About this Site
This website is intended to provide an honest, useful review of the ownership experience with our 2021 Coachmen Galleria 24A to assist others in making a purchase decision, whether new or used
About the Author
I am a 58 year-old aerospace systems engineer and tech entrepreneur with experience in electrical, mechanical, and software engineering. I have owned a 35 ft. triple-slide Class-A diesel, a 29 ft. Class-C, a 24 ft. Sprinter Class-C, our Galleria, a Ford Transit van, four airplanes, a yacht in Mexico, a wake boat, a ski boat, and various other toys. Currently, I have the two Sprinter RVs (Galleria Class-B and Thor Class-C), the Transit, all the boats, and one airplane. I am a multi-engine instrument-rated commercial pilot and I built and flew my own twin-engine aircraft. I also used to race and maintain a formula car. I’m no stranger to complex vehicles and I’m comfortable with all aspects of maintaining them, including engine, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, body, and accessories. I have a well-equipped shop with a CNC router, CNC plasma cutter, CNC vertical machining center, CNC water jet, MIG welder, hydraulic tubing bender, various hydraulic presses, a tapping machine, metrology and diagnostic equipment, 3D scanner, 3D printer, lathe, and a couple cold saws. I am currently building a Ford Transit adventure camper van from an empty shell as a hobby.
Coachmen Galleria Review Summary
Design, Mercedes = 7/10
Design, coachmen = 9/10
Quality, Mercedes = 8/10
Quality, Coachmen = 4/10
Driving Experience = 8/10
Support, Mercedes = 10/10
Support, Coachmen = 5/10
Value = 7/10
The Coachmen Galleria is a beautiful, luxurious, stealthy touring coach built inside a Mercedes Sprinter 3500 4x4 van. The ride is smooth and quiet, absent most of the squeaks and rattles common to RVs, and the high seating position affords a commanding view of the road. The seats are comfortable and the seating position is conducive to long drives. The Coachmen design is thoughtful, lacking in only two areas. The cabinetry is gorgeous and the tasteful interior lighting provides the ambience of a private jet. The sheet vinyl floor looks OK, but seems a bit cheap. Considering the rest of the interior and how small the space is, Coachmen should have opted for an engineered hardwood or LVP floor. There is adequate room for two people (we downsized from a 35 ft. triple-slide Class-A) and storage is plentiful for a Class-B. The porcelain toilet is an elegant touch on Coachmen’s part, and the macerator is a nice feature as well. Performance is excellent; the coach handles mountain passes with ease, and the towing capability has exceeded my expectations. I have towed a trailer with 3,500 lbs. of aluminum extrusions and a boat/trailer with a combined weight of 5,000 lbs., both over high mountain passes in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The brakes are up to the job. Mileage averages about 15 mpg and the tank is on the small side, so fuel stops are frequent. Stability in high crosswinds is adequate and the active crosswind feature is effective, but startling the first time you experience it. The 4x4 system, while being a clunky implementation, is useful in the wicked winter driving conditions here in the mountains of Idaho.
BUT…
In the first two years, the van has been to the Mercedes service center four times, spent four months at the local Coachmen dealer, and then spent seven months at the factory for rebuilding, then another three weeks at a local independent RV service center. In two years, we had one trip where everything worked. I have lost count of how many trips we cancelled right before or shortly after departure due to a failure. The only items we have not had trouble with are the Truma Combi heater, the Cummins generator, the stove, and the microwave. The Mercedes “User Experience” infotainment system and Mercedes alerting systems are not in the same league as the one in our Tesla. Though the user interface is elegant and intuitive, they are high-workload and they generate so many nuisance alerts that I have become desensitized to them. The transmission control module has been problematic and there is also a persistent shudder in the drivetrain from 12 to 20 mph which has still not been resolved. Mercedes service has been excellent. Although they are responsive, the support from Coachmen can just barely be called adequate. The local Coachmen dealer, Bish’s RV, is useless. I would never purchase a vehicle from them, nor would I use their service department again.
While I really want to love this coach, and the potential is there, the ownership experience thus far has been a nightmare.
Read on for details…
Purchase
We ordered our Coachmen Galleria 24A through National Indoor RV Center in Phoenix, Arizona on January 14, 2021. We placed the order with National because our local Coachmen dealer, Bish’s RV, did not have any in stock and could not give us an estimate of when we could take delivery. Due to unavailability, their non-competitive price was irrelevant. National told us we could receive our unit in about six months since we had to order from the factory for the Mid Chair option to replace the desk behind the driver’s seat with a third seat. The third seat has been useful, but it sits very low. I plan to fabricate a pedestal to raise it six inches for improved visibility.
True to their word, we flew to National Indoor RV Center in Phoenix on July 12, 2021, to take delivery. We paid $149,831 for our Galleria, which was by far the lowest price were quoted by any dealer. Our local Bish’s quoted us $80,000 more and could not provide an estimated delivery date. National reimbursed us for airfare and collected us at the airport. After a perfunctory checkout and a smooth but slow paperwork experience, we were escorted to the Nevada border (for sales tax reasons) by a National driver, then continued toward our home in Boise, Idaho. I would definitely purchase from National Indoor RV Center again. However, within an hour of departure, three parts literally fell off: the upper latch for the rear cargo door, a fastener for the glass spatter shield above the stove, and the entire refrigerator door. We also noticed later in the day that one of the overhead cabinet doors was delaminating.
Chassis Shudder
When driving off the lot at National, I immediately noticed a shudder in the chassis when accelerating from 12-20 mph. I assumed this was an out-of-balance drive shaft and figured I would take it up with Mercedes back home in Boise since we were on a tight time frame to get back for international travel a couple days later. The local Mercedes service center, Lyle Pearson, ran diagnostics and conducted a test drive, then informed us that nothing was wrong, though they did notice the shudder. We then took the van to Bish’s RV, the local Coachmen dealer, where a service technician told us it was definitely a Mercedes problem. Back at Mercedes again, they conducted another evaluation and assured us it was the aftermarket suspension components (Sumo Springs and a VB Air Suspension) installed by Coachmen at the factory.
The factory service manager said they would get this sorted out with the component suppliers during the seven months it was in for a rebuild, but I don’t believe they did, and the shudder persists today. Since vibration accelerates wear and causes failure, I have concerns about the long-term reliability of the driveline. Coachmen has yet to offer a solution to this problem.
Air Conditioner
The day we picked our new Galleria up from National, we drove to St. George, UT. Four hours into the seven-hour drive, the Dometic roof air conditioner failed. The temperature in Henderson, Nevada as we drove through was 109° and in St. George later that day it was 108°; the outside temperature on the Mercedes display indicated 118° on the radiating black asphalt when we stopped for dinner.
With both the roof AC and the chassis AC running, the coach was quite comfortable, despite the blistering heat. With the roof unit failed, the chassis AC was not up to the task of cooling the entire van, and it was uncomfortable. We stopped driving for the day due to the heat, stayed overnight in St. George, and got up at got up at 2AM to drive home in the cool of darkness.
Upon returning to Boise we had the driver’s and passenger’s side windows tinted, which made a significant improvement and takes a load off the air conditioners. Bish’s replaced the air conditioner with and identical unit from Dometic under warranty. We did not use the van much the rest of 2021 due to many other failures and problems. The second Dometic air conditioner failed less than a year later, on July 3, 2022. The second failed Dometic unit was replaced at the factory during the seven-month rebuild, and the Coachmen service technician said Bish’s did a terrible job installing the second one. As of July 2023, we are not using the coach because the second Xantrex Freedom inverter/charger failed so we have not had adequate opportunity to use the new air conditioner.
During a factory tour when we picked our Galleria up after the rebuild, we learned they are now installing a Truma air conditioner, which they said is much more reliable. I’m disappointed we were not offered the option to upgrade to a more reliable Truma air conditioner in place of a third Dometic unit. This is a customer service fail on the part of Coachmen.
Headliner
Coachmen uses a very nice padded leatherette headliner in the Galleria. Within a few days of delivery, ours had fallen down from front to rear. Coachmen said this was caused by a batch of defective adhesive.
While back at the factory for rebuild, Coachmen re-glued the headliner and it seems to be adhering this time, however, the trim strip that covers the midway seam fell off again and had to be repaired.
Refrigerator
The Dometic refrigerator door literally fell off and hit the floor shortly after driving off the National lot in Phoenix. I repaired this by replacing the missing screws in the hinge assembly. Also, the fan in the base of the refrigerator made a cricket-like chirping noise that was impossible to sleep through, so I had to turn the refrigerator off at night in order to sleep. Coachmen replaced the refrigerator during the rebuild and it is working fine now. The refrigerator is spacious for the size of the coach, and independent temperature controls for the fridge and freezer keep everything at the right temperature.
Inverter/Charger
First Failure
The Xantrex Freedom inverter/charger failed after one of our first trips, requiring the van to be jump started the next time we tried to use it. A dead house battery is easy to explain with a failed inverter/charger, but I don’t know why the chassis battery was dead as well. Coachmen did not want to send a replacement inverter/charger to solve the problem immediately; instead, they insisted on a protracted diagnoses by the local dealer, which, combined with other problems, took four months. My aerospace electronics company would have sent a replacement immediately and taken up the warranty claim with the supplier. This is another Coachmen customer service fail.
Second Failure
The inverter/charger was eventually replaced by the local dealer. In early July 2023, with just two trips on it, the second Xantrex Freedom inverter/charger failed. I performed all factory-recommended diagnostic procedures from the manual without success. Coachmen again asked for it to be taken to a service center, and service center confirmed the failure. Coachmen was very responsive and sent a replacement for overnight delivery. However, Coachmen sent the wrong model; it had different wiring and did not support the remote control panel. Coachmen expedited the correct model and it was installed by our local service center.
Master Electrical Controller
The Coachmen Galleria features a Firefly Integrations central master electrical control panel. This is a color touchscreen mounted on the wall behind the driver’s seat which controls all electrical devices in the coach, including lighting, furnace, water heater, water pump, awning, air conditioning, generator, and water/holding tank integrations. There is a smaller control panel by the bed in the back. In our coach, with the Mid Chair Option, the control panel is behind the backrest, making it difficult to see and operate. This is a design shortcoming by Coachmen. When I raise the third seat for improved comfort and visibility, I will have to relocate the control panel for suitable access.
Low-Temperature Freezing
Although we ordered the Arctic Wrap and Polar Package with our Galleria, the Firefly touchscreens freeze at very cold temperatures (well below 0F°) which are common in Idaho in the winter. Firefly says this is because the unit is incorrectly installed on the outside of a bathroom wall, but they are not exposed to water from the bathroom and they froze before we ever used the shower, and the one in the back is not near the bathroom.
Firefly has refused to stand behind their product, but Coachmen offered to pay for a replacement. The company I founded manufactures flight displays for military and special-mission aircraft so I understand a great deal about display performance at extremely high and low temperatures and the Firefly system should not be marketed as an all season automotive device. When the coach warms up, the display clears up and works fine.
Electrical Master Hub Failure
The two Firefly touchscreens control a separate, remote, master control hub where the wiring to all devices is routed. After about of year, most of which was spent in the shop, our Firefly master control hub failed and had to be replaced. This is very much an “all your eggs in one basket” scenario, because when the Firefly doesn’t work, you have no electrical devices available in the coach except the refrigerator, Fantastic Fan ceiling vent, televisions, and the microwave. Traditional discrete controls for each device would be a more reliable option than Firefly, though definitely not as easy for Coachmen to install. Coachmen told us during the factory tour that they have many problems with Firefly. For my own Ford Transit build, I am using the Red Arc system, which appears to be superior in design and quality to the Firefly. If we have another problem with the Firefly system, I will replace it with a Red Arc system.
General Electrical Workmanship
While on the subject of the electrical system, the electrical workmanship in the Galleria is dismal. This is perplexing because the cabinetry and upholstery is first-class.
Here is the electrical compartment in the Galleria:
Here is the electrical compartment in a home-built camper van:
Coachmen should be embarrassed by this.
Combine the Coachmen mess above with their refusal to provide owners with the wiring diagrams for their vans and the result is a system that is unsustainable in the long term.
Awning
The awning, by Carefree of Colorado, failed the second time we used the vehicle. Carefree customer service was excellent. They helped with diagnosis over the phone and immediately sent a replacement motor. However, this did not solve the problem, and Coachmen eventually replaced the awning with a new one during the seven-month factory rebuild. Then, when we first used it, the awning alarm chirped continuously. We replaced the battery in the wind sensor and the problem was solved. The awning is now working reliably, and it is very nice.
Cabinetry
The Coachmen Galleria cabinetry is beautiful. The curved cabinet doors are an elegant touch and are definitely not the cheapest way to produce cabinets. The Amish craftsmanship really stands out. There is plenty of storage in the cabinets, and the hardware is robust.
Delamination
Upon delivery, one of the cabinet doors was delaminating at the corner. This was replaced by Coachmen at the factory.
Warping
The cabinet door replaced by Coachmen at the factory was warped and did not close properly. Coachmen eventually sent a replacement.
Unbearable Squeak
When the outside temperature drops below freezing, the pantry cabinet aft of the galley emits a “styrofoam cooler” squeak behind the curved upper-rear panel that would drive anyone crazy in a few minutes. The fit and finish of the cabinets is so good that there was no obvious way for me to access the area behind the cabinet to address the squeak, and I was not inclined to perform exploratory surgery. Coachmen says they fixed it during the factory rebuild, but we have not used it in cold enough weather yet to know for sure.
Wardrobe vs Pantry
The cabinet aft of the galley could conceivably be used as a wardrobe or a pantry. As delivered, the door opened to the left to access from the rear, by the bed, which would work for a wardrobe, but the cabinet has shelves, lending itself more to being a pantry. We use it as a pantry, so I reversed the direction the door opens, which was a significant ergonomic improvement considering how tight the space is. This was easily accomplished in a few minutes with a drill and screwdriver.
Seat/Trim Interference
While this isn’t exactly cabinetry, it is close: The upholstered door trim around the sliding entry door interferes with the reclining of the passenger’s seat. This will eventually damage the upholstery. At some point, I will replace that trim piece with a new one of a better design so as to allow the seat to recline without interference.
TV Mount
On our first trip after the factory rebuild, the TV by the rear bed and its swivel mount fell off the wall. The short wood screws attaching the swivel mount to the thin paneling simply tore out the wood. Anyone with the most basic woodworking or handyman experience could look at the TV, the mount, the wood panel, and the screws and see that it would not last long on the road.
When we brought this to the factory’s attention, they said this is a known issue and they build them differently now, which makes me wonder why they didn’t upgrade our installation to the newest configuration while it was being rebuilt at the factory. This is another fail on the part of Coachmen. This would have been an easy fix, but I was recovering from shoulder surgery, so it was repaired by our local independent RV service technician.
Table
The round table that comes with the Galleria is a curious shape choice. It is always in the way, it doesn’t work for two plates, and it doesn’t fit between the seats.
I made a version to replace it which uses the same stand and accommodates two plates and cups, fits between the front seats, and stows neatly out of the way.
Septic System
The septic system on the Galleria features a macerator, which is a useful option when everything is working. The small dump hose facilitated by the macerator is easier to deal with then the standard RV dump hose, and it retracts into a tube under the van, so storage is easy and outside the vehicle. Be forewarned that, because the small cap on the end must be loosened to relieve pressure when extending and retracting the hose, it tends to “burp.” The actuator handles for the black and gray tanks make circuitous paths under the vehicle to control the valves; they are very stiff and difficult to operate. My wife was unable to operate the black tank valve, and it felt close to breaking when I operated it, so I installed pushbutton electric tank valves. These are a bit pricey, and time consuming to install, but well worth it. Coachmen should offer these as a factory option or as standard equipment to .
We had a problem emptying the black tank when driving the van home from its rebuild at the factory. The macerator seemed to have an intermittent blockage which proved difficult to diagnose. Gray water and black tank flush water would go through and drain, but solids from the black tank would not. I removed the macerator inspection cover (a thoroughly unpleasant activity) and discovered a disc of plastic left over from cutting a hole in the black tank during the manufacturing process. The disc intermittently permitted draining the black tank initially, then eventually obstructed it completely. I removed the disc and augured out the long transverse black tank drain tube and the problem was solved.
I don’t have the words for how frustrating and disgusting the diagnosis and repair of this problem was for a simple quality escape on Coachmen’s part.
Four Wheel Drive
The 4x4 system in the Mercedes Sprinter used for the Galleria is a joke. It appears to be a complete afterthought. It is fiddly to engage and disengage four-wheel drive. This is the only four-wheel drive vehicle I have driven in the last 20 years which cannot be shifted in and out of 4WD by pushing a button or turning a knob at any speed up to 60 mph.
On a 2015-2022 Sprinter, pushing the 4×4 button engages the front driveline, but does not lock the front driveline to the rear. This means that power will take the path of least resistance. In this case, power is sent to the wheels with the least traction. So, the traction control system applies the brake on the spinning wheel in attempt to transfer torque to where traction is available. This system is works, but it’s limited on very slick surfaces because only 33% of the torque goes to the front axle. Electronic sensors reduce throttle input, and the pulsing brakes greatly reduce vehicle momentum. Apparently, Mercedes has switched to a more-common AWD system in 2023, so this is worth looking into when considering a purchase. We run studded, aggressive snow tires in the winter and traction with and without 4WD has been excellent is slipper conditions.
First Failure
After a jump start due an unexplained dead chassis battery, the van started up in 4WD, low-range mode, uncommanded, and would not disengage from that mode, which resulted in a long, slow drive on the interstate to the Mercedes service center. It was fixed the next day by resetting the transmission control module by a Mercedes technician.
Second Failure
In a related incident a few months later, the van had to be towed 150 miles because it would not start when we wanted to return home. There was no jump start this time. The chassis battery had a full charge and the instruments would power up, but nothing happened when the key was turned. This also was eventually attributed to the transmission control module, which was reset again by the Mercedes service center in a day. Mercedes says this procedure can only be done by the service center, so my confidence in taking our van to remote locations is low at this point. I will need to see a year or two of reliability with the transmission control unit before I will be confident the van will consistently get us back home.
Click here to read Mercedes 4x4 experiences from others.
Transmission
On a trip to San Francisco in September ‘23, the barely two-year-old original battery began to slowly lose starting voltage. Like the jump start issue described above, the battery will start the engine at a lower voltage than what the transmission control module requires to initialize properly. As the battery slowly died, the van still started, but the transmission began misbehaving. Since the engine was still starting fine every time, it was not obvious that the transmission was not getting enough voltage to initialize properly. Eventually, the transmission would not shift from Park to Drive or Reverse; it would just make a terrible gear grinding noise. I called the Mercedes roadside assistance and they sent a tow truck, which never showed up. After a couple hours waiting and watching TV with the generator running, it was getting dark, so I tried again using the battery bus tie switch (a very nice feature to allow you to jump start the van from the house batteries) and the generator running, and it started and shifted into Drive. I drove a couple hours to the Mercedes dealership in San Francisco and parked at the service center so I could have it looked at in the morning. Of course they were too busy to get to it until later in the week, and I was on a schedule, so I bought a new battery from the parts department and installed it in the parking lot. Problem solved, but two years is not satisfactory for a $400 battery.
It seems that a low-battery condition, including a jump start or bus-tie without the generator running, causes the transmission control module to initialize improperly and malfunction. This seems like a design defect on the part of Mercedes; the transmission control module should be protected from improper initialization at lower voltages, especially if the engine will still start. If you ever need a jump start, be prepared for issues with the transmission control module.
Air Suspension
The Coachmen Galleria brochure and website offer a air suspension option. Air springs are common on Class-A coaches and they dramatically improve ride quality, so I ordered the VB Air Suspension option on our van. What Coachmen doesn’t tell you is they only put the air springs on the rear suspension. I mistakenly assumed the air suspension would be front and rear so I could adjust the ride height, lowered for highways and raised for dirt roads and snow. However, with the air springs on the rear only, they have to be fully inflated for the van to ride level, otherwise the rear is lower than the front.
These are the options, level or rear low. I asked Coachmen about this and the response was “The VB Air is only in the rear not in the front.” Not very helpful, and I’m not sure why they only offer it this way. The van rides high and it would be nice to lower the ride height on the highway and in windy conditions. I don’t think I would select this option next time, especially since Mercedes says the aftermarket suspension components are causing the drive train shudder on acceleration. I tried contacting VB Air Suspensions but was unable to reach anyone and received no response to my messages.
Mercedes “Infotainment” System
The displays in the Galleria Sprinter are very attractive and the control methodology of the user interface is elegant. All control is done with a pair of thumb-operated touch pads on the steering wheel and on the large central touch-operated display. This makes system navigation and control easy with both hands on the wheel. The left thumb controls the driver display and the right thumb controls the main center display. However, there are four significant shortcomings.
Lanekeeping System
My biggest complaint is the lane-keeping alert. The lane-keeping system itself is effective and an excellent safety feature. Like my nine-year-old Ford F-150, the lane-keeping system nudges the vehicle back into the lane when it gets too close to either side of the lane. The Model Y is in another league; the autopilot drives it down the center of the lane rather than applying corrections when nearing the line. The Sprinter also applies the brakes fairly aggressively, which my F-150 does not do. Both the F-150 and the Sprinter accompany the correction with an aural alert. On narrow roads and in windy conditions this creates frequent “beep beep beep” alerting, which becomes a distraction and irritation. Both the F-150 and the Sprinter have the option to turn off the alerting, but this setting is not persistent between uses on the Sprinter like it is on the F-150. I turned off the alerting in the vehicle settings on my F-150 years ago and have never turned it back on, while the lane assist continues to provide the safety benefit. On the Sprinter, it resets to ON each time the van is started, and disabling it requires navigating deep into the menu system turn it off. This just adds distraction and workload to driving and is incredibly annoying.
Rear-View Camera
Also annoying is not being able to use the rear-view camera while driving. It comes on automatically when in reverse, like practically every other car on Earth, but this capability is disabled “for safety” when in Drive. When towing a trailer or carrying items on a hitch rack, or when driving a longish vehicle in congested city traffic, it is a tremendous benefit and safety feature to be able to use the rear-view camera. My Tesla Model Y allows using any camera at any time, including the rearview camera, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) ranks the Model Y as one of the safest vehicles sold in the US, so clearly there is no hazard associated with increasing visibility and situational awareness with unrestricted rear camera use. Dear Mercedes, please allow use of the rearview camera when in Drive because, like a rear view mirror, it is very useful and a safety feature, not a hazard.
Towing Prompt
Every time a trailer is attached to the Sprinter, a prompt is displayed on the main screen asking if I want to optimize the route for towing. This is a classic case of automation run amuck. In the Western US, there is rarely more than one direct route to go from one place to the next, so I NEVER use this option. Furthermore, the prompt will not clear unless I manually select NO, so this just adds workload for no reason every time I start the vehicle with a trailer attached. If not manually cleared, it will not time out after some number of seconds, which would make sense and reduce workload; it will remain on the screen all day. If Mercedes insists on forcing me to chose a towing-optimized route or not, it should only be if I actually use the navigation system by enabling a route, not every time I start the van with a trailer attached, even when there is no destination set in the navigation system.
The above are all examples of poor human factors (human-machine interface) engineering by Mercedes, and they should do better.
Database problem
The driver’s display conveniently shows the speed limit for the road currently being driven, just like my Model Y and F-150 with Android Auto. However, the Mercedes almost always shows the wrong speed limit, like 55 in an 80, or 45 in a 65.
It is always wrong on the interstate and frequently wrong on state highways. It is usually correct on surface streets. I asked the Mercedes dealership about this two years ago and they confirmed this is a known issue related to the database Mercedes uses. If Mercedes can’t display the speed limit correctly, they should not display it at all. Misleading information is prohibited in aircraft, and for good reason. Mercedes, are you listening?
Finally, nobody can tell me what CHARGE means on this screen:
So many aspects of the Sprinter are so good that it is a shame for the driving experience to be diminished by these Design 101 shortcomings.
Mercedes Support
Support from Lyle Pearson Mercedes in Boise has mostly been excellent. Our first experience was not so, but a call to the General Manager and a subsequent change in the service department management brought it to top-notch. They are courteous and professional. Keep in mind, however, that not every Mercedes dealership is a Sprinter service center. Ford Transit has the advantage here as any ASE-certified mechanic can work on them, and parts are inexpensive and readily available. This is something to consider when deciding between a Sprinter and a Transit RV.
Coachmen Support
Support from Coachmen has been minimally acceptable. At first, we were in telephone contact with the western region customer service representative. He was responsive but ultimately not able to effectively support us with the large number of problems with our van. He escalated us to the customer service manager who has been our principle contact ever since. The customer service manager has been responsive both by phone and through email, though our attorneys have asked us to keep all communication in writing, so most exchanges have been with email so as to have an accurate record. Coachmen did eventually cover shipping the van back to the factory to be rebuilt, but we covered the cost of flying back to the factory and driving it 2,000 miles home. Curiously, after all the problems and communication we have had, the service manager did not meet with us when we picked up our van after the 7-month stay at the factory, even though we were told he was on-site both days.
Perhaps most surprising to me is that Coachmen does not require their authorized dealers to support any Coachmen product purchased anywhere. A perceived advantage of buying a well-known national brand over a high-end custom is widespread availability of service. After all, these vans are intended for traveling away from home. Our local Coachmen dealer refused to provide warranty work on our van because it was purchased elsewhere until the Coachmen service manager got involved, although he did tell us the dealers are not bound to support Coachmen RVs purchased elsewhere. This is unlike any other vehicle manufacturer; any Ford dealer will service a Ford and any Cessna dealer will service a Cessna. This, of course, varies with the dealership; National Indoor RV Center said they will do warranty work on any brand they carry, regardless of where it was purchased. This is something to keep in mind if planning to drive a Coachmen van away from your home area; you may or may not be able to get warranty work done. Our local dealer said they only supported customers who purchased from them because their service center is so busy with warranty work they have to prioritize. This does install confidence in quality and reliability of the products.
Final Thoughts
After a rugged start to our ownership experience, we now seem to have the Galleria dialed in and working, and we are enjoying it, though I haven’t developed full trust in it yet. However, knowing what I do now, I will take a hard look at a custom-built Transit AWD van when it comes time to replace this one. I prefer driving my Transit van because, while not as luxe as the Mercedes, the human factors are better, the AWD is better, the drive train has been bulletproof, and it can be serviced anywhere.
