Haha...I was leaving myself an out. I spent the day at a local dealer and briefly flirted with the idea of a hybrid that was pretty amazing so that added yet another consideration.
I have a few people coming to look at my toy hauler so I am waiting for a week or so to see if I can sell it outright versus trading it in.
Either way, I am going with the 182g. It was hard to ignore the luxury and storage that the 179 offers, that is for sure, but I chose it for the following reasons:
- outside storage is very important to me and the 182 has more.
- i spend most of my camping time outside so I like the convenience of the garage.
- the door opening flat against the camper is surprisingly important to me. I realize this is a non-issue for most but I almost always use a screen and do not want to lose that room in the r-dome with the door open.
- I found the bottom bunk makes a very acceptable seating area.
- The storage under the bottom bunk is amazing and I hope to someday modify the bunk area to include a pantry or wardrobe.
- I like that I can sit across from my wife at the dinette to chat...versus sitting next to each other in the 179.
- I was able to make up the queen dinette into a bed very quickly so decided a permanent bed, while nice, is not a deal breaker.
- I really preferred the tv/entertainment location.
- While nowhere near the counter space of the 179...the counter is quite deep. It can work when you consider most of our things will be in the garage.
I definitely understand why the 179 and 178 are the most popular. There is a wonderful feeling sitting in them and they definitely "show" better. At the end of the day, the 182 just keeps calling me every time I go try and talk myself out of it.
I sure wish I could have compared it to the 181, I still think that might have won the day. I just really don't want to drive 8 hours round trip just to view one.
Thanks for asking!