# Forest River Lexington GTS 283



## tlight (Aug 2, 2006)

I am seriously considering the purchase of a Lexington GTS 283 Class b+.  I have owned other Class A's (Southwind/Kountry Star) as well as one class C (Midas).  I am not familiar with the Forest River Line.  They appear to be high quality and well constructed.  The one I am considering iis on a 20K Ford Chassis with a V-10 6.8 litre engine.  Anyone out there had any experience with this brand?  Would appreciate any comments.  Thanks.

Tom Tom


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## s.harrington (Aug 3, 2006)

Re: Forest River Lexington GTS 283

The ford V10 is under powered and gets terrible gas milage.  Its too bad you can't get the 460.  It was a better motor for hauling weight.  More tourque and horsepower with better fuel economy on the efi models.


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## stemwad (Jul 1, 2007)

RE: Forest River Lexington GTS 283

Forest River is OK at best. Look at the Coachman Concord 300TS or even better the Jayco Melbourne 29D. Thats what Im going to buy after much research.


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## hertig (Jul 1, 2007)

Re: Forest River Lexington GTS 283

Forest River has a reputation of producing some severely defective products, and then not fixing them.  They do seem to make some good ones, but I don't think I'd want to risk getting one of their lemons.  See the thread on this topic for details.


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## TexasClodhopper (Jul 1, 2007)

Re: Forest River Lexington GTS 283




"The ford V10 is under powered and gets terrible gas milage...."

Them's fightin' words, mister! :laugh:  

Everyone thinks 8-9 mpg is TERRIBLE? Some RVs would love to get that mileage! It truly is all relative.

As long as you keep the RPM above 2000, the V10 is perfectly powered. I will manually shift out of overdrive to 3rd right above 2000 rpm. There were only a few grades on Highway 5 & 65 south of Branson where we got behind a slower vehicle and had to shift down to 2nd for the crawl up the next grade. I run on cruise control as much as possible (around 60 mph) and do what I call the 'hump kick'. I kick the brake pedal (to get out of cruise) at the 'humps' in the highway to avoid shifting down from overdrive. The cruise control on the Ford sucks in this regard only.

Anyway, here's the exact numbers for our recent trip. Driving 60 mph didn't change my AVERAGE mph from when I drove 65 mph on the last trip. Hertig or Chelze has said it many times here, "Get the lead out of the foot!"


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## DL Rupper (Jul 1, 2007)

Re: Forest River Lexington GTS 283

Check out Forest River Issues thread.


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## C Nash (Jul 1, 2007)

Re: Forest River Lexington GTS 283

The newer Ford v10 is fine on power and mpg IMO. Average 8 to 10 mpg on our class A 32 ft HR and tow a Tracker. This is driving 55mph. Drove the MH 12000 miles to Alaska and back towing the tracker and power was never a problem.  No comment on the FR product.  Look at them, research and make up your own mine.
Durn Tez thought I had u straighten out on spelling my name :laugh:


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