Wednesday, June 27, 2007

New Excel!

Ken flew to Eugene, OR, to check out a 2006 Excel 30RSO we had seen advertised on the web.  That model had a floor plan we liked: two recliners, TV near the couch and chairs, and accessible galley with the slideouts in.  It had an overall length of 32 feet, which we thought was a good compromise—still small enough to get in many national parks, but large enough to live in fulltime.  The RV Consumer Group ratings for quality, value, and roadworthiness were all in the 80s (very good).  Only New Horizons rated better overall than Excels.  We had spent many hours researching the possibilities and eliminated many good models because they were too heavy, or had too little cargo carrying capacity, or had less desirable floorplans.


After renting a car at the airport, he drove to Sutton RV to meet our salesperson, Terry.  He found the floorplan good, the colors not optimal but good enough.  He tried to get the price down, but the dealer held firm at $49, 973 (pretty close to $50,000).  He liked the rig but was uncomfortable with the price, but having flown to Oregon and rented a car, he wasn’t in a very good bargaining position.  The general quality level seemed good, especially in comparison with many of the RVs we had seen in our search.

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