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Honest review of the Grand Design Lineage 25FW Class C motorhome

Tony Barthel

Today’s RV review is of the Grand Design Lineage 25FW Class C motorhome. Wait, motorhome? Yep. Grand Design has heretofore only made towable RVs but the company recently announced that they will be shipping motorhomes. In fact this is the first example of what the company promises will be a larger line of motorhomes including Class C and Class B (vans).

To be quite honest, when Grand Design announced that they would be building motorhomes I wasn’t very excited. The company has done an okay job building towables but many of their offerings are really entry-level in structural features in my opinion. Further, the company has really come under fire lately for issues with their frames and they were very slow to respond to the issues.

They have now upgraded their warranty on towable frames and, to their credit, the warranty is also transferable. Nice.

But we’re here to look at the new Class C and I have to say that, after learning more, I am very impressed with what they’re doing. In fact, I’m so impressed that I feel that, if you are in the market for a new Class C motorhome, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not waiting to check this out.

Grand Design Lineage

Mike Hums spoke to our friend Matt Foxcroft on the video attached to this article and said that the Lineage brand is going to be applied to all of Grand Design’s motorized units.

From a business standpoint this makes a lot of sense because a dealership can sign-up for Lineage and get the Class C and Class B and whatever else comes down the pike from Grand Design. Sometimes the RV industry so convolutes these brands that it makes it confusing for customers and difficult for dealers.

For example, do you know the difference between a Reflection or a Transcend or Imagine? That’s just Grand Design’s current major brand of towables - think of the rest of the RV industry doing the same thing. I follow the RV industry and it’s confusing for me so I think a great deal of consolidation would not be a bad thing.

Start at the chassis

While the company will offer more chassis options in the future, this one is built on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter cutaway chassis. They specifically chose the 4500-series chassis which is significant. Like with pickups, the numbers used to brand the chassis from companies bears relevance on their ability to carry cargo.

When an RV maker builds a motorized RV, essentially, that RV is cargo on the back of the chassis. So having greater cargo carrying capacity means that there’s additional capacity for you and your stuff. Many Class C RVs are built so close to the capacity of the chassis that there are only a few hundred pounds remaining capacity for your stuff.

So the objective as described by Mike Hums is that you get at least half a ton of cargo carrying capacity in your Lineage which is respectable.

Impressive build features in the Grand Design Lineage

Part of the way the company has worked on this is to frame interior walls and things like the dinette in welded aluminum as opposed to wood. This offers greater strength and lighter weight.

Other weight-saving measures include the European door and the aluminum power-operated step. Little bits here and there add up and not all of these measures are inexpensive.

Something that really impressed me is the aluminum structure under the skin of this rig which is an extruded aluminum channeled piece to which the walls and roof slot in. This is a really impressive way of doing this build.

The front and rear cap on all models will be painted with automotive paint and you can also get a fully painted exterior as an option.

But two other things just really made me happy.

Mike Hums described a partnership with the folks who make SharkBite plumbing fittings which are used in this RV. Leakly, cheap plumbing fixtures are a common problem in the RV industry so the fact that they’re using these metal fittings says a lot.

They also have a 25 year guarantee on the plumbing of this unit. That says even more.

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Electrical system on the Grand Design Lineage 25FW

The electrical, too, is impressive. The standard system in this rig includes 600 watts of solar and two Lithionics lithium batteries rated at 130 amp-hours each. Further there’s a 1,000 watt inverter standard. This is all backed-up by a 3.6Kwh propane-fueled generator.

There are also upgraded systems available including one that uses a second alternator on the diesel engine in this coach to charge the batteries.

But what truly blew me away is the electrical system in this rig which uses breakers instead of fuses. So, should you experience an issue, the breaker will trip as it would in your home but this also will illuminate a red light by the breaker. No more having to carry a bunch of spare fuses.

“We’re spending a lot of money where people can’t see it,” said Hums.

What’s inside the Grand Design Lineage 25FW

This is a relatively common floor plan for a smaller Class C but the devil is always in the details on these.

Over the cab is a bunk room that has its own AC ducts. There is a windshield on the bunk area with a bunch of Easter eggs that someone might enjoy including a vintage motorhome and some other things.

The kitchen in this is exactly how trends are going with a linear two-burner propane cook top and a convection microwave.

The sink here is what’s referred to as a smart sink where there are various drop-in inserts to accommodate dish washing or cleaning veggies. There’s also a glass washer where you press a glass down on the thing and it sprays water up into the glass.

There is a good amount of cabinet space here with drawers inside the pantry but also two huge drawers under the dinette if you choose that option. You can also get theater seats. The drawers are nicely built with dovetailed plywood construction.

I also like that all the latches on all the doors are positive mechanical latches instead of just magnets. Nice.

Speaking of cabinets the back wall of the bedroom is all cabinets but there’s also a pull-out drawer that can serve as a night stand. Slick.

You would use that night stand from the king-sized bed in here thanks to a really deep super slide. While the bed is a bendy bed, it’s a mattress that is intended to be comfortable and has more firm padding around the outside so it can be used as a seat as well.

The bathroom here is decent enough in size and what you’d expect in this floor plan. There is a porcelain foot-flush toilet. The shower is not as small as you might imagine thanks to an illuminated skylight and the shower head is pretty fancy as is the linear drain.

Lastly the AC in this is a ducted unit that features a residential filtration system. Oh, and every light in this rig is dimmable plus there are motion-sensing lights in the pantry, the rear closet and in the bathroom.

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Conclusions

I have to say I was ho-hum about Grand Design bringing out a Class C to the market but, after looking into this, I am very impressed. The decisions made by the company seem to point to building a very high quality product at a competitive price.

Oh, how much? The base model is presently slated to carry a $189,000 MSRP.

Something else worth noting, the headrests in the front seats of this rig actually have little safes in them. Talk about finding space that everybody else just ignores.

Overall this is one of the best Class C designs I’ve come across and I can’t wait to actually visit Grand Design later in the year and check one of the production models out in person. I did think it was odd that this was revealed in New York City instead of at a campground somewhere but, perhaps, it’s so shareholders of Winnebago could improve their feelings about the company.

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My thanks to Matt Foxcroft and company for the excellent video used in this story.