Looking for a class C Toyhauler. Looking for opinions.

Yup, I bought a cheap Honda Element and flat tow it. Super light weight and I haul mine and my Wife’s mountain bikes in the Element. Plus I use the Element as my daily driver at home to keep the miles off my moto van.

This is the correct answer. The outlaws are junk and horrible lay outs, had a class C, and a couple of the class A’s. The garage were too small to bring everything I needed, so ending up pulling a trailer a lot anyways. 

They are also way over priced compared to a similiar rv. I have a normal 2021 class c 32ft with the new v8, 15k miles. I would sell it for $50k now. The same year class C outlaw would Probaly be $70k

I would get a 2021 and up just for the new v8 engine, so much more power and smooth compared to the old v10.

That old rv’s were junk too, just like the new ones. They all fall apart, leak, etc. 

We have a 2021 Thor Outlaw 29J, have owned it since new and put 55k miles on it.  We have a ton of fun with it and I've appreciated its simplicity and places it can go.  Garage would be full with a Harley and a moto bike, I load up a moto bike and a Norden 901 and there's a little extra room for bicycles.  Like others have said, quality after COVID was rough, but one nice thing with the Class C vs. Class A's or Super C's is the simpler systems if you do need to fix them.  Outlaw has been great for us, I like how we can get it in and out of places and don't have to deal with a trailer or trailer theft issues.  Biggest downside is limited ground clearance so you need to be careful what kind of places you go into.  Should be able to find something in good shape in your price range.  Would stick with the 7.3L engine and if you get newer, you'll want to make sure previous owner has really gone through and worked through any production quality issues.

I've taken this rig all across the USA, West Coast to East Coast, even went off the west Coast on a fairy to Orcas Island. It's a 2005 Bigfoot 29g with a small side load garage and a 6x12 trailer. It's got the V10 which is slower up the Rocky and Sierra Mountains, but most of the US it's just fine. I don't understand some people's dislike of trailers, I've never had an issue with one. I usually put the mountain bikes in the garage and the dirt bikes in the trailer. I didn't want a slide, if I'm going camping I'm going to be outside most of the time. 

Definitely helps to be good at diy if you're going to have an RV. I've rebuilt one of the front windows, all the windows are dual pane and this one stared leaking. I removed it and since I had it off decided I wanted to get the seal between the panes redone because it was moving up inside the panes and looked like crap. The local glass shop said it wasn't possible but it really wasn't too bad. I replaced the step actuator, repaired a broken and cracked mirror housing from a previous owner. Fiberglassed it and then painted both because they had turned yellow. 

The only major repair was a water leak on the 3rd brake light. It's pretty common on these bigfoots since they're all getting up there in age. I routed a recessed upsidedown T in a 2x6 and then coated it in resin. I glassed it, and then glassed over it sealing it to the fiberglass back wall. The routed T is a sealed tunnel for the wires and the 2x6 with threaded inserts makes a solid mount for the new brake light with an integrated camera. Now water would have to fill up the wire tunnel before it could get into the wall. While the rear wall was ripped out I also deleted a poorly installed rear camera, they just screwed the bracket to the fiberglass with no backing on the roof radius! 🤯 I had to do the gel coat twice because it was my first time color matching, but turned out pretty good! I also rebuilt the entry door with some 3/4 marine plywood, and redid the fiberglass skins. It's very solid now!

Over the years I have had bumper pull toy hailers, Thor super C Gas 8.8 Chevy Fun Mover and now have a Newmar class A FRED Front Engine Diesel with a 10 foot garage and a Chevy Colorado toad. Go big for space and comfort you wont regret it.

We’ve had this 2003 since 2013 and put just about 40k miles on it. We have a trailer behind it most of the time but the beach trips are the best. No trailer or boat to pull! 
I don’t mind pulling the trailer but it’s definitely easier when we aren’t  

We have done some upgrades to the interior and a few other little things to get it the way we want it. 

^I see you camp on Cahuilla Trail. 😎 Blu Inn in the background. Man, I can't wait for desert season!

I have an absolutely like new  2021 Outlaw 29J with 9,000 miles ,Godzilla engine  . Great floor plan, with power lift bed in the garage (best thing ever !!)  . Factory Solar panels , garage is set up with removable wheel chocks,actually fits 5 bikes if necessary ,  mini-safe hidden in garage cabinets, thinking the Onan Generator has 150 hours on it ? I may be off on that --changed the oil in it every 50 hours though.  The entire body was ceramic coated when new and other upgrades, always stored in a climate controlled facility from mid-October thru to April every season .   Its our third Outlaw and by far the best one. We have used it exclusively for traveling to AHRMA Nationals, but with all the recent rain-outs and other cancellations , we haven't used this one much the past couple years and the fact that we are in our mid/late 60's our need for this may be decreasing even more (plus I'm getting heat from my wife to sell it,lol). If you have interest , you can DM me or email me at  mspisak_37@hotmail.com and I can send you more info/pics etc,etc. -- 

Oh and to address some of the horror stories --  I think these are just like any other vehicle with build quality- good ones and bad ones ,but you only hear about the bad ones . The cabinet hinges and latches are sketchy, but its one of those things that I upgrade . But other than a rear camera going fritzy on my 2001 back in the day and a refrigerator sensor going bad on my 2017 ,that was all I ever experienced . All the major components  ( generators, levelers, water pumps/heaters / AC units ,  electrical systems,drive trains  have all been pretty flawless -- Maybe I've been lucky ,lol. 

We're kind of in a rut, we go to the same spot all the time because everyone in the group knows where to go lol. We used to go to Cahuilla, now it's pole line to the bathrooms and hang a right, we should start an ocotillo thread when it's not like the surface of the sun out there. El nino could make for some epic dirt this season !  

You have been lucky! Knock wood friend! 

Josh Hill runs a Newmar Canyon star front end diesel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkY1oRAkHDM

Tires and roof!! The date code on tires and the condition of the roof are the two biggest factors when looking at a used R.V. That can big a big expense if not addressed. Just because I’m not a fan of ruining trips I change out the tires on the RV and trailers every 4 years! It’s a couple thousand every for years but cheap insurance. 

For what its worth in response to the class c's are junk comments. Yes, in reality they are all junk, HOWEVER this is my experience. In 2021 we bought a 2012 28 foot Thor Freedom Elite, it had 14k miles on it. Since then, we have used it every single season from start to finish. It currently has 58k miles and has not had a single major issue other than tires. This year we found out the hard way that regardless of tread depth, dont run tires more than 4 years. We didnt have a blow out or anything sketchy but all 6 tires were deformed with broken belts. As far as the coach goes, the first year we had it, the electrical converter went bad (opposite of an inverter, basically a built in battery charger) while we were in FL for GNCC so for a week i had to start the engine to charge the onboard battery so interior lighting worked. Not the end of the world but an inconvenience. I would say the biggest issue weve had was this past spring at the Southwick regional, the entrance door handle broke. This is usually a nightmare to fix, and ours indeed was. We had to climb in and out the passenger door all weekend, that was fun with 2 german shepherds and a family of 4. This is a very common issue across all motorhomes and when it happens in a class A without driver and passenger doors, its a REALLY BIG problem. I have a friend who was forced to climb out of his class A through an emergency window.... All in all, I have 0 complaints about our motorhome. Its cheap, less than 50k when we bought it, and it has continued to serve my family well. I will not ever upgrade, i will run this thing into the ground until my kids have moved on from racing, then ill pray that a tree falls on it. 

Oh hell yeah. I want to start one now! 

The last time I remember having an El Nino year, I went out about 10 times and it had rained earlier in the week 9 of those 10. Epic, magic dirt!

I’ve read through this thread and heard all the horror  stories. My experience has been good. I bought my Outlaw brand new in Feb of 21 and have had nothing but awesome luck. I’ve driven it all over the Western United States and it’s been great. If you’re two people or less they work great for space. We don’t use the garage bunk, I just like sleeping in the cab over bunk. I drive it like it’s a sprinter van. I take it everywhere, even riding locally because all my gear and tools are always inside the rig and the fridge always stocked. It’s easy to navigate around town. I work it just about anywhere. I also store it inside a climate controlled shop so it’s never been  winterized. Inside storage really slows down the aging process. Mine looks brand new still. Except for all my boondocking scratches. Whatever you get store it inside if you can. I’ve done month stints in a row and it’s great but if it were 6 months + I’d do it but my wife absolutely wouldn’t lol. If we go half year/full time I’ll probably get a canyon star. I just purchased the weld tech suspension kit for mine. Going to put it on next week. I went with the 6” because we do a lot of boondock camping in oregon/idaho/utah.

That’s the rig right  there! Especially for long term trips. I think you have to go diesel too. I see them with ford V-10’s and I couldn’t imagine that little motor hauling one of those chassis around. 
Is that a Cummins? If you don’t mind my asking, what did it cost? I’ve seen the diesels mostly in the $175k and up. 

If you notice the screen names, they are not the ones considered “Vitards”… There are some really good dudes on here and they try and be helpful for other members. Every once in awhile you’ll catch them in a thread like this, but they are the ones stirring up shit and calling people names. 
Hopefully you find what you’re looking for. I can’t help with suggestions, but you’ve gotten some good info to chew on already. 
I had a 1977 23’ class “C” Tioga with a 440 Dodge motor. It was bulletproof , besides the usual $10-$150 fixed, every now and then. I towed a 20’ enclosed trailer with 6 bikes and 50 gallons of water for washing bikes. We spent 10 years driving it to the amateur nationals and local so.cal. races. I put over 100K on it myself and I bought it with 75K miles. It got about 6 miles to the gallon, but gas was a lot cheaper then. lol 

It’s a Freightliner HD Truck chassis with a Cummins 340 HP and airbag suspension that is great straight from the factory here in SC an hour from us. The Thor C and A all need a massive suspension overhaul to beef up the suspension and adding sway bars.

We custom designed our Newmar 3927 to our own option specifications and picked it up at the factory thats an hour from Red Bud. Doing it that way I asked 3 different dealers for their best price and with us doing the factory pickup they love it because they never even touch it just process the deposit and paperwork so it’s a smoking deal.  I was skeptical since it was my 1st diesel but we picked it up in Nappanee Indiana and after having a personal mechanic for 5 days there with vast parts supply that would immediately fix any issues right then.  We left there and drove it south to Vero Beach Florida for Thanksgiving and after driving it the first 500 miles I was sold and blown away on how great it performed.. 

There really is no comparison between the gas and diesel. At 70 mph on cruise control it purrs and never have to touch or take it off of the cruise control even going up hills or mountains with the diesel chugging along at low RPM it just torques up them easily passing 18 wheelers in the process. We will be headed to Texas to domicile there in December and then will be full time RVing all around the USA.

The Dodge 440 motors were beasts. Our first camper was a 22' 78 Field & Stream with the rear dinette, & windows all around. It's the one on the right in this pic of pre crusty demons of dirt pole line road. Mine had an extra 25 gallon aux gas tank. We ran regular in the main tanks and premium in the reserve. I'd switch it over to premium about 5 miles before big grades, slow down to about 35mph and shift it into 2nd, then get it back up to about 50 or so revving the shit out of it, as long as I kept it screaming in 2nd it would rock up the Cajon pass and rip over all the hills on the 8 without overheating. But if I got stuck behind someone and had to drop below 50 it was game over.    

Any super C is a huge upgrade from a regular C.  Like the Thor F550/F600 based.  A standard class c is based on an E450 chassis with gasoline v10 or 7.3 engines, @ 14,500lb gvw.  Whereas a super c is built on F550/F600 chassis, 6.7 powerstroke diesel, 19,500(minimum) gvw.  The newer ones are 4wd as well.  Then theres the freightliner or international rv chassis super C that are the mac daddy in that category.  Up to 40,000 gvw.  Entegra, Thor, Jayco, Renegade, Nexus all make gorgeous models that I drool over.  

You mention the suspension on the class c’s. Yes, it’s terrible! After 5 years of dragging jacks and ripping off sewer pipes I pulled the trigger. 
I just received my weld tech 6” lift for my outlaw. I can drive it fine as is but I use it so much I’m tired of dragging and feeling like I’m the captain of a ship lol 

Headed to the Boise Vet Mx race today then next week the new suspenders go on. 

Trailers or motorhome check roof 2 times a year and use self leveling sealant on any wear and tear….. Flex seal is junk. Tried it and it didn’t last 6 months so dont bother. 

TIRE AGE !!! Its age not tire wear that makes them go BOOM ! After getting road side tire assistance we rolled him to home base and replaced the other 5

Just two of you?