Beautiful Cardinal Quality

[stepdad]

I purchased a beautiful 3250 RL last year at the California Rv show. This year no Cardinals? Compared to Van Leigh ($30 k more, and everything out there is so so) there is no equal, except for Cedar Creek! Forest River makes a fantastic product. No problems with this great rig! (Replaced junk bath faucet with a quality one at Home Depot. 5 min. Job!) That is it! Residential refer, One Control for remote controls, Solar, day/nite shades, Serta mattress,6 point auto level/auto hitch, layout, their is so many nice features I can’t name them all!
This year some rigs have a residential oven/stove is very nice!
Also Riverstone is very nice! Except you need a Dually to tow this 16k dry weight rig! My rig is 12,200 lb. dry weight ( perfect for SRW diesels.

[SeaDog]

It sounds like you are very pleased with your rig that is great.

[stepdad]

I was looking for Cardinal, Cedar Creek, Riverstone feedback. But any fifth wheel likes, dislikes will do. I had a Jayco that was not reliable! So camping without a slide falling out of the rig is good.

[Retired JSO]

We bought a new 2018 Cardinal 3350. It was an early model built in June 2017 and was before the Luxury name. We took possession in December last year. It now has 14,000 miles behind it. The rear a/c had one lag not torqued correctly which I fixed and a wire came loos from one of the leveling servos. We’ve been in it 90 nights so far. The bed, bath and 22cf fridge have had no problems. The only problems we have now, the electric love seat is just not comfortable. We are so glad we found this one.

[stepdad]

It is good you have had a good experience with this rig! My wife is on Grand Design forum. So much more excitement! Those rigs are thrown together, so many problems. I was surprised no real complaints with Cardinals, so it’s good to hear Forest River makes a decent rig. Enjoy!

[dblr]

River Stone Legacy owner here and very happy with it, 4 summers and very few issues, yes you are right they are a heavy beast but we already had the truck in planning on stepping up to a heavy unit. Looked at a Cardinal years ago but the dealer was more of the breaking point, bought a Cedar Creek in 2010 which we liked a lot, was looking at Triology but they stopped production so we were very happy to find the River Stone.

[Curtsbrew]

From our experience if stepdad isn’t a Forest River damage control “troll” he’s the luckiest FR customer on the planet. We ordered our 3350 “Luxury” in Jan 2018 and took delivery in April. Since then it has been in the shop for 282 days and is going back to the factory to “work on” the 82 and counting defects it was shipped with. At least the FR warranty folks – when they return calls - are still “threatening” to make it right. Our 3350 “Luxury” has yet to make it home from any of its 4 “dealership experiences” with even the kitchen cabinet doors still on. See the “New Cardinal Luxury?” post started 7/6/2019 for a better rundown of the gory details. The readers digest version: shipped with the wrong storage tanks, electrical incorrectly wired, complete hydraulic failure, and the latest, the light over the dining table has fallen off twice. Needless to say the table surface has been “thoroughly customized”, just to name a few. We’ve never experienced this level of contempt, and from what I read on other threads and feedback from many others, we are not alone. We’ve been waiting 18 months to feel like “the customer” and still no end in sight.

We have serious doubts about stepdads experience - to say the least.

[SlowrideHD]

My brother bought a new 2016 Cardinal and it had so many problems that it spent more time at the dealer than with him. He tried two different dealer locations, owned by the same family. Both finally threw up their hands and said there was nothing else they could do to make things right. They actually gave him some of his money back to leave and take it to an independent rv repairshop. He ended up trading it in on a motorhome while wintering in South Texas this past winter.
It was a beautiful 5th wheel with a plethora of problems and fit issues.

[stepdad]

I want to clear up accusations. No I am not a troll for Forest River! There such things as horrible dishonest dealers and lemons! Sounds like you have both!
My personal experience with the dealer is this. I purchased this mostly because it had all rack and pinion slides,( my last rig,Jayco, the Swintek slides always were braking! Finally jumped track and was tweaked badly and almost falling out of rig. Not one repair man would even come out(P@#l Eve@#$&t in Laughlin was next door to my campsite. I had to rig up 2 stands ( to level slide, pull the motors, push it in and limp home in 105 degree weather!)My dealer sold me a beautiful rig at a great price! Picked up rig and bed slide was trying to come in to far and bent all outside plastic trim. They fixed that and took it home and bed slide tried to push itself outside the rig. It took them over a month to fix.Now this had to be a setup for a big repair for Forest River! It was last years model, so it was on their lot for maybe a year,hence the good price! I called the rep at Forest River and told him the situation. ( the reps at manufacturers are fighting Dealer and quality issues every day!) I would never take this to that dealer for repair! They had my rig for 2 months. Next thing I hear Is Cardinals aren’t sold there anymore. Draw your own conclusions!
I had minor stuff wrong and I fix them myself! Probably at least a dozen!
I am very sorry for your experiences, but I am on this site for the love of hearing and helping RVers. Been RVing for over Thirty years with a large camper, 3 fifth wheels, and a class A motor home. I have been all around USA, towing these behemoths!
So if there is something we could help, this is a great place to look.
I was just surprised that nobody every complains about Cardinal?

[SlowrideHD]

We were camped right next to a Cardinal at the Goshen rally two years ago. That guy had so many problems that 3 or 4 people worked on his one year old camper all week and couldn't get it all done. He even had roof struts missing near his rear that had sagged and let moisture in to the point there was mold. He had so many problems that FR agreed to go to Pennsylvania and pick up his camper that fall and bring it back to the factory for a new roof and some other issues.

[Curtsbrew]

Stepdad,

First: You have not been accused of anything; the caveat “from our experience” is very plain English.

Second: You’re not a bot and your Cardinal has problems; thank you for clearing that up for everyone.

Third: This forum is stuffed full of posts from other Cardinal owners with problems. Example: the post just after mine on this thread and a number of discouraged responses after mine on the New Cardinal thread.

Nuff said.

[walaby]

Originally Posted by stepdad

It is good you have had a good experience with this rig! My wife is on Grand Design forum. So much more excitement! Those rigs are thrown together, so many problems. I was surprised no real complaints with Cardinals, so it’s good to hear Forest River makes a decent rig. Enjoy!

I have a Grand Design and I am quite happy with mine. No problems at all to date.



It's a crapshoot with pretty much every brand. Sometimes you get a good one, sometimes you don't.


Does your wife visit the Grand Design forum cuz she has a GD or just because?


I visit this forum because I used to own a Primetime Lacrosse. Like visiting here still, even though Im a SOB



Just curious...


It's all good... glad you got what you feel is a good unit... as did I.


Mike

[stepdad]

Hey Curtbrew, I see why your rig is always out for repair. You are a rude individual. You have nothing nice to say and then you deny you said it.
You are probably a dealerships and factory nightmare. Always complaining.
Maybe we don't want to read a book on this forum on questionable complaints.

[stepdad]

Hi Walaby, First I don't think you are a SOB. My wife got on the site before we made our purchase. Her opinion is not good of their product. Just to be fair, maybe its because they outsell everyone 10-1,and we hear about more owners? I don't think anybody wants their campsite neighbors to break down. (I would help just to help). Enjoy your rig!

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by stepdad

Hi Walaby, First I don't think you are a SOB.

stepdad, SOB on RV forums means "Some Other Brand". So since they own a non-FR brand, they are a SOB owner.
Doesn't mean what you thought.