The excitement that comes with spring has a special meaning to RVers. Many begin to think about heading back to their northern homes, and folks who are already home begin planning their summer and fall travels. It is also the time of the year when the innovative features and technologies of the new models invoke the excitement of trading up.

Active RVers have several reasons to trade up to affordable luxury this year. In this article, four breathtaking units highlight just how far manufacturers have gone to increase the convenience, comfort and luxury of your home-on-wheels. They have also designed incredible value into these new products; making them ideal candidates to become your next motor home.

American Coach
American Coach, the flagship luxury product line from Fleetwood Enterprises’ RV Group, recently unveiled their first new motor home model since 1999 – the American Allegiance (photographed above). This unique model becomes the entry point for the American Coach lineup, which also includes the luxurious Tradition, Eagle and Heritage motor homes. With a suggested list price starting at just over $300,000, the new Allegiance enters the diesel market at a price point that experienced a 30% growth rate in 2007.

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The Allegiance is expected to be one of the best selling motor homes in 2008 given its luxurious amenities and affordable pricing as well as the quality associated with the American Coach brand. It will debut with two innovative floorplans. The 42G features a bath-and-a-half and creates an expansive interior layout with its full-wall slide floorplan, an amenity previously reserved for high-end coaches.  

The deluxe master bath is located at the very rear of this 42’ coach. Pocket doors separate the master bath from the bedroom, and the bedroom from the front of coach. In the bedroom, comfort awaits you with a queen or king (optional) size bed, which can also be ordered with an optional air mattress. The street-side full-wall slide starts in the master bedroom and offers a built-in desk with a 26” flat panel TV above the cabinetry.

In the galley, which is also in the slideout, there is a four-door Norcold refrigerator with ice maker and water dispenser as well as a linen cabinet, dining room table with chairs and luxurious 78” UltraLeather sleeper sofa.  Across the aisle are a 67” sofa bed, well-equipped galley and half-bath convenient for use by your guests.

The 40X is a 40’ coach whose triple slide floorplan features a well-equipped front kitchen (located just behind the co-pilot) and an expansive living room which is created by its opposing 30” deep flush floor slideouts. You will be the envy of your neighbors at the RV resort  when word gets out that your living room features a mid-ship 40” flat panel TV and entertainment center. This spacious floorplan creates a living space not often found in coaches in this price range.

Both floorplans are powered by the 400HP Cummins® diesel engine and include the Navion® R5000 information and entertainment center. The Navion® R5000 organizes all of your electronic driving aids and entertainment options into one ergonomically designed system whose color monitor is located in the cockpit.

With the Allegiance, American Coach has given RVers something that will really tug on their heart strings…spurring them to think about making 2008 the year that they trade up to affordable luxury!

2008 Country Coach Allure Crane Prairie
2008 Country Coach Allure Crane Prairie
Country Coach
Country Coach has been building some of the finest motor coaches for 35 years. With its innovations, their newest creation - the 2008 Allure 470 Crane Prairie offers an entirely new way to enjoy RVing. It will be tough to pick out the one feature that you like most about this coach, but it will certainly be fun trying.

The Allure Crane Prairie boasts a front kitchen, which is easily accessible from the outside patio area when entertaining, or enjoying the outdoors. Located just behind the co-pilot is the large side-by-side refrigerator, dining room table and chairs, and a large desk. The crown jewel of the living room area has to be the 52” mid-ship LCD TV that can easily be enjoyed by everyone, whether seated in the cockpit, relaxing on the living room sofa, or tending to kitchen chores.

This bath-and-a-half floorplan provides an exquisite master suite, which includes a private master bath at the very rear of the coach. The master bath features one of the largest showers you will find in a luxury motor coach today, along with an expansive wardrobe and washer/dryer.

Built on the proprietary DynoMax® chassis, the 45’ Crane Prairie comes standard with Allure’s tag axle and a 500HP ISM engine that delivers 1,550 ft-lbs torque, making it the smoothest riding, most powerful Allure ever to roll out of Junction City, Oregon. Also, this amazing coach is capable of towing 15,000 lbs allowing you to bring just about anything on four wheels along on your journey.

If you are familiar with the quality consistently delivered by the Country Coach brand, the Allure Crane Prairie, with a suggested list price starting at just over $400,000, is going to be given serious consideration when the trade up bug bites you this year.

2008 Fleetwood Terra
2008 Fleetwood Terra
Fleetwood
Luxury is not always synonymous with a mid-range, six-figure investment. This year Fleetwood has added a couple of gems to their line up with the re-introduction of their Terra and Terra LX gas motor homes. In fact, the name is the only thing that bears any resemblance to the previous models carrying the same name in the past.

The new Terra 36T floorplan incorporates many of the same features noted in the motor coaches above, but provides them in a truly value-packed motor home. This RV is new from the ground up and has a suggested list price that starts under $100,000.

Its comfortable bath-and-half floorplan consists of three slideouts, with two of them in the bedroom, as well as a front kitchen. The galley runs along the curbside wall with the kitchen starting right behind the co-pilot’s seat. This configuration provides ample room for the cook as well as those who may be sitting in the street-side slideout that houses the dinette and sofa bed. Everyone will have a perfect view of the large 32” LCD high-definition TV, which is incorporated into the wall mid-ship, without bumping into each other!

Also impressive are the Terra’s exterior features which are not often found on motor homes in this price category. Standard features include full pass-through basement storage and side-swinging luggage doors that make it easy to access anything stored in these lighted compartments. The Terra’s striking graphic designs glisten under its ultra high-gloss fiberglass walls, which comes as a standard option. In addition, a Royal Tuff-Ply one-piece roof tops off the new front and rear fiberglass caps. The coach also comes with a rear fuel fill and is capable of towing up to 5,000 lbs.

The Fleetwood engineers and designers really did their homework as they prepared for the re-launch of this economical, but very well equipped, gas motor home. It will be a very popular choice for those who are looking to trade up from a travel trailer, fifth wheel, Class B, or Class C motor home.

2008 Winnebago Tour
2008 Winnebago Tour
Winnebago
Some of us are old enough to remember seeing the very first Winnebago motor home driving down the highway and wondering if RVing would take hold with consumers. History speaks for itself as the company launches anniversary celebrations that herald their 50 years on the road! It was indeed a very good idea and this year Winnebago Industries, Inc. has an exciting lineup of Winnebago and Itasca motor homes that are well suited for trading up to.

Kudos go to the outstanding engineering team at Winnebago who conceived and delivered the new Winnebago Tour 40WD. If somebody told you that what appears to be a 26’ long by 24” deep full-wall slideout on the passenger side of this motor home is actually two slides, you would have a difficult time believing them. When this discussion takes place, inevitably the only way to get closure is to look at it again from outside. Once outside, you can see that it does indeed have two separate slides that have been cleverly integrated to provide the abundant living area of that of the full-wall design.

The new Tour is built on the all-new Maxum chassis that Winnebago engineers worked closely with Freightliner® to develop. This chassis incorporates a lowered rail design that provides a cavernous basement for enhanced cross-coach storage through side-hinged doors, as well as an improved ride and handling through a lower center of gravity. Its power is derived from a 400HP Cummins “clean-air” diesel engine that has a compression brake for increased braking power.

This impressive coach features 7’ 2” of head room. The bedroom slideout features a king-size bed and an impressive extension of interior living space is attained through the opposing slides in the kitchen/living room area of the coach. Dual sofas are opposite each other behind the driver and co-pilot, followed by a spacious galley and a unique U-shaped dinette whose table top slides for easy seating access.

Creature comforts include a large 37” high-definition LCD TV (with a 32” LCD optional in the front cabinets overhead); UltraLeather furniture including the six-way power driver’s seat; ceramic tile floors; Corian countertops; Titanium Touch stainless steel four-door refrigerator; and a home theater sound system with radio and iPod/MP3 input. With all of these amenities and a beginning list price of around $260,000 this coach will surely get a lot of attention this year.

You certainly won’t run out of reasons to trade up but after researching this year’s offering it may take you a while to make your selection. With a comprehensive listing of more than 1,200 new and pre-owned RVs, www.Lazydays.com is sure to have the RV of your dreams.