Our Roadtrek

I have written about what is in our Roadtrek 190 Popular as ordered from the factory in many articles with a little bit here and a little bit there but I have not written this all out in one place. As you have been reading through our adventures and what it is like owning, using, and maintaining a Roadtrek - or any Class B - you may have wondered what came with the basic Roadtrek and what options did we choose - and why. Here I will put down what we ordered. In the past two years there have been some changes, I am sure, but basically things will be the same.

When you sit down with the salesman to purchase a new Roadtrek to be ordered from the factory you are given an order form that lists all of the base models and the options that you are to choose from. Each has a price - the msrp or list price - and the total will be what the msrp for your Roadtrek will be as ordered. Of course, the salesman will then take out a calculator and tap, tap, tap and the result will be a selling price lower than the total msrp. This is when you haggle, argue, or walk out. What we learned is that dealers are competitive to make the sale and will negotiate with you on the price and will meet another dealer's price - unless that price is considered suspect.  You will be expected to give a down payment to secure the order. The rest is expected on delivery - unless you are financing through the dealer which will result in your signing a finance agreement after your credit and finances are investigated. That is the process of the purchase.

Now to our Roadtrek:

Base Model: Roadtrek 190 Popular - built on a Chevy 3500 Express van with a 6.0L V8 engine. At the time, standard to this model were Captain's Seats and Lounge Seat, full length wardrobe, standard galley <kitchen>, temporary bathroom <meaning aisle bathroom>, pantry and dinette (twins or king size). This is how it was written on the order form. The twins or king size referring to how the bed in this model can be made up. <All of these things are the things that set this model apart from other models.>

Also standard on this base model is a 110 Volt 19 inch TV on rotating bracket with DVD player.

At this time the base model 190 Popular had as standard a Box Awning on the side of the van. This had been an option prior to 2011. I will note here that we did not want the awning and had been ordering the 190 prior to the 2011 model (we started shopping when the 2010 model was available) we were not ordering what was then the Optional awning.  The Roadtrek order form has several delete options. The awning in 2011 was not among the deletes. We told the dealer that we did not want the awning. It was confirmed with the factory that it could be deleted on the order and we deleted it.

We ordered the following options:

OPTIONS:

Locking Rear Differential

Continental Spare Tire Kit <This is the spare tire that hangs outside the cargo door over the bumper. The alternative is that the spare tire is kept under the bed in the behind the rear cargo door storage area.>

Over Cab Storage Drawer <a storage drawer that is over the front driver/passenger cab just below the ceiling.>

Onan Microlite Gasoline Generator (100V, 2.8kW)

Screens for Rear Cargo Doors and Side Windows

SE PACKAGE: silver paint with grey paint on lower body

Non Power Bed  <The option was to order the Power Bed Sofa. By not choosing that option you get the non power bed on platforms in the rear of the van - as in my Roadtrek.)

Minimalist Striping (replaces standard graphics and striping)  <no cost>

DELETES: (What we deleted from the standard Roadtrek)

Delete Front and Rear Bumper Covers  <minus $>

Delete Exterior Word Decals (Roadtrek, Motorhomes, etc.)  < $0>

This was how we ordered our Roadtrek. As I have written before we did not want the standard Dometic three-way (propane/battery/110v) refrigerator that comes with the Roadtrek. This was negotiated with the dealer to order the Roadtrek without the refrigerator, for the dealer to purchase the Nova Kool two-way (battery/110V) compressor refrigerator on my behalf, and install that refrigerator at the dealer's service center in the space where the Dometic fridge would have been.)

Here are the options that we did not choose:
4wd System (now no longer available)
Removable Armoire (to replace the third seat with a closet)
Black Out Painted Sections Between Windows (outside)
Premium Brand 110v Coffee Maker
Folding mattress to turn third seat and front passenger seat into a bed
Sand Paint package (LX)
Permanent Bathroom
Power Rear Sofa Bed
Aluminum Wheels
We did not delete the crank up Winegard TV antenna

Why some of our choices?

We have had vans with locking rear differential and liked how they drive so this option for us was a must have.

The continental spare tire kit makes for a lot more storage space under the bed. That area is very much filled by the spare tire kit without the CSTK.

The over cab storage drawer adds a lot of storage room and takes nothing away but unused space over your heads when sitting in the driver and passenger seats. We use this a lot.

The generator is a must if you plan to camp at any time without the ability to hook up to 110v electricity. While the inverter does provide 110v power it is limited in use and time.

The screens are a good idea and I often see those without screens looking for ways to open them later. If you are going to run the vent fan in the ceiling you must open a window to give air to flow through. Without a screen on the window you are pulling in the mosquitoes at the same time.

The silver paint - we had just gotten a white car and saw how easily dirty it got quickly. The sand paint package is more expensive than the silver. For us, if we did not want white, it would be silver.

The Non Power Bed. We selected this sight unseen. We had no idea what it would look like but we saw drawbacks with the power sofa bed. As it is we gained storage space and a bed that can be made up with real sheets and feels just like a real bed.

We did not need front and rear bumper covers and this saved us some money. The original Chevy chrome bumpers look very nice. As it turns out, this gives us the advantage to pull the Roadtrek up to the tires when parking front up to a curb. The covers add to lower bottom clearance. If you have a front bumper cover do not try to pull up to your tires when parking up to a curb. In fact, don't pull up to the curb at all or you may damage your bumper cover and they are not easy to repair.

The choice to order the Minimalism Striping and to delete the Exterior Word Decals was our effort to make our Roadtrek stealth. No obvious writing outside that says RV. The dealer was nice enough to also not put his decal on that says RV dealer on it.

The options that we did not order were just personal choice of things that we would not need (neither of us drink coffee) and that would save us some money on the purchase.

So that is our Roadtrek. Other things inside are standard to all Roadtreks - like the air conditioner/heat pump, the furnace, the hot water heater, the inverter, and so on. There are some things in our Roadtrek that were standard that on some models and with various years  - including current models - are optional. In addition, new options are being added including solar panels for most, if not all models.  Here are some of the items that came standard on our Roadtrek:
 
Television with wall mount - 19" Digital LED Flat Screen HDTV Vizio TV (television is now an option)
Home Entertainment Center - DVD, Surround sound system with multi-speakers and sub-woofer, radio, usb, and auxillary inputs (now included with the television option)
Winegard Wingman directional TV crank up rooftop antenna - Roadtrek now includes a low to the roof Sole antenna which is multi-directional (but does not change direction)
Eclipse II dashboard GPS/Stereo/Back Up camera (a different radio with the same features is now installed).
 
As I have learned in the past two years and at the time we were ordering our Roadtrek, Roadtrek can be very accommodating and will work with you if they can to build you a Roadtrek with some modifications - like the awning that they deleted on our request. Don't be afraid to ask. I think that if it can be done, they will try to work with you to do it.


If you are shopping for a Roadtrek - new or used take a look at the Specifications page on the Roadtrek website. While the current year models come up automatically, you can change to previous years back to 2001 on the top line of the page. Here is the LINK - SPECIFICATIONS.

 
I have been asked by some with this model for the paint colors codes that are located in the door. I will post them here if anyone needs them and has a 2011 Roadtrek on the 2011 Chevy Express Van chassis.

Upper body - GM-12-WA519F
Lower body - GM-WA8945
Blackout - GM-WA5118