After an agonizing wait, we finally took delivery of our Sunstar 35F on 10/3. Our first trip was our annual outing to NH for Columbus Day weekend, followed by a weekend trip to Cape Cod this past weekend. Here are some initial impressions:
The ride is better than I anticipated. I was all ready to begin the chassis upgrades mentioned all over the forum, but to my delight, it rides just fine. Maybe it is due to the fact that I am coming from a Coachman 32ft class C that rode like a truck. But I'm super pleased at the quietness, handling, tracking and ease of driving in general.
The brakes took some getting used to. My class C would put you through the windshield if you hit the pedal with any force, this unit needs some serious pressure on the pedal. It stops fine, but the pressure required is quite a bit more than I was used to.
The 3 valve V10 is noticeably stronger than the 2V version in the C. The transmission appears to be smoother also, at least between shifts. A few times I had to back off as my speed crept up without me noticing.
The initial quality seems to be on par to what I expected from a high end gasser from Winnebago. We could not find any flaws in the interior or exterior workmanship. There are no rattles, leaks, or defects with any electrical items. The 2 exceptions so far were the power driver's seat, and the outside entertainment system. The driver seat, apparently (not pointed out to us at walk through) needs to be turned towards the living area in a certain direction (towards the left facing forward) This is just the opposite as one would think. Thus, the power wire was pulled from the connector. It was a quick fix, and I know which way to turn the seat now, but I still may re-engineer that. Seems like little leeway for that to happen again.
The outside entertainment center sounded horrible. The speakers were inexpensive (stamped "made in China" on the magnets) and one was clearly defective. The tweeter was loose causing terrible static. I could have demanded they replace them, but I did not want the same cheap speakers. A set of Rockford Fosgate 4x6 punchers was only $60 on Amazon, so that's the way I went. It was like night and day. It now sounds like the way it should have.
I love the whole house inverter (2kW pure sine wave) setup, and the fact that we can run the fridge on electric (We opted for the 2-way fridge) instead of gas while travelling. We can even run the microwave or coffee maker without the need to fire up the Onan 5500 generator. The 175 amp alternator on the V10 helps too. The unit came with 4 Napa group 31s (we only expected 2 since we did not order the residential fridge). I had already purchased 2 more of the same before I took delivery, so now I have 6. I installed the extra 2 under the steps, as there were 2 empty slots available next to the chassis battery. A short run of 2 GA welding cable to the main bank and I was in business. Solar is a project for next Spring. I have all the equipment, but it doesn't make sense to install it now.
So far (and yes, I know it's early) we are super pleased with the RV. I've got about 500 miles behind the wheel, and the delivery had put 1400 on the odometer.
2019 Winnebago Sunstar LX 35F
2000 Jeep Wrangler TJ Sahara
