New Models

[sr]

DRV Residential Fivers to Roll Out in Louisville
Print November 16, 2012 by RV Business Leave a Comment
Four-season, luxury fifth-wheel builder DRV Luxury Suites will be rolling out new looks, features and industry-first floorplans and decors during the National RV Trade Show, Nov. 27-29 in Louisville, Ky.

According to a press release, DRV will be showcasing its “residential-style” fifth-wheel lineup that includes the Mobile Suites, Mobile Suites Estates, Elite Suites and Tradition brands.

“Dealers come to Louisville wondering what’s going to give them that ‘Oh, wow’ moment,” said Rocky Holman, product manager for the Howe, Ind.-based builder. “We’ve got the ‘Oh, wow’ for them all day long. Over the past couple of years there’s been a lot of talk about a void in the residential luxury fifth-wheel market. We had it covered then, and we’ve got it covered now.”

Holman said DRV will be introducing a host of new home-like features such as standard residential refrigerators, dishwashers, garbage disposals, Lane furniture, Shaw flooring, solid-surface and quartz countertops, and soft close drawers. Other amenities include real-tile backsplashes, 48- and 60-inch showers, integrated fender skirts, straight fiberglass roof lines and larger LED TVs.

The DRV/Cruiser RV display will be in Booth No. 5309 in the West Wing of the Kentucky Exposition Center. “We’re right next to Prime Time and across from Keystone and Open Range, so we know we’re in a great high traffic spot,” said Holman. “Dealers are going to be amazed at what they see.”

[Rolling Retreats RV]

Here is a sneak peak at some of the new features we found at the Louisville show.

www.rollingretreats.com/Louisville

[Motor31]

All that emphasis on how nice paint is. What I'd much rather see is how the factory has improved something like quality control. How they improved how the rig was built, not just how they dressed it up.

[hitchup]

I'm still wondering why 2014's are on order, when 2013 brochures having been published yet. :shock:

[Rolling Retreats RV]

Hello Vickie. I was just informed yesterday that all my units on order except the next elite I pick up will all be 2014s. I haven't heard when the new brochures will be out, but I will ask Donna next week when I am at the factory if she knows when we can expect them.

[Rolling Retreats RV]

Hello Motor31. I was sad to read your post. I only deal in DRV so I can not compare DRVs quality control to any other brand, however, I have had many other brands on the pre-owned side before we become DRV dealers and there is no comparison in quality. After purchasing a few DRV on the pre-owned side, we could not bring ourselves to sell anything else and would trek across country (New York, Florida, San Fransisco, etc) to pick up Mobile and Elite Suites (repos) instead of just driving 5 hours and picking up SOBs. Hence, why we only deal in DRV.

My suggestion would be to make sure when choosing a dealer, you make sure to find one that cares more about the person purchasing than just the money. We want "our people" as I call them (kinda like my own personal DRV family) to be happy and this is the reason why we take the time to pick up each unit at the factory ourselves. We have the opportunity to do our own full PDI right there in the DRV parking lot. We usually show up on Friday and have the entire weekend to go through the unit. Slade then emails Greg a list of what we want fixed. Monday morning around 6AM our unit goes back in the plant and they get right on it. We are usually leaving the plant by noon on Monday. We have had to stay a few days longer at times. Last time that happened, the guys in the plant noticed an imperfection in the full body paint (the light hit it just right). They pointed it out to Slade and they sent it back to paint and had it fixed. They are great and never act like we are a pain, just always pull it right in and fix everything with a smile. I hear Paul Cross does a good inspection and isn't too far from the plant. I don't know what he charges for his PDI. We charge $0.
Another suggetion if you are buying from another dealer, ask if you can stay there at their place a few days to get a true "live in" experience in the unit before you hit the road. We live on the same property our dealership is on and never mind anyone staying as long as they like. We are making our own private DRV RV park. (we have 2 30x40 cement pads here and are installing a few more that are to the back of our place). If you buy from someone who doesn't have a place for you to stay, at least stay at a park close by so you can find any problems they missed.
Hope this helps.
We wish you a very Blessed Christmas! Alicia <><[

[Walt]

I agree with Motor31. We’re not all fortunate to live near the factory or have a dealer that will pick the trailer up from the factory. We depend on the trailer being manufactured,” right”, the first time around. I bought my trailer from Sunshine RV in Lake Havasu City, AZ. They PDI the trailer and found all kinds of things wrong that the factory should have caught. We spent 2 nights there and still found things that needed repairing. Even after all of that, on our first trip, we found more things wrong. I fixed most of them myself. Yes, all trailer manufactures are not perfect but cut out all the fancy paint jobs and ginger bread there putting in and just build the trailer with some pride in workmanship. I know for a fact that Sunshine RV refused a trailer from DRV and made them take it back to the factory as they were tired of fixing all the problems with quality control. Don’t get me wrong, I like the trailer and would probably buy another MS but there is no excuse for their sloppy workmanship for the money we spend on these trailers.

Walt

[Rolling Retreats RV]

Sorry to hear that Walt. If you are ever on I-40 and having a problem. Please feel free to stop by and see us. Slade is very good. Most of the time, he doesn't even charge people for the repairs he does. We hope your future experiences are positive ones and I will be happy to pass these comments along to the appopriate ppl at DRV. Alicia <><

[Rolling Retreats RV]

Oh, forgot to mention, we are members of SOITC and plan on making all the rallies, so if you are at one, Slade will walk around after giving his tutorial and fix everyones minor problems or at least look at them and tell you what avenue to take to get them repaired. We will be at Amarillo in April. Alicia <><

[Walt]

Thank you Alicia for offering to help me in the future. I know Terry speaks hightly of you folks. So far I've worked out all of my problems with Sunshine RV and the factory and hope I don't have anything serious in the future. They've even repaired things at no charge to me for good customer relations. I'm way out of warranty but so far they've covered everything.

Happy Holidays!

Walt

[Rolling Retreats RV]

Anytime! Hope to see you at the rally's.

[99roush2]

Alicia,
Thank you for the pics.
I like some of the upgrades but still share the same Qualty concerns that others mention. Not a fan of the painted over windows.

[rotaxman]

Agree with all the others except about buying another DRV product. I ordered a new 06 turned out to be a pretty good trailer after I fixed all the things the factory should have.

This 09 on the other hand is another story no fixing this one.

The quality control is just plain not there.


Jerry

[Motor31]

Alicia,

I am not going to go into the laundry list of the deficiencies the rig we bought has and in a few cases still has. We have been back to the factory, twice. The first 2 months of ownership had us drive more than 800 miles one way for repeated items and a final trip to the factory to fix things the dealer couldn't / wouldn't fix in more than 3 weeks or time spent at their own dedicated RV park at my expense. The second trip to the factory was well over 1000 miles one way out of our way for us and still did not take care of a couple issues like leaks that left a literal water wall inside the rig when it rained.

Since 05 I have posted about the issues, some with repair information to other owners as well as things to look for to avoid having a failure on the road. If you really want to, there is a search function on the board to show some of the threads I started regarding the factory mistakes or omissions in construction.

Like I said, after being on this and even the SOITC board I have read and talked about items that still crop up from 2005 on. I would LOVE to see more info about how the factory actually got a quality control program started and paid attention to the details in construction rather than the full body paint and other flash items that do nothing to make the rig livable, functional and reliable.

Yup I know that no RV is made perfect. I do also know there are RV's made that do not require months and many many miles for repeated trips to the dealer and or factory to take care of items that make it actually work or at least stop self destructing starting at the time of taking delivery.

[GlennWest]

I for one will not be getting a new DRV. We are considering a Heartland Landmark. Uses the same upgraded seals that DRV uses. Axles can be upgraded to 8,000#. Use 12 I-beam chassis vs DRV 15" channel chassis. Which is stronger? I-beam is stronger than channel. One owner on a forum reports 60 mph winds in with no drafts. Can't say that about my DRV. They even insulate the floor of slides. DRV doesn't. I personally have walls with no insulation. I do not believe it would be a step down. Do believe I will be getting more for my money.

[Rolling Retreats RV]

Your welcome. The windows aren't really painted over, they are window silks. If you ever order, you can have those shipped loose. That way, you don't have to have them on there, but you will have them if they are needed for resale down the road. Have a Blessed night! Alicia <><

[Rolling Retreats RV]

Oh wow! Just noticed all the other post. I was just replying through my email to roush2. I am working on plaing 6 orders, so not time to reply right now, but will try to tomorrow.