05 Niagara

[WV Campers]

We have been seriously thinking about purchasing the new 05 Niagara.  We currently have the 2001 Niagara.  We have only seen this PU once, and it was out of state, if we buy it now, it has to be ordered.  Does anyone have any input on this PU?  We want to hear the good, the bad and the ugly.  We are hoping for the same if not more storage as our 2001.   Our dealer is asking $16,500 for the 05 and is offering us $8,500 for our 2001.  Any feedback at all would be great!  Thank you in advance!

[Russinator]

A few weeks ago we bought the 2005 Niagara and we love it. At that time they had several Niagara's on site. We got ours in Stanton, Calif at American Campers and Trailers. Rob Perkins was the person we dealt with and I recommend him highly. I think he's off on Wednesday and Thursday but there the rest of the week. We paid $13,595 for a fully equipped Niagara. As I recall, the only extras were a battery, the brake control unit. I though it strange that a battery wasn't included. American Campers number is 714-895-5066. I have no idea if $8,500 is good or not. If you call tell Rob that Russ [the guy with the Sportsmobile] says hello.Good luck - Russ

[mike4947]

According to NADA if the 2001 trailer doesn't have a lot of options, he offering you high retail for your trade in, but then again he's asking MSRP for the new one.You can enter your optional equipment at NADA and find the retail value of your old trailer, from my experience dealer trade in's value usually go for about 75% of the retail pricing at NADA.
You could check with Peco out of Georgia for their pricing on the new trailer and go from there.

[kimrb266]

We purchased our 05 Niagra from Carl's Acre's of Trailers and got a pretty good deal on it.  We paid $13,200 fully equipped including battery, 1-propane bottle, awning w/o a/c.   We dealt with Rob at American Sales and didn't like his attitude and he wouldn't deal much on price so we went back to Carl's.  We had our 03 Santa Fe serviced from American Sales and I recommend thier Service Dept thouroughly.
 
These are the things that drew us to the Niagra:  14 ft box, 2-king beds, pull-out dinette, COUNTER SPACE, SHOWER & extra seating.  The oven and microwave were nice extra features that we wouldn't have even thought about getting in a PUT.  
 
I wouldn't pay $16,000+ for the 05 Niagra when most dealers' asking price is around $14,995.  When negotiating, mention that Steirs has an 05 Niagra advertised for $12,965 and I believe Marjon's were advertising theirs for around $13,000.  
 
I hope this helps!

[Dee4j]

We had a 2000 niagara and loved it, I've seen the new one and it looks nice but $16,000 seems too high from what I've seen advertised and posted on the board. We got our Hybrid for just under $14,000 at the rv show. I think $13,000 to $14,000 is a fair price

[Artoutwest]

We just sold our 1999 niagara (7000.00) and are buying the 05 for $13500.00-includes motorized lift instead of crank.

[tlhdoc]

My dealer, Rhone's Travel Trailers, near Williamsport PA has the 2005 Niagara priced at $11,883.

[spectrumpursuit]

We purchased an 05 Niagara earlier this month.  We previously had a 2003 Coleman Sedona.  We loved the Sedona but our family just grew out of it.  The new Niagara is indeed the palace of pop-ups!  The thing is enormous (considerably larger than many of the hard sided trailers we toured in the recent RV show here in Utah).

Here is my assessment of the good and the bad.

The good:
-Tons of room to move!  With the tip out this thing is just simply spacious!
-We love the stationary galley and double basin sink...it's great to be able to pack food away and have it stay in place for the duration of the trip.
-We love the oven, microwave, and fridge/freezer.  These make you feel like you never left home.
-The hard sided shower/toilet is just fantastic...great for privacy and comfort.
-I know this doesn't matter much, but I also love the 14" tires and cool rims, they look great!

The bad:
-This thing is heavy folks.  The previous Sedona we owned had a 10' box and weighed in at about 2550 pounds.  The Niagara has a 14' box and is a foot taller than our Sedona, and comes in at 3770.  We previously had a Suzuki XL-7 with a V6 and it was dying to even get this thing moving on flat ground.  We had to get a new Durango a few days after we got the trailer just so we could use it (that was one expensive week).
-With the increased height I can only barely see over the top of this with our Durango...I do miss the clear rear field of vision I had with the Sedona.
-Storage (or lack thereof).  This sucker has a lot of bells and whistles (and I mean a lot), but these come at the cost of storage.  In spite of it's much greater size, this trailer only has 2 cubic feet more of storage space than our Sedona did.
-Heater.  This trailer has a 16,000 BTU furnace (which is the same model used in our much smaller Sedona).  In our old Sedona this heater would have you sweating even without a blanket on a 30 degree night.  In the Niagara, there is a much greater area to warm, and this heater just isn't up to the task.  Granted, on warmer nights (50's) I'm sure this heater will be great, but if you are planning any mid 30's or below trips, I would bring extra blankets.

Well, that's about it.  Even with those few negatives, this is just an awesome trailer.  We toured virtually every model of Fleetwood and Starcraft out there, and none of them can hold a candle to this bad boy (although some of the Starcrafts have a much more lush interior)...but we went with substance over style with this baby (just had to have the hard sized shower).

-Jess

[kimrb266]

When we went camping in our 03 Coleman Santa Fe, there wasn't enough storage and things where stuffed every/anywhere.  We just went camping in our 05 Niagra and LOVED-LOVE it.  There was more than enough storage in the trailer and actually, we have room to spare.  

I do have to agree that the trailer is taller (actually, about as tall as I am) and DH has to get used to towing w/o seeing over the trailer.  

We totally recommend the 05 Niagra

[hfamtbp]

Howdy, WV, while I don't know much about the 05 Niagara it's just nice to see someone else from WV on the board.     DW and I are looking at Fleetwood right now.  May I ask what dealer you folks are using?  We're working with Setzer's in Huntington.  Good luck in your search.

[aw738]

I bought my Taos from Setzer in Huntington and had pretty good service.

[hfamtbp]

Setzer's has been great to work with so far,  especially our salesman.  We've been working with him almost a year, lol.  I'm sure he's sick of us but he always returns my calls and he's offered a sweet deal on one of the 04 leftover Westlakes they've got.