New 2021 View 24D first impressions

[BigTexEd]

I now have 18,000 miles in one year of ownership. My first post on this thread was one year ago and over 7000 views. Insane. I just went on a 5,500 mile trip covering 12 states, 3 national parks, 3 state parks, and multiple locally owned parks over 30 days. I flat towed a 2021 Chevy Colorado. No significant issues. It performed awesome.

The sink did start to leak through the drain, but I fixed it with a new one for $15. We just love this coach. The generator did overheat (oil temp) while driving though 110+ degree weather for multiple hours. Had to shut it down, and use the cab A/C to cool the coach which was acceptable. Moving average speed on the trip was 60mph. Average fuel was 10 mpg pulling a toad. The adaptive cruise continues to malfunction on every leg. It’s been calibrated multiple times. It’s an issue.

Dry camping was fun in the national parks. No issues. Went the whole month without refilling the propane with 4 people. We use a toaster oven so it doesn’t require that much power over the convection. Lithium batteries are a game changer. Never an issue with power during quiet times.

We did have a flat on the day before we took off, but it was patched no issue. The chrome caps over the wheels fell off on about 6 lugs. The Winegard was a joke. Not fun. Quit using it. Kept dropping.

We look forward to the next year. The price of the coach is maintaining value. Used on the market are over what we paid for it new. Happy campers.

 

[BigTexEd]

Pics of coach.

 

[67Tiger]

I can't fathom my view climbing hills with a Chevy Colorado in tow, I'm really curious how your transmission responds as well as engine temps? I follow my temp pretty closely and a hot day climbing hills that little diesel can get pretty hot. We do miss having a car when we're on the road for 3 to 4 weeks, after reading your post I may reconsider but. I'm glad you're having fun with your first Class C View, we love ours. Don't worry about the few issues you'll have, they're just bugs that eventually with an assist work themselves out. Cheers

 

[BigTexEd]

I can't fathom my view climbing hills with a Chevy Colorado in tow, I'm really curious how your transmission responds as well as engine temps?

Temps never went above normal all trip. Pulled the toad like a champ.

 

[MattPraz]

The pantry doors on all the drawers lock in now. You push in, and it locks. It is not fool-proof, but it is an improvement it sounds like.

I’m going to look at those window covers.

I’m not sure the water heater is working. The gas line is on. The button is turned on on the WH. Full LP. No breakers popped. Set on full heat. Not eco. No hot water.

The Pantry door locks will require that they be reinforced, I used 3/4" aluminum angle to keep them shut. Had the factory clips pull out.I also install some small wheels on the drawer to keep them from banging and also insure they are properly closed.

[Mod Edit: Google photos link removed. Please attache photos directly to your post. Using a Google Photos link that requires login is not appropriate. It works for you, not for others.]

One last thing Order some Agile Fox Shocks, makes huge difference on the road in windy conditions

Matt Praz
2020 Navion, 600 watts solar, LioN batteries
2016 Subaru Crosstrek Toad

 

[Splaktar]

The Sprinter is a good Chassis, diesel gives 14 mpg, lots of power, the Ford Chassis is very tight the right side foot area is very tight, the driver side is tight as well. The engine box is hot, nosies. Service if needed is hard to find a Ford dealer who works on them. Mercedes dealers will fix my View G.
Load is much less in my View but workable. The new Views are very expensive, there is nothing wrong with both, each has advantages. For a family a For is better. For a couple the View is better.

For me, I tried the Fords first, but I just can't make them work and I'm only 6'1". There just isn't enough leg room for me to drive them over an hour without getting really uncomfortable. As mentioned, the right side foot area is terrible. I also had issues with the door cramping in on the left side where I didn't have room there either.

Many of the models I tried didn't allow the seat to move back far enough either. A few did. But in general, after trying a bunch of them at an RV show, I had to rule out Ford due to the discomfort that would be involved in driving them.

If I can't comfortably drive it for hours, nothing else matters. That's a key reason that I decided to go with the View 24D. I had some sales people try to get me to go with a 30'+ Class A, but that size doesn't fit our usage needs and I don't really want to drive something that large.

I haven't driven the View more than a few minutes so far, but it was very comfortable. That said, all of the fit-and-finish issues raised here are still happening on the 2022 models. Also my dealer has given me a lot of grief and repeatedly tried to convince me to just settle with this poor quality and their lack of execution on promised repairs. They are a certified Winnebago dealer, but they really don't give the brand a good name for new buyers. The orientation was super rushed and the agent wasn't that knowledgeable (I knew more from YouTube videos and she either said things wrong or didn't know other answers). They just pushed and pushed for me to give them their money and go away for 40-45 days before I could get it back for service to have various things fixed.

I ended up refusing delivery. Now we've worked it out and they have gotten approval to meet our requirements, so we're planning to take delivery soon. It's generally been a really unpleasant experience. But there's just not any other View 24Ds within 1000 miles of us (we had to put down money to pre-order this one).

I really hope we don't get a 12+ leak version because ours will need to sit outside in the heavy Florida rain all summer...

 

[rprochnow]

Stick to your guns with the dealer, because once you've purchased the RV and leave the lot, it could be much more difficult to get an appointment and get things fixed.

That was one of our concerns about purchasing from Lichtsinn. Their dealership has been great. Their service team has been very helpful - even helping via e-mail or phone.

But, we live 1000 miles away - and only plan to make the trip back to them for annual service. If we have problems that can't wait, then we have a challenge to get things fixed.

Now that we're out of warranty, we've been using a local mobile tech RV service - who can file claims under our extended warranty. And we've found another Winnebago dealership in a smaller town about 4 hours from us, who can do most of the service.

While it's disappointing to see things come from the factory with issues, the reality is that we're essentially driving a small house - and after things shake for a while, things will break.

Which is why we carry tools and spare parts for items we've already had to fix (TV cabinet latches, plumbing fittings, ...).

If the dealership is hard to work with now, I would be very concerned about completing a purchase from them. Because many Winnebago dealerships either completely refuse to service a V/N sold from a different dealership, or they'll delay your service for months.

When we needed to get our coach door fixed under a Winnebago recall, it required a phone call from Winnebago to our closest Winnebago dealership - to get them to even schedule us - and then it took a month to get in for a few hour job...

So, if you have concerns about your selling dealership - may be prudent to start checking around now for alternatives to get service done. So that WHEN something breaks, you have someone you can trust to go to...

 

[Splaktar]

Yeah, I think that I will start another thread on service options in Florida. Thanks.

 

[BlueGekko]

Splaktar and any other Navion/View owner, if you have a Facebook account, look into joining the View/Navion Motorhomes blog. You can view the pages without joining but can’t participate until you join. There are several owners here with great experience and advice but the FB site has many hundreds. However, I suspect that all of them would likely agree . . . Run from this dealership. If they treat you that way as a potential buyer, how will they treat you when they have your money?

 

[DAJO]

BlueGekko

Please tell me how to view facebook pages without joining>

 

[BlueGekko]

Dajo, I don’t think you can view without an account. I joined last week but set my privacy settings so that no one outside of the group I was interested in could see my responses or solicit me. So far, I’ve received responses from only the group members.

 

[rprochnow]

Also... While Winnebago has a contract with each dealership to perform sales and service for Winnebago View/Navion models - they do not appear to have much (if any) leverage to get the dealers to service vehicles sold by other dealers OR in the quality of their service work.

However, they do provide a rating for their highest quality service dealerships - indicated by "Flying W Service Excellence Dealer" on their website. To see a listing of all service dealerships in your state, you can look here.

We live in Houston - and neither of the Winnebago dealerships are listed as Flying W. But we have had work done at Kerrville RV about 4 hours from here - and they are listed as Flying W, as long as Lichtsinn RV, where we purchased our View 2 years ago.

 

[Splaktar]

Splaktar and any other Navion/View owner, if you have a Facebook account, look into joining the View/Navion Motorhomes blog. You can view the pages without joining but can’t participate until you join. There are several owners here with great experience and advice but the FB site has many hundreds. However, I suspect that all of them would likely agree . . . Run from this dealership. If they treat you that way as a potential buyer, how will they treat you when they have your money?

I deleted my Facebook account a few years ago and won't be going back. But I'm certainly glad that this community is here and isn't on Facebook. Thank you for the info though.

 

[Splaktar]

However, they do provide a rating for their highest quality service dealerships - indicated by "Flying W Service Excellence Dealer" on their website. To see a listing of all service dealerships in your state, you can look here.

The dealer that I've been having challenges with is a "Flying W Service Excellence Dealer"

 

[rprochnow]

Then you should report any issues you find back to Winnebago...

 

[creativepart]

I’m not convinced that the things that we users value from a servicing dealer are the same things that Winnebago is using to grant these “flying Ws” to all these dealers. They sure aren’t asking us to vote our favorites.

 

[rprochnow]

Here are the criteria for Flying W recognition.

#1 is Delivery Satisfaction - so if a customer is not satisfied with the vehicle they are getting - or what it took to get the vehicle, they can return a very negative survey to Winnebago

#2 is Warranty Repair Service Satisfaction - again, if you aren't completely satisfied with warranty service, then report it to Winnebago

The other 2 criteria are business oriented - and don't reflect customer service quality (responding to leads provided by Winnebago and growing RV sales).

It's disappointing that non-warranty repair service isn't included in Flying W criteria...

Especially for customers of Flying W dealerships, if you aren't satisfied with the delivery or the warranty work - if you don't get a survey to complete by Winnebago, then reach out to Winnebago customer support and provide them your feedback.

Though, most Winnebago dealerships are not Flying W - and because Winnebago doesn't appear to have any control over the quality of their customer service and support (which is probably true for other RV manufacturers), the best you can do is be more selective of who you have service your motorhome, even if that means driving farther away to find a quality dealership.

We've had service at 2 Flying W dealerships and 1 non-Flying W dealership - and there was a huge difference in the quality of service we received. We've been extremely satisfied by the two Flying W dealerships and will try never to go back to the other one (even though it's only an hour away).

 

[Splaktar]

That's great info to know, thank you so much for the breakdown there!

I agree that it would be ideal to include non-warranty service as one of the criteria, but perhaps they consider that a lot of that would be work on non-Winnebago parts/systems and not relevant.

After reading a lot of these posts about the state of the RV industry and quality, I wouldn't be surprised if the one that I'm unhappy with is one of the best and that it can go downhill from here.

We're learning and trying to make it work. A couple of perfectionists here trying to buy an RV and get into RVing...

 

[BigTexEd]

After 13,000 views and now 2 years of ownership, I’ll give my update.

23,000 miles and more parks and jaunts. I had my first persistent CEL for the particulate soot sensor (not DPF filter) which eventually turned itself off. I always pull a 2021 Colorado ZR2 or a 17’ trailer. No issues. I get between 9-11 mpg depending on speed and terrain. I always drive the speed limit or +5mph and that’s it. I don’t like the so called oven. As soon as I turn it on, it exceeds the amperage of something. I hear a beep and my watchdog power meter tells me it’s over max amperage. This is while plugged into city power. It’s not intuitive and I don’t like it at all. The patch for the tire leak didn’t hold so I bought a new tire. The coach insurance thing wanted to replace it with a cheap Chinese tire so I paid for this myself to get OEM replacement. I didn’t add anything this last year. I just use it. I love the diesel generator, but I do top it off frequently. I just love the coach. MB service is not good. The adaptive cruise quits working on every trip. They can’t reproduce and they have adjusted the radar 2x. I give up. Winnebago service has been great for me. My AC quit working on the last day of a trip. They replaced it with no questions asked. They had one in stock and replaced in a day. Coach door handle broke. Disappointed as I had to ingress through the cab door for a few days. They fixed it. Key fob battery doesn’t hold a charge long on one key. I’m living with it. I’m finding it hard to buy ultra low sulfur fuel in some areas. I have to drive around looking for the correct diesel. Gas buddy doesn’t show what type of diesel. It’s an annoyance that is always there. I’m super happy with everything. I want a super C, but can’t justify the price considering what I already have. I thank you all for the communication.

This was my motorcycle trip I took last week to Colorado Springs. Epic rides.

 

[Splaktar]

Thanks for the update BigTexEd!