[Uncle George]

My wife wants to know if there is any reason that she can't turn her swivel seat facing the rear while we are traveling. She wants to work on her laptop. I saw somewhere that if the seat is facing rearward and not in a locked forward position that the van won't start. Can you swivel it after it has started?
Anyone know if that is true? Not sure if there are any legal or safety issues. Seems like you'd be more cushioned and protected in a crash but maybe not.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

If you have that seat option please let us know.

 

[Uncle George]

Don't know yet. Was wanting to clear up a few things about the swivel seats as I am purchasing new ProMaster this spring, 118 WB/LR or maybe 136 WB/LR. Still shifting things around on my build drawings and am on the fence about the swivel seats. Probably will order right after January or so as dealer said 6 to 8 weeks delivery ordering what I wanted. I like that Sandstone Metallic.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

I have that color and it is nice as the van always looks clean and the color is warm and pleasant. BTW the dealer doesn’t know what he is talking about as the van will be closer to 16 weeks if you order it like I did. There are a few vans with the swivel seats so you should get an answer whether the van will run with the passenger seat turned. If you want swivels get the factory ones as they have been described here as much easier to swivel, integrated seatbelt, clean install, and no more expensive than aftermarket swivels and lowered bases which at your heights you will want.

 

[Uncle George]

After reading a lot of posts on the aftermarket swivels I had pretty much decided on factory ones. Appreciate your info on them. My dad had a car that color and like you say it seemed to look clean most of the time. Dealers will say anything to sell you. "Can I get a ProMaster with 4 wheel drive?" "Sure have you one here in a coupla weeks. My brother has one and it is the cat's meow!

 

[mloganusda]

I own the Ram ProMaster Winnebago Trend RV and it has the swivel seats. The van will not start with the seat in the reverse mode and will give a loud bussing noise in this position. There is a switch at the base of the seats that must be defeated to allow the rear facing position while driving. I have not done this but in another RV (Rialta) I did this by unplugging the wire and no bussing. The Rialta would start and drive with the switch defeated.
To defeat the seat position will be at your own risk and not sure of the safety risk or problems.

MLogan
2017 Trend
Smyrna, TN

 

[Uncle George]

Thanks mloganusda! That's just the info I was lookin' for. Wife and I have looked at lot of RVs as we once had a Class C and was great. We eventually had to get rid of it because the HOA ruled against parking it in our own driveway. It wasn't a junky Class C, was very nice and fairly new. So we now are older and have the financial ability to travel around the states but nowhere to park a Class C or even a Class B+ like yours. Out of all the RVs we looked at and drooled over the Trend was our favorite by far. We're in the process of building our own low roof travel van that we can park in our driveway. Won't be camping in it as we are AirBNB fans, just adding on the road conveniences, 2 bunks for naps, Maxxair fan, hanging clothes closet and shoe storage, Engel cooler, itty bitty sink, portapotty, tea kettle and such. Again love the Trend with full rear bath and those bunk beds. Very nicely laid out. Just curious, what kind of mpg are you getting and thanks again for the swivel seat info.

 

[Josh Cissell]

Thanks mloganusda! That's just the info I was lookin' for. Wife and I have looked at lot of RVs as we once had a Class C and was great. We eventually had to get rid of it because the HOA ruled against parking it in our own driveway. It wasn't a junky Class C, was very nice and fairly new. So we now are older and have the financial ability to travel around the states but nowhere to park a Class C or even a Class B+ like yours. Out of all the RVs we looked at and drooled over the Trend was our favorite by far. We're in the process of building our own low roof travel van that we can park in our driveway. Won't be camping in it as we are AirBNB fans, just adding on the road conveniences, 2 bunks for naps, Maxxair fan, hanging clothes closet and shoe storage, Engel cooler, itty bitty sink, portapotty, tea kettle and such. Again love the Trend with full rear bath and those bunk beds. Very nicely laid out. Just curious, what kind of mpg are you getting and thanks again for the swivel seat info.

I just installed the swivels r us swivels yesterday. They are super smooth and no problems swiveling around. Really easy install. I'm 5'9" and the added seat height is no problem. Feet still flat on the floor. With those swivels what you want to accomplish should be no problem.

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

 

[mloganusda]

Just did a 5K round trip to Eastern Canada this summer on a Winnebago Outdoor Tour from TN. Driving between 55-65 mph and towing a Smart Car the avg. mpg was 14 mpg. I love driving the Pro Master Trend and no problems so far. The Rialta I owned (2004) with the VW 2.8L gave me 15-17 mpg but was a little small for long term travel.

MLogan
2017 Trend
Smyrna, TN

 

[Uncle George]

I just installed the swivels r us swivels yesterday. They are super smooth and no problems swiveling around. Really easy install. I'm 5'9" and the added seat height is no problem. Feet still flat on the floor. With those swivels what you want to accomplish should be no problem.

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

Thanks for sharing your experience with those swivels. May go that route as my build plans so far only allow for a passenger seat to swivel. It is a must for my wiggle-worm wife (she's a sweetie!). It'll give her something more to do in addition to reading blogs, Google mapping, internet surfing, knitting and fiddling with all the dash knobs, visors, ac vents and such. My build has a bunk behind the passenger seat so positioned that she can turn herself around while we're driving, lean it back a bit and put up her feet on the bunk like an ottoman and stretch out and do stuff til she falls asleep strapped into her seat, occasionally waking to fill my coffee cup and take my picture for her Instagram thing.

My wife reminded me that child seats for infants are supposed to be installed in a vehicle seat turned around backwards not facing the windshield for safety.

 

[Uncle George]

Just did a 5K round trip to Eastern Canada this summer on a Winnebago Outdoor Tour from TN. Driving between 55-65 mph and towing a Smart Car the avg. mpg was 14 mpg. I love driving the Pro Master Trend and no problems so far. The Rialta I owned (2004) with the VW 2.8L gave me 15-17 mpg but was a little small for long term travel.

MLogan
2017 Trend
Smyrna, TN

Wow great long trip! That's really good mpg pulling a little car. My old Class C pullin' my little mazda pickup behind it got 7-9 mpg with a Chevy 350 cubic inch with a 4:10 rear end. Maybe sometimes 10-11 mpg on flatland with the wind behind me and really paying attention to my vacuum gauge. Funny, when we were looking at the Trend my wife commented that it would probably be able to pull a little car like a Smart Car. Happy Trails.

 

[SteveSS]

I own the Ram ProMaster Winnebago Trend RV and it has the swivel seats. The van will not start with the seat in the reverse mode and will give a loud bussing noise in this position. There is a switch at the base of the seats that must be defeated to allow the rear facing position while driving. I have not done this but in another RV (Rialta) I did this by unplugging the wire and no bussing. The Rialta would start and drive with the switch defeated.
To defeat the seat position will be at your own risk and not sure of the safety risk or problems.

I can confirm factory swivels (2017) have a starter lockout, too, but haven't tried to defeat it (yet).