Winnebago 2024 Vita 24P Diesel with Theater seating

[BoomerSooner]

Good Morning,

We are new to the RV world, being retired now, we have been impressed with Winnebago Diesel Mercedes Vita 24P. We have had such an issue with the dealers in Oklahoma selling them, they have horrible reviews. Been very reluctant to purchase it after reading all the reviews. This is a huge investment and we don't want to buy a nightmare.

The only dealer we could find that has really good reviews sells pull trailers only however, we have an F150 with 140k miles, reluctant to put more mileage on it plus we felt driving an RV would be so much less stress for my husband and I and 2 large dogs, service dogs.

How safe are the campgrounds like KOA in the south?

Appreciate your experience to guid our paths.

[Morich]

Of the two, we found we liked the motorhome much better for a number of reasons.
We like to have access to the RV as we drive! Snacks or drinks for the driver? A quick switch of drivers, combined with a bathroom break works when not practical with a trailer!
Want to stretch out for a few minutes while the other drives? It's nice as the temperature is controlled and stable. That last point can be a biggie if doing winter travel or get caught by sudden weather changes. A trailer may be really uncomfortable for a long time if it has to warm or cool down after you stop!
We learned to ease off on the pressure when traveling but there are still times when we want/need to get somewhere quick.
I used to get calls for work in the middle of the night, so a quick break for an hour nap was something that worked for me and we could just pull in most anywhere, jump on the bed and be out like a light! Not as nice if the trailer is cold!

Campground safety? That can seem like a biggie but as a whole, I feel they are often as safe as at home. We don't do KOA as they are too active and loud in many cases. They are often on highways to get more traffic but that doesn't make them good for what we want. Many state parks and corp parks are much safer and far more relaxed as there are actual rangers and law enforcement in charge and looking for crime!
If you have a gate and it costs ten dollars to get in, the folks in the park tend to be a better group! That sort is often looking for the easy pickin's and they don't want to have to go to a gate to get away! It's far easier to drive up the alley behind a row of houses and look for unlocked cars!
Thinking about safety? Where are there more thugs? A KOA in OKC or a gated campground out on the lake?
For a learning experience, I can't recommend any nearby sites to check without knowing which part of Oklahoma you might be near but I recommend just driving out to some of the lakes and just look over some of the state or corp of engineer parks and campsites. Many will be fine if you stop at the booth and just tell them what you would like to do. As we travel we often pre survey sites we might want to use on the way back and folks are mostly open to a drive through to look over the group and facilities.
A lot of those folks at the booth are just RV folks who volunteer in trade for camping, so they will know the what and why of you being there! Just be honest with telling them what you are doing and DON'T try to stay four hours! They may be some grumpy old guy like me that will come around and make you pay for day use! They can bring the ranger with them if they choose!
I call crime in actual campgrounds to be very little. But if you park in the free campsites like along the roadside or in the Wal-Mart parking lot, that makes me nervous!

[Morich]

As another thought to get some info in a cheap and easy way, I might pass along another idea!
Google maps can be a really nice thing to use to just look over sites where we might want to camp. If you are using to using it and go to the aerial photos instead of the map method, it is amazing the details we can see that we can get an idea of what we might find when we get there.
You probably can tell which neighborhoods you want to stay overnight and what to avoid?
I tend to have a set of unspoken rules I live by and that is where I am more inclined to stay!
I avoid railroad tracks and highway that are too close for noise. Cars left abandoned on the street? Nope! Mattresses on the curb? NOPE!
A booth at the front entrance and a gate to close at night? VERY Much nicer!
I like my site at least 20 feet away from the next one so if they are wall to wall, I skip that one!
Take the little yellow man down in the right corner and get a street view on lots of the park entrance if not too far out?

[bigb]

A lot of it has to do with your expectations. If you go into this thinking everything will be great you are likely to be disappointed. If you go into it with the expectation that things will go wrong you won't be so disappointed, and I can just about guarantee you that things will go wrong. Just about every RV out there will have issues right off the lot. You just have to be diligent in getting things put right, and a lot of dealers and repair facilities do not get things done in a timely manner. The Mercedes platform is nice but also very complex with their sophisticated emissions systems and as a result are no more dependable than any other platform, and maybe a bit less dependable.
Just expect some time getting the major bugs worked out.
Don't be thinking just because it says Mercedes on it that it will be flawless and last 300,000 miles, that era of Mercedes ended in the late eighties and they have been coasting on the name ever since.

Also be aware of the cargo carrying capacity which is quite meager on the Sprinter based RVs, travel light.

As far as campgrounds being safe, I don't think you need to worry on that unless you're planning to camp along side the road. We use KOA a lot because they are clean, safe, have standards and we know what to expect, no surprises. We have also found some really nice privately owned parks for less money.