Forest River FR3 reviews

We are first time buyers and have had a great experience so far. Everything has worked as advertised. Purchase - Received amazing support from Bankston Motorhomes who bent over backwards for us and answered all of our questions prior to the purchase. Believe we received a fair price. They are all heavily discounted which I guess is supposed to make you feel like you got a great deal. We understand it is an entry level model and have read all of the horror stories but we have been pleasantly surprised. Drivability - Installed a steering stabilizer before taking delivery after reading all of the reviews. I probably could have installed it myself after watching Safe T Plus's You Tube video. There are adjustments to be made after it is installed so keep that in mind otherwise you will have tracking issues. Without ever driving an RV before we loaded up our RAV4 on the car dolly and drove it home. We had no issues and I was surprised at how easy it was to maneuver. The engine was relatively quiet and only got loud when going up the mountain to get to the house. You will not be autocrossing this beast, but overall it handles well. Livability - We like the floor plan although we wanted the bunks, but decided against it because the RV that had them only had one air conditioner and we live in the deep south. We sacrificed that for the fact that we wanted 2 air conditioners, a 5500 Onan Generator and 2 refrigerators. Our only complaint for the living space is storage and cup holders which in the big scheme of things is not a big deal. I can fix the cup holders with after market stuff. As far as storage....can you really ever have enough? The storage underneath the RV seems to be more than adequate. Maiden Voyage - We took the FR3 to an RV park a few miles down the road and just decided to figure it out as best we could knowing if we forgot anything we were only 10 minutes from the house. I will have to say the park manager gave me a funny look when I told him I will need to fill up my grey and black water tanks......realizing 10 minutes later that when you hook up city water that those tanks fill up themselves through use... newby probs :). The pull out sofa bed was deemed not comfortable by our 13 year old so more than likely we will purchase a memory foam mattress which should work. The king bed slept great and the overhead bed was deemed satisfactory by the 10 year old. The furnace worked as advertised but it did smoke for about 30 minutes due to the oil on the components. After the smoke cleared the RV stayed comfortable that night with outside temperatures dropping to around 30 degrees. Upon a quick search of Google I discovered that the smoke was common with new furnances. So far we really love our FR3 and wanted to post a positive review so folks will know that things can go right as well. Stay safe!!

We traveled 6 hrs to look at this today because we were told that there wasn’t anything wrong with it and it wouldn’t need tires until next season.. he failed to tell us it needed tires now, a generator and a whole new roof on it and maybe a battery.. bad business!!

Had numerous problems with the generator from day one on. It drives poorly, so I had suspension upgraded. The air conditioner is super loud. The engine and transmission are good. The kitchen sink has already been replaced (it started leaking) despite not even being 2 years old. The interior storage is good. The locks on the exterior storage compartments are of despicable quality. The toilet stopped flushing this month. The build quality is bad, even by RV standards.

Do not buy this RV . Any FR3 they are a piece of crap. I have 6397 miles and nothing but headaches. I do not write reviews but I want to warn you. I have fixed over 5 items myself. My slide out did not want to work bad module. My back AC did not work and low water pressure. DO NOT BUY! To many other problems to list. I’m not rich and I cannot afford a 250k RV should of stuck with a expensive travel trailer. I have had 3 of them not as many problems on all 3 in 20yrs as this pos FR3. I feel like I went down in quality.

We have had problems from Day 1 . Before it left Forest Rivers manufacturing facility ,they couldn't get it started. The delivery driver found that the heat for the cab didn't work and the alignment was out (pulling to the right really BAD. Ford the Manufacture of F53 Classis DOSEN"T WARRANTY THE ALIGNMENT OR THE TIRES, I WAS TOLD TO CONTACT THE MAKER OF THE TIRES IF THERE WAS A PROBLEM. REMEMBER THIS IS A BRAND NEW RV 260 MILES ON IT. I can go on and on and on. My advise would be to look at a different unit, but ford makes the Chassis for all of them . my email is listed if you would have any Question. jeff

We love our FR3 32DS. We are a family of 5 with 3 cats and a bird and we lived out of it full time for about 4 months and traveled over 14K miles in it on multiple vacation road trips. This RV is surprising nimble and easy to handle. We made small modifications like creating a hidden litter box and we upgraded the water heater to on-demand which made a huge difference in livability! The double AC units were a must living down in the deep south. Other favorite standard amenities were the king bed in the master, the bunk beds and a huge full sized refer. All in all we couldn't have asked for a more affordable class A RV with the comfort, reliability and amenities as this FR3!

24.7 foot RV on Mercedes Benz chassis. 27,000 miles, perfect shape. Upgraded levelers, mostly in storage but drove it to Illinois 3 times. Runs on diesel and get in the 20s or better. 2 slides, bedroom slides out the back and another slide out makes the living room wider. 5 speed forward gears takes you over mountains with ease while towing. Tow vehicle is a 2017 6 speed manual shift honda civic imported from the UK. Tow vehicle not included but will add on for $19,000. 89,000 for RV.This vehicle is close to showroom perfection. Blue Ox tow bar included. Car breaking system extra.

We love this RV for the floor plan, new memory foam king sized bed. Loads of space and storage. We added front and rear stabilizer and anti sway bars, which really helped drive ability. All RVs should come with them but they don’t. Only 3000 miles, like brand new.

Purchased new in Inidana and drove this cross country. Really handles well even up and down the mountains. Wow that one and half bath really came in handy while traveling, the king bed, washer and dryer, just a really loaded rig. Love it.

I have a 2016 forest river fr3. Besides some minor issues, slide and step gear, I love my RV. From Ohio and been across country twice, California. Love the layout. My only regret is only 1 air conditioner. In Florida now and very comfortable but in the summer I'd like to have the extra AC. Put a curtain rod across the cockpit and it cools down but I like it cold in the summer. Will upgrade to a forest river Georgetown in the future because I love the layout