My family has outgrown our travel trailer. We're also looking to move out West for a career change, and all our family is local to Atlanta, so we're looking into updating from a tow rig to a motorized rig to make the twice-a-year trip home to see the family easier on everyone, and open us up to travel freely for fun all over the West.
Since we're a family, we only looked at bunkhouse rigs. We really like the bunkhouse layout on our travel trailer - everyone gets their own space and privacy - and it is the most strict requirement for us.
We have eliminated:
- Class As - the driver seat is the crumple zone. I've never caused an accident, but have been in over a dozen caused by other people. I'm not willing to roll the dice on safety.
- Class Bs - they're too small for us, two kids, and two dogs, and all our cargo.
- Class Cs - the lack of tow and carry capacity on the usual E chassis would severely restrict what we can pack.
That leaves the Super C. Our current rig is a lifted Tacoma and a lifted travel trailer (Wolf Pup 16BHS). We do some dirt or gravel roads, and out west I foresee that being even more common, so 4x4 is a huge plus. That said, we'd still be able to do 70%+ of what I'd expect us to do just fine without a 4x4. We looked into 4x4 Super Cs first.
4x4 Super C Comparison:
- Nexus Rebel 35R - We looked at one of these in-person and were VERY disappointed at the build quality. Everything was cheaply nailed together with gaps in trim and molding that are entirely inappropriate for a model in this price range. Nexus always talks up their welded 2" steel walls vacuum formed around Azdel. Their construction is inherently flawed though - the base of their walls below the exterior storage has bare plywood ends showing to the road!
Finally, the outside storage is borderline unusable, as the doors flip up and are ridiculously low to the ground. 
On the plus side, the storage is absolutely huge - only beaten by the 2wd Cs on semi chassis (more on them later). We didn't even bother doing a test drive. The Rebel has an outdoor kitchen option... but it's not well put together from what I can see online. The unit we looked at didn't have one.
- Dynamax Isata 5 - They had no bunkhouse option, so this eliminated it as an option for us. With that said, the Isata is comparable in build quality to the Magnitude / Omni. It seemed far more well-built than the Rebel, but still isn't perfect. The test drive was fine - it handled like my Tacoma does and was surprisingly nimble. The Isatas all do not have any laundry options, and there's no place to easily add laundry anywhere.
- Thor Magnitude / Omni BB35 - Same build quality as the Isata - which is nice, but not perfect. The BB has 1.5 baths. To us, the extra 0.5 bath is wasted space. The kitchen had very little space. The drive was great. It's quieter than my Tacoma and more comfortable than my Tacoma.
- Thor Magnitude / Omni RB34 - Same build quality as the BB35, but has a way better kitchen with a phenomenal pantry AND laundry hookups. The RB34 also has an outdoor kitchen, which is a nice convenience. We're getting the RB34. A few things that set the BB35 and RB34 apart from the competition (these were common on both rigs):
- The huge cabover is amazing. The bed is bigger than the competition, there's more headspace, and the window is beautiful. The boys liked looking out it while driving, and I can see us stargazing or watching the sunset from there.
- There is a LATCH connection for a baby seat in the dinette... I'm good with two kiddos, but my wife wants a third. Having the space to hook up a baby seat safely is a big plus.
- The kitchen and pantry in the RB34 is awesome - far better than any of the other options in this category.
My wife's a good realist, and had us look at a few 2wd Super Cs for comparison. Each of the below options is
$40-$80k more than the RB34 we're buying, so it's an apples to oranges comparison.
Before jumping into these, keep in mind they're all true Super-Cs. That extra $30-50k gets you essentially a semi truck chassis. When you're driving the Magnitude, you're sitting a foot lower than one of these... But you have to go to a semi truck facility for service on these at a much higher cost, whereas the Isata or Magnitude/Omni can go to literally any Dodge or Ford dealership, respectively. It's also a LOT easier to DIY work on a smaller 550 than one of these.
2wd Super C bunkhouse comparison:
- Jayco Seneca 37L - This is the only Jayco SuperC in a bunkhouse configuration. We actually looked at two of them. The first was already sold, and the second had just been traded in. The second was traded in because the owners were downsizing to "a smaller unit with more usable space." The 37L is big. Really big. With 3 slideouts on opposing sides, the middle has easily 8' of just... space... when the slides are all out. That space is nice, but isn't usable for much of anything. The under-cabin storage was phenomenal, and the build quality was the best of any rig we looked at. The Freightliner engine was noisy compared to the Magnitude. Having the built-in laundry with a stacked unit was really nice, and the kitchen had more counter space than I'd ever use. Ironically, the new / sold unit was going for $189k, and the dealer with the used trade-in wouldn't take a penny below $205k. These were still in our price range, but didn't get any added value from the extra space, and the nicer build quality wasn't worth an additional $50k to us.
- Dynamax 37BD - Similar layout to the Seneca, but with much less space since it only had 2 slideouts. The build quality was a bit less than the Seneca, but the price was $20k higher. Everything else was very similar... So why would anyone buy one of these over the Jayco? The Force HD and Dynaquest XL were even more expensive, so we didn't bother to even look.
- Nexus Triumph 35TSC, Wraith 35W, Ghost 36DS - We couldn't find a bunkhouse Triumph or Wraith within 4 hours of Atlanta. That said, we didn't look very hard either after how crappy the Rebel was. The Ghost 36DS is out of our price range, it looks like they usually sell for over $220k.
- Entegra Accolade / XL - Not available in bunkhouse.
- Newmar / Renegade - Way outside our price range ($300k+).
All that said - we are planning on buying a Thor RB34. I think it's the best Super C on the market right now for a family looking for a bunkhouse. Am I missing any options to consider?
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