Why we bought the Winnebago Ekko 23b, aka SPREKKO

Happy Thanksgiving 2025 to our United States readers! We’re staying at my in-laws’ home in Sacramento, California, and I had some time to write before the feast. We’ve spent time with my in-laws, who are both 95 years old, and took some time to go birding along the American River behind their house. We saw Common Goldeneyes, Common mergansers, Buffleheads, Mallards, Canada geese, a Snowy Egret, a Great Egret, Western bluebirds, California Scrub-Jays, California towhees, House finches, Yellow-rumped warblers, Black Phoebes and more.

Today, I wanted to share why we bought a Winnebago Ekko 23b. I hope this is helpful for those of you considering a major purchase in 2026.

We started out tent camping in the 1990s, added a popup trailer that could sleep seven people and managed to squeeze in eight people, though a few of those were little people. Once our kids left home, we knew we wanted something a little more convenient than a popup trailer. Having to unpack the tent portions and pull out the sliders became tedious after all those years. And not needing a place for the kids to sleep convinced us we could go with something smaller. Plus, we’re relatively small people. I’m 5’7” and Bill is 5’8”, which gives us an advantage when it comes to small spaces. We tuck in quite easily.

For a few years, we camped in the back of our Ford Explorer. But one rainy weekend with our wet black lab, Polka, sleeping beside our damp sleeping bags and all our stuff piled into the front seats to stay dry convinced us we needed a change. One thing we’ve always disliked about camping is the packing up and unloading of the car. The popup trailer helped with that, so when we went back to the car, we realized we no longer wanted that hassle.

We were also experienced enough campers to know that we didn’t want a fifth wheel or an RV the size of a Greyhound bus. We were excited to tour a luxury RV. It had a king bed, his-and-her sinks, a washing machine and dryer, two bathrooms, movie theater recliners and so much more. It was like being in a small house. But to me, it didn’t feel like … well … camping. There’s something about traveling small in the world and a little roughing it that we like. Maybe if we were living in our RV full-time I would have a different opinion.

We had seen a few Winnebago Travatos on the roads of New Mexico and really liked their look. But when we viewed them, we realized their clearance and the lack of AWD would mean it would be difficult to reach the areas of our state we most wanted to explore. When you’re driving on interstates 40 or 25, you think all there is out there is high desert. Not so. There are many hidden valleys, ghost towns, canyons that only an AWD can reach. One example from years ago was a pool of water in the desert with red-rock cliffs rising on one side that had red hanging flowers all around. It was a hidden paradise. It was also 14 miles down a rutted road that we barely managed to get down with our Subaru Forester. From my vantage point today, I would have never done that trip in that car! And I knew a trip like that couldn’t be safe, perhaps not even done, in a Travato.

One rainy weekend last summer, we happened on the Ekko online. I spent an entire afternoon reading the owners manual. Over the next few weeks, we read owners’ blogs and vlogs and YouTube reviews. Here’s what we liked about the Ekko:

• Comfy mattresses that could convert to a queen bed.
• The solar, propane and lithium battery to provide power and heat. 
• The feel of the Mercedes cab, which we discovered when we test drove one.
• The storage area in the back that SPREKKO owners call the “garage” and other outside storage areas.
• Not that we love the toilet, but we like the fact that we have one and don’t have to go outside first thing on a cold morning … or in the middle of the night. 
• That the vehicle is as wide as a normal van. It is longer than a van, so parking in a normal parking spot is not possible, which was a slight con for us.

That’s the pros list. I won’t write about the rest of the cons here because as you’ll see, we ran into a few and those will be the topics of future posts. But we’re still traveling, so they weren’t bad enough to dissuade us from hitting the road. 

When we went to view the Ekkos, the dealership had a used one with 5,000 miles on it that was in great condition. At the same time, a used Ekko with about 10,000 miles was for sale an hour away, which helped us to negotiate what we hope was a fair price.

Until next time,

Heather