If you take a walk through an RV show today, you might be shocked at the mind-boggling prices some companies and dealers will ask for a camper. There are vans out there that cost more than a nice house. But it doesn’t have to be that way. While the expensive toys get all of the headlines, the industry still makes some rock-bottom, cheap units. This new 2026 Open Range Colt 13BH CTR is only $9,000. Yet, it has everything a couple or a very small family needs to have fun this summer.
If you’re shopping for a camper on a budget, I’d usually recommend finding a used unit from a brand that’s known for quality. Sure, a well-loved Airstream will be pre-farted in by at least one other family, but an old Airstream is likely to have many years of service left in it. Likewise, finding an old fiberglass pup like a Scamp can also result in more smiles than frowns down the road.
However, there are legitimate reasons to buy new. A new trailer will come with a warranty, should have plenty of parts still available, and won’t be deemed an eyesore by campgrounds that are afraid of RVs that are older than 10 years old. You also don’t have to learn about any nasty surprises hidden by previous owners. On the flipside, you should have no expectation that a brand-new $9,000 camper is built well, and, given the state of the RV industry right now, there’s a non-zero chance it breaks the first time you take it out. That’s from my own experience and years of reporting on the RV industry.
So, I always recommend taking the time and thinking about what you want out of an RV purchase. Do you want something that you can keep in the family for a while? Do you want something that you can use right this second and enjoy for a few years or so? If you come to the conclusion that new is right for you, let’s take a look at what spending only $9,000 get you in today’s market.
Keeping It Affordable
The RV industry has consistently sold small hard-sided travel trailers at around the $10,000 mark for years now. It’s weirdly refreshing. The prices of everything else seem to keep getting higher, but some of the RV companies from Indiana are still slinging rolling hotel rooms for the low price of $10,000 or so. It’s almost impressive that these $10,000 trailers remain fully-equipped, too. Even the car industry won’t sell you a vehicle for under $20,000 anymore unless there’s some cash on the hood.
Back when I went to the 2026 Florida RV SuperShow in January, I thought I found the new king of cheap. That camper was the Coachmen Clipper 12RD (above), which was $9,999 at the beginning of this year. Something I strongly dislike about the RV industry is the constantly fluctuating prices. Currently, the Clipper can be found for $10,000 to $13,000, with most units at $11,000 and up. Last year’s king, the Keystone Coleman 13B, was $10,399 in January. Now, you can find them for around $9,100 to $10,000.
Since RV prices are about as fluid as water, the new cheap champ on the market appears to be the 2026 Open Range Colt 13BH CTR at $8,999.
The Young Horse
Open Range is technically a younger face in the RV world. It was founded in 2007 by Randy Graber in Shipshewana, Indiana. At that time, Graber had a 25-year career in the RV industry. He cut his teeth selling Newmar coaches before landing management and development positions at KZ RV and Keystone RV. In 2014, Jayco purchased Open Range, renaming it to Highland Ridge RV. In 2016, Jayco, along with its brands, was purchased by Thor Industries. Weirdly, despite the rename, Open Range remains the brand name that’s printed on Highland Range’s trailers.
What made Open Range attractive in its early years was its emphasis on fifth wheel floorplans that offered more space and storage while keeping weight low. It was also championed as an Indiana brand that wasn’t owned by one of the mega RV conglomerates. Of course, that last one is no longer true.
Like most super cheap campers, the build isn’t much to write about. The Colt features wood framing, lauan plywood wall backing, and a PVC membrane roof. I do like the aluminum exterior siding, which looks classy and won’t suffer from delamination issues like fiberglass siding sometimes does.
The exterior alone illustrates the cost-cutting. You get only a basic steel frame, a single propane tank without a cover, an old-school crank tongue jack, and only two stabilizer jacks. It even has the old-school coach-mounted staircase. The only real modern touch to the exterior is the power awning.
Moving inside, the cost-cutting continues. There’s a bed immediately to your right, and it has a thin, strangely-shaped mattress. The bed frame also serves as the nightstand, and above that is a cabinet without doors or nets.
A common quirk with super cheap trailers is a kitchen that doesn’t have matching materials, and that’s the case here. The basic two-burner stove, microwave, outlets, and faucet are black, but the sink basin is white. The wall unit 8,000 BTU air-conditioner is also white.
The bathroom contains a shower and a toilet. The only weird thing here is that the toilet sits on a platform. Otherwise, it’s business as usual for a cheap camper. The shower’s walls are exposed to water from the shower, and there is no backsplash for the stove, either. The one splash of luxury comes from hardwood cabinet doors on the few cabinets that have doors.
Aside from the main bed, there is a pair of bunk beds with even thinner mattresses that hold 300 pounds, each. At the most, you’re getting four people in here, and I hope two of those people are kids. You’ll need to get creative if you cook when it’s raining outside, too, because there’s no dinette.
Again, none of this is outside of the norm for a $10,000 trailer. You get everything you need and nothing you don’t. The ceiling sits 6’6″ high inside, and the whole trailer is 16 feet long. Of that, 13 feet is the body. In terms of holding tanks, there’s a 30-gallon fresh tank, a 19.9-gallon gray tank, and a 39-gallon waste tank. The empty weight is 3,065 pounds, and the loaded weight is 3,700.
Technically, this trailer has an MSRP of $20,693. That includes the mandatory CTR Edition package for $4,875, which includes tinted windows, an air-conditioner, a power awning, a stove, a furnace, window shades, a tongue jack, and more.
What’s really stupid to me is that Highland Ridge advertises the base price of this trailer to be $15,818, but you literally cannot order a Colt for that price. What’s Highland Ridge going to do, sell you a trailer without a tongue? Again, I have to roll my eyes excessively hard at the opaque way that RVs are often priced.
The silly pricing is irrelevant, anyway, as I found more than two dozen of these trailers for sale, brand new, at General RV for $8,999. These trailers can be found at General RV locations as far west as Illinois, as far south as Florida, and at numerous dealers further east.
There is a small caveat that these trailers are not the absolute cheapest RVs I’ve found. I also found a single Coleman 13B at a Camping World for $8,400. However, I have been able to consistently find these Colts at different dealers for $8,999.
A Step Up From A Tent
Highland Ridge pitches the baby Colt as a direct step up from a tent or a tent trailer, and I can definitely see that. This trailer doesn’t have crazy LED lighting, slides, giant boomboxes, an outdoor entertainment area, a patio, or anything like that. It’s not even employing Azdel or any truly modern construction material. This is very much an old-school camper for the modern day.
If that’s something you’re looking for, it looks like you’ll have no problem finding one of these for dirt cheap. Again, I would not expect stellar longevity or quality. However, at the same time, there’s not a whole lot to break in this trailer, anyway. I have little doubt that you’ll be able to have some fun road trips in this tiny guy. I’d be delighted to take one of these to EAA AirVenture this year if I could.
For all of the dumb ways the RV industry can be aggravating, from the pricing to its continued use of tropical plywood, I’m at least happy that camper companies have not abandoned the lower end of the market. Recently, we wrote about how Honda wants to “democratize camping” with its white pod. Honestly, I think this trailer is closer to that goal than what Honda is working on. Just make sure you keep that roof maintained.
The post It’s Almost Impressive That Spending Only $9,000 Can Still Get You A Pretty Loaded Brand New Camper Trailer Right Now appeared first on The Autopian.
