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There are many factors that you should consider if you’re thinking or buying a Monaco RVs, Winnebago RV, Holiday Rambler or any other type of recreational vehicle. There are three main different classes which have different attributes depending on your preference. Class A RV’s are becoming less popular as they are very expensive to run, especially with the rise of fuel prices.

Picking the right RV can be a very challenging job if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Always revise what you want from your RV as this can influence your decision. Set your budget and then find the best model that falls into it as the price can be infinite with all of the available modifications on the market.

An experienced rv’er would be able to recommend the perfect motor home for you so don’t jump into buying the first one you see that you like. Shop around to find the best deals in your area.

Below you will find a list of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of RV so you can get a better understanding if you’re new to the motor home industry.

Class A

These are motorized bus style vehicles so the main attraction is the fact they are very practical. People that travel a lot of plan on taking many family vacations should consider one of these.

One of the big pitfalls with Class A motorhome is the initial cost and running costs. They consume large amounts of fuel so they can be costly in the long run. The larger Class A motorhome can be hard to manoeuvre which tends to put many people off.

Class B

Class B recreational vehicles are one of the most popular RV’s in today’s world as they are very economical and easily drivable. You can practically take them anywhere which appeals to many people as they are not restricted as they are not too big.

The downside to this specific type of motor home is that they are small, you can only fit a limited amount of people inside comfortably and they have minimum storage space.

Class C

The main characteristic that stands out on a Class C is the safety. They are very secure and economical to drive. They make great family vehicles as you can regularly go on family vacations bringing you closer then before.

You are restricted in areas you can take this type of RV as they can become overweight if you have excess luggage or if it’s too long.

A good resource for comparing RV’s is the RV Comparison Guide which can be found online at JR Consumer Resources. They are a consumer based company that rates RV manufacturers and compares each manufacturer regarding customer satisfaction, quality of construction and resale value.

Travelling throughout the Eastern Seaboard in the 70’s, the first time saw one eyes bulged!  It still looks great 30 years later. So after the jump take a look at Afer all Evel Knievil owned one.

It’s Thunderbirds and The A-Team rolled into one, a low and sleek sportscoach that stunned the RV industry when it launched in late 1972. Today, exactly thirty years after production stopped, the GMC Motorhome is becoming a cult icon.

The GMC is the muscle car of the RV world. It holds the land speed record for motorhomes, clocking 106mph at Bonneville last year. It’s been immortalized several times as a Hot Wheels toy.

It’s even had a movie career, starring in the 1981 Bill Murray comedy Stripes. But for those of you who grew up in the 70s, the GMC will always be known as Captain America’s van.

That’s pretty remarkable for an RV that only had a six-year production run. But there are many, many remarkable things about the GMC RV. For starters, it was the first RV created and built by an automaker—and to this day, no other automaker has taken that risk.

GM called the project TVS-4 (‘Travel Vehicle Streamlined, model 4’). For maximum grunt, it dropped in a mighty 455ci V8—the engine that powered the 1966 Toronado. A claimed 260 horses were fed through a three-speed gearbox to the front wheels; with no driveshaft running to the back axle, this gave the living area an extra-low floor and lots of headroom.

The GMC looked sharp from the start, sitting low on its haunches. But the front wheel drive gave traction problems on uphill grades, especially in heavy rain or snow. Handling was otherwise decent, helped by a low center of gravity and an air spring setup for the four wheels at the back.

You got the choice of a six-berth 26-foot or a (relatively rare) four-berth 23-foot. The sleek styling gave an amazingly low drag coefficient of 0.39. And the interior was funky even by 70s standards, designed with the help of House and Garden magazine. The wraparound glass looked cool, but in hot weather the large windows put a huge strain on the roof-mounted air conditioner.

At launch, the GMC cost between $12,000 and $16,000. And what a launch it was: the stock prices of all the other major RV manufacturers fell the very next day. Their vehicles suddenly looked very old. As the GMC sales brochure said, you could now buy a “motorhome that doesn’t look like a box or ride like a truck.”

GM originally pitched its motorhome as a ‘multi-purpose vehicle’ for extended living. That was mostly a marketing fantasy, but in 1975 GM did launch an unfurnished Transmode model. Soon, GMCs were being turned into everything from mobile recording studios to laboratories. The Transmode shells were farmed to conventional coachbuilders such as Coachmen, and even Coca-Cola got into the game, offering custom ‘Gadabout’ models as prizes.

And then, suddenly, the wheels came off the bus. The fuel crisis played a part: the GMC’s 8 to 10 mpg thirst was actually pretty good for a Class A with a big V8, but the running costs became too much for the American middle classes.

In 1977 GM shrank the engine to 403 cubes, but the sticker price had already soared to $38,000. There was no place for the world’s coolest RV any more: in 1978, the production line in Pontiac, Michigan was shut down.

Some 13,000 GMCs were made in all, and many are still on the road today. Winnebago RV released a thinly-veiled copy in the late 80s called the Spectrum 2000, and small numbers of other GMC replicas have been produced by companies such as Silver Motor Coach.

Today, thirty years on, the originals are relatively easy to keep on the road. Rebuilt engines are available for $3,000 or thereabouts, and the bodies are made from long-lasting aluminum and fiberglass.

Some owners restore their GMCs to showroom condition, while others update the interiors in superyacht or Airstream RV CCD style. The only real bugbear is the underlying frame—which could cost up to $10,000 to fix if decayed. But a thriving restoration industry makes it easy to keep the mechanicals in good running order, led by specialists such as Cooperative Motor Works.

We are a consumer based company that rates Winnebago RV’s in North America. Our rating guides feature Winnebago motorhomes; Class A & Class C.Say RV in some circles and the only answer you will get is “Winnebago.” Winnebago Industries of Iowa, USA is surely a major name in the motorhome industry. Their vehicles have been gracing America’s roads for decades and their reputation in the field is very good. They are currently producing two lines of motorhomes; the Winnebago brand and the Itasca brand.

Winnebago Industries was reborn out of a failing travel trailer company in 1960 in Forest City, IA. In 1966, they built their first Motorhome, and in 1977 they became the first motorhome manufacturer to reach the 100,000 unit mark, and in 1986 they became the first motorhome builder to reach the 200,00th unit.

Winnebago has had a long relationship with Chrysler Corp. and has built their motorhomes on dodge truck chassis almost exclusively. When Chrysler Corp. absorbed Freightliner, Winnebago began using Freightliner chassis also.

For a time, the “Winnies” were considered a bit old school, but these days the Winnebago is resuming its position as an industry leader. Winnebago Industries has never presumed to challenge the no holds barred luxury class of Class A motorhome with marble floors and butlers in the slide-outs. On the other hand the Winnebago products have always been a solid vehicle with good road handling characteristics, and longevity of service.

Winnebago Industries does not manufacture any trailers or fifth wheel. Beside their two primary lines of Winnebago and Itasca, they do manufacture three specialty lines of vehicles. These are the Ability Equipped line of Disabled Accessible Motor Homes; the Protector line of Command Center vehicles for Law Enforcement and Emergency Applications, and; the Med One line of mobile Medical Clinics.

As RVs become more popular and available, many are appearing in other roles. The Romney campaign “bus” is very obviously a Class A motorhome. Before the campaign is over you can expect to see a “tour” of the inside that goes beyond the glimpses already seen.

Winnebago RV’s have always been known for their comfort, and spaciousness, but they have never been on the gaudy side of the Class A wars. They do produce Class A motorhomes with slide-outs and with all the latest features such as rear monitoring television cameras, however. They are also among the leaders in the industry in bold graphics as a company graphics statement. Surely they will paint your RV however you would like it, but the company standard graphic package is a bold but mellow swirl or swirls.