Looking for TREND owners

[mr mike]

Hi Folks, I'm a newby here. Been "on Board" perhaps going on three weeks.
Searching through the postings on the Winnebago section, I've only come across
one thread, that I later posted on regarding the new Winnebago Trend. As far as I'm aware they've only been out since 2014. 2015's are out now (basically same as 2014) theres two floor plan layouts, one being a 23B the other a 23L. Mines the 23L. Lots of nice features, and pretty fair gas milage add to its stature. I've had my 2014 a bit over two months. My Japanese wife and I named it Hachi-Bei, after a Japanese TV Character. We Just crossed over 5000 miles, with no major issues so far, other then the usual newby questions and stuff. Was wondering, aside from the gent on the other post that I replyed too earlier, any other
Trend owner/ operators here? Be interested in hearing any tales/adventures you've had. Issues? whatever.....just trying to find the rest of the "family"! Thanks.

[mr mike]

Wow! no replys at all. Gosh, does that mean I'm the only Trend guy here? They got to be sellin' a few of those units! Grerat ball 'o fire!

[komac]

Hello Mr. Mike! I'm a Trend owner. I traded my class A in on a new (2014) Trend a couple of months ago. We have not had our first camping experience in it yet because of some on-going renovation jobs on our home. Other than day trips, we might not be going anywhere in the Trend until this fall. We had four class A motorhomes and an Airstream before the Trend, so we've had a lot of camping and travel experience. Our Trend is the one with the bed that lowers from the ceiling. The major reason we traded to a smaller set-up is that my wife was always afraid to drive the class A. She's comfortable in this one. Of course, we will no longer pull a car either. So we've had a major downsize! I enjoy driving the Trend, good power and gas mileage and easy to fit in traffic. I'd like to quiet the generator and air conditioner, though. Each of them is very noisy. Good to meet you on the forum. Komac

[mr mike]

Hi KOMAC, thanks for checking in. Hope in a while we can have a small bunch of "TRENDY's" to compare notes and share experiences and so forth.
Wife and I are newby's to RV's. Only had our unit, HACHI-BEI, as we call him, a short time. We also have projects to finish before we can get going anywhere.
We did spend one night at a local place just to check everthing out. We also made a couple of one day extended tours just for the fun of driving. Like you We are impressed with the gas mileage and it can "scamper" in traffic. Regarding the generator and Air-Con noise, our only previous experience was with a Cruise America rental unit, a Thor 19G, we drove a couple of weeks last year. We only used the air conditioning and generator a few times as it was coming on fall. Comparing it to the Trend, the Winnebago doesn't seem excessive to us noise wise. But, who's to say?....Differernt strokes for different folks?
You mention having the loft bed that lowers from the ceiling, that sounds like the 23B floor plan. Ours is the 23L with a bed in the right rear corner. Both floor plans include the loft bed. Speaking of which I have to say, its kinda neat to hop up in the AM and run that rascal back up into the ceiling and the dining / breakfast area is ready to go pronto! We only plan to travel as a couple with our dog. So I guess I'll be in that loft and the wife will get the bed in the back. I'm one of those guys that flops around at night and she's tired of me kickin' her in the rib's Like you also we don't plan to tow a vehicle. If "push comes to shove" we may rent something if the need arise's.
Anyway, it's a pleasure to get to know you. Please stay in touch! And good luck and good miles with your Trend.

[JBP]

we have just returned from Southern Texas. Added another 2200 miles on our 23L. Gas mileage was good. I pushed harder than than normal and still average 12.2. If I keep it closer to 60 it improves dramatically.
It is in for its one year servicing. they kept asking for my list. I just did not have on. The hot water tank was acting up at the end of the trip. While checking the battery and gen I found that the gray water heater was coming loose. All covered under warranty.
I was please with the quote that I got from Good Sams on an extended warranty.
We have covered 6000 plus miles in our Tend. I will be pulling out again in a week for another 2500 miles.
Sorry I did not see your original post.
Did you guys get the new recall on the sticker for the chassis?

[mr mike]

JBP, glad to hear back from you. Been trying to reach you. Lots of news.
Yes I got the deal on the new sticker. Also wanted to ask you if you can go back to the owners forums and review the old post you started a while back. I didn't know how to reach you, tried a PM but didn't have an address for you.
I've found a new group on Yahoo groups that deals only with the Trend and its counter part the Viva. They have perhaps 130 or so members all trend owners or the Viva. I've learned so much! You really need to check in with them, perhaps read some of their back posts. They've been in operation since june of 2014.
One of their members has driven his rig to Alaska! Lots of info from that trip with photos. Also don't know if your aware but there a new recall out now concerning the radios in our rig's. They can be hacked and with the right codes a guy can take over your vehicle and do all manner of weird stuff to it with you not being able to counter it a all.
To subscribe to this group go to:

[email protected]

to post a message use:

[email protected]

Check this out you won't be dissapointed. Lots of info including a list of the vehicles Chrysler is recalling for the radio problem. (Mine was on it)
read the posts on the other forum that byou started in the owners forums then check into this new site. Think you'll like it!
Mike

[komac]

Hello All. We took our 23B Trend for a short camping trip last week, the first time we had a chance to do so since we bought it new last April. The Dodge recalls were all done, and the Sirius antenna connection was at last fixed. The chassis battery also had to be replaced. It had a dead cell in it. All seemed to work well on last week's trip. We even got along fine with the bed that lowers from the ceiling! I'm over 80 years old, and my wife is in here sixties, but we got in and out of the bed quite easily, very pleasantly surprised about that. We learned some things. When we arrived, I found that the ice cream had become soft in the freezer. That puzzled me somewhat because the refrigerator was on the "auto" setting, and I had the thermostat set at number 6. Then I found that the instant-on hot water wasn't working. I first looked for a blown fuse, but everything was OK. Then I wondered whether even the stove worked. I tried lighting the stove, but no luck. That's when it hit me that the propane tank might not be on. Sure enough, the gas was turned off at the tank! It's probably safe to turn the gas off when the unit is just sitting, but it must be turned on when you are traveling if you expect the refrigerator to work on propane. After I turned the gas on, it took awhile before I could get the stove to work or the hot water because the gas had to make its way to those igniters. I also saw that my wife was having a hard time closing the kitchen top drawers near the sink. I looked in there and found that the wiring harnesses in that area were dropping into the drawers. They had not been secured above the drawers. I decided to fix that problem myself when we returned, but, while we were returning, we stopped in an interstate rest area. While my wife went in to get some maps, I decided to start the generator and turn on the air conditioner. However, my generator starter would barely click. I saw that the house battery was down to ten volts. That, of course, means that the house battery was dead. I started the engine so I could get charging to the house battery and was then able to get the generator started. While charging, the house battery showed over 14 volts. That convinced me that there must be at least one dead cell in the house battery. When we got home, I parked the Trend in our covered parking area, then took the food out of the refrigerator and extended the awning to dry it out. (We had been through a couple of heavy rain days at our camp site.) I then shut off the house battery current. The next day, I turned the battery back on, using the disconnect switch at the left of the entrance door, and tried to retract the awning. No luck. I looked again at the house battery voltage and saw that it was again at ten volts. So I plugged the coach in to shore power. The voltage jumped again to 14 volts, and I retracted the awning. I called our dealer and scheduled a service appointment for early August, both for replacement of our house battery and for securing the wiring harness near our sink area. All in all, we were happy with our Trend. It drove well, rode well, and my wife was comfortable driving it. We took it out of our camp site several times to explore the area. My wife was able to park it easily wherever we went. I'm getting more satisfied and don't yearn for our big class A homes and don't miss the chore of hooking up a tow car or being mindful of it when I'm on the road. It's a real change of travel and camping life. I'm OK with it. I hope all this is helpful to other Trend owners. komac

[JBP]

Mr Mike thanks for the heads up on the radio. I will look for the recall notice.
I placed a earlier post about hot water heater. Did not really get any responses so I am assuming that no one is having a problem. Ours quite working on our return to KC. Made an appointment and they are looking into it now.
Trip covered 2200 miles good trip. Even the hot water heater not working was not a big problem.
My email is [email protected]
I am getting ready to leave on a 3000 mile trip through the Rocky Mountains and desert south west. Looking forward to it. It will be just me and my dog this time.

[dcej]

Newbies to this site. We have a 2014 Trend 23B we just purchased in May. A couple of small issues, but they have been taken care of by our dealer. We have not done an overnight yet, but we have enjoyed it at couple of sporting events while tailgating. Our first overnight is in October, then our big trip is in November.
Only question so far is about the GPS. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. We normally use Waze on our phones, but we were wondering if this is common.

[JBP]

I put 6000 miles on my 2014 23L and the GPS worked very well. I don't remember any unusual occurrences. Try updating it.
I just traded my Trend in on a Cambria 27K. Looking forward to a little more space. But not necessarily the higher fuel cost. O-well always a trade off.

[rollins215]

Hey guys, I'm a Trend owner as well. We purchased a 2014 23B new in October of 2014 and have put over 7000 miles on it so far. It's at the dealer right now to take care of our punch list...which is just one item, the bathroom door gets out of alignment when it's below 70 degrees. This is our 4th motorhome in 12 years and for that to be the only issue is absolutely astonishing...we LOVE this thing!

As Mr. Mike pointed out, there is a thriving community of Trend owners at the Yahoo site, please join us! We have started planning a Trend/Viva rally for sometime in 2016 as well.

[maryandsteve]

We are new to everything! We just purchased a used 2014 Trend 23L. It has been at dealer and we just got it today, but when we got home, our coach battery does not seem to hold a charge; it did when we first bought it. We have power to the coach while charging it. Any suggestions? After hours and no one in at dealer's service!

Mary and Steve

[LeeOts]

Originally Posted by maryandsteve

We are new to everything! We just purchased a used 2014 Trend 23L. It has been at dealer and we just got it today, but when we got home, our coach battery does not seem to hold a charge; it did when we first bought it. We have power to the coach while charging it. Any suggestions? After hours and no one in at dealer's service!

Mary and Steve

Many probably know this but, just in case, there's a very active WGO View-Navion group on Yahoo! Search for "yahoo groups view" to get to the signup page. Last I heard, there are over 8000 members. Of course, like any group only about 10% are active. I joined in 2006 when I bought our first RV, a WGO View and learned a lot about RV systems in general and View/Navions in specific.

I know the Trend is on the Dodge Promaster chassis but everything above the floor is standard WGO and there's lots of good info about that. HTH.

[maryandsteve]

Thank you, Lee! Will look into that site. I am really frustrated with our dealer!!! Will talk to them tomorrow. But I really don't want to have our Trend there for another month-would really like to use it as we have not done this!!!

-Mary

[Hoo75]

We are taking delivery of new leftover 2015 Winnebago Trend 23L in about 10 days. We are complete RV newbies. I have tried to join the Yahoo Viva-Trend users group, but it requires approval of the moderator and I have been unable to get any response from them despite multiple attempts. Is that group still active? One thing I just learned on this forum is that the generator is supposed to be exercised monthly. I wonder if dealer has been doing that while the RV sat on his lot for nearly the past year.

[LeeOts]

Originally Posted by Hoo75

...One thing I just learned on this forum is that the generator is supposed to be exercised monthly. I wonder if dealer has been doing that while the RV sat on his lot for nearly the past year...

Sorry to be a smart @$$ but I doubt the dealer even knows how to start the generator. Don't get me wrong, there are some great dealers out there but it's doubtful even they regularly exercise the genny. Congrats on your new rig, wishing you safe and fun-filled journeys!

[JBP]

Most dealers would not normally start the gen. They don't want to show hours on the unit. That does not make it right but they would have to constantly explain why there are hours on a new RV generator. If it is only a year or two old I doubt that there is a problem. Most owners that I remind them about this just laugh. It is like when I tell them that about their tires needing to be replaced every 7 years no matter what the tread looks like.
I placed 6000 miles on my Trend 23L and loved it. Check the recalls with Chrysler. There were several on my 2014. Some the dealership did not know about. Chrysler was great. They worked them off, took good care of the coach and called and email me to make sure the work was done to my satisfaction.
There is a reset on the continuous water heater. It is in with the water heater and difficult to see. Make sure that the dealership shows you this on the walk through. This trips if there is air in the system. I found that the best way to prevent this was to turn the hot water taps on and run the water until there is no air. Then turn the water heater on. Do this every time you change from shore water to RV water. I just added it to my normal check list. Also the water heater control module has a sensor that turns the water heater on automatically if the outside temperature drops below 40 F. if I remember. So it important that there is no air in the system.
This is getting too long just ask questions these guys are great.

[Hoo75]

I provided dealer with all Trend Recalls and he's addressed them all. How about the Viva-Trend Yahoo group? I've had no success in joining--need administrator approval and have not gotten any response. Is group still active?

During my search for relatively small Class C RV, I've also considered Winnebago View. Tough decision. Low mileage late model used ones I've seen are at least $12K more than the price I'm paying for the leftover new 2015 Trend. I think the Trend will be more maneuverable and hopefully can go everywhere I want to go without a Toad. Trend should be much quicker (0-60 in 15 vs 23 seconds), and have more car-like or at least van-like handling, but lacks any towing capacity and is slightly less spacious inside. Resale of View likely better as it is a diesel, but I suspect maintenance cost of the Mercedes Sprinter chassis is much more than the Dodge ProMaster.

[LisaandGlen]

Hi

Just like Hoo75 we have tried to join the Yahoo Viva-Trend users group, but it requires approval of the moderator and I have been unable to get any response from them despite multiple attempts. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get access to the site for us newbies?

Thanks.
Glen

[rollins215]

Something happened to the moderator, we don't know what, though...hasn't been heard from since December 2015. A new group has started though on Yahoo, it's Viva-Trend2. We also have a group on Facebook as well.