Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill
Brad -
BR2_WDC has made some excellent points. Since he pointed to me, I will add a couple small things.
First, when I bought and owned my 2002 2720SL, it seemed like the overall TM design was in the beginning stages of some relatively big changes, and that these changes were completed by about 2004. Think round wheel wells vs square. Think aluminum shell framing vs wood. And so forth. Perhaps it is just my perception, but I haven't observed another wave of changes like that since then. There have been changes, of course, but most of them have been minor, or incremental, or both. The possible exception could be the move to 15" tires all around, which happened recently. For this reason, I agree with Davlin - anything after about 2005 will have a good design, and the care that a unit has received will be much more important than the initial design.
This brings up a point to remember. We all tend to assume that design changes happened on model year boundaries, since that is how they happen in the auto industry. This is most definitely NOT TRUE with TMs. Because TM has always been a small-production outfit, they phased in changes when it was handy, which means (among other things) when they used up the old parts and started getting shipments of new parts. It also means that they tried some changes, didn't like them, and reverted to the original design. So if you hear that a given change happened on a specific model in a specific year - don't place too much faith in that. For example, as BR2_WDC said, my 2002 had aluminum-framed shells - but not many 2002's did, and many 2003's did not.
Good luck with your search.
Bill
[By the way, Brad, your free Trail Membership has run out, and you now have access to very little of the forum. Since you appear to be serious about getting a TM, I would suggest that you become a Site Sponsor.]
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Thanks Bill,
I didn't even notice I had the full access, most links I clicked said I wasn't able to access that post (ever since I joined).
Yes, I remember reading a thread about how improvements were phased in an out and not on a "model year" basis. I guess my main question (which seems to be answered) is when were most of the "major" improvements totally phased in, and the answer seems to be any model 2005 or newer should have the major improvements. I was trying to find the thread that listed the other changes, but I couldn't seem to find it.
Keep all the 2 cents and opinions coming, they are greatly appreciated and help me with my decision making.