LOL LOL LOL I almost wanted to start a thread about the funniest thing that happened in your unit. I'm glad to know I'm not alone! It made it into our trip blog at the time, and our friends really got a kick out of it! Someone suggested it was a good thing we weren't conserving water and showering together. I told the friend it was a little hard to do that with six gallons of hot water! LOL
Jenny
Jenny - if your showering together - who needs hot water....
We purchased a "new" 2002 Bambi that had sat on a lot for a year and half before we came along. During that time it must have had an untold number of walk-throughs. When we looked at the trailer there was no shortage of visible problems - most of which the dealer passed on to Airstream (we weren't impressed with the dealer).
To make a long story short .... we knew the dealer would not be a help ... we got a great deal .... but it came with some problems that I knew I would have to deal with (I'm sure the dealer was thrilled to see the trailer leave the lot) .... we accepted that if Airstream coughed up the parts I would likely have to do most of the repairs.
At the end of the day ....
Airstream was great - I got the parts I needed that were identified during the sale - and a number of others identified after the sale - I did the repair work (Ohio is also a 2 day drive away in the other direction) and they did additional repair work that I didn't have the skills to do as part of a vacation trip which took us past the factory.
All I can say is that I felt exceptionally well treated by Airstream the factory.
I should also mention that after warranty was over - I still felt exceptionally well treated - but this time I had to pay for it.
We now realize that the high price of an Airstream is not in a presumed "superior" product but is rather the price paid for its looks and an expensive aluminum construction technique.
Today we still love the trailer - but work on it from time to time (actually quite a lot) - but have no inclination to trade.
Jay
I've been loitering around the site for a year now, trying to decide if I am right for this great American design icon. The next to the last paragraph gives me pause for thought.
I've been loitering around the site for a year now, trying to decide if I am right for this great American design icon. The next to the last paragraph gives me pause for thought.
lwood - you are right to wonder. But you should also remember the problems that arise with your new car, boat or home. Also, it may be that a lot of what you have seen here is "the loudest squeek gets the oil", or the only folks talking about problems may be the few who experience them. I think those folks are in the minority.
__________________
Whitsend in Central Texas
"I TOLD you an hour ago to stop for some diesel" she said, once again!"
"I TOLD you not to take this country lane at 9:45 at night" she said"
I've been loitering around the site for a year now, trying to decide if I am right for this great American design icon. The next to the last paragraph gives me pause for thought.
I bet there's some Rolls Royce web forum somewhere that you could watch, where you would get the impression that every new Rolls was a complete disaster. I bet there are oodles of complaints on the Rolex boards too.
Esssentally, an Airstream is a small apartment, that you drag down the road inside an airplane. To make matters worse, it's made of materials that are substantially flimsier than your typical apartment (or it would be too heavy to roll). A lot of people assume that they're more like a car, which we expect to be nearly perfect when delivered. That's really a hard thing to do with anything built via the Airstream techniques. Add to that the small numbers of each model produced annually, and the continual upgrade process, and you soon realize that every unit is basically a hand-built one-off.
Even so, people like them well enough to keep them going for decades. They're expensive, but that doesn't mean they're all perfect when delivered. You have to decide what you see as "value". We had to deal with several initial defects in ours, and they're all sorted out now. We plan to keep using our trailer for at least another 20 to 30 years. That's Airstream's niche, in my perosnal opinion.
I try to be positive as much as possible guys and gals, but reading posts like this where people have so much trouble with new ones....well it makes a good argument for buying and older one very cheap. Seems like you get the same number of problems with an old one, but you have less grief because you know you're going to fix it yourself (or pay to have somebody fix it) rather than arguing with a dealership for months on end, only to ultimately fix it or pay to have it fixed yourself in the end.
I still really like those Ocean Breeze's though
Now why in the world would I NOT want to run my fridge when I'm on the road? I thought the whole point of a non-electric fridge (or multimode) was so that I could keep my food cole while enroute. I realize you have to turn it off for tunnels, but other than that, what's the problem? Heck, what about the eight cylinders up front burning highly volatile gasoline vapor at a much greater rate? I'd rather take my chances with LP than gasoline vapor...
Wow, you are one very brave man to state that publicly.
Or was this just your inner voice escaping....
Whichever, after she's done with you I'm sure the swelling will go down in a couple of days and you'll be able to see the computer screen once again.
Barry
Actually, I'm sitting here reading all the comments and laughing my head off on this one! ROFLOL (Rolling on floor, laughing out loud!).
I am sorry that some may think I'm not happy about the Airstream. I LOVE MY AIRSTREAM. We intend it to be the last one we buy. I've enjoyed the camping we've done so far in it. I'm still disappointed in the "bugs", but then I'm married to an ISO9000 engineer who does quality inspections for a living!
Can't wait for summer and the last of the great 48 trip!
Thanks everyone for you comments! Keep 'em coming!
Jenny
Who just wants some ice cream at night while we're camping and not have to use a straw in it! LOL
The following numbers are for entertainment, and to prove a point, only....
Quote:
Originally Posted by whitsend@mom
lwood - you are right to wonder. But you should also remember the problems that arise with your new car, boat or home. Also, it may be that a lot of what you have seen here is "the loudest squeek gets the oil", or the only folks talking about problems may be the few who experience them. I think those folks are in the minority.
Out of 60,000 trailers-- Today--
52,934 Airstream families enjoyed their Airstream product.
59,992 Airstreams did not explode by using the refrigerator while towing.
42,478 Airstream owners are planning their upcoming Summer vacations using their Airstream.
50,511 Airstream owners are happy with their Airstream.
49,912 Airstreams did not suffer catastrophic accidents by not using the Hensley Arrow hitch.
200,000,000 persons worldwide think Airstreams are really cool.
I'm still disappointed in the "bugs", but then I'm married to an ISO9000 engineer who does quality inspections for a living!
Jenny
So, just take that husband of yours to Jackson Center and offer him to them. Many of us here have been saying for years that they need somebody like him up there.
However, as long as everybody just keeps their mouth shut and offers to transport their trailers back to Jackson Center at their own expense, those guys will continue to produce all that crap and laugh all the way to the bank.
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