The Best RV Models Under $20,000

by Gabrielle DeSantis

A brand new RV can easily cost as much as a very nice house. In fact, the sheer cost of some motorhomes, travel trailers, or camper vans makes them exclusive to buyers that can afford the high prices. For families with a little less they want to spend on an RV or travel trailer, here are the best RV models under $20,000. 

We’ve scoured several best lists for RVs, and camper trailers in this price point. There’s definitely a general consensus in the industry. After cross-referencing places like RVing Planet and Camper Trailer Report, these are repeated favorites across the board when it comes to which are the best campers for a small budget. 

Cub Explorer | Cub Campers

The Cub Explorer Trailer is an affordable off-road camper

According to the Camper Trailer Report, a Cub Explorer Camper Trailer is a good entry-level off-road camping wagon. It starts at $18,999, so it’s within the smaller budget bracket. In fact, it’s one of the best RV models for under $20,000. 

It’s a light trailer that is a good weight for most midsize SUVs. It also sleeps four people. The Cub Explorer Camper Trailer is definitely one to check out for buyers hunting RV trailers with a small budget. 

For anyone that wants to delve into the RV lifestyle, but isn’t ready to sell their house and make it permanent this is a great RV trailer. In addition, if it’s in your budget to find something you can already tow with the family SUV. Not every household already has a heavy hauling pickup truck. 

The Jayco Jay Feather is a good entry-level option

Despite its name, the Jayco Jay Feather is heavier than some of the other entry-level camper trailers. That said, it’s also recommended for its durability. The Jayco Jay Feather trailer RV is one of the best RV models under $20,000. 

This is a 36-foot trailer. It’s ideal for accommodating family trips. Overall the Jayco Jay Feather has potential as the right RV for many different households. 

This one is for the larger family that already has a pickup truck or body-on-frame SUV. At the very least, you’ll want something rated for 5,000 pounds or more. The Jayco Jay Feather weighs about 4,750 pounds. 

The Livin Lite Camplite offers lots of available customization

Livin Lite Camplite | RVT

This is an aluminum camper trailer for small budget RV shoppers. The Livin Lite Camplite is light, compact, and works well as an entry-level adventure trailer. 

If you are thinking about buying a Livin Lite Camplite trailer that probably means that you are looking for something under 5,000 pounds and highly customizable. This little trailer offers nine different model options. 

As one of the best RV models under $20,000 the Livin Lite Camplite trailer lives up to its name. Plus, it offers amenities like a six cubic-foot refrigerator. Nine different floor plans and a long list of available features make this an appealing choice for many households. 

Good RVs under $20,000

There are good RVs out there on a small budget. Whether a buyer plans to buy one of these models new or used, they should be able to find one for less than $20 grand. 

If you are shopping for a good RV trailer but you don’t want to spend as much as a house, you might want to check these out. According to sources across the board, these are the best RV models under $20,000.

RELATED: These 2021 Subaru Models Are Both Consumer Reports ‘Top Picks’

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Jay-Z and Beyoncé Might Be the Mystery Buyers For a $28M Rolls-Royce Boattail

by Gabrielle DeSantis

Jay-Z and Beyoncé were built to own something like a one-of-three coachbuilt Rolls-Royce Boattail. This new Rolls is currently the most expensive car in the world. As Lamborghini and Aston Martin continue to release limited track-only cars in the many millions of dollars, Rolls-Royce was not to be out opulenced. And, this fancy ride might literally have Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s names written all over it. 

Custom built Rolls-Royce Boattail possibly ordered | Rolls-Royce

Did Jay-Z and Beyoncé order the most expensive car in the world? 

Last week Rolls-Royce dropped the news that the upper-crust British carmaker is working on three $28 million coachbuilt drop-tops with enough hosting gear in the trunk for the entire yacht club. 

Seeing as how Rolls-Royce isn’t spilling the beans on their high-end clientele, CarScoops, reports that The Telegraph might have unearthed one pair of qualified customers for such a car; Jay-Z and Beyoncé. 

Why trust the Rolls-Royce rumor? 

custom built Rolls-Royce Boattail possibly ordered by Jay-Z and Beyonce
custom built Rolls-Royce Boattail possibly ordered by Jay-Z and Beyonce | Rolls-Royce

RELATED: Drake’s Custom Rolls-Royce Cullinan Might Be the Ugliest One in the World

CarScoops explains that although it feels like maybe nothing more than rumors and jumping to conclusions, some pretty interesting clues point to the Carters. 

First, Rolls-Royce says the Boattail in question has a compartment in the Boattail’s trunk specifically meant to house a bottle of Armand de Brignac and keep it chilled precisely at six degrees celsius. 

Rolls-Royce did this because this is the car’s buyer’s favorite champagne. Well, It just so happens that Jay-Z just sold a 50 percent stake in that company. 

The most expensive car in the world is built for picnics 

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The next clue continues in the superfan vein of knowing where the Carters like to picnic. Rolls-Royce says that the overall style of the Boattail is meant to conjure feelings of driving along the roads of the Cote D’Azur. 

This stretch of the French Riviera is a known haunt for the billionaire super couple. This would explain the opulent picnic trunk outfit. 

Speaking of which, the trunk of the Rolls-Royce Boattail is not only fitted with a champagne chiller, but it also has camping chairs, multiple coolers, and an umbrella that unfolds from the trunk to maintain optimal comfort even when near your Rolls. 

The color is the key

Before the last major clue, Alex Innes, head of coachbuild designs at Rolls-Royce, said, “I enjoyed many meetings with the owner and his wife at their home – they were wonderfully welcoming. They like to serve food in the mezze style, so we talked about the sense of hosting and grandeur, which had to be part of this car. We road-tested with everything on board at 155mph, just to ensure there are no rattles.”

The custom Boattail is finished in a variety of blue hues. One shade, in particular, found inside the Rolls is said to be the customers’ favorite color. The name of that color is “Blue Ivy,” which happens to be the name of one of Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s kids. 

Lastly, according to the Telegraph, Jay-Z and Beyoncé have signed various places around the car, like underneath the RR motif on the grille, underneath the rear badge, and the engine manifold. 

I guess we’ll have to wait and see if someone spies the Carters floating around the French Riviera in the most expensive car in the world. 

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Texas-Built Tesla Cybertrucks Illegal to Sell There

by Gabrielle DeSantis

Yes, it’s a wacky world we live in. Tesla founder Elon Musk moved Cybertruck manufacturing from California to Texas in a huff. But he should have looked at Texas’ franchise tax laws before taking his Tesla marbles. You see, franchise tax laws make it illegal to sell vehicles directly to customers in Texas. 

But it gets worse. Issues like this can be taken up with the Texas state legislature because, you know, they’re all for business. The problem is that it didn’t resolve this in-state sales issue. Plus, they are only in session for 140 days and won’t meet again until 2023. The state legislature only meets once every other year according to The Drive. 

Texas residents will have to purchase Tesla Cybertrucks outside of Texas

Tesla Cybertruck | Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

So now what? Texas residents who want to purchase a Tesla Cybertruck must now buy it outside of Texas. So while Tesla wraps up construction of its Gigafactory just outside of Austin, it will begin making Cybertrucks it can’t sell in Texas. And every single Cybertruck built in Texas will have to be shipped out of Texas to a different state before a Texan can purchase it. 

Because, you know, California is so difficult to do business in. Part of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s pitch to Musk was how friendly to business Texas is. He must have known he wasn’t being honest, but at least he was convincing. But there’s more.

Earlier this year Musk announced he was moving to Texas because of the “freedom” it offers over California. We wonder how he felt about there being no power for days during the big snowstorm this past winter? And now this?

Selling directly to customers goes against many state’s franchise tax laws

The Tesla Cybertruck's debut at Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California, in November 2019
Tesla Cybertruck | FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Look, we love Texas and California both. And we hate to see this issue continually dog Tesla. It sells directly to customers, and that goes against many state’s franchise tax laws. It has been fighting states over this from the beginning of Tesla itself. 

Many even thought it might hasten Tesla’s demise. Dealers have argued that they help protect customers. They say another advantage is that they help to maintain fair competition. 

Mainstream dealers are concerned about the precedent it creates for manufacturers to cut out the dealer

CyberTruck bumper cars.
CyberTruck bumper cars | Leasefetcher

Dealers aren’t worried about Tesla itself. But they are concerned about the precedent it creates for manufacturers to cut out the dealer system. Recently, Volvo announced it will stop selling cars through dealerships. As you can imagine, Volvo dealers are not happy.

But Volvo says that dealers are needed more than ever to service cars and fulfill the delivery and satisfaction of buyers. So Volvo dealers will be paid to complete the transaction and also make a profit on service and parts. But we’re sure dealers aren’t happy they won’t be making any percentage off of the sale of the car. 

It’s a brave new world and things are changing in the car business. From the electric zeitgeist and alternative fuels to mega-stores like CarMax and AutoNation. While circumstances seemed fairly constant for a few decades it will be a bumpy ride in the car biz over the next few years. 

RELATED: People Are Losing Their S**t Over Tesla Cybertruck

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How Fast Can a Car Go in Reverse?

by Gabrielle DeSantis

If you have ever seen the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious in which the film’s lead, Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker), drives a Mitsubishi EVO 7 in reverse while on the freeway, then you might have wondered if that’s even possible. After all, the cars in that movie are supposedly pushing high horsepower figures among other modifications. But apparently, driving a car in reverse at freeway speeds doesn’t have as much to do with how much power it has and more to do with its gear ratios and tire size.

Understanding gear ratios an important part of the equation

A model from Romford poses with a Mitsubishi Evo as part of a national tour to promote the film 2Fast 2Furious. | (Photo by Tim Whitby – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)

RELATED: The ‘Fast and Furious’ Movies Wrecked an Insane Amount of Cars …

Before we can understand how fast a car can go in reverse, we must first understand what gear ratios are. Every car, whether it’s outfitted with an automatic or manual transmission, has a set of gears inside of it. And for every gear, there is a gear ratio or the ratio between the teeth on “drive gear” in the transmission in relation to the teeth on the “driven gear.”

Every gear in the transmission has both a drive gear and a driven gear or, technically speaking, one gear on the input shaft and another on the output shaft, which mesh together. Drive Tribe explains this very well in the video below, but we’ll try and sum it up for you.

To use their example, the EVO 7 has a first gear with 14 teeth on the driving gear and 41 teeth on the driven gear. If you divide the driven gear number by the driving gear number, then you’ll get the gear ratio for that car’s first gear.

41/14 = 2.928

This means that for every 2.928 revolutions that the driving gear turns, the driven gear turns once. As you get higher in the gears, that ratio number begins to decrease. This means that the fifth gear in that set is 0.72, however, the lower number means that the car gets up to a higher speed.

Some simple algebra can solve the equation of driving in reverse

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Don’t worry, we’re not going to inundate you with any crazy equations that might trigger your PTSD from when you took algebra high school. Instead, we’ll break down how fast a car can drive in reverse with just a few simple factors.

In order to find out how fast any car can go in reverse, you’ll need the following factors:

  • All of the gear ratios in the transmission
  • Circumference of the wheels
  • Engine’s rev limit

We’ll stick with Drive Tribe’s example since it’s easier to understand. Basically, if you want to find out how fast you can drive in each gear, then you’ll need to multiply that gear ratio by the final drive ratio (the gearing in the differential).

Next, you’ll need to find the circumference of the wheel. In the EVO 7’s case, it would be roughly 22 inches, which you then multiply by Pi (3.14).

Lastly, you’ll need the engine’s rev limit, which is 8,000 rpm for the EVO 7. And when you plug all of these numbers into the equation, you’ll get the maximum speed in each gear:

Since the EVO 7 has a reverse gear ratio of 3.416, you’ll get a maximum speed of 35.56 mph. As you can see, that’s hardly enough speed to drive on a highway in reverse at a manageable pace.

Gearing matters more than power

As we can see, this little math session has shown us that driving a car at its top speed in reverse doesn’t depend on the car’s power. Instead, it mainly matters how much of a reverse gear ratio you have to use. One YouTuber proved this as well when he filmed himself topping out a Ford Fusion in reverse and getting up to 38 mph, only to do the test again in a 500-hp Mercedes and receiving the same results.

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