quailskid
Texas
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We too had to choose between a Cougar bunkhouse and a Laredo bunkhouse. DH loved the outside storage on the Cougar, but we ended up with the Laredo because of the indoor storage. We are on the road about a month each summer, and the Cougar just didn't have the amount of closet and cabinet space that I needed. We have pulled our Laredo close to 15,000 miles with no problems.
Shawna
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Arcamper
Fayetteville, AR
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milo wrote:07 cougar & it's still going strong.
07 Laredo and its been flawless.
2007 Keystone Laredo 29RL 5th
2008 Dodge 2500 Quad Cab SLT HD 4x4 6.7 Cummins with EB,6 speed auto
2003 Ford F-250 SD Crew Cab 4x4 6.0 Diesel
1994 Chevy 1500 5.7 extended cab PU
Pullrite 16k Superglide with Super Rail kit
Brakesmart & Prodigy P3
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Biggziff
Upstate, NY
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I'm on my 3rd Keystone (Springdale, then 2 Cougar 293SAB) The Springdale was built every bit as good as either of the Cougars. Zero problems.
That "bike rack" is about worthless as a bike rack. It's really a slide out platform with a single post sticking up. Can you lash bicycles to it? Yes. Is it convenient? Absolutely not.
You'll find that throughout most brands, the construction differences are mainly in the exterior and interior finishes. The guts are very similar to keep costs down.
Me and my 3 girls
2013 Cougar 293SAB
2011 F350 CC SWB 6.7
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BlindGuynAR
Bentonville, AR
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BTW we're comparing. Cougar 330RBK vs. Laredo 335TG. We originally liked 324RLB, but found loft very cramped and didn't think in a few years it would fit our needs any longer.
Going to tour the laredo in the morning, but i think we like the cougar.
The laredo's bed slides out and your head being in the slideout figures to make outside noise louder, the bathroom in the cougar is layed out better for us (we like the extra room around the comode). the 2nd door to the bath in the laredo seems non useful since it butts up so close to the bed.
The door leading to the back bedroom on the cougar is hard to open when the hide-a-bed is used and i think the laredos opens the other way witch solves the issue. Door trim and such can prob be flipped to fix it in cougar though as well. (might see if i can get dealer to agree to do this)
Seeming same issue on laredo when both hide-a-beds are used with no way to resolve.
* This post was
edited 05/18/12 08:12am by BlindGuynAR *
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bpounds
Whittier CA
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BlindGuynAR wrote:The door leading to the back bedroom on the cougar is hard to open when the hide-a-bed is used and i think the laredos opens the other way witch solves the issue. Door trim and such can prob be flipped to fix it in cougar though as well. (might see if i can get dealer to agree to do this)
Seeming same issue on laredo when both hide-a-beds are used with no way to resolve.
Looking at the Cougar floorplan, I can see your concerns about the bunkhouse door. Either way it swings, left or right, inward or outward, it is going to be a little tight. And the room is not very useful except when the door is closed. It would have been a good place for a pocket door, but that won't work with the refer cabinet blocking it. What you might consider is just removing the door and hanging a curtain divider. Then the kids can just close it when privacy is needed, but most of the time it can stay open.
2006 F250 Diesel
2011 Keystone Cougar 278RKSWE Fiver
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Cox89XJ
Tennessee
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I've owned a Laredo and now a Cougar. Pick out your floor plan and best deal. They are equal units
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Ken451
southern Ohio
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Our Place wrote:We see a lot of Laredos around us that are starting to delam in the rear side walls. One of them is only 3 years old. When we were looking at buying, we looked at alot of Cougars that were 5 to 7 years old and holding up nicely. Of course owner maintence has alot to do with that.
How does maintenance affect delam?
2012 Keystone Cougar 327RES 5th wheel
2006 Sundowner horse trailer with living quarters
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captbru
Crystal River FL
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The back wall's is not a delamination. They have what you call a floating wall because the wiring is running back there. There is nothing wrong with the wall's that's the way there built. Check with Keystone and they will state the same thing. I checked beofre buying.
2011 Keystone Laredo Fifth Wheel 310RE
2012 GMC 3500HD Dually 4x4 Duramax/Allision
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Biggziff
Upstate, NY
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Ken451 wrote:Our Place wrote:We see a lot of Laredos around us that are starting to delam in the rear side walls. One of them is only 3 years old. When we were looking at buying, we looked at alot of Cougars that were 5 to 7 years old and holding up nicely. Of course owner maintence has alot to do with that.
How does maintenance affect delam?
I'd love to hear the response to this as well. 
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FunnyCamper
Southeastern
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Joined: 09/29/2011
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BlindGuynAR wrote:Both have floor plans we like. Both seem to be the same construction quality.
Laredo seems to have auto leveling which would figure into a stronger frame. It would be great to not mess with Legos anymore!
Cougar has a bike rack/cargo platform on the back and also a remote control for controlling various things like jacks, hitch lights, etc
Laredo dealer says it's a step up from Cougar, but Laredo has lower price and therefore less features. I can't see that the remote or rack are even an option on Laredo? Of course the Cougar deal says its the other way around.
With auto level there would be less need for the remote, but that back rack would hold my small genny nicely.
To prevent an impending school yard beat down between dealerships. I wish right? I wish the units could be side by side with opposing salesman. Best unit wins!
So which came first the Cougar or the Laredo? In the steps of which is considered a step up. Which one feels better will probably decide, but hoping to see who yanking my chain harder.
One camper will 'feel better and more homier' than the other most times. Even if I like the floorplan on paper, when I walk in to it I know right off the bat if I love it.
So if you love 2 floorplans, there will be 'a feel' of one camper that trumps the other.
cougar and laredo are both very nice campers. I don't think they are so different as one trumps the other in construction etc.
go with the interior that feels best! you never can go wrong in that decision usually.
AND have both campers priced. We priced up a Sabre. Got great deal. Nice floorplan, kinda what we wanted. Then we hit the Wildcat. The Wildcat dealer made us a wonderful price trying to beat the Sabre dealers numbers. We loved the Wildcat floorplan way over the Sabre but since the Wildcat dealer was trying to convince us the Wildcat was better, he came in to beat the Sabre dealers numbers. So we won on that one. 
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