Upgrading to a 2020.5 Winnebago Travato GL from 2016 Travato G – Was it Worth It?

We’ve now had Blooper, our new-to-us 2020.5 Travato GL, for 3 months.

And we’ve been asked multiple times if the upgrade from our 2016 Travato G (Cooper) has been worth it, and if the upgrade addressed our complaints we shared back in September.

So now that we have several camping trips under our belt with the new ride – let’s go through our design flaw list.

If you want to refer back to the full list:

Winnebago 2016 Travato 59G Design Flaws: Time For a New Van?

And for a full tour of Blooper:

Blooper: Our 2020.5 Winnebago Travato 59GL Van Conversion

(Note, some links to gear/products within may be Amazon affiliate links.)

Video Version

ProMaster Chassis (Mostly outside Winnebago’s Control)

The 2020.5 and 2016 are on nearly the exact same version of the Dodge Ram ProMaster Chassis, except the front emblem changed from a classy image of a Ram’s head to a cheesy looking big bold word that seems to be yelling – “RAM”.

Because the chassis hasn’t changed – all of our complaints about lack of modern safety driving features and awful default navigation still stand.

We’ve already replaced the default head unit with a Kenwood Excelon DMX957XR with wireless CarPlay – and we’re loving it.

In the 2021 model year, Winnebago started including a lower end CarPlay compatible head unit as a stock upgrade over the factory unit, but we are happier to have ended up with wireless CarPlay, which has proven to be oh so convenient.

The other major chassis upgrade… Winnebago heard from so many Travato owners who had done the Sumo Springs suspension upgrade for a smoother ride, that in the 2020.5 model – they made that a factory default standard. And we have to say, the ride on Blooper is noticeably better than even our Sumo-upgraded 2016 model.

We don’t know if that’s just a better factory Sumo install than our aftermarket one, or perhaps our 2016 might have had a more worn out suspension in general.

Or maybe it is just the better insulation and overall build quality the eliminates a lot of shakes and rattles?

But whatever it is – the overall driving experience is even nicer (and MUCH quieter!) then before!

Climate Issues

The AC that came with the 2016 was an obnoxiously loud Coleman, and it was a prime driver for us wanting an upgrade.

In 2020.5 Winnebago made standard the Coleman Mach 10 NDQ – and it’s a definitely a huge improvement. It’s almost silent on the outside whereas you could hear the old one several campsites away, and substantially more quiet on the inside (and yes, we’ve had to run it already here in Florida this winter).

It could be even quieter inside, but we’ll take it. At least we can hear ourselves think.

The new model also has a digital thermostat for setting the temperature by degree, downward air vents and control via smartphone. It’s supposed to be more energy efficient too, so better for running off the Lithium batteries.

The placement is still over the bed, which we still don’t feel is ideal for equal distribution of cool air van-wide.

On the downgrade side, somewhere along the way there was some regulation put in place due to the placement of the Max Air vent fan over the kitchen being too close to the black tank vent, that forced Winnebago to install an airflow OUT only version of the fan.

We sometimes prefer the fan to be used to bring in outdoor air from above, but sadly that is no longer an option.

Kitchen / Galley

The kitchen is still mostly the same in the 2020.5 – same silly fold down Dometic sink and propane burner stovetop (this is upgraded in the 2022 model to an induction cooktop and residential style sink – finally!).

However, Winnebago did add in a little window in the kitchen – which is a much larger improvement than it seems. The extra light in the back is amazing, and Kiki loves having a window view while she laps up her water. The window also bumps out the wall behind the counter a bit, adding a little bit of a shelf which is perfect for storing things like spices.

The counter also has an extension, which we didn’t have in the 2016 – a fantastic improvement.

But the biggest change is the fridge & freezer. The 3-way Dometic fridge/freezer combo is replaced with a AC/DC compressor fridge & freezer by NovaKool.

It’s much larger, especially the freezer – allowing for actual provisioning for more than a couple nights. And it’s quiet, and there is no longer any fuss needed fighting to get the propane to start.

This does come at the expense of a more narrow wardrobe/pantry (which still came defaulted as a wardrobe – our prior owner converted it). But that’s fine by us, we prefer fresh and frozen foods to pantry stuff.

Interior Issues – Bathroom

The bathroom hasn’t gotten too much attention in the 2020.5 model, but there are a couple of small notable improvements:

• Brighter LED lighting.
• Bamboo floor mat (it used to be just a piece of slimy vinyl flooring you had to remove to shower)
• Oxygenics shower head standard (we’ve loved these water saving heads for years!)

And it is nice to have a working sliding door – we’re being extra delicate with it, as we experienced how fragile they can be with our 2016 coming to us already constantly failing.

There are bigger changes coming in the bathroom of the upcoming 2022 Travato G models – with a raised floor giving less headroom, but eliminating the need for the shower drain pump since there is now space underneath for a gravity drain.

There isn’t much headroom to spare – so it is hard to know whether this will be an actual improvement overall.

Volta Energy System

Upgrading from the G (with just standard AGM batteries) to the GL (with the Volta Power system with a gigantic 48 volt lithium battery system) was one of our primary reasons for wanting to upgrade to a new van.

We’ve been RV lithium geeks since 2011, and it just didn’t feel like “us” having a van without ample lithium on board.

We also really really really hate the sound (and maintenance requirements) of needing to frequently run a generator.

Instead of a generator – the Travato GL has an absolutely massive second alternator on the engine that can pump as much as 8000 watts into the battery, allowing the full system to charge in just a typical day’s worth of driving.

And the battery and inverter are large enough that you can run pretty much everything you might want off of just the battery – including extreme usage like running the microwave and air conditioner at the same time.

All this – without needing to be plugged in!

The battery is large enough to provide several days of typical usage (no AC) without needing to plug in or drive.

Or if the battery does get low, the system can be set to auto-start the engine – charging everything back up in a fraction of a time it would take with a generator.

It is almost the ideal electrical system – but there is still some room for improvement.

For one thing – the simplified system on/off switch and analog electric “Fuel Gauge” is great 90% of the time, but more advanced information and diagnostics are completely absent. Even when plugged in, the DC to DC converter has to run pretty much non-stop, so you hear their fans pretty much all the time.

And there are plenty of rough edges that we hope that Volta and Winnebago are working to address – like the pointless non-intuitive inverter remote control that makes it easy to accidentally leave the inverter on wasting power even when you don’t need it.

The solar setup on the GL is almost pointless too – the controller provides no indication it is even working, charging is disabled if you put the Volta system to sleep (so you never get topped up while just parking), and the panels are so undersized that they can’t even keep up with the parasitic draw of having the system turned on.

But overall we like the system – and we love not being dependent on a generator.

And Kiki loves that we can leave the AC on for her in a parking lot without worry while we run errands – an incredibly important thing for pet owners!

Travato Entertainment Systems

The stock entertainment hasn’t changed much at all – you still get a low end TV on a low function swing arm, a Jensen entertainment system that is pretty much pointless, and crappy outdoor speakers.

But new is a shelf above the Jensen for extra storage, and a “Roof Access” conduit from the ‘tech cabinet’ behind the TV to the roof to more more easily run cabling to antennas.

Our prior owner has already done the same TV arm mod we did on our 2016 that allows better desk placement and viewing from bed, and when we moved in we upgraded the stock low-end 720p TV to a 24″ Vizio D-Series 1080p model that works better as a monitor, and which has built in AirPlay for interfacing easily with our Apple gear.

When we do extended travel, we will swap in our 27″ LG UltraFine 5K monitor for an even better mobile office experience. You can never have too many pixels.

Living Area

We love that the layout hasn’t changed in the 2020.5 from the 2016 – it’s the exact floor plan we love.

On the upcoming 2022 model (which we might have been ‘stuck’ with has we done a pre-order for a new model) there have been drastic changes to this area that likely won’t work for our desk space needs for two. Namely they’ve removed the big table, replaced the dinette with two uncomfy looking automotive seats and removed the side ottoman.  We love the flexibility of our layout and being able to convert from dining, working, relaxing (couch mode) and even sleeping an extra person.

Our 2020.5 interior though is lighter in color, which really opens things up. We have Ultraleather seats and dinette, which is posh in comparison to our 2016 with cloth seats and vinyl. The cabinets feel better built and a bit more substantial, and the new flooring is so much easier to keep clean.

Winnebago has added in an integrated front windshield blind system that is pretty nifty – but feels delicate, and is doesn’t look finished when not deployed. But it’s nice to not have to store shaded separately.

The included front cabin side window shades are super annoying though – we just replaced then with much better ones from VanMade.

We love the new dual pane awning windows – they allow for open windows during the rain, and provide better insulation from outdoor sounds and temperatures.

The new cassette style shades/screens are pretty nice, but not cat-proof (Kiki can stick her paws & head right through them.)

But I think our favorite upgrade is the slider door screen system.

Instead of the incredibly fragile slider screen that was on our 2016, on the 2020.5 there’s a roll down system by Rolef that is pretty darn awesome. Easy to deploy, and then you have a magnet ‘door’ for easy entry.

You can even, gasp, close the slider door without destroying the screen. What a concept. We just need to figure out how to cat proof it with more magnets along the bottom now.

Exterior

Our favorite exterior feature of our 2020.5 is the blue color – it takes our breath away, just so gorgeous. We feel so blessed this particular van came our way, as the blue was a limited run.

We also particularly love the running boards and having an always there easy step out of the van – no more waiting for the electric slide step to deploy.

And the power awning no longer has arms, so deployment is super easy no matter how far we want to put it out.

Our 2020.5 also came standard with the luggage rack and ladder system, which has been super helpful for us in our antenna and mobile internet gear testing (we’re constantly having to switch stuff out).

So.. was it worth it?

That would be a huge YES!

We are so super happy with Blooper, and look forward to many future adventures together.

We plan to do some future posts and videos on modifications made to Blooper (both by our prior owner and us), as well as accessories that we have found worthwhile. We also had opportunity to film a K vs G floorpan video with some friends who have the same model year version of the KL – that should be fun!

If you have any other Travato/van topics you’d like us to address in the future, let us know in the comments and we’ll do our best to work it into future content.