2010 Tampa RV Show

Even though we're not in the market for a new RV, the big RV show in Tampa seems to be too much for Paul to resist. He looks for any excuse to go and 'research' new Tiffin motor homes.

The show is only about an hour away at the Florida State Fairgrounds north of Tampa, so it's easy for us to get there by the time they open at 9:00 AM. Although there were lines at the ticket windows, the lines were fairly short. The grounds and buildings are large, so by the time we got inside it looked like there were hardly any people there.

Since our motor home is built on a Workhorse chassis, we stopped by the Workhorse booth on our way through the first building to see what was new. Their display was somewhat disappointing and looked a bit sparse because they only had one chassis on display. It was a new, front-engine diesel W20D chassis, which is specifically designed to enable manufacturers to build high fuel mileage, somewhat smaller Class A motor homes. Higher fuel mileage is good; but as full-timers, the smaller chassis isn't of much interest to us.

From Workhorse, we headed straight to the Tiffin display at the far side of the fairgrounds. The entrance to the Tiffin area is shown in the photo below.

Tiffin introduced a new, smaller diesel pusher motor home called the Breeze at the RVIA Show in Louisville, KY back in December. The RVIA Show is for the RV trade only (dealers, manufacturers and suppliers) and is not open to the public. We were disappointed they didn't have the Breeze prototype at Tampa; but apparently Tiffin doesn't have all the design details worked out yet, and it's not ready to be introduced to the public.

They did, however, have several Phaetons on display. As full-timers, the Breeze is going to be too small for us, but Paul wanted to see it out of curiosity to see how Tiffin plans to handle the new class of smaller motor homes that seems to be gaining in popularity. If we can ever afford a new motor home, it is most likely to be a Phaeton because of the increase in cargo carrying capacity, so that's where our real interest lies. We enjoy hanging out in the Tiffin display models and raving about the Tiffin brand to other 'lookers.' The next photo shows Paul standing in front of a 36-foot Phaeton.

In addition to several Phaetons, Tiffin had a Zephyr at the show. Zephyr is Tiffin's top-of-the-line model that lists for almost $500,000. We normally don't even look at any of the luxury models; but this time curiosity got the better of us, and we went inside. This particular Zephyr was a 43-footer with a rear bath. Notice the ornate woodwork and the dual, above-counter sinks. Margery is happy she doesn't have to keep that kind of woodwork clean!

 

From the Tiffin display, we meandered over to the vendor area to look at RV accessories. You never know what new, clever thing they may be offering to make life aboard an RV easier. By this time, it was late morning, and the crowd was growing noticeably.

 

There is a second vendor area near the exit, and by the time we got there, it was getting very crowded. We need to make a mental note in case we go to the show again next year to do the vendor areas first because the the aisles aren't very wide and when it gets crowded later in the morning, it's hard to make your way through all the people. We didn't see any RV accessories that caught our eye, but Paul picked up some oil and a filter for our generator at the Onan booth on our way out. He'll be doing an oil change before we hit the road in March.

It was after noon when we left the show, and we had a late lunch at Qdoba Mexican Grill north of Tampa before making a couple of other stops on our way back to the motor home.

The weather is starting to improve, so we'll be doing some sightseeing in the near future. Look for our next post.

Comments

[Mike and Gerri Jones]

Sounds like you all had a great time "window shopping." Mike and I have always loved the Phaeton but unfortunately it has never been in the cards for us. Tiffin makes fabulous motorhomes.

Glad you had a good day.

Mike and Gerri

[Janice L. Evans]

Paul and Margery, thanks for sharing. . .we have also been drooling over the Tiffin Coaches for several years. . .someday. . .someday!

There is a 2006 Phaeton listed in the Good Sams magazine this month at a very reasonable asking price. . .but alas. . .still a little more than we can pay cash for.

Keep up the great posts! and have fun.

[RV Accessories]

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