StressLess Camping

View Original

Keystone Cougar Sport 2100RK - smaller, lighter and more affordable

Tony Barthel

This honest RV review is of the Keystone RV Cougar Sport 2100RK fifth wheel. This is one of two new floor plans among the Cougar family that reflect a direction I’m seeing in the RV industry where manufacturers have less content-rich offerings that are more affordable and go a bit back to basics. Not that they’re cheap or poorly outfitted, but the number of cutting edge features are not present in this offering either.

RV pricing trends

When the RV industry suddenly found itself awash in customers in the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic, the companies that build these discovered that there was far more demand than there was an ability to build RVs. As this trend continued many RV manufacturers started to prioritize the more well equipped and highly profitable portions of their product offerings which just makes sense from a business standpoint.

You can only build so many of any thing, you build the ones that are the most profitable. Business 101. This was also reflected in the auto industry where the highly equipped trucks, for example, were somewhat available but good luck getting a work truck with few fancy upgrades.

Add to this tremendous increases all over the supply chain for RV manufacturers and the price of RVs went through the roof. Not only did things like plywood and metals go up, up, up in price but shipping costs, too, skyrocketed. There was always a price to pay to get the RVs from the factory where they’re built to the dealerships, but that cost got almost out of hand.

The bottom line is that companies like Keystone RV aren’t stupid and recognize trends and this smaller, lighter and somewhat decontented fifth wheel is right in line with where the market is trending.

What the Keystone Cougar Sport 2100RK has

I had mentioned that this fifth wheel offering was less well equipped than some others from Cougar and that’s true, but it’s not a stripped down, plain Jane product at all.

Cougar fifth wheels are known for their good insulation and this is no exception. You still get a heated and enclosed underbelly which makes it possible to camp in shoulder seasons. There is still Keystone’s Innovation Lab features such as their more efficient air conditioning delivery system the company calls Blade.

They’ve also studied furnace ducting and improved air flow with some nifty floor registers that are less painful if you step on one and less likely to be the places where stuff is kicked into them. Mind you I still prefer when manufacturers don’t put ducts into the floor but at least these are better than most.

There are still things like Keystone’s Hyperdeck flooring, too, that is a man-made laminate that is purported to be waterproof. Another big thing about Keystone products is that they are wired much like vehicles in that all of them are wired alike. That means that a red wire on this trailer has the same function as a red wire on the next.

You would think that that was no big deal but many RV’s wiring is done on the assembly line where the builder just pulls wire as needed and each unit can vary widely from the next one on the line. Being intentional about the wiring means a much lower likelihood of failure and a much simpler process of mitigating any issues that crop up.

I can’t tell you how long it took our techs at the dealership to even find wiring problems before we could even start repairing them. We simply didn’t have these issues on Keystone products.

See this content in the original post

The Keystone Cougar Sport 2100RK is smaller and lighter

This is the most compact offering from Keystone’s Cougar fifth wheel family and it can make a lot of sense. This model, in particular, is more of a couples’ camper but there is also a bunk house variant in the 2700BH offering.

This model offers a rear kitchen where the kitchen counter extends along the width of the trailer resulting in a good amount of counter space. There is also a solid number of cabinets and drawers here so storage isn’t going to be a big issue.

In the road-side slide is the refrigerator and seating. Both of these features offer choices - you can get a 12 volt DC refrigerator or a traditional two-way RV refrigerator. You can also chose from a couch or theater seating. Choices.

Opposite that is a dinette and more cabinetry as well as the TV. Toward the front of this model is a very tall cabinet with multiple doors that can be a pantry or additional storage. It’s an interesting place for this but, oh well.

Upstairs there’s a nicely-sized bathroom with good head room and overall space.

The bedroom features more storage including space under the bed which has struts to keep it up while trying to find that thing that you just know is there.

There’s also a closet up here that features several drawers and hanging space.

Lastly there are both household and USB outlets on either side of the bed and those USB outlets offer both traditional and USB C connectivity. There are also quite a few lights including reading lights. Nice.

What I don’t like about the Keystone Cougar Sport 2100RK

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the smaller oven in this unit, particularly since Cougars traditionally have the larger ovens. Another thing Cougar has been including are Goodyear Endurance tires but not here. That’s one of the things that had to go when the price dropped. That’s a big bummer because I feel the Goodyear tires are worth the additional peace of mind and price.

The upstairs bedroom in this does have to accommodate the frame structure so there is a step up into the bed and I can see this being a trip hazard at night. I would strong recommend anyone who buys this buy motion-activated lights for this area such as these, which we have in our own camper.

While we’re up here in the bedroom do take note that this is a short queen bed, which is a deal breaker for some of you.

Boondocking and travel access in the Keystone Cougar Sport 2100RK

One of the things that Keystone is to be commended for is including their SolarFlex system in this unit. I still think Keystone is at the forefront with this system being included in all their products.

Essentially there are several variants of this system but, as installed here, it includes a single 200 watt solar panel with an MPPT charge controller. In this base system there is wiring to specific outlets, including one in the pass-through storage, that would enable an inverter for those who want this.

You can also upgrade the SolarFlex system right at the dealership where you bought the RV with additional solar panels and lithium batteries as well as other components and those are covered under Keystone’s warranty. It’s a great system as a factory-installed package.

Other than that there are decent tank sizes here and good cargo carrying capacity.

On the down side; however, typical of fifth wheels with the stairs to the deck being on the camp side the slide room blocks the upper deck completely. At least you can still use the sink and refrigerator along with the dinette with the slide closed so there’s that.

My thoughts about the Keystone Cougar Sport 2100RK

Overall I really like this trend in the RV space. Of course there’s still plenty of room for RVs with all kinds of whiz-bang features and elevated content, but RVs like this that are more basic in what they deliver, without being cheap, absolutely are something I’m glad to be seeing.

What is encouraging is that Keystone hasn’t eliminated all the things that make the Cougar line special and much of the core value inherent in the brand is here.

Also, a fifth wheel like this that’s just over 26 feet long makes a lot of sense for a lot of couples.

Most of all I’m thrilled that the Sport line doesn’t have the “half ton” designation. Honestly, even though this is relatively light a fifth wheel is still very tall and I believe that a 3/4 ton truck is the minimum to tow one, even one of this size.

Valuable resources for towing a trailer including figuring out weights here

The only real dig is that I would like to see Keystone offer the Goodyear tires as an option because I would dump these and replace them with the Goodyear tires as the first stop I made on my journey. But, other than that, Keystone is again ahead of the curve with this new line of smaller, more affordable fifth wheels that put a lot of value into a very usable package.

See this content in the original post

More RV reviews

We have more RV reviews that you can see including specific categories for your reference.

RV Shopping Tips

If you’re shopping for an RV we have some great resources for you.

Visit an RV show

Want to check out RVs for yourself in person? We have a complete list of RV shows across the US.