RV Of The Year
RV Business recently named the RV of the Year. And the winner?
Interesting.
The Winnebago Horizon is a Class A diesel and it seems to be comparable in price and features to coaches like the Newmar Ventana although there are no tags available in the 40-foot model of the Winnebago.
My concern would be the quality of this product. When I read David’s experience with his Winnebago, I thought to myself, life is too short for dealing with way too many build issues. And, my goodness, what an experience he had with his new build. Eventually the sale did not go through. His story, unfortunately is not unique. You can download this couple’s pdf and get a sense for the anger and frustration caused by the lack of quality control.
Quality was one of the reasons why the Winnebago product never made its way to our short list.
The RV industry is certainly under pressure to deliver. Record demand puts a lot more strain on the manufacturers. Hopefully this Horizon is a better built coach. It is one thing to get an award from an industry publication. It is another to build a solid reputation with customers.
The Horizon’s “Ikea-like” styling is a bold move for a major US RV manufacturer and I love some of the design features. However much like visiting an upscale European hotel, it’d be a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there. Initial quality concerns and planned obsolescence has plagued the mass market RV industry for decades. I’ve always contended that before purchasing a brand new glitzy rig, one should shop for a 15 year old coach first. There aren’t many that have stood the test of time. But those that have, were very high-end in their day -some (but not all) Prevost conversions, Bluebird Wanderlodges and Newell’s come to mind.
Agreed. We’ve experienced more issues with our Newmar than I would like although the customer service from Newmar and our dealer has been excellent. It has us taking a look at some older Prevost conversions.