Buying new is a bit of a trap, IMO. Everyone I know who has purchased new has been without their RV for a significant amount of time in the first year. The quality control is only so good, and they had the RV in for warranty this or that sometimes for several weeks at a time.
There is no loaner, no recompense for your troubles. It can seriously sour the RV experience right out of the gate.
Pleased to meet you and now you know someone who purchased new (in 2019) and was not without their rig for several weeks at a time.
It certainly was not due to the high quality workmanship. It was due to knowing what you wrote is definitely a problem. We spent three full days at the dealer going over the new 38' motorhome inch by inch and back again. And then we left it for a full month for needed repairs that the dealer's incoming inspection had missed. We did not accept the unit so the warranty did not start until the day we drove it off the lot.
Even then there were issues but none that caused us to cancel a trip or get stranded somewhere. Because the dealer did not get their money until we signed, they actually had an incentive to get things fixed in a timely manner.
One thing I don't think I read here is that you do need to be a DIY'er or you
will have your rig stuck at a dealer for several weeks only to find out they did not fix everything. Or maybe anything. Or broke as much as they fixed.
If you can do normal house repairs such as minor carpentry, hopefully some minor electrical and plumbing as well plus normal DIY car maintenance you'll do fine.
But if you are someone who has to "call the guy" for everything, do
not consider an RV that you will own. You will hate it. You will pay high labor rates, you will wait and wait and wait, you will miss trips, you name it.
There's also a fair amount of ongoing maintenance. Everything you have in a small house plus a large truck. That rolls down our country's lovely roads. That has walls and rooms that move (the slides).
When you get a late model used rig, the previous owner has been through all that "pride of ownership" and those bugs will be worked out.
Maybe. There's also the possibility they dumped it because of the hidden and constant problems.
As for working, yes, you can do it. You will need to pay for at least one and probably two cellular data plans to assure you have connectivity. My buddy is a sysadmin for one of the big multinational law firms and he and his wife live full time in their motorhome.
I second
www.irv2.com as a great source of info. Because it's owned by the same company as this site, just use the same email address and password over there as you use here and their system will find your account here.
We're in ours almost half the year because we live in the snowy north and we get away. But yeah, you now almost always need to make reservations months in advance and sometimes a full year in advance.
This winter was kind of weird because the Canadians got locked out of the USA. There were PLENTY of spots even at the very desirable locations. But as soon as the border re-opens that will change.
One other big difference with RV's: the dealers.
Each RV dealer is an independent business, NOT a franchise like a car dealer. They do not really have to abide by the RV manufacturer's standards, they can and do take only service customers who bought from them, it is a highly variable experience.
If you're fortunate to live in a good weather climate all year, like Florida, you will have plenty of "mobile RV techs" for service. Not in Ohio, though.
Ray