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While we were at the Southwest RV Supershow recently, we got a chance to get up close and personal with one of the new models from Pleasure-Way: The Plateau XL Wide body. I have to tell you, their designers really nailed it on the floor plan. Both Stef and I were immediately impressed with the Murphy bed. It runs long ways down the coach, so they can have a large bed available, and still get it out of the way; all without having to use a slide. In fact, Stef and I both (each unknown to the other) went to check to make sure there was no slide! The other “blown-away” feature was the bathroom. Besides being very spacious, it features a rather luxurious shower with Corian walls. Somehow, they manage to fit all this into a coach that’s no longer than our current Class B Das Bus (22’9″), and they keep it light enough to provide almost 1500 pounds of cargo capacity. I think there might be some sorcery involved in keeping it that light…
But, there are still a couple things that keep it from being the *perfect* RV for us. If you don’t feel like watching the video, here’s our quick rundown.
Things we loved:
- Innovative floor plan – you’ll be confused when you realize there’s no slide. It’s that good.
- Incredible Occupant and Cargo Carrying Capacity – best I’ve ever seen in a B+ or small C.
- Very compact dimensions – only 18 inches wider and NO LONGER than our current true class B.
- One of the best bathrooms I’ve seen in a small RV.
Why it might not work for us:
- Not a 4 season coach. Water lines and tanks are located outside.
- No real place to store bikes indoors.
- Only 100 amp hours of battery. (We currently have more than twice that.)
If you want the nitty-gritty details of what I found and what I saw during the review, I’m attaching the checklist here: 2015 Pleasureway-Plateau-XL-checklist.
Finally, we really want to thank Chuck Kellogg, from Pleasure-Way, and Jerry Traylor, from Traylor Motorhomes. They were both key in getting us access to, and answering questions about the Pleateau XL. We couldn’t have made the video without their help. Thanks guys!
Looking for blogs, comments, FYI hints, etc. on adding seat-belts to side sofa on 2015 Plateau XL.
Occasionally we have a need to transport a passenger or two to family outings.
Google referenced a link to this URL but…….
Hey – We don’t have a Plateau XL, so I can’t say what there might be to properly attach an extra seat belt to.
I’d suggest calling Pleasure-Way for pointers on that.
Enjoyed the reviews, so I did buy the Pleasureway plateau XL
Dealer did but in extra seat belts on the bench for $200, so dog seat is now fastened and Fido has nice view
Had issue trying to get XM radio hooked up, Kenwood radio is only Sirus XM capable, meaning you have to tear out radio and plug in a tuner and antenna
So radio shop runs the antenna up to dash just wear it meets the window
Didn’t work, it needs to be up on roof to pick up satellite no matter which way RV pointed.
Couple other issues but we do love the drive. We put a stowaway box in the trailer hitch , that solved were to put golf clubs’
Cheers Alex
It looks from floor plans the bed being 60 x 74 locks in the person on the inside wall?
Room on the outside by the door, but the inside person can’t even crawl out the bottom as the cabinet wraps about half way around the bottom ?
Looks to small at 60 inches for 2 people to lay across way?
Any thoughts or comments?
Thx Alex
You wouldn’t want to try to sleep cross-coach. And you’re right in that the inside wall sleeper couldn’t get out very well on the cabinet side. But I think if you were to sleep with feet towards the front, you could get out on the cab side and walk around. It wouldn’t stop me from getting the coach if that were my only problem.
I am not sure if with the plateau if I could take a grandchild with us?
I assumed that couch had seat belts?
There are units that sleep 2 but they add seat belts on the bench seats?
Seems important to show sleeps 2 and seats 2 or 4,
Not sure if we could add them in?
Thx Alex
I don’t believe the Plateau XL had any additional seat belts or sleeping options.
I wouldn’t recommend trying to add seat belts. In order to work properly, they need to be engineered into the vehicle from the start and properly anchored. I don’t think that would be a good thing to try to do after the fact.
Called factory and indeed the plateau sleeps 2 and Travel Capacity 2
We can’t believe it, checked all the roadtrek models, even the short Agile
sleeps 2 travel capacity 5
Can’t even strap in Fido,
Passenger can’t sit in back while driving and read or watch a DVD
If at a campsite can’t take any friends into town to have a dinner
It would have cost them $20 bucks to put in the bolts before they built it.
Now you have paid $130,000 for the same travel capacity as a 2 seater convertible , Shame we really wanted to buy one
Thx Alex
Different styles of RVing, I guess.
One of the things that always pushes us away from the Roadtrek models is all the extra seating and seat belts. It’s something we would never use and would remove immediately.
We actually appreciate a purpose-built rig – something that’s just for us as a couple.
99.95% of the time, there are only two of us in the RV. For us, it doesn’t make sense to make the compromises to include an extra bed that might not be used even once in 10 years.
There are tailgating and touring styles of Class B RVs. The Plateau XL is not one of them, though.
Maybe, if you wanted to stick with Pleasure-Way, the FL might work (putting one sleeper in a bag on the floor).
You are right on the inside person getting out of bed from the drivers seat end.
Just have to slide the seats forward at night.
On the plateau XL only handling 2 travellers, dealer said not a problem to bolt in a bar on floor under couch and fasten a couple of seat belts to it.
They have to drop some tanks underneath to fasten the bolts but they agreed to do it.
Might be 99.9% of time just me and wife in Van but more than point one percent of RV er’s have dogs that we don’t want to see flying around when we hit the brakes.
I would add one more point to reviews, how many people or dogs can these RV’s carry safely.
Thx Alex
I’m not very familiar with dog-carrying options for different sized dogs, but counting seat belts should be easy enough.
I’m actually working on revamping my checklist – I’ll add that.
Thanks!!
for the not so young and not so spry, having to get fully down on hands and knees to reset breakers is torture, which is what is required in this rig.
Also, the location of inverters and having to swap plugs is also not for old and creaky.
and would love to see info included on how up to date these rigs are in terms of internet connections (mass wi-fi at a campground is not always desirable).
Hey Doug –
Yeah, the circuit breakers are low. But the silver lining is that at least the 12 volt fuses are in an upper cabinet with the multiplex wiring. That’s better than some coaches where ALL of it is down low and underneath a dinette table (like ours)!
The inverters were a bit higher up, but yeah, not exactly at countertop height.
I don’t think Wi-Fi is an option from the factory. But my two cents – I’d rather not leave that up to the factory. The technology changes fast and keeps getting smaller. I’d rather be free to choose my own rather than have something built in. Stef and I just use an iPhone as a personal hot spot when we travel and we find we don’t need anything more.
There are things we really like about the Roadtrek, the TS Adventurous with the 4 season package and especially the 5/6 year unlimited mileage warranty. Pleasure Way has the 5 year, 60,000 mile warranty, and we love their Platuea XL, Leisure only offers a two year warranty, which concerns us on the quality. We love the Unity MB but the warranty really is causing a big concern for us. What is your take on the quality and dependability of the Leisure Line?
I’ve always looked at the Leisure Travel Vans warranty as pretty standard for the industry. I know Pleasure-Way is very proud of their long warranty period (Dean R. even mentioned this to us when we were chatting with him). I’d look at the Pleasure-Way warranty as a differentiating factor for them. It sets them apart, and there are a number of extra steps they take to make sure they can honor the warranty easily (things like keeping individual templates for each RV they’ve made). If the warranty is an important thing for you, then a Pleasure-Way may be in your future.
I emailed Pleasure Way and one of their Sale Rep, Grant Walters told me that some of their Dealers will install a winter package which includes heating pad(s) for the fresh water along with fresh water pipe heaters for $650.00. You can add heating pads for grey and black tanks but he said that most people just add RV anti-freeze to the grey and black tanks if they are going to a freezing temperature area. I’m interested in the XLMB model.
We know Grant!! Super nice guy!
Good info there for anyone interested. If that $650 is a hard number, that’s not too bad.
Which Class B/B+ do you recommend for 4 season travel?
I’ve been asked before to make a video on our favorite 4-season B and B+ models, but the field of 4 season Class B or B+ RVs is pretty small!
Advanced RV, cool as they are, are not 4 season. You could perhaps work with them to design a 4 season model, but “off the shelf” (if there is such a thing for them), they have fresh lines and tanks outside. The Roadtrek TS Adventurous claims to be a 4 season RV, but I’ve not seen one in the flesh. Could be cool though.
As far as I know, none of the Leisure Travel Free Spirit models are 4 season. But the Unity TB and IB have the fresh water inside. If you could get the waste tanks and lines heated before they insulate them, that would be about as close as you could get, and almost as good as what we have.
I presume you could get a Sportsmobile in a 4 season configuration, but I haven’t verified that. And the Coach House Arriva? It’s a cool floor plan, but I haven’t seen one of those either, so I don’t know how cold-hardy those are.
And that leaves our own RV, Das Bus. Which, coincidentally, is still my favorite 4 season Class B.
Love your blog and videos. They are so very helpful. I noticed you didn’t mention the Pleasure Way at all.
Well, the only Pleasure-Way I’ve really gotten up close with is the Plateau XL, which isn’t a four season RV. They may have other models that offer more all-season capability, but I’m not as familiar with them yet (no nearby dealer). Don’t take my not mentioning them as 4 season to mean that I don’t approve of their product. 🙂
I just watched the video about the 2015 updates for Leisure Travel Vans’ Unity. It looks like it has the same skylight as the Pleasure-Way Plateau XL. With both, you have to retract the screen in order to open or close the skylight and possibly let in bugs. Can’t somebody come up with a better design?
Yep. I just looked at it today, and LTV and Pleasure-Way use the same skylight supplier. I think when someone designs a better skylight for RV use, they’ll jump on it. It just seems to be the best thing out there at present.