Going Social

Early in the process of looking for a motorhome, I found the Sportsmobile website and soon had prepared a custom plan that I liked quite a lot. However, I continued to research other RVs to make sure I wasn't overlooking a great alternative, or at least to gather ideas. While there wasn't another option that I'd trade my Sportsmobile design for, I did find features that made me reexamine the ways I intended to use my motorhome. This eventually led to a completely new design that was better than the original in almost every way.

Commitment Issues

The check went out in today's mail to Sportsmobile for the deposit on a Sprinter. I tried negotiating with the local Mercedes-Benz dealer. Though initially their price was higher, I eventually got them down to a bit less than Sportsmobile's price, but that difference wasn't enough for me to accept the risk that some subtle thing on the options list wouldn't meet Sportsmobile's requirements. So, I'm paying a small premium for peace of mind. Also, the MB dealer couldn't guarantee that I'd get swivel seats in the cab - it seems that's a fleet-only option. The deposit itself is small, I pay the balance when Sportsmobile receives the van, between three to five months from now ( it comes special-ordered from Germany ). Until recently, I never expected or aspired to own a Mercedes-Benz, but I'm committed to that now.

Plan A

The biggest attraction of buying my retirement motorhome from Sportsmobile is that they let the customer design the interior, from the type and number of furnishings to the materials and finishes used. If I hadn't chosen electrical engineering as a career, I probably would have been an architect, so the opportunity to design my own living space was very appealing. Though I've tried dozens of variations, my design has progressed through three major versions. In this post, I present some background information for the design process, and the first design that I thought was "the one".

Silver Bullet

In choosing my retirement motorhome, I want something that is not only functional, but also projects a sense of style and class. To me, those terms have always been synonymous with the Airstream brand. So I was interested to hear that, in addition to their esteemed trailers, Airstream makes a Sprinter-based RV. Also, if any brand could convince me to choose a travel trailer instead of a van, it would be Airstream, so I looked at those, too.

Going Pro

Sprinter-based motorhomes have been unrivaled in their fuel-efficiency, and in my previous post I calculated that could save me something like $4K/year over traditional motorhomes. In 2014 a new entry will appear on the American scene that is expected to be on a par with Sprinter fuel economy. I'll take a look at several variations on this new platform in this post.