Thor Forums

[Chance]

Originally Posted by Pete'sMH

Why are Bs so expensive? Can get a 30 ft A with full body paint for the price of most of them!

Great point. As Consumer Reports comparison stated, Class Bs are indeed much more expensive for the size.

I think it comes down to a few things, like Class Bs having most of the same items as a Class A, just smaller. And I’m not sure that a smaller microwave or furnace costs significantly less. May even cost more due to lower sales volume.

I expect labor is much higher for a B because a van camper must be built inside an existing shell, which limits labor access, whereas A and C motorhomes are built partly from the inside out.

Vans also don’t have straight walls or ceilings, so much of inside has to be custom shaped. Also, the cargo van itself costs more than a stripped chassis (at least as priced by Ford on website).

An example is the bathroom of a Travato van camper with its complex curved shapes compared to a simple RV bathroom built using standard RV parts that are fairly cheap to buy. Installing them in a Class A is similar to building a house, but I can imagine that building the Travato bathroom, albeit a small wet bath, requires more labor.

From what I’ve seen, and CR mentioned, B build quality is usually much better also (but not always — some disappoint).