L/Y 30 driveability

[mn.roadking]

Downsizing from a 36 ft diesel pusher and we like the 2005ish 30ft Land Yacht. It takes more than a test drive to get a feel for highway performance. Will this handle hills without downshifting 2 gears and screaming to get to the top? What is the sweet spot speed for highway cruising? Overheating issues? We no longer need a toad and I like the low profile and layout of this model and feel it to be a good “in between” size as I don’t care for a class C

[1956elli]

That is what I have 2005 30 ft with slide 8.1 engine Allison tranny 55,800 miles
Speed mine likes flat ground 70
Best RPM - 2500 to 2800 again flat ground
MPG 10 or a bit more if no stiff wind

Im in Texas so no great mountains to climb but here and there in West Texas have to get down to 3rd gear and up to 3500 RPM and that is without torque converter locked

3000 RPM is about mid way in its power band range

The 8.1 will push it well past the 70 MPH and still not get to high RPMs but with me being a bit "over the hill" just not in a hurry any more

[TerraYacht]

My 2005 has the GM transmission but we have done any travel for a couple of years(!) because of other issues. No overheating issues but we have not done the Rockies run.

The PO had a lot of enhancements done, Banks Power added along with some suspension improvements. The moho is coming out of the shop next week getting a long list of repairs/upgrades. The biggest issue was poor steering performance, wandering around in the lane, almost out of lane sometimes and most of the front end was replaced with bad ball joints, already had SuperSteer installed. That only needs someone familiar with the Workhorse chassis.
We also love the size and configuration with the slide feature, compared it to my former neighbor's 30' Winnebago and the design gets better mileage, we can get up to 11-12 without the toad.
The biggest "downside" is that the vehicle is 15 years old so those time-affected items need a PPI or may need some refurbishing. Also, upgraded the battery charger: the single charge mode boiled my batteries. More info if you want, but I would buy one again.

[mn.roadking]

Thanks!