2720SL or 3124KS for a couple with no children?

From the looks of the new "wanted" post, seems Gary and Rene have made up their minds! It's a moot point now, but we have the 2027SD, are 2 adults with 3 dogs and are very comfortable in it. We like traveling as light as possible (we owned a Jeep Liberty 6cyl. when we made our purchase). Also, it fits perfectly in our driveway... we would not have been able to do this with the larger one.

My vote would be for the 3124...had a 3023 and in the same age range. climbing over one another to use the bathroom in the middle of the night normally resulted in the other being awaken, normally with a foot where it really shouldn't have been.

Bill

We're a couple with no children or pets, and our 2720SL is great most of the time. Having the SL model gives us extra living space, which we consider a necessity. On occasion we'd like to have something larger, though, and it'd be nice to have the king bed, as well.

So if your budget, tow capacity and storage space allow, I'd go for the larger model.

[Bill]

I have been in a few places where there were serious limits on the length of the trailer. These limits can result from the length of the campsites, or the condition of the roads on the way in. For example, there is a beautiful campground in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona where the interior road is pretty good, except that there are a couple deep drainage swales. A too-long rig would drag as you enter and leave the swale (I've watched it - it is ugly). There are a couple campgrounds in Oak Creek Canyon (Sedona, AZ) that were built in the 50's or earlier, and the sites are short.

If you plan always to camp in a commercial campground, then any length is acceptable. But if you want to go out into National Parks, State Parks or BLM lands, bigger is not always better.

Bill

My wife and I did a lot of looking around and decided on the TM like you. We then had to consider models. We first thought the 2720 was "right" for us but didn't like the idea of having to crawl over each other when we get in and out of bed. We bought the 3124 KS ultimately. We tow it with a Mercedes ML320 and, while it does fine (16mpg too), I think we are maxed for what we should/can tow. That said, I think Bill pointed out that the 2720 is less than 400 lbs heavier so it's not a huge difference. Mountains are the issue really and I just go as fast as I can. Towing doesn't seem to raise the engine temp much either on the Mercedes but I keep an eye on all that when I'm going up long steep inclines.

I think you'll like the 3124KS interior layout better than the others but it's a personal thing for sure.

Good luck.

[Bill]

P&B -

You mentioned that the engine temperature doesn't increase. A couple other people have said the same thing - see the posts from the guy who pulled his TM to Alaska with a small car and bragged that the engine temperature never rose a bit.

I'll be the bearer of bad news. Perhaps your Mercedes is different, but most engine temperature "gauges" don't read out engine temperature any more. They are simply a glorified idiot light. There is a special circuit that makes them come up slowly when the engine first starts, and from then on, they simply sit at midscale. This indicates "Normal" operating temperature. If the engine overheats, the exact same switch that is used for the idiot light snaps on, and the "gauge" immediately goes to maximum. So, just like the idiot light, the gauge has two states - gauge at midscale (light off) and gauge at max (light on).

You can buy an aftermarket temperature gauge so you can see if the temperature is creeping up. And they are not expensive or hard to install. But without one, you just can't draw any conclusions.

Bill

Don't forget to keep an eye on the transmission temperature as well. Not a TVs have a temperature gauge for the automatic transmission fluid.

My 1500HD truck never gets anywhere close to being hot for the engine. But on a hot day and climbing long hills the transmission temperature went up substantially.

You mentioned transmission temps, and we are new to TMs, and will pick up our 2720SL in a few days! Excited to do the first shake down outing in our back yard!!! This decision was after many months of research and walking around dealer's lots....

How many folks have add on transmission coolers. I will be about 1500 lbs below the towing capacity of the TV with the TM and its "load". My TV did not come with a cooler, but did come with the factory receiver hitch and underdash plug-in for the Electronic Brake Controller.

Thanks

Being new to TMs and this site, I found how valuable the search option can be! The question on transmission coolers has many sources of information spread throughout the forum..

Rod

My wife and I have one Cocker and lived in our 3124KS for a year. We love it, still speak to one another and think the added room was well worth it.

Good luck in your selection.