Adventurer 38Q Owner Advice Needed

[CArver]

I currently own a 2013 Adventurer 32H. It has 8,000 miles on it and has been stored in a climate controlled environment. I am in the process of "wheeling and dealing" with a dealer for the last 2017 Adventurer 38Q in my area. The dealer has offered me 60K for my coach. NADA Guides only list the retail value $70-80K. Is this an acceptable trade in value for my coach?

Are 38Q owners out there happy with their coaches? As an elementary school teacher with 33 years of teaching under my belt I am looking forward to retiring in the next few years. I would welcome any advice from fellow Adventurer owners who have moved from a smaller model to a larger model.

[rk911]

Originally Posted by CArver

I currently own a 2013 Adventurer 32H. It has 8,000 miles on it and has been stored in a climate controlled environment. I am in the process of "wheeling and dealing" with a dealer for the last 2017 Adventurer 38Q in my area. The dealer has offered me 60K for my coach. NADA Guides only list the retail value $70-80K. Is this an acceptable trade in value for my coach?

Are 38Q owners out there happy with their coaches? As an elementary school teacher with 33 years of teaching under my belt I am looking forward to retiring in the next few years. I would welcome any advice from fellow Adventurer owners who have moved from a smaller model to a larger model.

use RV Prices, Values & Reviews - NADAguides to get the value of your MH. but keep in mind that the trade in value will be less than retail and could be substantially less than a private sale. good luck.

[Americanrascal]

Originally Posted by CArver

I currently own a 2013 Adventurer 32H. It has 8,000 miles on it and has been stored in a climate controlled environment. I am in the process of "wheeling and dealing" with a dealer for the last 2017 Adventurer 38Q in my area. The dealer has offered me 60K for my coach. NADA Guides only list the retail value $70-80K. Is this an acceptable trade in value for my coach?

Are 38Q owners out there happy with their coaches? As an elementary school teacher with 33 years of teaching under my belt I am looking forward to retiring in the next few years. I would welcome any advice from fellow Adventurer owners who have moved from a smaller model to a larger model.

The 38Q is what we found to be the finest floorplan and overall design of any gasser we've ever seen in 35 years of RVing.

Our relationship with our 2016 38Q has been quite a trip. We traded a 2014 Itasca 31KE for it and never had a problem with the 31. For a while we kicked ourselves for trading it.We had so many problems with the 38Q it was shocking ---3 typed pages of problems an failures in the first year. So many I don't want to think of it.

Its quite logical that a machine that complex is going to have some bugs but the quantity of issues on ours was ridiculous. But I have to give WBGO and Camping World credit- they stood with us all the way getting everything fixed- and more often than not in a timely manner and with workmanship that left us pleased.

The 38Q was to be our dream motorhome- literally our perfect second home. In the first year we were not sure we could ever see it be that dream. The design is perfect for us and the construction was pretty decent overall. But we had an unbelievable amount of bugs, failures and issues that over the first year kept our rig damaged or out of service for about 3 months.

It took a year of trips back to the dealer and finally a trip to the factory to get all the bugs worked out. But in the end we've come to love the motorhome. We have gone several months and 6 long trips with no issues at all making us pretty happy. We frankly seem to enjoy being in and traveling in it more than our home. Its sooooo comfortable.

There was a small initial glitch on the 2016 F53 chassis with the engine brain - but Ford fixed that in about 20 minutes of reprogramming the ECM. We've driven coast to coast 2X in the past year and the chassis has been flawless. The engine match up with the 6 speed is fantastic and gave us all the power we ever needed- and we do tow a toad on a dolly.

Hopefully you would not go through all the problems we did on a 16 model and that the 2017's had better hardware and quality in the components of the coach. If you can be patient if and when bugs crop up and work through those with good dealer and WBGO service you'll really like the 38Q. Its a great coach .

[rk911]

we have an early model 2016 38Q (U1, 5-spd) and like the earlier poster we've had a myriad of problems spanning tge spectrum from annoying such as the convection/microwave ovem door not latching to the front street side slide being stuck in the closed position). all in all a total of 18-issues most of which were not covered by warranty.

i ended up writing a 12-page letter describing each of the problems in detail and sending it to the Chairman of The Board, the CEO and three of the VP's involved in the motorized division of Winnebago Industries. i gave a copy to my dealer as well. a few weeks later i received a phone call from Winnebago. the long and short...Winnebago picked around 20% of the total repairs for the out of warranty items...more than i expected but less than i had hoped for.

we've done some pretty extensive customization to Banana Boat III (i think i posted a list earlier this year) and we like the floorplan but we loved our 2000 Suncruiser 35U.

good luck to the OP.

[CArver]

Thank you for sharing your 38Q story. The dealer did tell me they had to “redo” the wall paper in the shower area. I hope this is not a sign of things to come! I will make sure I get everything taken care of while it’s under warranty.

[creativepart]

My story may not apply exactly but here it is...

We found a 2017 Adventurer 37f we liked and asked the dealer for a price on our trade. The dealer took all or details and offered $40,000. We said no, we’ll keep looking. They asked what would it take and we said $50,000. They said no way. We hung up. The dealer called back and offered $42500. Nope. 2-days later they offered $45,000. Again we said no thanks. You guessed it a week later it was $47500. Still no on our end. I told the salesman we’d found another RV that we were going to look at the next day. 15 mins later he called back with a $50,000 trade offer.

Sometimes when a dealer really wants to make a sale and get rid of last years model you just need to stand your ground.

[CArver]

Thank you for sharing your experience with purchasing your 37F. This is going to be an interesting process because this is the last 2017 38Q for sale in California. Finding a "new" Winnebago 38Q is challenging since Winnebago discontinued the Adventurer series. I am prepared to play the waiting game.

[CArver]

Wow! What an experience with the 38Q. I had a few minor bugs with my 32H but nothing that compares to your story. I agree with you about the floor plan. It is one of the best I've seen in any gas powered class A. What was Winnebago thinking when they discontinued the Adventurer series? With all of the issues you experienced it makes sense for me to purchase a "new" coach that comes with all the warranties.

[gnewhall]

My story may not apply exactly but here it is...

We found a 2017 Adventurer 37f we liked and asked the dealer for a price on our trade. The dealer took all or details and offered $40,000. We said no, we’ll keep looking. They asked what would it take and we said $50,000. They said no way. We hung up. The dealer called back and offered $42500. Nope. 2-days later they offered $45,000. Again we said no thanks. You guessed it a week later it was $47500. Still no on our end. I told the salesman we’d found another RV that we were going to look at the next day. 15 mins later he called back with a $50,000 trade offer.

Sometimes when a dealer really wants to make a sale and get rid of last years model you just need to stand your ground.

We had a similar experience trading up a 2011 Vista 35F to a 2013 Adventurer 37F. We were $10K apart and it took two weeks of saying no. We eventually came down $2500 they still said no. I think they thought they could get a little more out of us, but I said to my DW we're done here lets go. Just as we we're getting to our car they came running out the door yelling we had a deal. We love the floor plan in our 37F, but like the 38Q better. I think it's the placement of the door being in the front of the coach and not in the middle. Would hate giving up my Man Cave (half bath) though.

[creativepart]

You and I know this is the last Q in California and that Winnebago has discontinued the coach, but as far as the dealer knows you might be the last buyer interested in the coach. What really got my dealer ready to reach my trade in number was when I told him that I had an appointment to test drive another brand/model RV the next day at a dealer closer to my home. Which I did in fact.

It’s the end of 2017. They will be motivated to sell before the new year. Call the salesman tell him you’ll do the deal before Sunday IF they give you $65,000 (or whatever number you want) for your trade.

At this point it’s not about what your old RV is worth, it’s about getting the RV you want for the lowest net price. Dealers want the opposite thing. They won’t offer more if they don’t have to. Tell the salesman what it will take to do the deal and make him work for it.

[Floridakamper]

Originally Posted by creativepart

My story may not apply exactly but here it is...

We found a 2017 Adventurer 37f we liked...

creativepart, do recall what percent of MSRP they discounted your 37F in the final deal with the final number for your trade? Most say, negotiate a 25% to 30% discount off the manufacturer's MSRP. That info might help the poster negotiate a fair deal.

[creativepart]

My 37F was MSRP at $201,000+

It has pretty common optional equip you find on many of these. Things like the solar panel, the residential fridge/inverter/4-AGM batteries, RestEasy Sofa, Outside TV, and washer & dryer.

The unit was discounted aprox 31%. So we paid $139,990 for it. We got $50,000 for our trade so our cash outlay was $89,990

Our dealer, La Mesa RV in Albuquerque had a similar 38q in stock and at the same price. But I think they sold it recently.

[Floridakamper]

Originally Posted by creativepart

My 37F was MSRP at $201,000+ ...

I didn't get top dollar for my trade but I did get wholesale book for it. My 38Q had a MSRP of $208,000 and I paid $130,000. I also purchased from LaMesa, but in Florida. The coach was also end of year/clearance priced and the 2017 were showing up on the lot.

I got $35K for my trade and I believe I could have retailed it for $50K. The 37.5% off retail convinced me to pull the trigger and not mess with a private owner sale. There was also a Dealer's Service Fee/PDI of $795.

Whenever there is a trade, it's difficult to determine the real/actual selling price of the new unit. For the original poster, I'd try to determine the actual cash value of your trade and try to negotiate a 30+ percent discount off MSRP.

The big unknown in my mind is what does the demise of the Adventurer do prices. As a buyer I'd contend I was buying an orphan.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Floridakamper

I My 38Q had a MSRP of $208,000 and I paid $130,000.

They had a MSRP of $211,000 on the window of my 37F, but the WBGO sticker said $201K. They didn't charge me any make ready or PDI fee. We purchased in July.

When we first saw the 37F on the lot in May the price on the window was $149,990. When we called back in July to try to get a quote with trade the price had dropped to $144,990. It took three weeks to get them to come up to my $50k trade demand in during that time it dropped to $139,990.

So, we got them to come up $10k on the trade and they dropped the price $5k and were upfront about it. We were in Texas. We had no knowledge of the price drop. It was still $144,990 on their website. They could have simply not told us about the price drop and we'd never know.

The "book" value of our trade was $58k. I had already put it on RVT and was seeing offers around $50K. I'm pretty sure we could have sold it for maybe $54k at most. But by trading it in we saved $3,000 on Texas Sales Tax. So, it all came out in the wash.

[Floridakamper]

Originally Posted by creativepart

They could have simply not told us about the price drop and we'd never know.

All in all, I think La Mesa is a good place to do business with. We were not pleased with the delivery. Things not working that they should have caught before we showed up to take delivery. They did put us up in a local campground for a week while they ordered parts and did repairs.

I would tell CArver that if they offered him NADA retail for his coach, I doubt they are aggressively discounting MSRP. My deal also was off Winny's MSRP sheet and he should ask to see it on the coach he's interested in. His coach wholesale is probably about 20% less that the "online" NADA low retail with no accessories selected. He could also ask to see the wholesale book value of his coach, which is not the same as online NADA.

Like others have told him, the 38Q floor plan is hard to beat in a gas or diesel coach. And the same can be said for the 37F. I think Winnebago will regret dropping the Adventurer line

Get it for the right price, get over year "1" repair issues and he'll love it.

[creativepart]

We looked at RVs for 6 months. Fleetwood, Newmar, Thor (ugh) and Tiffin. The Adventurer had them all beat for amenities, build quality, features. In fact, we would have had to buy a Journey DP just to get equal quality we were getting in our Adventurer. Which would have been $100K more.

It came down to the nicest most complete Gas coach on the market (besting Newmar's Canyon Star, too) Or spend $10k more to get the cheapest DP on the market with not the same quality interior and features.

We feel we made the right decision.

[Cover Dog]

We also think that the 38Q has the perfect interior layout. Americanrascal has had the most problems of anyone I have read about. I am not sure I would have stuck it out.

Our only problem with our 38Q was the fridge was not anchored to the wall. It fell over and took out the microwave. Could not of been found on the PDI. FACTORY FAULT. Several on this site had the same problem. It has been problem free since.

I would open the fridge doors and pull them toward you to see if it is anchored to the wall. I think you will be very happy with the 38Q.

[Americanrascal]

Originally Posted by Cover Dog

W...
Our only problem with our 38Q was the fridge was not anchored to the wall. It fell over and took out the microwave. Could not of been found on the PDI. FACTORY FAULT. Several on this site had the same problem. It has been problem free since.

I would open the fridge doors and pull them toward you to see if it is anchored to the wall. I think you will be very happy with the 38Q.

Cover Dog is absolutely correct about that fridge! Please check it and give it a good tug at the top to make sure it was properly anchored. There should be no play or movement at all. There is a strap at the top that's supposed to go from the top hinges to the rear wall frame for anchors. Apparently they missed the wall frame anchors when setting it. Like Cover Dog ours fell out also while making a turn, destroying the microwave and the fridge.

[corjaguar]

We just traded our beloved 2010 Adventurer 35P with the workhorse 8.1/Allison, for a 2017 38Q 26K chassis F53/6 speed..........the last one in Lazy Days inventory. This is our 4th coach.....the 8.1 Allison was a great combination but the F53 w/6 spd. is equal to the task.
We had a tough time getting out of Lazy Days after our PDI....we spent 8 days in the transfer lot getting things taken care of. They backed our new coach into our old coach which did some minor damage, but it had to go into the body shop/paint.....it took the 4 days to resolve that issue. They did however put us up in a motel for 2 days, while jockeying us around to get repaired. It took them 2 days to transfer the Tyron bands from our old coach to the new coach....a whole day to remove our mud flap from the old to reinstall onto the new.
As for warranty work, we have been very lucky.......we did have a problem with the curb side slide (bad motor/circuit board)....work was done by LeMesa.......no complaints, they were very good. all the other small minor repairs, I took it upon myself to do.
We love the floorplan.....though I miss the basement a/c, and the drivers door, I guess I will live without them.

[corjaguar]

I forgot to mention about the 2 most important things that really was a problem.....the residential micro/convection door does not stay closed very well while underway.......it can open and the glass turntable slide out and "crash" had to clean up glass for days, still find a piece here and there.
The other problem is the residential fridge had a flimsy plastic lock for the freezer.....(not great, but serves the purpose), but the double doors have no locking device......by putting something through the door handle will prevent the door flying open while underway.