Vibe 6501 Owners

[AV8R72]

Hi everyone! I am new here and am hoping to be a first time travel trailer owner in the near future. My wife and I are very interested in the V Cross Vibe 6501. So far, the best prices I have been quoted are from Couch's RV Nation. Has anyone purchased from there? I live in TN, so it's about a 6 hour drive, which isn't too bad if it's worth it.

So what do the 6501 owners think of your RV? Pros? Cons? Also, I am 6'1" tall and it appears as though the bed is 74" in length, which gives me only 1" to spare. Is that enough to be comfortable? Also, is it much of a hassle to climb over each other when getting in and out of the bed?

The trailer will be for my wife, our dog, and myself. We will be pulling it with a 2010 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara (6 speed manual) with a factory installed tow package, 3.73 axle, 3500 lbs tow limit (350 lbs hitch). Of course we will install a WDH, sway bar, and brake controller.

Any and all feedback is welcome. Thanks!

[RShelton]

Originally Posted by AV8R72

Hi everyone! I am new here and am hoping to be a first time travel trailer owner in the near future. My wife and I are very interested in the V Cross Vibe 6501. So far, the best prices I have been quoted are from Couch's RV Nation. Has anyone purchased from there? I live in TN, so it's about a 6 hour drive, which isn't too bad if it's worth it.

So what do the 6501 owners think of your RV? Pros? Cons? Also, I am 6'1" tall and it appears as though the bed is 74" in length, which gives me only 1" to spare. Is that enough to be comfortable? Also, is it much of a hassle to climb over each other when getting in and out of the bed?

The trailer will be for my wife, our dog, and myself. We will be pulling it with a 2010 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara (6 speed manual) with a factory installed tow package, 3.73 axle, 3500 lbs tow limit (350 lbs hitch). Of course we will install a WDH, sway bar, and brake controller.

Any and all feedback is welcome. Thanks!

Hi and welcome. My wife and I are also new to travel trailer camping. After months of research, we landed on the Vibe 6502. Our TV is a Highlander rated to tow up to 5,000 pounds. Our 6502's dry weight is just under 3,200 pounds and I would be uncomfortable towing anything heavier ( one of the reasons we passed on the slightly heavier 6504).

We've had the camper out only once so far and had a nice time, though we found several problems (including two separate plumbing leaks) that were not discovered when we did the walk through at delivery in March. (Lesson learned: take delivery in warm weather when your unit can be de-winterized.) Our dealer, Bill Thomas Campers in Wentzville, MO, has been very good to work with and quickly fixed all issues.

Overall, we like the Vibe and its features. The bed is plenty wide for the two of us and our pooch; however' I'm just under 6' and there's not much room to stretch lengthwise. We considered Rockwood models with space to walk around the bed, but the weight exceeded our comfort level. Plus I like having he one-piece fiberglass roof and the black tank flush on the Vibe.

Regarding price, we paid well under MSRP by about $4,000 -- which was not the lowest price I found on the net, but close.
Hope his helps. Good luck with your decision.

[PA Paco]

Originally Posted by AV8R72

Hi everyone! I am new here and am hoping to be a first time travel trailer owner in the near future. My wife and I are very interested in the V Cross Vibe 6501. So far, the best prices I have been quoted are from Couch's RV Nation. Has anyone purchased from there? I live in TN, so it's about a 6 hour drive, which isn't too bad if it's worth it.

So what do the 6501 owners think of your RV? Pros? Cons? Also, I am 6'1" tall and it appears as though the bed is 74" in length, which gives me only 1" to spare. Is that enough to be comfortable? Also, is it much of a hassle to climb over each other when getting in and out of the bed?

The trailer will be for my wife, our dog, and myself. We will be pulling it with a 2010 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara (6 speed manual) with a factory installed tow package, 3.73 axle, 3500 lbs tow limit (350 lbs hitch). Of course we will install a WDH, sway bar, and brake controller.

Any and all feedback is welcome. Thanks!

Welcome to the site AV8R72.

My wife and I bought our 2012 Vibe 6501 last year & love it. It is just the 2 of us plus 2 80lb labs. Our TV is a FJ Cruiser (5000lb TC & 500lb hitch).
We upgraded to the Vibe from a popup for ease of setup/breakdown & loading before trips.
Main reasons for going with 2012 6501 Vibe:
Perfect layout for us.
No slide outs to deal with (reduce maintenance & issues).
Liked the TV placement on the 2012 model. Other models have the TV at the nose.

Towing – Our FJ has no problem & haven’t experienced any sway issues. When I was doing research concerning towing safety, the only flag with our TV was the short (106“) wheel base. Just to be safe, we had an Equalizer 6K sway control hitch installed. If I am reading your TV specs correctly, your TV has a wheel base of 116”, if so, you should be fine. The only other concern you should have is the 3500lb towing capacity.
Unless you need to climb over more than 1 time per night, it’s not much of an issue. I am 6’ and was concerned with the bed length also, sleeping on an angle will give you a little more room.
The Pros weigh out the cons by 90% for us. There will always be cons but you come up with work-arounds.
The weight capacity is 3500, dry is estimated around 2900. Doesn’t leave much to store in that great pass thru compartment, so we only store some light stuff in there and travel light.
We are of average height and weight and found the table useless as it is a tight fit. We removed the table, custom cut a piece of plywood to put down and made it into a permanent bed. We bought a 4” memory foam & fiber mattress topper and cut it down to fit the area. I end up sleeping there with one of the labs.
Not happy with the 3500lb axle, but I plan on doing an axle upgrade like pdchristensen on this site did for his Vibe.
All RVs are going to have some issues, but these can be resolved with a thorough inspection before taking delivery. We didn’t catch a leak from the trap in the bathroom sink. Not really an issue, I just tightened it up myself, issue resolved.
Let me know if you have any other questions.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by AV8R72

Hi everyone! I am new here and am hoping to be a first time travel trailer owner in the near future. My wife and I are very interested in the V Cross Vibe 6501. So far, the best prices I have been quoted are from Couch's RV Nation. Has anyone purchased from there? I live in TN, so it's about a 6 hour drive, which isn't too bad if it's worth it.

So what do the 6501 owners think of your RV? Pros? Cons? Also, I am 6'1" tall and it appears as though the bed is 74" in length, which gives me only 1" to spare. Is that enough to be comfortable? Also, is it much of a hassle to climb over each other when getting in and out of the bed?

The trailer will be for my wife, our dog, and myself. We will be pulling it with a 2010 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara (6 speed manual) with a factory installed tow package, 3.73 axle, 3500 lbs tow limit (350 lbs hitch). Of course we will install a WDH, sway bar, and brake controller.

Any and all feedback is welcome. Thanks!

Random thoughts...

1) I've not heard bad about Couch's. If I recall correctly, I swapped emails with them for my Sabre when I was shopping. I ended up buying more locally, but it wasn't due to anything Couch's did wrong.

2) Buying local vs. "far away" - think about service after the sale. You're not going to want to take the trailer 6 hours for warranty work. RVs aren't like the auto industry. Vibe dealers are not required to work on your camper and you possibly will get put behind their own customers.

3) I'd be worried about the bed-size. With only 1" to spare, how does that leave you with a normal size pillow? My head is usually further down the bed from the very top so that it's mid-pillow. Just a thought...

4) Climbing over my wife was one of my complaints as we started talking about selling our pop-up and getting a hard-sided camper. Love her dearly, but I'd hold off an overnight potty break as long as I could to avoid waking her up. Lots of people do it and don't mind it, though.

5) I wonder about your staying within ratings for towing with your vehicle. To achieve the advertised 3,500 pounds of towing capacity - that typically only allows a 150 pound driver, no passengers and no gear in the vehicle. You usually run out of "cargo carrying capacity" (aka "payload") well before you hit the actual towing capacity. This payload number has to account for you, your wife and the little dog too (insert Wicked Witch of the West cackle here) as well as anything you put into the vehicle for travelling. What's left over needs to be able to handle the 10%-15% tongue weight (of the trailer's actual weight) that pushes down on the rear of the vehicle.

The hard part is - we all like to look at the advertised dry tongue weight and use that for our math. The reality is, that's before any options and necessities like battery/batteries and propane and your stuff inside the camper.

It's worth doing the math and making a decision if you have enough tow vehicle for this trailer (or, alternatively- there was a huge thread the last couple of days-- if you're willing to exceed certain ratings). Here's a "howto" that I wrote for my father-in-law to help him decide what his 4Runner could tow:
What Can I Tow?
My FIL's 4Runner

[tanddc]

We purchased our SP220 from Couches and it was a very enjoyable experiance. They were true to thier word on every and went out of their way to make things happen for us on the day we did our walk thru and pick up. We are local so I am not sure if that made a difference or not.

We were going to get a vibe but felt we were too close to maxing out our TV so we bought a new car to tow with...and got a bigger camper that maxed out our new TV

[AV8R72]

Thanks so much for the replies! Keep the posts coming please.

PA Paco - It's funny you mentioned the location of the tv. I asked the rep at Couch's if we can have it in the media rack (2012 model location) instead of in the nose and he said he could order it that way. It looks like it would be much easier to watch it there instead of in the nose. Not sure why they changed it.

ependydad - I will be sure to run the numbers again so as to remain within the towing limits of our Jeep before purchasing a trailer. I have actually been over on the Jeep forums and many people tow similar type trailers. They appear to be safe as long as they include a WDH, anti sway bar, and brake controller. With a GTW of 3500 lbs and a GCWR of 8125 lbs, even with my better half, the pooch, and some gear, it looks like we should be fine. The trailer's UVW is 2789 lbs and the dry hitch weight is anywhere from 292 lbs to 340 lbs depending on configuration. I definitely don't want to be a danger on the road and do appreciate your concern. I will also definitely check out the local dealers as well.

It sounds like people really like the vibes. I may need to take a trip at some point to check one out in person. Unfortunately the closest one I can find is 3 hours away.

[AV8R72]

Does anyone have any feedback on the convection microwave? I rarely use a microwave unless I need to reheat something. But the "convection" part has me curious.

[tanddc]

Convection microwave is a combination of a microwave and a standard convection oven. You can use it as either/or.

[RShelton]

Originally Posted by tanddc

Convection microwave is a combination of a microwave and a standard convection oven. You can use it as either/or.

My wife made canned biscuits on our first outing and we were impressed how quickly and well it worked. Only challenge was that the temp settings are in Celsius.

[whj77372]

I have a 2012 V-Cross 275 fiver and the bed is also 74", short queen. I am 6' and I don't sleep streached out, so it has not been a problem. Our bed is sideways accross the trailer so we have room to walk around the bed and we also have a bedroom slideout for the closet. Good Luck

[AV8R72]

I was able to check out a Vibe 6501 while traveling for business in the Denver area the other day. At 6'1" I do fit in the bed. There's not much room to spare, but I typically sleep on my side with knees bent, so I think I would be comfortable. I really like this model. Now the wife and I just need to see if it's in our budget for this year.

If you can bake canned biscuits in a convection microwave and have them turn out well, then I am impressed.

This forum is great for a newbie like myself. I have been learning quite a bit reading everyone's stories and suggestions. I am going to start getting quotes from dealers and see what we can do, but hopefully we will be Vibe owners in the near future!

[PA Paco]

Originally Posted by RShelton

My wife made canned biscuits on our first outing and we were impressed how quickly and well it worked. Only challenge was that the temp settings are in Celsius.

We created, printed & laminated a conversion chart and taped it to the inside door of one of the cabinets above the sink.

[RShelton]

Originally Posted by PA Paco

We created, printed & laminated a conversion chart and taped it to the inside door of one of the cabinets above the sink.

I created a spreadsheet of conversions too. Great idea to laminate it.

[jdrogosz]

what is the big difference between a 2012 and 2013 vibe 6501?

[PA Paco]

Originally Posted by jdrogosz

what is the big difference between a 2012 and 2013 vibe 6501?

The one change I know of is where they put the TV. On our 2012 its across from the refrig, which makes it easier to view from the nose seating.

On 2013 the TV is mounted at the nose which I think is a pain to view from the seating.

I thought I read someone ordered a 2013 with and had the TV mounted like ours.

I also read 2013 models they added the mounts needed for a Equilizer WDH.

[Wybdgrl]

We recently purchased a Vibe (not sure of the model number) with a kitchen slide out and front bathroom. We love it! The bed is just a bit tight for my husband, but works fine. We've only been out twice and are still experimenting with who gets the inside/outside. The first night our 75lb retriever wasn't too happy to not be able to sleep with us so we helped her up into the bed -- bad idea. I ended up sleeping all curled up! So now we simply make up the dinette bed and we're all three happy campers. Nah, she's not spoiled!! Has anyone had issues with the edge of the slide wood panel sticking?

[Wybdgrl]

RShelton or PA Paco - do either of you have a link to that conversion chart? Thanks!

[PA Paco]

Originally Posted by Wybdgrl

RShelton or PA Paco - do either of you have a link to that conversion chart? Thanks!

I created my own Word Document so I could increase the font size for easier reading.
I would send it to you, but my search for the file was unsuccessful.

[pdchristensen]

Originally Posted by AV8R72

The trailer will be for my wife, our dog, and myself. We will be pulling it with a 2010 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara (6 speed manual) with a factory installed tow package, 3.73 axle, 3500 lbs tow limit (350 lbs hitch). Of course we will install a WDH, sway bar, and brake controller.

Any and all feedback is welcome. Thanks!

I would be cautious with the expectations of your tow vehicle capacity of 3500 lbs. Typically you can only factor out the weight of the TV driver in your calculations of trailer weight tow capacity. So anything else in the vehicle (passengers, pets, & cargo will limit your trailer weight tow capacity.) Just one other passenger and limited cargo will likely subtract 200-300 lbs from your available tow capacity. Weight distribution hitches (like mine-the equalizer) could add as much as 75 lbs to your set up.

You may only be left with 3000 lbs tow capacity for the trailer.

The delivered trailer will likely be 100 lbs or more then the listed dry weight (as I found out the hard way). I assume you are going to load the trailer with gear as well. In the end I would think you are flirting with the limits of the vehicle.

I am of the opinion that although they build these vehicles with a 3500 lb axle rating, they were really pushing the limits with suggesting that they are in the class of trailer that could be towed by mini-vans and such with a 3500 lb tow rating.

I my self like to stock up on extra gear (slide stabilizers, under awning gazebo, dedicated trailer jack and tools for tire change or repairs). This is over and above the food, bedding, clothes, toiletries, etc. I like to journal each trip cargo load and on average I am hauling 300 to 400 lbs extra cargo over and above the trailer weight.

[RShelton]

Originally Posted by Wybdgrl

RShelton or PA Paco - do either of you have a link to that conversion chart? Thanks!

I created an Excel file, so I don't have it available from a web site. Sorry about that.