Outback package questions

Photomom

What, exactly, is the "5 piece ABS off-road kit"?

What's the approximate additional cost of the Outback package itself?

If you have an Outback, are you happy with your decision to buy it over the equivalent trailer with just the Max package?

The video on the web site indicates you can't mix and match Outback features. I think I've read here that some have managed to get the Outback axle or front platform without getting the whole package. How did you manage it?

kybob

When I ordered my T@B S Max, I asked for the outback axel. There was no extra cost. 

Nomad

I can't answer much concerning the Outback as I have a Max-S but if you custom order you can get any model with the Outback axel. You can also get the Outback propane cover and platform either with your custom order or as a replacement. If you currently own a T@B and want to drive to the factory, they will replace your current axel with the Outback version - Jenn did that.

Verna

Photomom, a dealer can be very helpful in a lot of decisions. One of the dealer's "duties" is to cultivate a relationship with you to be able to tell you what you can and cannot have. They can get the factory on the phone or on an online chat and get immediate answers that are the correct answers for your order. If you sit down with a dealer in your area, you can help cultivate that great relationship. It's really a better idea to get "for sure" answers rather than "so and so on the forum said I can do that".

there is a great dealer in Eastern PA named Miller Trailer Sales. Patsy and Preston will bend over backwards and will give you the best of ideas, tell you exactly what you can and can't have, and they will tell you why. My best advice is to try calling them.

Photomom

Thanks, when we shop for cars we've found it useful to research everything ahead of time instead of trusting the dealer to answer our questions. Will visit our local dealer once we know exactly what we want (Hushard's in Rochester) but it is good to have the name of another. 

Related question: if you buy a trailer from one dealer can you have warranty work done from another?

jdargis

Generally yes, but the dealer you didn't buy from will do it in their time frame, meaning their customers will come first and you will
wait.  Be prepared, it does happen.

Verna

Photomom said:

Related question: if you buy a trailer from one dealer can you have warranty work done from another?

There was one instance of a dealer who wasn't helpful to an owner who bought from a competitor. This goes back to cultivating that relationship. Unfortunately, Little Guy dealers aren't large as the car dealerships, so the margin of profit isn't very large.

If I were traveling, I know Little Guy would authorize another dealer  to complete warranty work from another one of their dealers. But to buy from one dealer and have all warranty work done by another isn't fair to the dealers. I 'm not saying that's what you might do, it's a scenario that I have seen play out . 

Nomad

Verna - While I agree you should work with a dealer, mine wasn't real knowledgable. I ordered, then found this forum, I wish it had been reversed, I would have added/changed more things that the dealer wasn't aware could be altered/changed.

Photomom

We always buy our cars from a nearby dealer but get prices from a couple others to use in negotiating price. Toyota has a "build your car" tool on their website so you can easily see the list prices for the various models and options. Wish T@B had this.

Nomad

Photomom - Pretty much everything is changeable/customizable on a T@B it seems so a configuration tool would go on forever. Want custom fabric, cool, send it to us. Want a custom color, cool, tell us the color number. - The Toyota has fixed options.

Mouseketab

The dealer I bought mine from made us a good sale on the T@B, but from the walkthrough, I just had a feeling they would not be good on maintenance or repairs. My walkthrough list was 4 pages long, their walkthrough list was barely a page. The walkthrough guy was really put off when I asked them to do certain things. (Like use the power cord that came with the T@B instead of the one that stayed in their walkthrough area, and  spraying a water hose on it while we poked all over the corners on the inside). Plus the dealer was 130 miles away.

Fortunately, shortly thereafter, a closer dealer (30 miles away) started selling T@Bs. I went to them for some warranty work, helped them do a commercial, and also gave them some business on non-warranty modifications. So it is this dealer I developed a relationship with.

ColleenD2

Nomad what would you have added or changed? We custom order this week and want to make sure we are getting everything we possibly can. Thanks!

jgram2

@ColleenD2, nomad has left the forum but he left plenty of ideas and information behind!

ColleenD2

Ok thanks so much.

ericnliz

I for one miss PXL!

Arwen

Photomom said:

What, exactly, is the "5 piece ABS off-road kit"?

What's the approximate additional cost of the Outback package itself?

If you have an Outback, are you happy with your decision to buy it over the equivalent trailer with just the Max package?

The video on the web site indicates you can't mix and match Outback features. I think I've read here that some have managed to get the Outback axle or front platform without getting the whole package. How did you manage it?

We bought a 2018 320S Boondock in the end of June.  This is the first camper that we've ever owned, but I spent a LOT of time researching small camper trailers and this is the one that I felt would work best for us.  I'm still working full time, so we've only camped in over one long weekend so far, but I love this little camper, and have absolutely no regrets. 

My TV is a Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk and I wanted a camper that would have as much ground clearance as my Jeep, for those rough sections of road (such as many National Forest gravel roads). And that extra clearance has already come in handy just backing in to my first State Park campsite.

The "5 piece ABS off-road kit" is just the plastic trim on the Boondock model; in the 2019 Boondock, it is has been relabeled as: "5-Piece Exterior Accent Kit".

My dealer purchases a bunch of T@Bs at a time over the winter and then sells them at a pretty good reduced price.  I bought my T@B for $21,510, which was ~$3,000 more then what I could have bought a standard 320S for (from my dealer). 

I was initially planning to wait until next Winter, and then place a custom order for arrival next Spring.  But then my dealer told me that doing so would cost me a lot more (as in +$4,500 + whatever my desired options added + any price increase for the 2019 model), since it would not have included any large discount.  It didn't take me more than a few minutes to decide to buy one of the 2018 T@Bs he still had on his lot.

Plus I actually prefer the 2018 Boondock, with the spare mounted on the Road Warrior rack, over the 2019 model changes.  The only options I would have added were a window in the shower/bath and the roof solar (which doesn't even work that well in wooded sites here in the Northeast).  And I can live without either of those items.

I have no idea what the 2019 Boondock packages (Lite and Edge) add to the base cost.  Good luck in your decision.

ColleenD2

This is the MSRP form for Missouri, not sure if the MSRP changes across the country or just the shipping charges make it higher. They break down a lot of the Boondock features now but in the end we decided to go with Boondock Lite and added the built in spare holder on the front which is standard with the Edge.