3170ds vs Georgetown

JLud · 02-05-2016, 01:00 PM

Hello all,

As I agonize over a decision for an RV, I would appreciate any input. In my mind, a class A would be desired for my wife, 4 young children, and dog however I have a tough time thinking of spending 100,000 dollars on such a depreciable asset. So far I have looked at and liked the 364TS, and even the 351DS is nice.

Have only had a toy hauler before, but some of the things I want based on that experience are Full Body paint and auto leveling in a bunkhouse configuration.

The option that truly seems to meet the most of my needs and wants within the budget is a fully loaded 3170 sunseeker with paint, and it can be had for what I am more than comfortable with pricewise.

The class As certainly feel roomier and have more storage outside with some nice features. We would plan to use for 3 full weeks a year and the rest weekends/road trips. I have this fear that if I settle for a class C, that I will be missing out on the A and maybe should just spring for it now, but again puts me out of comfort zone (I can afford it, just don't want to).

So again, a fully loaded 3170 has all the TVs, beds, cameras, leveling, paint, etc and its within budget...but what has your experience told you from owning one or the other? Do you love yours, or did you have a year or two and trade up? I have already seen how expensive trying to trade in is, so I want to avoid that mistake as well. Is it worth spending say 10k more for a non full paint FR3 32DS, or even 13-25k more for a GT 351 or 364?

Thanks for the input.

radman · 02-05-2016, 02:34 PM

My dad left me his class A when he had cancer, and I have owned 2 Class Cs. I prefer the class C because it is usually shorter ( good for State Parks and National Parks) has 2 permanent sleeping areas. For the most part the class C has most of the needed facilities as a class A and they are less expensive. As far as interior room goes the class C is usually a little smaller, but I send most of my time outside under the awning.

Steeljag · 02-05-2016, 03:02 PM

JLUD- I've mentally wrestled with this for about six months. We are leaning more now to the 3011 DS class C. Reasons being, I have covered parking for 35', my says she will drive a C, and for most times there will only be the wife and I.

We too mostly camp at state parks and have no plans to "Full time". We enjoy our house, pool, and property, and plan in the next year or two to take longer extended trips of maybe three months, in which the C should be more than fine for us.

We too are outdoor people, and are normally outside while camping from early morning until 9 or 10 pm. So the interior space issue? Maybe after two days of bad / ugly weather, but, that being the case I plan on driving away...lol !

Good luck!

6inthefamily · 02-05-2016, 03:07 PM

We debated between a 2015 3170DS (all options except paint) and a Georgetown 351DS.

In the end my wife insisted on the 3170DS because she and the kids preferred the layout. We tend to have 2 kids (boys) over the cab and two (girls) in the bunks. We like this because we never turn the couch or table in the living area into beds (unless the kids bring friends).
My wife found the bed over the cab in the 351DS too small for 2, and you cant store stuff up there like in the sunseeker when driving.

The 3170DS tows pretty freaking good too. I recently pulled a 18 foot steel car hauler with a couple Polaris RZR XP's for 1000 miles for a boys weekend in the hills of eastern TN with no issues.

Since you mentioned a dog. the sunseeker works good for us as we travel with a large dog kennel in the upper front bunk while driving. (with the dog loose in the RV ) and at night we put his crate on the floor. We don't crate our dog at home, but for some reason he barks like mad at like 5am if we don't crate when we camp!

Initially I thought I wanted the Georgetown, but I have no regrets. That Georgetown double fridge is pretty awesome though! best of luck with your choice, our family loves our RV.

6inthefamily · 02-05-2016, 03:23 PM

JLud, this is where I bought mine, they have a well discounted NEW 2015 Georgetown 351DS for $93695.

New 2015 Forest River RV Georgetown 351DS Motor Home Class A at Pontiac RV | Pontiac, IL | #A00584

**Joshua Cavitt** · 02-05-2016, 03:45 PM

Both are great motorhomes, I'm going to be biased towards the 3010 and 3170 Class C.

In both models you're going to immediately notice how much room they offer. Both Floor plans offer more than enough sleeping space (8-10 people) for your family. All of our coaches are loaded with standard features like a 7500lb tow rating, Firestone ride rite air suspension to accommodate for towing, and an entire water system that is heated and enclosed.

This is just some of what we offer standard; I could write pages on how great our product is, you will get the HUGE bang for your buck with our Class C's.

JLud · 02-05-2016, 04:28 PM

Thanks for all the good input. I did think about the fridge and that double door residential looks nice.

We are actually heading to Pontiac tomorrow as they have several of these indoor for us to compare.

Keep the input coming!

**Joshua Cavitt** · 02-05-2016, 05:08 PM

You can get a big 4 door fridge with an ice maker in the 3010/11 floorplan.

6inthefamily · 02-05-2016, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLud

Thanks for all the good input. I did think about the fridge and that double door residential looks nice.

We are actually heading to Pontiac tomorrow as they have several of these indoor for us to compare.

Keep the input coming!

When we bought ours in April of 15 from Pontiac we were able to get them to match the lowest price we found in the country for a new 3170DS (Plus tax) with no additional charges for prep/fuel/propane/etc.
It likely helped that they had a couple of that model in stock. It worked out well as I intended to fly 1 way and drive 1000 miles home the following week if the deal didn't work out with Pontiac RV.

Also been really pleased with Pontiac RV service on a few minor issues we found with ours. Mike helped us with the walk thru and he was great.
We worked with Phil on the sale. Phil was pleasant and not pushy at all. He wasn't what I expected in an RV salesman. He had to call the owner at home to ok the price I offered.
The RV was full of propane and full of gas when I picked it up.

Boso · 02-05-2016, 07:26 PM

Never had a class a gas only pusher but I wouldn't think you could compare a class c with a class a as far as handling or room. The class a is as easy to drive as the class c,your field of sight is 10 times better on the a. I own a 3050s now so I have owned both styles. Can't really compare the two. But each will meet specific needs and that is the most important thing. Happy camping.

jst3 · 02-05-2016, 10:30 PM

I've only owned a Class C. We wanted something smaller that didn't look like we were driving a bus. The 2700DS met our needs and we like it.

One problem is noise going down the road. The engine is right at your feet and you can barely hear the radio going down the road. It rides rough and there is always something rattling.

I love my Class C but I've heard that a Class A has a much smoother and quieter ride.

With that being said, with 4 young kids, I'd be sticking with a trailer. We liked to hop in the truck and go for a drive into town or the beach or local tourist attraction to break up the trip and keep them entertained. Our kids don't come camping with us as much these days so we changed over to a motorhome. The nice part for me is my wife will drive the MH. She would not drive when towing the trailer. We may start towing a car to have something to drive once we arrive at our destination but haven't got that far yet.

6inthefamily · 02-06-2016, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boso

Never had a class a gas only pusher but I wouldn't think you could compare a class c with a class a as far as handling or room. The class a is as easy to drive as the class c,your field of sight is 10 times better on the a. I own a 3050s now so I have owned both styles. Can't really compare the two. But each will meet specific needs and that is the most important thing. Happy camping.

I sure there are tons of buyers comparing the forester, sunseeker, and Georgetown bunk models. Like the OP, my self imposed budget was at or below 100K and that was my main criteria. Nothing to do with class a vs c. More of a what works with 4 kids.

Zero down, 1.99% (tax deductible) for 5 yrs fit nicely in my budget under $1200 a month. Also like the OP said buying such a depreciating asset is a tough call. I wanted a short loan to get out of being upside down quickly vs digging into our investment savings growing better than 1.99%

My wife makes it easy for me, she said you can be selfish and buy a new Corvette for yourself or a RV for the family. What's it gonna be? LOL
The sports car can wait till after colleges are paid for.

OP, hope you have as good of an experience as I did at Pontiac RV.

JLud · 02-06-2016, 10:29 AM

If I can get the kids moving.....that same budget is what I have in mind. I'm leaning toward 3170 to be well under but if I can get them to match another holdover 2015 Winnie 35b I might pony up some more coin. Guess we will find out.

JLud · 02-06-2016, 10:59 AM

Also, as far as the trailer I sold the Toyhauler after trying that. With 6 people in the cab and the added stress for me of a 35 foot trailer between the trip, maneuvering, leveling etc it becomes a lot of work and loses its fun fast. I want the trip to be part of the fun, and thinking this will help a lot. Prepared to do rentals if need be, and look at a toad at some point.

6inthefamily · 02-06-2016, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLud

Also, as far as the trailer I sold the Toyhauler after trying that. With 6 people in the cab and the added stress for me of a 35 foot trailer between the trip, maneuvering, leveling etc it becomes a lot of work and loses its fun fast. I want the trip to be part of the fun, and thinking this will help a lot. Prepared to do rentals if need be, and look at a toad at some point.

We did an Excursion diesel and 30 ft toy hauler previously. We have no regrets going to an rv and trailer combo.
We don't travel as fast, but the trip is TONS better.

And we rented a class c bunkhouse for 10 days first. It was pricy as we put 2000 miles on it, but worth it.

Good luck

Lynlanning · 02-06-2016, 12:53 PM

We bought a used 2010 Class C Sunseeker 3120DS back in 2013, before we added 2 kids (via the foster to adopt system) to our family (with possibly more on the way). Now we are desperately wanting to get into something bigger, especially since our model does NOT have the overcab bunk. We keep looking at As and the bunk model Cs, but feel we really could use the room and extra bathroom of the newer bunkhouse model As, like the 364TS. Wish we would've had the foresight back then to get something a little bigger...the saying is "buy as big as you can the first time out, as you'll later realize you need it" - kinda wish that would've been my mantra! Good luck with your decision.

JLud · 02-06-2016, 09:39 PM

Well, made it up there today and it was nice to have the 3170, Fr3 32DS, GT351DS (2015), and even a Winnebago 35B (2015) to compare.

3170 - I think its doable, but the killer is the small fridge. At only 6 cu foot theres just no way around that its too small for holding much of anything. The front bunk area was great though, although some areas cramped it was nicely finished and would work for us except for the fridge.

FR3 32DS - Has some nice things, wife just did not care for the particular color scheme and I had some fit/finish concerns. She didnt like this one pretty quick.

Georgetown 351DS - Good space and lots of room, really wished it was a 2016 so it would have the 6 spd trans but no real complaints from her. She liked this more than the C, it seemed ok to me but being a leftover means to me it has to be a heck of a buy.

Winnebago 35B - We both agreed it seemed to be the most solid and highest level of finish, even if it didnt have the "sparkle" of some of the other features. The bath and a half would be awesome with 6 people, and the big shower is nice as well. Again a 2015 so no 6 spd and at the top my price...can get a Georgetown 364TS with 2 full baths and a washer and dryer, full paint, loaded for about the same money...

No decision yet...Have to get the best price on each of them (except FR3) to make the best choice. All would work..some might be tight, some might be more than what we need.

6inthefamily · 02-06-2016, 11:45 PM

I am kinda surprised the FR3 wasn't the family favorite. They didn't sell a FR3 bunk last year, but I wished they did at the time. I liked the modern look of them, but with no bunk then we didn't give it much thought.

JLud · 02-07-2016, 04:04 PM

Well...we figured it out today. Had been talking to a local place about a 364TS, and since I went a few hours away couldnt view it yesterday. Its about 48 here today and sunny, drops off a lot starting tomorrow so sales person says...if you want me to show you today lets go through it and take it for a drive even though were closed.

I have never driven an A (flown a helicopter, drove a tank, all kinds of farm equipment, and my travel trailer) and I have to say its somewhat intimidating by the size of the rig. Once driving....I cant believe how short it turned and for the most part how easy it was to drive. Some strong gusty crosswinds let me feel it when broadside, but once you got the hang of it no problem.

Drove it to local campground as we have no snow to see what its like backing it up.....Like a dream! First crack perfect, never had to move forward or mess around, just right in the perfect spot...dropped the jacks and were done. Kids loved the openness and of course the big windshield...nice big fridge...king bed with plenty of walkaround room and the 2nd full bath...

I really dont want to spend this much, but dont see how i get kids back into the sunseeker 3170 after today.

LTRVing · 02-07-2016, 04:17 PM

We have a 2013 3170DS, just me and my wife, occasionally a grandchild or two. We are on our first major trip 3-4 months, and loving it. Many more planned. It took a while as newbies to learn the RV life, but it came along nicely. The learning curve wasn't too bad with this Forum and YouTube filling in the blanks. The kids will never forget their time in the rig, memories that will last. Good luck with your choice, enjoy.

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