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Home, Suite Motor Home
US News & World Report · March 14, 2004

What do you buy when you already own a house in River Ranch, Fla.; another in Newark, Ohio; and a campground in Ruidoso, N.M.? A luxury motor coach. At least that's what retired oil engineer Ed McCauley did when he paid $297,000 for his 33-foot-long 2004 Country Coach Allure, which has a living room so spacious "you could have a dance in it," says his wife, Phyllis.

Luxury motor coaches - don't you dare call them campers - are the latest craze in upscale vacation abodes. Demand for motor homes has doubled in the last decade, to about 320,800 units a year, according to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association. And the biggest gains are in the high-end market, where fashionable mobile homes offer everything from big-screen plasma tvs with satellite dishes to interiors designed by Ralph Lauren. Sales of luxury rvs costing $200,000 or more rose 26 percent in 2002 and account for $5 billion, or about half, of overall sales.

But why would anyone plunk down more for a motor coach than the average person spends on a house? Part of the answer is that owning a land yacht - as owners refer to these vehicles - is almost like joining a religion. Within the larger cult of rv owners, there's an elite group of luxury coach owners crisscrossing the country. They pass each other on the highway and signal one another knowingly, fraternizing at annual rallies sponsored by the dealers.

On a personal level, if you want an rv and money is no object, why not get the most extravagant house-on-wheels you can find? Ed Carter, a retired land developer from Parrish, Fla., says he's tired of people asking how much he spent on his late-model Country Coach Magna ("half a million, if you have to know," he admits). He already owns two homes: one in the Sunshine State and the other a ranch in Wyoming. Buying another house wouldn't make sense, he says. "When people ask me how much I paid for my coach," he laughs, "I just say it was a gift."

Extras not included. Buyers rarely order a base model, of course. Snow Chamberlain, an events coordinator for Lazy Days, a Tampa, Fla., dealership that sells luxury motor-home, says customization can easily push the price tag of a land yacht into the seven figures. Among the favorite add-ons: marble countertops, gold-plated fixtures, and extra "slide-outs," room sections that expand when the rv is parked. Some custom motor-coaches even come with hot tubs.

Not that the standard features are anything to sniff at. Many top-of-the line motor homes include crash-avoidance systems that alert you and automatically tap the brakes when another vehicle pulls too close. Tiny cameras installed on both sides and in the back of the rvs allow you to see where the mirrors can't. Some of the intelligent amenities - like an awning that automatically retracts when the wind blows too hard or the stairs that pop out as you exit the motor home - are meant to appeal to aging baby-boom buyers. But the vehicles have plenty of curb appeal for younger road warriors: A Harris Interactive survey determined that the average age of rv-buyer prospect is now just 41.

Indeed, the McCauley's home away from home is loaded with the latest tech toys, like a 24-inch flat-screen tv, a dvd player, and a vcr - all standard features on his Allure coach. The only catch is where to park it. Pulling it up at any old campground just wouldn't be right. Fortunately, a network of high-end sites has sprung up for the land yachters, offering everything from high-speed Internet connections to spas on the premises. "You can't really call them campgrounds," says McCauley. "It's like having a luxury condo without the condo." Well, the rest of us will settle for a condo without the luxury.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.