Question Tips for buying a Class A motorhome in Ukraine

[Nikolaev]

Sorry, I pasted the text in my language: [mod edit: fixed]
Dear colleagues, hello!
My name is Alexey, Ukraine, Nikolaev.
I think you heard what is happening here... I want to thank you and your government for supporting me in this war.
Because of this war, a year ago I decided to buy a caravan. I chose the Adria caravan - a Slovak manufacturer, a Scandinavian version, Aldi heating
I traveled with this caravan for a year - my children entered the university in Austria, Linz, and we visit them 4 times a year.
Now I am thinking about buying a motorhome: European manufacturers are too expensive, and I began to look at American motorhomes. I hope I will find some advice here.

 

[Nikolaev]

Sorry, I pasted the text in my language:
Dear colleagues, hello!
My name is Alexey, Ukraine, Nikolaev.
I think you heard what is happening here... I want to thank you and your government for supporting me in this war.
Because of this war, a year ago I decided to buy a caravan. I chose the Adria caravan - a Slovak manufacturer, a Scandinavian version, Aldi heating
I traveled with this caravan for a year - my children entered the university in Austria, Linz, and we visit them 4 times a year.
Now I am thinking about buying a motorhome: European manufacturers are too expensive, and I began to look at American motorhomes. I hope I will find some advice here.

 

[Nikolaev]

I formulated the first questions, here they are:
Having bought the Adria in the Netherlands, I also had no practical experience - only YouTube and forums.
Having driven it to Ukraine, cleared it through customs and registered it, my friends and I - specialists in electronics and gas equipment - drank beer for two months until we changed it and fixed some minor defects. But the Adria didn't cause any major problems during four trips to Europe, a total of 20,000 km (12,000 miles). There is water, the gas boiler works - in principle, I'm happy.
Thinking about buying an American car at home, the first questions arise:
1. Ford V8/V10 gasoline engine, spare parts for it and an automatic transmission. Also fuel consumption - having read the forums, I see that the consumption is about 7-8 gallons per 100 km (this is about 30 liters). In Europe, you can go broke on fuel. The solution is to switch to gas, the cost of switching to gas in Ukraine for a B8 engine is about $1,000
How reliable are these engines and transmissions at 100,000 miles? Do they last up to 500,000 miles without a major overhaul?
2. Spare parts specifically for motorhomes - heating, refrigerator - I think this is also a problem, everything takes time to deliver
3. I am considering motorhomes up to 26-30 (7-9 meters) long. More - there will be no opportunity to park in camping parks in Europe
4. Do you have motorhomes with retractable elements, yes, this is cool!, but I want to ask - how problematic is this? Rubber seals, oil seals, how often do they fail and go out of order? Is it worth taking one at all?
5. Directly the purchase itself and transportation, to Europe. When buying in the Netherlands, the dealer with whom I was in touch via WhatsApp shot a video - starting the boiler, refrigerator, measured the humidity .... I made an advance payment, he removed the caravan from sale, I brought the rest in cash.
How does the purchase process work with you? Is there a dealer, a private seller - do they do the check?
6. I've been browsing the sales site for a month. I'll tell you right away that my budget is limited to $20,000 - $25,000. Well, here's an example:
https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/200...849#sid=939562
Which manufacturers should be avoided and which ones can be taken into account?

Thanks

 

[SGilbert]

The shipping is going to be prohibitive, I would think.
As to that link, FORGET IT---it's past it's time. The door and most storage doors are delaminating.
My '18 Thor Axis with the V10 is bullet proof and gets an average of 8.7mpg and have gotten almost 10 mpg a few times. (You do the conversions)
Find a listing that works for you, and if one of us is close enough, and can do it, we'll have a look over as to it's condition.
Before finalizing the sale and shipping, please spend the $ and have it professionally surveyed.

 

[Nikolaev]

Hello! Thanks for the answers. Yesterday and today I called service stations in my country that repair and service American trucks and automatic transmissions - we have a number of American heavy-duty and medium-duty trucks. In principle, not everything is so bad and complicated: yes, spare parts are on order, but there is also something in stock. I also have experience in repairing Ford gasoline engines. I travel around the Netherlands, I came across American houses a couple of times, I searched on the Internet - there are about 10 companies in Europe that sell and service them. But it is clear that ordering through them is an extra link, and they will take money for it. Yes, I am really still thinking - but I ask you to look at the prices of motorhomes in Europe, and evaluate the equipment - here I think everything is clear, America wins

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[Nikolaev]

Found an interesting Monaco, it has damage, but the price...

https://m.mobile.de/wohnwagen-inserat/monaco-vesta-32-rv-camper-maxxforce7-ijsselstein/403973002.html?ref=srp&refId=e62b2e89-8135-6f33-040f-634173e73885&searchId=e62b2e89-8135-6f33-040f-634173e73885&type=eyecatcherAd

 

[SGilbert]

It's all in German & I cannot read it---no pictures either.