Caveat Emptor

Prior to purchasing this RV, I conducted research on its liability, peformance and overall customer satisfaction. I had a good friend who had recently downsized and urchased the 25R model. After driving it over 5000 miles he was very impressed and satisfied with the unit. So, I decided also to dow...nsize, seeking better fuel mileage and a unit that my wife would feel more comfortable driving. For the most part, everything was working OK. I did stumble on a few issues with it and they were fixed by the local dealer. I also heard about the problems this unit was having with the EGR valves and specifically asked the dealer if the 2012 models had any similar issues. I was informed that as far as they knew everything had been taken care of and they verified that there was no recalls for that problem. Alas, after only 4000 miles, on a return trip and 800 miles from home, the EGR valve failed while I was driving on a very busy Interstate highway. The failure caused the vehicle to rapidly decelerate and become a road hazard to semis and fast traveling vehicles. The vehicle would only accelerate to 15 miles per hour and fortunately I was within 5 miles of a medium size town, where I was able to limp it in and see about help. The local winnebago dealership said they could do nothing for me that it was a chassis/engine problem that required Mercedes Benz trained technicians to fix. I called Mercedes Benz and after 3 hours a tow vehicle arrived and loaded the entire unit onto it and my family and I were left standing in a parking lot watching our new RV being towed 200 miles in the opposite direction to an authorized dealership in Fargo, ND. Meanwhile had to get transportation for my family to a motel and wait until the next day to find out what went wrong and how long it would take to be fixed. It wound up taking 3 days to be fixed because of a lack of parts and I had to rent a truck to haul family and belongings back home. Neither Mercedes Benz nor Winnebago offered any help with deferring costs. However MB did pay for the tow and subsequent repairs. After all the trouble and costs associated with the breakdown I found myself out over 1500 dollars for motels, food, rental vehicles and air transportation back to Faro to retrieve the unit and drive it home. Not a very pleasant experience!
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