I live in Montana, so it is difficult to be able to see first hand the different Sprinter RV conversions. I am interested in one that has 4 captain chairs in the front and is as much a van as RV. Narrowed it down to the Roadtrek Adventurous or Four Winds Ventura 170 S. Since the Roadtrek is much more expensive I was hoping someone could give me feedback on the quality comparison of these 2 conversions and any other differences you feel are important. Thanks much.
Roadtrek Adventurous vs. Four Winds Ventura 170S
- Thread starter hawkstone
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- conversions roadtrek ventura
nukepharm87
New member
Don't know about the Ventura 170S, but I can tell you that I love my Roadtrek RS. Mine is a 2007 with the 3.0L V-6 turbo Diesel. I have not had many problems and the few that I have had were corrected quickly by the dealer with approval of Roadtrek. The fit and finish seems to be among the best of the class B conversions.
Frank
Frank
mowog
Member
Four Winds doesn't show a 170 on their website
So maybe they don't produce it any more? Winnebago seems to be making the ERA again. Airstream and Pleasure Way have models also.
The floor plans vary a little (or a lot) depending on manufacturer. Airstream gives more black water tankage, which could be an advantage or disadvantage. Airstream also has a compressor fridge, maybe better except for boondocking.
Overall I like the RT RS floor plan best. One floor pan (other manufacturer) gets rid of the 2nd row seat behind the driver, another moves the passenger side second row seat so that it seems to fill the entire sliding door area. Winnebago advertises the 2012 ERA as "thousands less than a Roadtrek", so Roadtrek seems to be the standard that others are compared to. Airstream of course has a long history with a great name and following and may be worth a look.
good luck, Bob
So maybe they don't produce it any more? Winnebago seems to be making the ERA again. Airstream and Pleasure Way have models also.
The floor plans vary a little (or a lot) depending on manufacturer. Airstream gives more black water tankage, which could be an advantage or disadvantage. Airstream also has a compressor fridge, maybe better except for boondocking.
Overall I like the RT RS floor plan best. One floor pan (other manufacturer) gets rid of the 2nd row seat behind the driver, another moves the passenger side second row seat so that it seems to fill the entire sliding door area. Winnebago advertises the 2012 ERA as "thousands less than a Roadtrek", so Roadtrek seems to be the standard that others are compared to. Airstream of course has a long history with a great name and following and may be worth a look.
good luck, Bob
slowstride
New member
The second row 'captain's seats' are generic chinese auto seats, pity they weren't MB.
Out Roadtrek RS is quite well thought out, and put together, although a fair number of cheap components made it into our rv.
I have read negative feedback about winnebago.....
I would hope that the more expensive conversion would yield better resale when you sell it.
I would be surprised is anybody has recently paid the full 120k MSRP on a RoadTrek RS.
Random thoughts....
Good luck
Out Roadtrek RS is quite well thought out, and put together, although a fair number of cheap components made it into our rv.
I have read negative feedback about winnebago.....
I would hope that the more expensive conversion would yield better resale when you sell it.
I would be surprised is anybody has recently paid the full 120k MSRP on a RoadTrek RS.
Random thoughts....
Good luck
Old Crows
Calypso 2014 View Profile
Hi! We have a Ventura 170X... a 2010. First, they aren't made anymore. 2009/2010s were the last production run by Thor. I think they were discontinued (a mistake IMHO) because of the slow down in the RV industry; a re-alignment of product lines; and a reorganization of Thor. They wanted to concentrate on 'Big B's' and high end coaches.
We spent a lot of time looking at floor plans and options available on different Sprinter based models. The bottom line I think, is that you have a choice of about 3 different plans that the manufacturer has tweeked a tiny bit. The interiors appear to be production runs by an outside vendor, the only variances are the type of wood, furnishings and details, as you can find a similar layout, style, and fitment across manufacturers... only the details change. From a practical view, there's only so many ways you can 'slice and dice' the interior of one of these vans and to keep the costs down they farmed out the construction of the interiors.
Our Ventura is fitted and finished better than average with high quality materials .... they had one on the lot that would have taken a year to bring up to high standard (as my father-in-law would have said.... 'it came as a kit... all the parts in a box' ... so the quality varies across lines and within lines.
There's been on issues with the RV so far and we've had it a year, other than the fact that unless you live in Canada, you will need at least a 13.5K BTU A/C unit to keep it comfortable in the south, mid-west and western states... no matter the brand. the dealer replaced our 9K something unit with a Mach 3 PS for free .... more cooling, more air circulation... LESS POWER required! Yeah! And going along with that you need the on board generator to power the a/c while you are on the move as its going to get pretty stuffy sometimes without both units working while on the road.
Fresh, grey, black water capacities are adequate for two w/ dogs on a trip. But, again, we don't carry much black/grey if we don't have to.
You need to pack carefully and figure out where to stow things (like a boat?) to maximize the space available.... which is considerably more than our 17' TT.
We spent a lot of time looking at floor plans and options available on different Sprinter based models. The bottom line I think, is that you have a choice of about 3 different plans that the manufacturer has tweeked a tiny bit. The interiors appear to be production runs by an outside vendor, the only variances are the type of wood, furnishings and details, as you can find a similar layout, style, and fitment across manufacturers... only the details change. From a practical view, there's only so many ways you can 'slice and dice' the interior of one of these vans and to keep the costs down they farmed out the construction of the interiors.
Our Ventura is fitted and finished better than average with high quality materials .... they had one on the lot that would have taken a year to bring up to high standard (as my father-in-law would have said.... 'it came as a kit... all the parts in a box' ... so the quality varies across lines and within lines.
There's been on issues with the RV so far and we've had it a year, other than the fact that unless you live in Canada, you will need at least a 13.5K BTU A/C unit to keep it comfortable in the south, mid-west and western states... no matter the brand. the dealer replaced our 9K something unit with a Mach 3 PS for free .... more cooling, more air circulation... LESS POWER required! Yeah! And going along with that you need the on board generator to power the a/c while you are on the move as its going to get pretty stuffy sometimes without both units working while on the road.
Fresh, grey, black water capacities are adequate for two w/ dogs on a trip. But, again, we don't carry much black/grey if we don't have to.
You need to pack carefully and figure out where to stow things (like a boat?) to maximize the space available.... which is considerably more than our 17' TT.
slowstride
New member
PS
Just back from fitting a carseat to the second row captain's seats
What a PITA! Almost impossible, and then they de-tension
If only RoadTrek had fitted decent seatbelts
Cutting cost corners in a 120k van?
That will bite you in the ....
Just back from fitting a carseat to the second row captain's seats
What a PITA! Almost impossible, and then they de-tension
If only RoadTrek had fitted decent seatbelts
Cutting cost corners in a 120k van?
That will bite you in the ....
We have 36K miles on our 2008 RS and love it. We looked at the Winnebago ERA and did not like the fit and finish on the interior. We also looked at Great West and Leisure and liked the floor plan, storage, and quality of the interior of the RT RS model best. That said most RVs have cabinet quality issues of some kind. We have had to replace a couple of hinges but the defect list is pretty low for us.
Our 2008 came with an extra tall storage cabinet that fits over the second row passenger side seat. We like the extra hanging storage. I do not know if this is an option on the 2012 model RS. However, our second row seats are not as comfortable as the captains chairs in the more recent RS models. I also like the 3500 chassis and dual wheels in the newer RS models.
Gary
2008 RS
Our 2008 came with an extra tall storage cabinet that fits over the second row passenger side seat. We like the extra hanging storage. I do not know if this is an option on the 2012 model RS. However, our second row seats are not as comfortable as the captains chairs in the more recent RS models. I also like the 3500 chassis and dual wheels in the newer RS models.
Gary
2008 RS