How often does Airstream change designs?

[77walter]

if you wait for the next best think
you'll never have anything

[redhat200]

Ditto ! ! ! Wally Byam did say never make changes, only improvements. That is exactly why We recommended Ultimate Airstream, they would never change anything that doesn’t Honor the Airstream brand. Isn’t that what we all fell in love with Airstream‘s . The ultimate way to travel! Our big surprise has been seen so many different Airstream’s, and Airsteam motorhomes. All of them have been lovely. We also have only bought new. Our first one being a 22 foot Bambi. Now 25FBT International serenity realizing that we need more room and this suits us to a T. Hope you’re able to acquire your dream Airstream sooner than later .

[moosetags]

First off, welcome to the Forums. We're glad to have you with us. Please excuse the thundering horde that has turned your simple question into a debate. They mean no harm. They just sometimes can't help themselves.

As to your question, Airstream has never made many sudden changes. We have had three Airstreams over the past thirteen years. We bought two new and one pre-owned. Our 2005 25FB was pretty much the same as our 2015 25FB. If you buy a 2023 Airstream travel trailer, chances are it will be pretty much the same as you can buy today.

Seeing that you would prefer to order your new Airstream and have as few people as possible touch it until you get it, I would suggest having your new trailer delivered to one of the Airstream Dealers near Jackson Center. That way it will only be towed for an hour or so by one person after leaving the assembly line at the Factory. You can probably arrange to be at the dealership when your new Airstream arrives.

Brian

[melindamcmul]

Hi, Nicderm:

We bought our 2015 FC new and love it. It seems to be the most timeless of the Airstreams, and from a design perspective I think you can expect it to remain relatively unchanged. Each year they seem to make enhancements to make the camping experience more enjoyable, but the bacic design remains relatively unchanged.


Good luck, and welcome to the Forums!

[bibbs]

Buy it now! And then you can have-just what you want, and it will be all paid for when you are ready to use it.

[Fair_Enough]

Sorry my crystal ball is in the shop. But, a wild guess would be that in 5 years there will still be an Airstream that you will like. Maybe more appealing than the new ones this year.
WW

[gecko]

We have a 2009 International Ocean Breeze that we bought new. Airstream spends a lot of time listening to what people want and making changes, almost always for the better. Over the years, we adopted or improved on their improvements, upgrading to LED lights and adding dimmer switches, for example.

You can no longer buy the Ocean Breeze décor. It was replaced by the International Serenity which we don’t like as much. But apparently most people do, and there are no immediate plans to change it.

The Flying Cloud is very popular. Nice interior, and less pricey than the Imternationals which we prefer for a number of reasons. So lucky for you that you like it best!

I would call and talk to the head of sales at Airstream. He is quite impressive in his forward looking vision and his close attention to customer input. While he can’t tell you if there’s a planned update to the design of the interior, he can tell you whether the current design is so popular that they are not likely to change the decor—or that they might. If you get specific, asking about specific things that you love—for example, do most Flying Cliud owners love the current floor?—that he is permitted to answer.

We called him when we decided that our upholstery and curtains looked a bit faded. We couldn’t find either of the fabrics anymore—they are no longer manufactured, let alone stocked by Airatream. So before we invented a new decor, we were considering buying new—if they were about to change parts of the Serenity decor that we didn’t like. He was very forthcoming to let us know that the Serenity’s were so popular that he didn’t see any major decor changes in the near future, so we shouldn’t wait (in our case for a change in a new coach that we would prefer.) So we spent a LOT of time researching available fabrics and updated our coach to a new look (in furniture and curtains) that looks somewhere between an updated Ocean Breeze and a Serenity with a hint of a Tommy Bahama and with ultra leather likely to last longer than the original fabric but in a new pattern that we discovered that we preferred to the Serenity’s.

We couldn’t have know that family changes 16 months ago would cause us to move to Maui just weeks after taking delivery of our “new” coach. After two seasons had passed wbere we left her in covered storage in California, we realized our Airstream days are through for now and listed her on Airstream Classifieds. We were gratified that others liked our careful new design and we received over twenty serious offers at asking price within the first ten days. Next week, I’ll be readying her for indoctrination to her new owners—bittersweet for us—but happy that they will be enjoying her with their children and grandchildren.

So call the gentleman at Airstream to get as close as you can to an answer to your question as possible. And I hope that you’ll enjoy your airstream adventures as much as we did ours.

[kenwadude]

Let’s not be snarky, but helpful. 😊

[cbburke]

A bit more of a historical perspective on your question. The first year of exterior shell (widebody) was 1994. Prior to that they redesigned the front and rear end shells to be the same in 1982. Prior to that they did a complete redesign of the shell in 1969.
A few interior designs features have been around for decades. The rear bath went away in 1993 and has since reappeared over several years in shorter coaches. Most recently the 33' Classic has a dedicated rear bath.
Interior design elements such as flooring (carpet vs hard surface), furniture fabrics, cabinet structure (metal vs wood) evolve in fits and starts. Many of the changes are based on Airstream's perception of what their target demographic wants. Right now that seems to be millennials with disposable income.
Where they will be in 5 years is tough guess. If you could get into their heads they might share were they are headed over the next 2 to 3 years but I doubt it. The RV industry is competitive and somewhat secretive in that regard.
In an unrelated but mentioned comment made earlier the tax deduction on second residences has been changed. Motorhomes yes, towables no.

[Thorsondj]

Originally Posted by 53flyingcloud

Basic design goes back to the early 1930..Is that too often for you?? lol

We bought our AS in 2013 with intention of having it paid off by time we retired in 2018. It’s a tax write off as 2nd home and prices sure aren’t going down.

[nvestysly]

As an example of what changes and what does not... we wanted a certain floor plan / layout from a mid 2000's Safari SE. We didn't buy it when we saw it and now it's difficult to find even on the used market. If there is a very specific set of criteria that make you happy you better buy it now. The future is uncertain.

The Flying Cloud is a very popular model. My guess is they will continue to be popular and readily available 5 years from now.

However, materials/texture/color change every year or so. Floorplans change periodically. Lengths of models are sometimes added or dropped. Sometimes, entire models are discontinued or dropped for one reason or another. The Safari SE for example.

Somebody else has probably suggested looking on the Airstream web site and downloading all the Flying Cloud brochures. Looking those over for the last 10 years or so will give you an idea of how often which aspects of the Flying Cloud change and which aspects remain constant.

I realize you don't want this to be a debate about used versus new but I'd like to add a few comments about this. You mentioned being a germaphobe and I can relate to that - it's why we choose to travel in an RV rather than a hotel. But a used RV - one that's in good condition - can be thoroughly cleaned, the mattress(es) can be replaced, the flooring can be replaced, curtains replaced, toilet replaced, the upholstery redone and the entire interior wiped down with a bleach solution. Beyond that I can't imagine there would be any germs to be concerned with. I suspect there are no more germs in a used trailer than a new trailer unless the used unit has been abused, ignored and otherwise mistreated.