2019 Grand Design Imagine XLS 18RBE Travel Trailer reviews

Grand Design means Poor Execution. Ours had the following defects: Underbelly heater duct was too short and not inserted into the floor. No underbelly heat meant our pipes froze on our first fall trip. Sawdust leaking out of every crevice everywhere. They never cleaned up as they were building it. Also wood screws, and enough spare parts under the cabinets to install a second TV antenna. Kinked hot water pipe. Electric tongue jack wired thru unprotected holes in steel frame. Combined with the fuse failing to blow, there were sparks and burn marks where the wires wore thru. Poor paint job. The frame and stairs were rusting before the first season was over. Surging water pump. 6 months to replace a recalled and faulty Chinese made propane pressure control valve. Undersized battery dead within 2 years. Cheap Chinese made Westlake tires wore out at 7,000 miles. A defective toilet valve flooded the bathroom and there is no way to turn water off just at the toilet. You have to turn off the water to everything. There are no shut off valves to any of the sinks or the toilet. But there was a loose fitting elbow drain under the shower. Show less

This trailer is great if you are going to spend just a week or so on vacation. We, unfortunately, needed it to live in ours while waiting for our home to be rebuilt after the fires here in Oregon. The cabinets began to peel within the first few months and it looks absolutely awful. The silverware drawer broke in the first month we had it. Now it only opens halfway and there are only 3 drawers. The back bunks are great, 2 people can sleep in the bottom bed, but you can't sit up and it can be very claustrophobic. I don't mind MRIs, but get anxious on the inside. The hot water heater barely heats the water and 3 RV repair people said it couldn't be fixed. It was an issue with these RVs. My daughter got a Jayflight and it is holding up beautifully after 10 months. Her shower is really hot when all ours would do is spit out lukewarm water at best. I have to heat water for dishes in the winter. The shower itself is fine, but the shower "door" is pretty flimsy. The RV itself does heat up well and it stays cool, which is a huge blessing since we have had 114 degree days and the rv has stayed cool. Our RV does stay cooler than my daughter's, but in all fairness, her RV shades ours in the worst part of the day. It's the peeling woodwork I seriously do not understand. And the floors after a while are just icky. They are textured so always feel gross on your bare feet no matter how much you scrub them. People who have seen our paneling have been shocked at how bad it looks. We have tried to restain them, but that looked even worse. Makes you feel like you are living in a dump. I may just have to remove them, sand them, and paint them it's so bad. Our doors to the outside are holding up better than my daughter's RV. But she has 4 border collies in her RV and it's holding up nicely and looks very nice on the inside. Our RV is probably more sturdy than my daughters, but hers has more room and cost quite a bit less. It has a light and airy feeling, where ours has dark paneling that was supposed to look elegant but is peeling, exposing tan wood underneath. We picked this for one reason which is a big one - there are doors to the rooms and the bathroom separates the back bedroom from the living space. I have an 88-year-old mother who is in that room. We do love the recliners, but the heater in them never really worked. I sleep in one at night while my husband sleeps in the bed under the bunks in the bunk area. It's too claustrophobic for two adults. This is not something you'd take if you have adults or larger children. The speakers never worked right sort of cut in and out and also turned on like it was possessed until we just unplugged the entire radio. We just had to compromise for those doors, now I wish I'd not been so fixated on the doors. And for the price, I think they could have added a slide to the back bunk room. Again my daughter's is holding up better, has 2 slides and longer. Show less

We bought this in March 2020. It has one previous owner but by the looks of the tires and interior it was not used much. It was manufactured in August 2018. We have gone on two long trips with this truck, from Syracuse NY to the Smokey Mountains and back and then to Gulf Shores Alabama. Pros: Good looking, room enough for a couple and our 40# dog. Its light enough to tow in mountains with our 2019 Nissan Frontier, rated for 6300#s with weight distributing hitch. Ours has a comfortable mattress. Everything in this trailer works now (more about that in cons). I was skeptical of GDesign claim that this trailer was built for cold weather camping. The underbelly of the trailer is sealed under the steal beams so fresh water pipes are protected. After three weeks of testing it outside my house in below freezing temps near Syracuse and no frozen pipes, I now believe. We ran the furnace with the thermostat set on low. We like the Murphy bed which becomes a small couch when folded. It has a 3 burner stove, gas oven, and 120 volt microwave, fairly large fridge, enough storage for all our stuff. Cons: Workmanship. Plain and simple. During my pre delivery inspection I found a kinked hose feeding the hot water heater, which required two trips to correct. The first time the dealer replaced the hose but it also kinked because the bend was too tight. The second time the dealer installed an elbow in the hose. The second day we owned the thing I lost a utensil under the stove. While looking for the thing I removed the big pot drawer under the stove and the front panel covering the heater (below the heater). What I found was a freaking mess. The furnace installer had not attached the duct that heats the underbelly of the trailer, so the under belly of the trailer was not getting heated, but the refrigerator was. The wiring and piping look like they were connected with no thought to ensuring they will stay in place, or ease of repair. There is insufficient strain relief for wires, obvious places where wires will wear against cabinet pass thru holes. And there was construction trash everywhere: loose screws and bolts; round cutouts drilled out of the cabinets, trailer sides and roof; a large plastic folder/bag which had contained parts for the TV antenna; short lengths of coax cable and antenna control wires; longer lengths of 120 volt and 12 volt wires; several pieces of pipe and hoses of 12 inches or less; plus, enough saw and construction dust to start a small fire. I worked construction when younger. The company I worked for hired low paid morons like me to pick up this trash. And we had a supervisor who made sure we did it. I guess RV manufacturers can't be bothered. Out of sight, out of mind. My biggest concern is the loose screws and bolts. Those kind of things get tossed around on bouncy roads and can get into all sorts of bad places, like furnace fans and other mechanical systems. This is not like building a house, where a lost part in a wall will just sit there; in an RV this junk moves around until it jams into something. Other issues included the fact that the latch which holds the Murphy bed vertical was screwed in with wood screws that were only about a quarter of an inch long and had worked themselves loose in only a year of light use. After our first long trip the electric tongue jack was dead. The positive side heavy gauge wire connecting the jack to the battery was cut where it passed thru an unprotected passage hole in the trailer frame. There was no sign of a strain relief or pass thru grommet to protect the wire, which I had to repair and install the needed protection... Oh and the fuse didn't blow because the wire was damaged before the in-line fuse. I am lucky that the battery didn't get damaged. I've owned many boats. I can tell you that the RV industry could learn a lot from the marine industry in terms of workmanship quality. I've never seen such low quality work in a newer model small cruiser, as I've seen in in this newer model RV. And this is supposedly one of the better built ones! Show less

PERFECT SIZE TRAILER FOR SINGLE, COUPLE(STILL IN LOVE)SMALL FAMILY. IT HAS EVERYTHING YOU NEED, NOTHING YOU DONT! BIGGER IS BETTER?...NO WAY! RVING? GET BACK TO CAMPING! WHO NEEDS A 90'MOTOR HOME OR A 5TH WHEEL SO HEAVY,TALL,TOO WIDE, AND CLUMBERSOME? THIS IS 2ND GRAND DESIGN I HAVE OWNED. FIRST ONE WAS A 2150RB. EXCELLENT BUT TOO BIG FOR JUST ONE OLD GUY! THE XLS 18RBE IS THE SAME QUALITY 4 SEASON TRL. BUT IN A SHORTER PACKAGE. I LOVE THE MURPHY BED! I DID DONATE QUEEN SIZE MATTRESS AND ORDERED A XL MEMORY FOAM GEL CUSTOM FULL SIZE! PERFECT FIT AND EXTRA COMFY! GOT IT FROM MATTRESSINSIDER. GREAT DISCOUNT FOR VETERANS AND FREE SHIPPING. THIS TRL. PULLS EASY, ONLY 4100LBS. AND I DONT NEED ONE OF THOSE STUPID OVERPRIZED DIESEL BEHEMOTHS TO TOW! I HAVE A RAM 1500 4X4 5.7 HEMI WHICH DOES AN EXCELLENT JOB! SURE BEATS THOSE WIMPY GMC AND FORD PRODUCTS! THE XLS 18RBE IS AN ABSOLUTE HOME RUN! VERY IMPRESSIVE AND PRICED RIGHT! WAY MORE BANG FOR THE BUCK THAN THOSE OTHER WANNABE 4 SEASON TRAILERS! NO DISAPPOINTMENTS! DEFINITELY WORTH ANY BUYERS TIME TO CHECK ALL THEIR PRODUCTS! Show less