Читать книгу RVs & Campers For Dummies - Christopher Hodapp - Страница 40

Full-size, commercial, cross-country passenger buses (the kind with the Greyhound logo painted on the side) are made by specialty manufacturers like Prevost. These are also the starting place for the most expensive, top-end, rock-’n-roll-band tour buses, and other million-dollar dream machine motorhomes.

If you wonder how the billionaire tech moguls at Burning Man manage to cope with the deprivation of desert life far from civilization for a week every year, this is it. Quite literally anything that can fit into 45 feet of metal and fiberglass can be had, if money is no object. Typically, bus conversions have massive water holding tanks, high-wattage electrical generators, and 100+-gallon fuel tanks to power every conceivable appliance for extended periods of time. The latest in onboard electronics and communication technology stays constantly connected to the world. These rigs have custom everything — waterbeds, Jacuzzis, gourmet kitchens, TV screens in every conceivable location, rooftop party decks, giant aquarium tanks… . You name it — anything’s available for a price.

When you get into this sky-high price range, these are not assembly-line, mass-market vehicles. It’s not uncommon for a custom, luxury RV builder to make only a handful of units every year. And it’s likely that fewer than a hundred of these top-end RVs are made in any given year by all the customizers combined.

For the not-quite billionaires out there in search of a price deal, some of the larger customizing companies do make a few off-the-shelf, non-customized models that still have the most requested top-end features. And because personal fortunes can rise and fall overnight, along with the bored desire to have something new and shiny every year, there’s a fairly good-size used market for these royal barges. Just be aware of the problems you’ll be taking on, with specialty service and a killer cost of upkeep. Maintenance will be anything but routine.

If you buy one of the larger diesel-pusher Class As, you’re literally driving what is a giant commercial truck or bus under the floorboards. Consequently, they’re among the most expensive RVs on the road to operate, maintain, and have repaired. Just changing a flat tire on one of the larger rigs is a major undertaking, and you can’t do it yourself. One single tire on the biggest Class A motorhome can cost you more than a set of four tires plus a spare for your Toyota. Class As must be serviced at RV dealerships or commercial truck centers.

In Chapter 5, we talk about doing your homework before you buy. If you’re seriously talking yourself into buying a low-priced Class A motorhome — new or used — make sure you read reviews from other owners and ask questions on Internet RV forums before plunking down your money. Cheap motorhomes can turn into hair-pulling, spouse-blaming, buses full of headaches and repair costs. They’re cheap for a reason, and they won’t have anything approaching the level of quality, workmanship, and reliability found in a more expensive unit.