This weekend I ventured forth to look at some of the new short RVs. Our HOA lets us park rvs less than 25 ft on the lot so I thought I'd check some of these out.
Fuse 23A - Nice RV by Winnebago. Good styling. For us the beds were too high for the dogs to jump on and the twin on the drivers side was too short for either of us to sleep on without the mattress extension. This means putting it up and down every night because it blocks the refrigerator. Also means no sleeping with the slide in. Decided this was a non-starter for us. Tank size was pretty good though. If they put a small dinette in and gave you two beds that tall people would sleep in this would be more of a contender. However bed height would still be a problem.
Trend 23B - Really interesting floor plan that was not in the brochure. (24Gas, 27F/40B/35G) For a single person this could be a very good RV. You could make the sofa up as a permanent bed. It has a larger bed that lowers from the ceiling but I can't see that being a good solution. Bad part is it is on a RAM chassis and I couldn't get the front passenger seat to recline. Had another looker give it a try and he couldn't either. So not sure there is a comfortable position for the seat. Also read a comparison on the RAM vs the Ford diesel vs the Mercedes Sprinter on the internet where the Ford was tops and the RAM was the bottom. The Fuse has the Ford. The Trend 23D didn't seem to suffer from the super short bed length issue that the Fuse did.
Viva 23B - Same as the Trend 23B but is in this year's brochure with the 23B floor plan whereas the Trend brochure does not have this floor plan.
View 24V - This was may favorite of the bunch. The twin beds had a small platform that the dogs could use to jump up. Would still prefer a small dinette vs sofa. Tank sizes OK. Have read concerns regarding CCC cargo carrying capacity on these being so low you go over them just trying to use them. Don't know if that is still an issue with the current models.
Thor Axis - I only saw one model of this, the 25.2. However the quality seems better than the past few years of models. I wanted to see both the 24.1 and the 25.4 but neither are in my area. I love the big windshield and the captains chairs on our current class A. The 24.1 has the same problem as other twin bed models of no dinette.
The 25.4 has an interesting corner bed in that you can access it all down the side as opposed to just the end corner. However it still has the problem of one person having to crawl over the other. The other bed is a drop down bunk bed over the drivers seat. Concern for this second bed is the heat. The drivers side windshield is huge and might make this sleeping area too hot. The 24.5 is 27 ft long so this gets into a larger range of the bigger class As like Thor ACE, Winnebago Vista and Forest River FR3.
Travato 59K - Would like to see but could not find.
Era 70A - Pretty sure I saw one but ruled it out based on bathroom/shower size. Can't remember how the beds were.
FR3 - I only saw the 30DS which is nice and has a king bed but like the similar Thor ACE it has a single ducted AC for the entire thing. I just don't see how this can keep the RV cool. Our 30 ft Brave has a single overhead AC but we can aim all the air and don't have duct loss or heat up from running in the ceiling where the sun is beating down. The 25DS is a great length at 26'7" but has a folding king bed which we do not want. However with the bigger tank sizes is a great alternative to those above. But I suspect many are like us and want a bed that is available full time without deploying a slide. This would bring one to the 29DS. It looks completely useable with all the slides in. Length is 30'9". This isn't a bad option but I don't want the dogs on the slide and that is where the sofa is on this option. Too much trouble to transfer them off the slide for deployment and take in. I need somewhere to safely park them while the moving parts are moving.
Vista - This brings me back to the Vista 26HE 54F/43B/38G. Unfortunately I did not see one. But at 27'4" it is a better unit for us than all the above shorties. The lounge chair could be removed and a dog crate installed so there was a safe place to park the pooches. Dinette and full time bed. But in the pictures the bed looks very high. Tank sizes seem good. I think more people would be happy with option than View, Navion, Axis/Vegas, Fuse, Trend.
Fleetwood - Also has a shortie, the Flair 26D. Same set up as the Vista 26HE but the one I saw felt really low quality. Flair has 50F/35B/35G tank size so not too bad but the Vista is higher so not sure why you would ever get this one over the Vista 26HE. This brings me back around to the Flair 30U which only has 50/35/35 tank sizes which for this size RV is fairly small.
For comparison our current RV has 78 g fuel, 55 g fresh water, shower 20 g, bathroom sink 17 g, toilet and kitchen sink 28 G. This is fairly convoluted so we start washing dishes at the bathroom sink when the black tank starts to get full. Several times we have filled the 20 g shower tank. To compare with the above ours would be considered 55F/28B/37G.
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