Airstream/Interstate Survey

[JP Munson]

Originally Posted by UKDUDE

I also received the Farms and Wineries email from Justin Humphreys. I also noticed he included the following verbiage:
"As always, if there's anything we can do for you, don't hesitate to ask."
So since he is Vice President of Airstream Sales, I duly responded with my two cents worth on QC and low technical advancement of the Interstate (which is my other pet peeve). He then replied with a somewhat typical corporate response, similar to one I had received from Bob Wheeler a couple of years ago. Just confirms to me that Airstream currently lacks the inertia and willpower to be the market leader.


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

We are new to the AS world. Our 2016 Interstate GTX is promoted as "loaded" with no options (everything is standard). We made the "second home" investment while waiting for other options to cash us out. I would be interested to know what you were thinking about when you implied your 2014 coach had "low technical advancement."

The use of the term "luxury" when reading Interstate propaganda is vague in my mind also as to what it implies. The online literature for the Interstate under the heading "specifications" notes all the components/systems that they rate as "*Best in Class Features" such as SAFTEY *15 of 22, or COMPONENTS AND SYSTEMS *15 of 16, or MAIN CABIN *13 of 18, etc. Does this high percentage of *The Best Stuff constitute luxury?

We love our Interstate. Don't get us wrong. But we only have a 1000miles on it so far due to all kinds of distractions (non RV) keeping us from hitting the road for some long trips. So I am avoiding judgements having shelled out the $150K to drive around in one of these coaches.

I am still waiting for a replacement of our ESP Control Unit. That is a Mercedes thing, not AS. It started decomposing after 191 miles on the odometer according to the tech. Now that is low tech when the high tech goes on the fritz.

jp3

PS I did not get the survey either.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, why not make a second Interstate out of a Ford Transit? To me it would be very similar, lower cost, and many more places to service them.

Luxury; Well to me it used to mean leather seats, air conditioner, power seats, power door locks, power windows, Etc. Etc. Etc. That used to be the difference between a Ford and a Lincoln, but now days all cars/trucks are luxury vehicles.

Mercedes Interstate / Ford Transit Interstate II ?????

[Denis4x4]

ROBERTSUNRUS said, "Mercedes Interstate / Ford Transit Interstate II ?????"

There are lots of posts regarding the Ford Transit over on the Sprinter forums and two things that pop up are the fact that not all Ford dealers will service the diesel Transit and that there is a delicate balance of what the weight capacity of Transit is when it comes to upfitting.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, why not make a second Interstate out of a Ford Transit? To me it would be very similar, lower cost, and many more places to service them.

Not so similar. The maximum cargo volume of a high-roof extended-body Ford Transit van is 487.3 cubic feet. The high-roof Sprinter 3500 EXT has 570 cubic feet of cargo capacity. Given how cramped an Interstate is now, what intrerior features would you give up in order to convert a van with 82.7 cubic feet less interior volume?

[SiennaGuy]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Based on more than a year of reading Air Forums threads, I've been making a list of redesigns and workarounds for every quality problem that has been called out during all this user experience. Today that list is 15 paragraphs long.

Can you post that list, perhaps as an attachment?

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by JP Munson

We are new to the AS world. Our 2016 Interstate GTX is promoted as "loaded" with no options (everything is standard).
....

The use of the term "luxury" when reading Interstate propaganda is vague in my mind also as to what it implies. ....

jp3

The word is going to mean different things to different people and across different periods of human history.

Perhaps because I'm middle-aged and shorter on the time remaining in my life, to me, my perception of luxury is converging toward simple reliability, which necessarily is underpinned by quality. Especially in a performance context. My idea of a "luxury" Class B would be one made out of components that are not going to rust out or otherwise break. A sensation of luxury could only be generated by setting out on a 6,000-mile trip and knowing in advance that the vehicle was not going to invent some new way to fail along the way. I would "luxuriate" in the knowledge that I could fully relax and enjoy the trip without distractions because of this.

That perception of luxury has nothing to do with solid surface counter tops or imitation mouse fur. It comes from hearing my husband grumble every time he has to fork out more money for yet another piece of hardware that we are replacing with a stainless steel because the OEM component was not designed for outdoor exposure and has rotted off the vehicle. I realize that it's one more little thing I'm never going to have to worry about again, and I'm glad that we have the luxury of making these upgrades.

Here's one of the OEM screws that we pulled out of our roof in April 2015, specifically from the Fantastic. Can anyone point out any sense of "luxury" associated with the likes of this?

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by SiennaGuy

Can you post that list, perhaps as an attachment?

Maybe at some point, if I ever get it into an intelligible form that could be understood by others. Right now it's a bunch of short-hand chicken scratch on the back of our hand-written "to do" list.

I will say, though, that it all revolves around executional elegance and rock-solid reliability. True luxury has nothing to do with over-engineering for the sake of showing off, or non-value-added bling.

[Denis4x4]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

The word is going to mean different things to different people and across different periods of human history.

Perhaps because I'm middle-aged and shorter on the time remaining in my life, to me, my perception of luxury is converging toward simple reliability, which necessarily is underpinned by quality. Especially in a performance context. My idea of a "luxury" Class B would be one made out of components that are not going to rust out or otherwise break. A sensation of luxury could only be generated by setting out on a 6,000-mile trip and knowing in advance that the vehicle was not going to invent some new way to fail along the way. I would "luxuriate" in the knowledge that I could fully relax and enjoy the trip without distractions because of this.

That perception of luxury has nothing to do with solid surface counter tops or imitation mouse fur. It comes from hearing my husband grumble every time he has to fork out more money for yet another piece of hardware that we are replacing with a stainless steel because the OEM component was not designed for outdoor exposure and has rotted off the vehicle. I realize that it's one more little thing I'm never going to have to worry about again, and I'm glad that we have the luxury of making these upgrades.

Here's one of the OEM screws that we pulled out of our roof in April 2015, specifically from the Fantastic. Can anyone point out any sense of "luxury" associated with the likes of this?

I've been on the Airforums for 10 years and done my fair share of bitching about the perceived quality of Airstreams in relation to their pricing.

However, this post by InterBlog is the best example of why quality matters in the context of an RV, especially an Airstream.

Thanks for posting this.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

True luxury has nothing to do with over-engineering for the sake of showing off, or non-value-added bling.

In my book, "luxury" consists going beyond subsistence, even going beyond creature comforts, to have expensive things you don't need purely as the human form of plumage, to show off that the owner is better than the hoi polloi (and to be able to use words like hoi polloi to define those of lower status…).

A five-course dinner at Commander's Palace instead of meat and potatoes at Shoney's. Silk sheets instead of cotton. Chanel instead of Avon. Dino de Laurentis instead of Levi Strauss. Neiman Marcus instead of Walmart. Indulgence and conspicuous consumption define luxury for me.

My 2012 Interstate lacks a lot of the luxury of the newer models. My awning doesn't auto-retract when the wind picks up, for example. But in the big picture, every motorhome is a luxury. No one needs a motorhome just to survive. No one needs a motorhome in order to prosper. Owning a motorhome implies that you have the free time to use a motorhome, which sets us apart from people who have to work like stink just to put food on the table and are in debt up to their eyeballs just to own a crappy sedan for commuting back and forth to work.

But that's all beside the point. "Luxury" is not synonymous with "quality." A thing can be luxurious without being good, and many things are. Bentley and Porsche are considered luxury automobiles, but they are two of the top three most breakdown-prone cars on the road today according to Warranty Direct.

[SiennaGuy]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Here's one of the OEM screws that we pulled out of our roof in April 2015, specifically from the Fantastic. Can anyone point out any sense of "luxury" associated with the likes of this?

Seeing the photo of that screw permanently undid any warm and fuzzy feelings of luxury that I've gotten from Airstream advertising. Any company that doesn't think that using the proper type screw is important has a screw loose.

[Mr. B]

Although I love my bus, I undoubtedly agree on the existence of some quirks of Interstate craftsmanship.