Piloting an 8,500-pound motorized house down the
highway is far from my idea of fun, yet inexplicably, I'm enjoying myself. My
grin has nothing to do with my camper's handling, as this heavily accoutered
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter drives like a 25-foot long breadbox. My smile has nothing
to do with on-road stability, as the ten-foot-tall, slab-sided vehicle reacts to
wind gusts like the vertical stabilizer on a Boeing jet. My delight has nothing
to do with its throttle or braking response, either, as both are as numb as your
forehead after the eighth beer.
This monstrosity makes me happy for one reason - my passengers are undeniably having a good time.
Two days earlier, I had shoveled my wife and two kids into this Airstream Interstate 3500's sliding door, cranked over its six-cylinder diesel engine and pointed its black and chrome nose out of greater Los Angeles and towards the Grand Canyon. Now, with the 17-million-year-old fissure less than an hour over the horizon, and with everyone chatting giddily about the upcoming spectacle, I've pleasantly come to realize that the motorhome method of travel isn't just for those hobbled bodies with thinning gray hair.
Airstream is the Rolex of the luxury recreational vehicle industry. Tracing its roots back to the early 1930s, the manufacturer had become a household name by the 1960s as the public quickly took note of its trademark streamlined, polished aluminum shells. Even NASA jumped on board, welcoming the crew of Apollo 11 home from the moon at the end of the decade only to quarantine them within a specially modified bright silver Airstream trailer. The Airstream Interstate, a Class-B RV, isn't built for returning astronauts. However, it accommodates earthlings in an innovative package with "car-like" handling, performance and safety, says it maker. The magic is in its chassis, and the details are in its appointments.
Unlike most monstrous RVs cutting wide paths down the highway – nearly all built on steel truck chassis with lightweight wood, metal and fiberglass framing and walls – the Interstate starts as a steel-bodied Mercedes-Benz with a dually rear axle. Even though it's huge by passenger-car standards (nearly 25 feet in length, around 10 feet in height and almost seven feet wide), the RV industry considers this Airstream a compact. Yes, a vehicle that casts a shadow larger than your college dorm room is considered a "compact" in the recreational vehicle world.
Airstream sells two versions of the Interstate, both with the same 170-inch wheelbase. The standard model, with a base price of $125,630, is 23-feet and one-inch long, and six-feet and eight-inches wide. This particular stretched Interstate EXT is 24-feet and five-inches long – with all of the additional length being welcome cargo space behind the rear bench. My EXT tester carried a base price of $136,657. Its optional equipment included a special golf bag storage rack ($452), additional rear flatscreen television ($808), black exterior ($1,260) and a roof-mounted solar panel ($1,307) to maintain the batteries. The grand total, after destination ($984) amounted to $141,468.
Even though you'd expect something this massive to pack a V8 or perhaps a V10, motivation comes by way of a smallish 3.0-liter V6. But this isn't a standard six. Instead, it is the excellent Bluetec turbodiesel from Mercedes-Benz, drinking its oil diet from a 26.4-gallon tank filled through a panel accessed just behind the driver's door. In motorhome application, the engine is rated at 188 horsepower and – more importantly – 325 pound-feet of torque, with that power routed through a traditional five-speed automatic to the dually setup in the rear. The suspension is pure truck, with an independent design up front and a live rear axle at the back end. Stopping the Interstate are four-wheel disc brakes with sliding calipers. It is unusual to find electronic nannies in an RV, yet the Airstream Interstate features electronic traction control, stability control and anti-lock brakes.
But the mechanical specs don't stop there. Slung beneath the rear end is a 2.5-kilowatt generator, fed liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from its own 18.9-gallon tank. It's used to provide fuel/electricity to the 13,500-BTU secondary air conditioning unit (there is an engine-driven A/C compressor too, but cold air is only delivered from the front vents when the V6 is running), 16,000-BTU furnace and the other appliances within the passenger cabin. Other goodies include a 45-amp multi-stage charger, with a 750-watt inverter to divvy and sort the power properly, and a 30 amp/110-volt shore power service. In addition to the diesel and LPG tanks, there is a 32 gallon freshwater tank, 27 gallon gray water (sink drainage) tank and a 15 gallon black water (sewer) tank.
Most passengers will never know about that aforementioned below-the-deck stuff, but they will appreciate the Airstream's luxurious cabin – with a caveat. When we think of an RV, the first thing that comes to mind is stepping up into a cavernous interior complete with swivel captain's chairs, kitchen appliances and a rear bench sofa that turns into a bed with the pull of a lever. The Airstream Interstate does all of that, but in a skinnier... let's say..A polished finish in this solaroutdoorlight for men.. Slim-Fast version.
This monstrosity makes me happy for one reason - my passengers are undeniably having a good time.
Two days earlier, I had shoveled my wife and two kids into this Airstream Interstate 3500's sliding door, cranked over its six-cylinder diesel engine and pointed its black and chrome nose out of greater Los Angeles and towards the Grand Canyon. Now, with the 17-million-year-old fissure less than an hour over the horizon, and with everyone chatting giddily about the upcoming spectacle, I've pleasantly come to realize that the motorhome method of travel isn't just for those hobbled bodies with thinning gray hair.
Airstream is the Rolex of the luxury recreational vehicle industry. Tracing its roots back to the early 1930s, the manufacturer had become a household name by the 1960s as the public quickly took note of its trademark streamlined, polished aluminum shells. Even NASA jumped on board, welcoming the crew of Apollo 11 home from the moon at the end of the decade only to quarantine them within a specially modified bright silver Airstream trailer. The Airstream Interstate, a Class-B RV, isn't built for returning astronauts. However, it accommodates earthlings in an innovative package with "car-like" handling, performance and safety, says it maker. The magic is in its chassis, and the details are in its appointments.
Unlike most monstrous RVs cutting wide paths down the highway – nearly all built on steel truck chassis with lightweight wood, metal and fiberglass framing and walls – the Interstate starts as a steel-bodied Mercedes-Benz with a dually rear axle. Even though it's huge by passenger-car standards (nearly 25 feet in length, around 10 feet in height and almost seven feet wide), the RV industry considers this Airstream a compact. Yes, a vehicle that casts a shadow larger than your college dorm room is considered a "compact" in the recreational vehicle world.
Airstream sells two versions of the Interstate, both with the same 170-inch wheelbase. The standard model, with a base price of $125,630, is 23-feet and one-inch long, and six-feet and eight-inches wide. This particular stretched Interstate EXT is 24-feet and five-inches long – with all of the additional length being welcome cargo space behind the rear bench. My EXT tester carried a base price of $136,657. Its optional equipment included a special golf bag storage rack ($452), additional rear flatscreen television ($808), black exterior ($1,260) and a roof-mounted solar panel ($1,307) to maintain the batteries. The grand total, after destination ($984) amounted to $141,468.
Even though you'd expect something this massive to pack a V8 or perhaps a V10, motivation comes by way of a smallish 3.0-liter V6. But this isn't a standard six. Instead, it is the excellent Bluetec turbodiesel from Mercedes-Benz, drinking its oil diet from a 26.4-gallon tank filled through a panel accessed just behind the driver's door. In motorhome application, the engine is rated at 188 horsepower and – more importantly – 325 pound-feet of torque, with that power routed through a traditional five-speed automatic to the dually setup in the rear. The suspension is pure truck, with an independent design up front and a live rear axle at the back end. Stopping the Interstate are four-wheel disc brakes with sliding calipers. It is unusual to find electronic nannies in an RV, yet the Airstream Interstate features electronic traction control, stability control and anti-lock brakes.
But the mechanical specs don't stop there. Slung beneath the rear end is a 2.5-kilowatt generator, fed liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from its own 18.9-gallon tank. It's used to provide fuel/electricity to the 13,500-BTU secondary air conditioning unit (there is an engine-driven A/C compressor too, but cold air is only delivered from the front vents when the V6 is running), 16,000-BTU furnace and the other appliances within the passenger cabin. Other goodies include a 45-amp multi-stage charger, with a 750-watt inverter to divvy and sort the power properly, and a 30 amp/110-volt shore power service. In addition to the diesel and LPG tanks, there is a 32 gallon freshwater tank, 27 gallon gray water (sink drainage) tank and a 15 gallon black water (sewer) tank.
Most passengers will never know about that aforementioned below-the-deck stuff, but they will appreciate the Airstream's luxurious cabin – with a caveat. When we think of an RV, the first thing that comes to mind is stepping up into a cavernous interior complete with swivel captain's chairs, kitchen appliances and a rear bench sofa that turns into a bed with the pull of a lever. The Airstream Interstate does all of that, but in a skinnier... let's say..A polished finish in this solaroutdoorlight for men.. Slim-Fast version.
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