New to forum

Hello.  Thanks for letting us join the Phoenix Cruiser forum.  We have never owned an RV but have rented many over the last 40 years. We have been cruising boat owners here in the Pacific Northwest for the past 17 years.  In 2015 we sold our last boat and started vacationing in motor homes.  We are fortunate to have found two Canadian RV rental companies that rent many top brand class A, C, & B+ units.  Most less then a year old.  We started with a class A 34' Newmar, several Forest River and Jayco class C's, and our favorites the Winnebago MB Views.

Results, the class A's are a little big for the two of us and can be a bit to handle under certain conditions. The mid size (production line) class C's had amble room, but there were some quality issues and, to a lessor extend some minor handling issues.  The Winnebago MB Views drove like a sports car (per my wife) and were pretty quality units.  However, just a tad small for us for trips longer then a month at a time.  Hence our interest in the Phoenix Cruisers.  They seem like a quality motor home, with a lot of options that come standard.  The 26'-28' units have layouts that really appeal to us.

We plan to spend the next 6-8 months evaluating our plans.  Buying VS renting, and if we should buy new or used.  Also plan to ask lots of questions.

Thanks
Ernie & Pattie Hutchins

Welcome Ernie & Pattie,
We're sure you will get a lot of help and opinions on this Forum from a number of very experienced RVers.
Three years ago we downsized (right-sized) from a quality Class A diesel when we purchased our Phoenix Cruiser.  We love our 2552 for a number of reasons, but as you suggest the right model depends a lot on how you will be using the rig.
Best wishes and Happy Holidays,
Bruce and Sharon

The Wini View is not a quality unit like the PC.
Take a look at Earl's construction videos and comparison videos on PC's main page.
The PC cost a little more but is worth it, especially for after sale service.

My advise is to buy new and customize it like you want, PC's used prices are very high.

Thanks Bruce & Sharon & Keelhauler!

We also like the 2552, although it would not fit in our driveway without some creative landscaping.  The 2551 would just barley fit.

We would be using the RV for touring, never staying more then 4-5 days at a location.  Would not be towing a car either.  Our trip lengths would be from 2 weeks to 2 months.  Ease of getting in and out of a spot is important to us.

I do have a couple of questions.  Whats the cargo carrying capability of the 2552 after normal options and engine fluids added.  I assume the 2551 is probably almost the same.

How does the 2552 handle?  It has a very long WB which is probably good on the road, but might be a little tight on close in maneuvering. My wife is a co-pilot.  Any need for after market stabilizers of heavy duty shocks....this carrying under rated CCC.

Do you have the dinette or sofa model.  I suppose there's plus's and minus to both.  We do like to cook and eat.

Keelhauler your generally right about even the Views interior workmanship.  A friend of mine went to the national Winni rally this year.  The president of Winnebago acknowledged the quality control issues they were having across all lines.  The company lost many of their experience workers during the downturn in 09 to the Dakotas oil fields.

Thanks
Ernie Hutchins

Ernie,

I might be able to answer a few of your questions.

First of all, you can read a lot of owner comments on various PC models in recent posts on this Forum.  The recent comments about the Model 3100 cover many interesting points about that model and others.  Some of those might help you decide which model to consider.

You are correct that the wheel base of our 2552 is long enough to make it necessary to plan driving into tight locations especially if you decide to tow.  I’m sure you have knowledge of that from your experience in renting RVs.  We never travel without towing our Honda CR-V to do local sight-seeing, shopping, etc.

I can’t give you the exact CCC of our 2552.  We did have it weighted three years ago when we were loaded for normal travel and were well under the limits.  That may be because we carry a lot of our gear in the CR-V (a big advantage in towing it).  I’m sure that Earl at PC can give you the figures.

Our 2552 drove very well from the time we had it delivered to us.  We did add a Safe-T-Plus Steering unit that made driving it even more pleasant and gives us a better feeling of security in case of high cross winds, tire failure, etc.

We have a sofa model that Sharon loves and I love to use the Euro-chair (an advantage for the 2552 over a 2551).  We use four small TV tray type tables in place of the PC provided movable table.  Our four little ones can be easily moved around as needed for eating, food prep/cleanup, computer work, etc.

The slide-out pantry in the 2552 is another advantage over a 2551.  But, I don’t think you can have a sofa and a pantry in a 2552 if you want a slide-out model like we have.

Well, I hope this helps a little.

--Bruce

with the dinette you lose the pantry  but gain two LARGE drawers under the seats.

Driving is great even in heavy winds. The turning radius on all the Ford chassis is huge. It took a while to get used to it needing 4 lanes to do a U-turn.
We do not tow, and there is plenty of storage inside. Could not fill it and we go months at a time.
Outside storage is very limited. No problem on GVW, we had it weighed with everything on-board.

My wife hated the sofa, because the table was small and needed to be taken down while traveling.
But the dinette if used as a bed needs to be made 36" wide.

We also tour but sometimes stay 2 weeks in one location. I use my bike for shopping.
See my blog for recent trip. This version is in Chronological order.

I suspect the unloaded RV weight will be different for each rig as so many of us have custom modifications done. Our 2552 has custom built cabinets with a lift up desk behind the passenger seat because we were both working half time from the Phoenix when we first set out full time. We needed computer space for bad weather days (otherwise we set up outside at the picnic table). We also added cabinet doors here and there, extra shelves, extra propane line, cell signal booster with antennas and cables and so on. While some of these items are nominal in weight, I'm sure if you put all the pieces in a pile and weighed it, it would be a good bit.

Our 2552 with slide has the electric memory foam couch and pull out pantry. We find the couch comfortable and I slept on it for 6 1/2 weeks one summer while the granddaughter was traveling with us. We traveled for 3 1/2 weeks another summer with our granddaughter without towing and did fine but we prefer traveling with our tow vehicle. It gives us a bit more freedom and we don't have to break camp to run off to hiking trail, the store, dinner with new found friends, etc.

Everything is a trade off and everyone uses their RV differently so it is a matter of preference... which doesn't make the decision any easier. So many cool things to decide on. Enjoy picking the build of your perfect RV.

We also like the 2552, although it would not fit in our driveway without some creative landscaping.  The 2551 would just barley fit.

Do you have the dinette or sofa model.  I suppose there's plus's and minus to both.  We do like to cook and eat.

Ernie Hutchins

Hi Ernie & Pattie Hutchins.  Welcome to the Phoenix Cruiser forum!

You are asking your questions in the right place, and getting some great responses.

About the dinette.....I wanted to comment that we have a dinette in our 2350 and we "Really Love" it so very much.  Anything else for us wouldn't do.  We lived 24 years without a dinette and will never go back to that again.  Our 2350 dinette originally had cloth over standard foam.  We later switched to vinyl over memory foam which made a huge improvement in comfort and getting into and out from the bench.  As expected, the vinyl covering is a bit uncomfortable at first but quickly warms up to our body temperature.  For us, it is the right material.  The cloth covering didn't let us slide in/out or even shift our weight without lifting ourselves up for every maneuver.  It was ridiculous.  The cloth also deformed and wrinkled because of it.  The memory foam is thinner and much more dense than our original standard foam.  The thinner memory foam we have offers more elbow room and being more dense, it keeps it's shape much better to avoid wrinkles and it supports my butt so much better too.  I used to bottom-out on our old cloth cushions, even though they were thicker, and I weigh 180 pounds.

You can get a dinette in a 2551, but ONLY if you DON'T have the slide out.  It will look nearly identical to our slide-less 2350 dinette shown below, of coarse minus the extra seat on the opposite wall.

The 2552 offers a dinette inside the slide out by sacrificing the pantry next to the fridge.  If you go slide-less in the 2552, you may be able to have both the dinette and pantry.  But deleting the pantry in a slide-less scenario offers a bigger dinette.  It gets you a bigger table and more leg room of which both are welcomed for eating "AND" cooking & cleanup.  With that said, I suggest you consider forgetting the driver side pantry in both scenarios (slide out or not).  You'll still have the pantry to the right of the stove, so you'll have one pantry instead of two.

The 2552 offers an additional seat called the Euro chair.  That 3rd seat is great.  Everyone loves it with their slide out.  I do wonder if going slide-less, you may be better off with a 3rd fixed captain seat like we have in our slide-less 2350 shown here.  It might be more friendly given the tighter living quarters.  That would be a good question to ask the PC community.

Merry Christmas!
Ron Dittmer







Here are our old cloth cushions.  Note they are just a little thicker.

Welcome Ernie and Pattie.....and Merry Christmas!

We have a 2014 2552 and can echo what Bruce/Sharon have said.

Like you've indicated you will be doing, we use our PC for short to mid range 'touring' trips (a few weeks to a few months at a clip).  Mostly RV resorts/parks, a good sprinkling of National/State Parks, and very little dry camping/boondocking unless it can't be helped.

From the factory, we needed to get the front end aligned and had Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizers installed.  Even very long days of driving (8+ hours) in some challenging conditions were (mostly) pleasurable.  I am 6' tall 175 lbs and find the cab extremely comfortable.  We have the power drivers seat.  My wife finds the passenger side pretty comfy as well.

I had no previous RV experience before our PC and found that getting in and out of tight spots or maneuvering around in parking lots and gas stations to be a lot less difficult than I had imagined.  And that is while towing a large SUV, which I understand you won't be doing.   I still over-worry at times, but have only gotten into one semi-difficult situation so far and even then it just took some small adjustments to resolve. 

We live on the West Coast and have family and other interests on the East Coast.  This means if we want to keep a coast-coast trip down to a few months we need to do a bunch of over nighters along the way at some point.  The PC is well equipped and efficient in this regard.  It takes us very little time to set up and tear down at full hookup sites and it's nice having the auto levelers, four way water control valve and macerator in this regard.

Regarding cooking and eating.....I love both and I cook extensively in the PC.  Our 2552 is pretty darned nice for cooking.  There is (subjectively) a lot of counter space if I flip up the counter extension and slide out the large cutting board.  The convection microwave is large enough for just about anything I want to roast or bake (and it has an option to run the oven without the turntable on, which some ovens do not). The refrigerator and freezer are right-sized, in my opinion, for someone that cooks a lot.  The pantry is also handy.  One extra item we purchased and love is a Fagor Magnetic Induction Portable Cooktop.  It has a pretty small footprint, but provides for a lot of versatility.  You can boil, fry, stir fry and even use it as a food warmer.  We use it both inside and outside (next to the BBQ for side dishes).  It does require induction compatible cookware (if a magnet sticks to it, basically)  The nesting cookware we already had work great with it.

As far as eating.....we have the sofa and tv table arrangement like Bruce/Sharon.  We went with this arrangement for a couple reasons and are happy with it.  We lounge for much more time than we eat, the sofas are much more comfortable than dinette seats and a good percentage of the time we like to eat outdoors anyway.  The Tablemate 2 tv tables can be easily moved around, even outside, are adjustable in many ways and come in many colors.  The legs fit underneath the sofa nicely.  You can view them here:  http://www.qvc.com/Tablemate-II-Adjustable-Multi-Purpose-Folding-T.product.V33755.html?upsh=1&sc=V33755-CSWB

Hope this helps.....again, Merry Christmas!

    - Mike

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions and advice.  We are leaving for our mountain cabin (no wifi or cell)
in a few hours.  Will take a closer look at all the suggestions in a few days.

Thanks again

Ernie