2020 Grand Design Imagine XLS 22MLE
User Reviews
-
2020 Purchased New
By Joel (I am an Owner) on Mar 07, 2023Grand Designs quality is not what it used to be.
My wife and I purchased ours in Feb. 2020, and have lived in it full time since; replacing a 2009 Coachmen Spirit of America 28FKS.
From -35° winters in the Rockies to 100° summers in Arkansas.
The ... plumbing, is a nightmare. 90° fittings and pex crimps EVERYWHERE, where the factory could have installed T-fittings and had 3 crimps, theres multiple elbow fittings and crimp connections. As one would expect, this results in leaks appearing overtime and I've resorted to re-plumbing the trailer correctly and simply as these plumbing conglomerations fail.
The sealant around the water heater failed and we had a flood into the coach during a series of rainstorms. Upon inspection when the rain finally quit it was apparent that the access panel had the edges siliconed but the frame didnt appear to have had any silicone behind it when it was in installed into the trailer.
Drawer slides consistently fall off the tracks, and one of the "ball bearing" slide rails fails and spews ball bearings all over about every 3-4 months.
LP regulator failing, resulting in the furnace backfiring. (Now a recall)
The Coleman Mach series Air conditioner, is slightly undersized for the coach, as on 95+ days it tends to really struggle to keep it livable sometimes. Thats said, the biggest issue with that is how the actual blower fan is constructed. It is made out of 2 cages, one offset from the other, plastic welded together. While this may not seem like a issue, as years of use progress these plastic weld points begin to fail, causing the fan cage to eat itself and bind up. These fan cages are not easy to get either. So keep that in mind.
The furnace, while seemingly accurately sized for the coach, lacks proper ducting. The "bedroom" area never gets warm air from the furnace.
The vinyl woodgrain paneling covering, also is peeling in high traffic areas. Bathroom door, some drawers, slide edges.
The electrical system of the trailer....
I have seen worse, but for a trailer that was close to 25K off the lot, I'd expect better.
The wiring in the underbelly of the trailer was rubbing on the frame in multiple areas, and against the water lines in another.
Interior electrical was installed better, but a screw was driven into the wiring of the Radio/CD/DVD player, rendering it useless to play DVD's. Not a big issue as we use a XBOX to for such things. But annoying in a brand new rig all the same.
Structurally it has been sound. The main shell of the trailer and the frame are seemingly well constructed, and only time will tell about the true build quality of those items.
Bottom line, I dont recommend buying one, and do not intend to purchase another GD.
Rating breakdown