Topic: Getting an used 2013 Unity this Saturday! (Read 2009 times) previous topic - next topic

Hey friendly folks of this forum,
Hubby and I are finally (after 10 years of dreaming and discussing!) buying our first ever motorhome and it is 2013 Leisure Travel Unity. Of course we would have loved a newer model but the price difference was too much and we thought this one would do. Anyone telling me it is a bad idea? Keeping my fingers to hear otherwise. We have been traveling for a year now and working remotely from various Airbnbs but it's getting old not to have your own slice of home, even if on the wheels, where you don't have to unpack and then pack again all the time. I'm planning to read this entire forum (in time, of course!) and gather info from already experienced owners of this wonderful motorhome but feel free to tell me things now before we drive away into the sunset with our RV this coming Saturday...
Also, are the dealer-offered extras worth it? Hubby will look into them in a day or two but I counted and they add 15K to the RV cost so it seems a steep price, really. I mean if we get them all: RV Care, RV Gap, RV Maxshield by Cilanjet, RV Total Care, RV Theft Shield and Safety Shield. I wonder what people got and why when they bought their own RVs.
In any case, I'm very excited to be joining RV Full Timers' community!
Bests,
Leliko

Forget those dealer extras, just more profit for them.  I didn’t tale any on a brand new RV, yours will be almost 10 years old, lot of the care products are too late at this stage.  Full coach warranty might be acceptable, it is reasonably  priced for your age RV.  Often it pays to self insure by setting money aside for future repairs. 
If you look into it, make sure you check out what is & what is not covered.  It can give you some shockers!  You are looking for coverage on the big expensive items,  small repairs should have been done by now.
But if you are not handy, then it could be important.  You are the judge. 
Good luck,

Thank you, thank you! Appreciated the response!

Hi Leliko!
We are in about the same boat as you are… and also looking at a 2013 Unity!  We are considering other options too, but LTV sure makes a great rig!
Best of luck on Saturday… unless you’re looking at the same one we are

We already put $5000 deposit down and the dealership took our rig off their website so surely we can't be looking at the same rig I am now sitting in Olympic National Park where we camped last night eagerly awaiting for our new home to be ready for us this Saturday! We are picking ours up at Johnson RV in Sandy, Oregon. Where are you guys looking at the similar motorhome? We should talk

Ahh, gotcha!  We are in the midwest, looking at one in Minnesota on Saturday.  We haven't actually seen it in person just yet, so we are looking at a few options.  But excited nonetheless...if not as excited as you are and should be!    And yes, we should definitely talk!!

We bought ours from a private seller with no extras. 
What you should find out is if the emissions recall or any other recall has already been done.
Have a look at which batteries are installed in the coach - if the Golf Cart GC2 look at the water level
If you want to do a lot of dry camping using the batteries have a look at installing a Victron Shunt 500A with bluetooth which tells you a lot of how much energy you are using. 
You will want to save your money for a wheel alignment if it was not done with the tires that are on the Unity.
Ask if it has Sumo Springs; if not spend your money on that one instead of warranties etc..
Make sure you understand how to fill the DEF tank and do not let it go below 1/4 - you could be left stranded if you do not pay attention to that one.
etc...

We have a Unity TB 2018 / 2017 Chassis, 29,000 miles.  I topped off the DEF tank a few days ago.  After reading that the MB dealer brand of DEF is no different than any other DEF, I used the "Blue DEF" from Wal Mart.  The gage on the rig said it was half full, but I did not remember how much the tank actually holds.  I slowly poured in a 2.5 gallon jug of DEF, and it all went in.  I did not start the engine that day.

The next day, I decided it would not be a bad idea to run the engine.  We had come back from a two week trip and had not run the engine in almost a month.  I also wanted to check the DEF level on the gage and see if it was full or what.  When I started the engine, it idled really rough with a kind of "barump barump" rhythm.  After about a minute it returned to normal.  I started it again the next day and it was fine.

I wonder if the act of opening the DEF tank and topping it off caused the rig to go into "limp mode" for a minute or if it is something else.  Maybe I blocked the vent on the tank or flooded it.  On the web, there is a list of about a dozen things that could put the engine into limp mode, but they all look like things that would happen after 100K miles.

Anyone, had this experience?

Tim