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Topic ClosedR-Pods vs. Class A motorhome
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: R-Pods vs. Class A motorhome
    Posted: 28 Aug 2019 at 4:16am
Originally posted by mcarter

My Dad had a couple class As with those BB gassers, one was a 454 and the other was a 440, I recall they got about 8 miles to the gallon. Both were from the 70s.

I got between 9 and 11 with mine, but it was a small class A. Folks that remove the 4bbl carb and install throttle body fuel injection pick up about another mpg. I'm sure it would be up in the 11 to 13 range with a modern engine/tranny combo. 

The other 70's RV that used the same drivetrain is the GMC. Probably the most efficient class A was the Vixen, made in the 80's, 21 feet long, 7 ft wide with a tilt top, so really quite a low drag design.  It would fit in a standard garage bay. Had a RWD turbodiesel from BMW, fuel economy was up in the mid to high 20's.  I considered buying one once but with only 115 hp it was badly under powered even for me, coming from VW buses. Very interesting vehicle though. 

The Revcons were much lower than the new class A's . The Toronado FWD drivetrain and axle less rear suspension allowed a flat floor and low c of g. Revcon was the creation of Wally Byam's (Airstream) stepson and was built like an Airstream, all aluminum shell, high quality interior, nice fit and finish. 

Here's a picture of mine. I could get it into pretty much anywhere I can get the rPod. The two big drawbacks to class A's for me and why I sold it were that we had to take our house with us everywhere we went, and I had to maintain an additional drivetrain rather than get dual use out of one of my daily drivers. 

That's the main reason even simple class A's cost so much more than trailers to maintain, they have a drivetrain in 'em. 
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jato View Drop Down
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Posts: 3216 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Aug 2019 at 7:36am
Mike, you were correct.  Found out is is a 8.1 Vortec with 455 pounds of torque, not HP.  Thanks for correcting.  My neighbor even said, that guy is pretty smart to catch that one.Approve
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Posts: 6128 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Aug 2019 at 7:57am
Originally posted by offgrid


The other 70's RV that used the same drivetrain is the GMC. Probably the most efficient class A was the Vixen, made in the 80's, 21 feet long, 7 ft wide with a tilt top, so really quite a low drag design.  It would fit in a standard garage bay. Had a RWD turbodiesel from BMW, fuel economy was up in the mid to high 20's.  I considered buying one once but with only 115 hp it was badly under powered even for me, coming from VW buses. Very interesting vehicle though. 

The Revcons were much lower than the new class A's . The Toronado FWD drivetrain and axle less rear suspension allowed a flat floor and low c of g. Revcon was the creation of Wally Byam's (Airstream) stepson and was built like an Airstream, all aluminum shell, high quality interior, nice fit and finish. 





Come on.. you know you have ALWAYS wanted a Rialta...

(there is a guy near my SIL in KC that has about 12 of them lined up in front of a large barn, 2 of them appear to be running, I assume the others are projects or parts..)

I would love to have an EM50, there was a fully restored and near perfect one at our winter camp last year, sitting next to an Earth Roamer that's there every year.. I meant to get a picture of the two side by side.. maybe they will be close again this year..

.
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Posts: 3216 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Aug 2019 at 8:12am
Wow, that Earth Roamer is quite the unit.  I wonder if owners have any issues with those.  Sitting on a Ford F-750 chassis and a 1.5 million dollar pricetag, hopefully not.  I do see you can get the "entry level" cheapies for just over 250,000; now that is a bargain!
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Aug 2019 at 8:33am
Originally posted by furpod

 

Come on.. you know you have ALWAYS wanted a Rialta...

(there is a guy near my SIL in KC that has about 12 of them lined up in front of a large barn, 2 of them appear to be running, I assume the others are projects or parts..)

I would love to have an EM50, there was a fully restored and near perfect one at our winter camp last year, sitting next to an Earth Roamer that's there every year.. I meant to get a picture of the two side by side.. maybe they will be close again this year..

.

EM50, the first true transformer vehicle ever to hit the big screen (not counting Jame's Bond's sports cars anyway). One good thing about the big block Chevy based RV's from the 70's, the drive trains are well supported and parts are plentiful, and will be for a long time to come. 
 
Nah, no Rialta's for me, the only TRUE VWs  have a rear mounted air cooled engine.  Besides, what would I have done with all my spare time if I didn't have to pull heads to replace burnt exhaust valves? LOL

If we're going to expand this topic to include class B's and C's, this one was my personal favorite. 15-18 mpg, and I could park it anywhere I could park a Toyota pickup. And unlike the VW's the thing had bulletproof reliability. Got to be too small though, and it had a toilet but not a shower. 
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podwerkz View Drop Down
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Posts: 966 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Aug 2019 at 8:40am
Holy hydrocarbons Batman!

So the $400,000 motorhome in the original post has a GAS engine?

Shocked

Dang, there is a sucker born every minute.

This is why I assumed we were talking about a diesel engine, I did not even consider a motorhome at that price level with a gasoline engine.
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Posts: 1065 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Aug 2019 at 9:53am
I agree with Crankster-- we also have had 2 R Pods with virtually no major issues.
We initially bought a used 2009 173 in 2011 and used it for about 5 years.  We traveled the country north to south and east to west( Florida to Michigan and NC to California). We never had major problems other than a bearing burn out  and a couple of flat tires. We sold it to a friend and he still uses it without issues.
We bought a used 2015 179 in 2017 and have used it a lot.  again, we have had zero issues that I could not fix or repair myself easily except a refrigerator replacement due to bad control boards.
I would not hesitate to buy another RPod nor would I hesitate to encourage a friend or family member to buy one.
Vann

Vann & Laura 2015 RPod 179
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Posts: 6128 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Aug 2019 at 9:59am
Originally posted by jato

Wow, that Earth Roamer is quite the unit.  I wonder if owners have any issues with those.  Sitting on a Ford F-750 chassis and a 1.5 million dollar pricetag, hopefully not.  I do see you can get the "entry level" cheapies for just over 250,000; now that is a bargain!


This couple is from Maine.. about 15 years ago, they decided winter sucked. So every year since, they take a 5 month trip down the east coast, then across I-10 (more or less) to southern California, and back..

They have had their ER XV (F550, smallest one they make now) for about a dozen years, it seems to have been mostly trouble free. The biggest issue they have run into is the fact that they are low production, hand built, pretty much each one is a "one off".. And.. their problem lies in the fact that no one who built their rig.. still works there. So any mods or issues, just have to be ciphered out.. He is very mechanical, so it hasn't been a huge problem, but worse then it should be. They were just over 200K miles last year when we camped with them.
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Posts: 1407 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Aug 2019 at 2:40pm
You all talk about the cost of a Class A, but there's usually an additional cost for owning a runaround vehicle that is towed behind the Class A. Maybe I misunderstand the main purpose of the towed vehicle: maybe it's for going to get help when your Class A breaks down.
Alan
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