,once you get all the bugs worked out maybe through warranty in the first couple years, then you can really enjoy them. Of course they require a lot of on-going maintenance like the suspension, slide seals, roof inspections and so forth.

From what we have seen at the RV shows this year, we wouldn't trade our rig for any of the new stuff, especially the new Influence that supposedly replaced the S-Class Solitude.. We have the cargo capacity and storage space we need for full-timing, and the appliances and options we like. No to Hydraulics, No to on-demand water heater and No to anything to do with one-control and touch screens.

Ours is 5 years old as well and we have no plans of ever replacing it for something new. For us new doesn't equate to more reliable. We have had no major problems with our rig so far. So as long as the basic construction of the RV is sound, we'll just maintain, repair or replace as needed. If any of the appliances fail we'll just repair or replace them.

[traveldawg]

This is my take on selling/buying/trading RVs.....

If what you have suits your lifestyle then most likely it is less of a hassle to keep it than replace it (especially in this day-and-age of poor workmanshipq & absence of quality control).

If you have lots of $$ then the decision process get easier and leans toward upgrading just for the sake of replacing it.

I don't see very many new features that would drive me to a newer RV. There are more electronics, but more complication and sources of failures. And then there is the matter of endless water heaters (or endless issues with winterizing, low flow, etc.).

It takes a good year to work the bugs out of any new RV. Whether small or big there are too many things wrong with new RVs. So how is your tolerance for failures, shoddy workmanship, days without the RV, etc?

There is probably a point where you have to decide what you can get for a trade-in versus new price. Trade in value continues to go down while new purchase continues to go up. So where do you want to be. And that just assumes you outright purchase the new RV versus a loan. With a loan you have to consider what you owe versus what you sell for.

It's not such an easy decision and none of us are in the position of telling you what to do; we can only give our POV.

For us changing RVs was always a matter of what we wanted to travel in. We've had a few of each kind of camper. We did sell our Class-A for our current camper because the timing of what we could sell it for after 7 years vs. 10 years and we knew we didn't want the yearly maintenance costs of the Class-A.

[roegs01]

My Solitude is 6 yrs old and I have no intention of replacing it. My theory is that if it’s not broke don’t fix it! This also applies to my 16 yr old Harley, car and 18 yr old truck.

While I can't disagree with your theory it only scales so far for me. I also have older vehicles / boats but I'm finding that as I get older I no longer have the desire to maintain everything. I love working on my older hobby car along with other projects around our home (including an older boat). But we bought our 2930 for both of us to enjoy. While I am capable of doing a majority of the upcoming maintenance on our 5th wheel, I need to draw the line somewhere, which is why I posed the question.

....From what we have seen at the RV shows this year, we wouldn't trade our rig for any of the new stuff, especially the new Influence that supposedly replaced the S-Class Solitude......No to Hydraulics, No to on-demand water heater and No to anything to do with one-control and touch screens.

Steven....could not agree with you more. I love the simplicity of the S-Class.

[Tom Traveler]

My Solitude is 6 yrs old and I have no intention of replacing it. My theory is that if it’s not broke don’t fix it! This also applies to my 16 yr old Harley, car and 18 yr old truck.

I’m in the same camp. 4 cars and 3 trucks over 49 years. As I’ve always had a car and truck at the same time, that’s an average of 12 to 15+ years per vehicle. If you take care of stuff, I think the cost of maintenance, usually, is far less than the cost of churn. Buy a quality item and keep it maintained. (And keep it away from a dealership’s service shop, it at all possible.)

I don’t intend to ever turn over our Solitude, barring an accident or major failure. Of course, at my age, that won’t be a difficult goal to achieve. My purchase criteria now (including selection of doctors, lawyers, haircutters, etc.) is - “will it last the rest of my life.”

[poohbear]

We just traded our 2011 5er ( we bought it Feb 2011) for the 397TH only because of my Wife's medical woes. We just didn't have a reall need to change until recently. She needs her mobility scooter, walker, or golf car to get around and there is no cure for the decline .
We used it very often and even lived in it for 14 mo building a new home that is set up for Her disability. I am really happy we did trade . The only thing I don't like is the LCI hydraulic levelors. We had Equalizer brand on our other and I had more control of the jacks but I'll get used to it.
Only problems we had was the norcold fridge and due to pilot error had a new roof put on but insurance covered that.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Keep it until you see a trailer than really is an improvement over what you have. I kept my last trailer 15 years before we decided the 303RLS would suit us better. An RV is just a box. Easy to maintain.

[WhittleBurner]

We had the upgrade bug for a few years, but we got over it this year at the RV show and decided to keep our 10 yr old Reflection. After looking at the past 2 or 3 shows and saw nothing to budge us out of the 303, we came to the conclusion that we have more cabinets and CCC than newer floor plans as well as an old school water heater that we don't want to part with.. on demand seems like a step backwards to us. Also like the options of running the fridge on either gas or Ele. having physical light switches seems like a plus. Todays RVs have bigger windows, bigger TVs and smaller CCC, none of it seems like a plus to us.

So it looks like we'll keep what we have unless we upgrade to an out of production S class that is gently used.. So a time frame to upgrade flew by us.

[Captcolour]

While I am capable of doing a majority of the upcoming maintenance on our 5th wheel, I need to draw the line somewhere, which is why I posed the question.

A new RV would still require the maintenance, so buying new doesn't eliminate routine maintenance or fixing minor problems. There is a point where we all have to cross that line where we can't do what we used to anymore, and have to start paying people to do maintenance. Again that exists with your current RV or a new RV. If you like your current rig, keep it. If you see a floorplan that suits you better, consider buying it.