RV review: 2025 Grand Design Imagine XLS 22RBE—nice floor plan

Today’s RV review is of the 2025 Grand Design Imagine XLS 22RBE. This is a trailer we looked at a couple of years ago and, I’m finding, the longer we spend these times together the more we start to look at things we’ve seen before. 

So, really, what’s changed in this floor plan? Well, when I went to school to learn to put these words together something I learned was not to bury the lead. That means, essentially, to put the most important facts first. So let’s start there now that I’ve blathered on about burying the lead. 

Grand Design Imagine XLS 22RBE from the road

Starting at the road, Grand Design has adopted Goodyear Endurance tires (hooray) instead of the MayPop brand some companies use, and that were here the last time we looked at this trailer. The company says the trailer is prepped for a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). I think that should be a legal requirement, but you don’t get one from Grand Design. 

You should, if they consider themselves “Grand” in any way. 

But what you do get are anti-lock brakes now. To me, that is one of the most important safety features you can add to a towable RV. This is the key fact about what’s changed in this trailer. You can’t buy a vehicle nowadays without anti-lock braking. It’s still almost unheard of in towables, but you get it standard on this trailer. 

It’s not so much that this system helps shorten stopping distances, although that’s huge. But it also helps you maintain control in situations where you might otherwise lose control. 

Unfortunately, Grand Design specifies the cheapest suspension they can get for this trailer: a simple leaf spring design with dry bolts. So, I would upgrade that if I were doing any significant towing. Can you tell I’m not a fan of these simple suspensions? 

The fewer road irregularities your suspension absorbs, the more they are translated into the trailer itself, i.e., the harder the lousy roads in this country are on your RV. Simple. 

While we’re under the trailer looking around, the underbelly is enclosed with warm air ducted from the furnace into this space. The dump valves are enclosed in this space as, well, so you could camp in colder places. Funny—some companies talk about being able to camp in colder weather and then their gate valves are exposed, which are likely to freeze. 

Grand Design Imagine 22RBE - 2025

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What’s inside the Grand Design Imagine XLS 22RBE

Something I think Grand Design does very well is floor plans. While others are good at copying Grand Design’s floor plans (and sometimes putting a real suspension on them), Grand Design really leads the charge in floor plan imagination. 

When I first saw this I was surprised that the slide room was on the camp side, rather than the road side. But looking at the floor plan, it makes a lot of sense. 

What you get here is a really great kitchen with a lot of counter space. As if the existing space weren’t enough, you then get a flip-up countertop extension. 

Since there’s all that counter space, there are also a lot of drawers below the counter and then cabinets above. The cabinets are punctuated with a television but, really, this is great storage in a travel trailer that’s not too long. 

There’s your usual 12-volt fridge and three-burner oven and something else that’s common in Grand Design products, that lousy 17” oven. This oven is like seeing a supermodel with one of those nose rings like they put on cattle. So close to perfect and then that. I’m sure all the supermodels with nose rings are going to write in and tell me how beautiful it is. 

In the slide, you have a couch that has flip-up footrests on either side, essentially doing theater seat duty. There’s also a portable table included. It’s height-adjustable, so you can use it as a dining table, a coffee table, or even additional counter space. I like it. 

If that’s not your jam, you can opt for a U-shaped dinette here instead. 

The bedroom in the Grand Design Imagine XLS 22RBE

At the front of this trailer is a bedroom separated from the rest of the living space with a sliding door. Here, you’ll find a proper queen-sized bed. In typical Grand Design fashion, there is hanging space on either side of the bed and a couple of drawers, to boot. Further, there are cubbies on either side of the bed with household and USB power outlets in them. 

The bed lifts, as you would expect. But there’s a sliding compartment under the bed that you might not expect. Nice. 

There’s a padded headboard and a couple of reading lights along with more cabinet storage above the bed and storage under the bed. Grand Design does a very good job designing sleeping spaces in these trailers. 

At the opposite end of the trailer is another example of grand design, the bathroom. This one spans the width of the trailer—which always means lots of space to change or just think out world problems. 

I like that the shower features a flexible shower door that squeegees itself when you roll it open or closed. I am no fan of glass shower doors because I have seen them shatter—this one won’t. 

There’s also a surprising amount of counter space in the bathroom—I’m very glad the company didn’t decide to put in two sinks and provided useful space for us campers instead. Of course, there’s more cabinet space here, too. 

Some Tony rants

Something I really, really like about this floor plan is the steps. Rather than being those solid steps that flip up into the doorway, these are proper, aluminum, travel trailer steps. You don’t have to spend time fiddling with the feet so the steps land properly when you’re at a roadside potty stop and just pee your pants before you can ever get those dumb solid steps adjusted so you don’t put a dent in the side of your camper. 

I’m not saying I don’t appreciate the solidity of those solid steps, but I do despise them for so many reasons. My wife does, too, as a friend of ours launched a frog into their trailer that was resting under the steps. Peggy is no fan of frogs. 

Plus, they just bring outside dirt inside (the steps and the frogs), unless you spend time cleaning them. Just put these steps onto the camper already. If they’re not solid enough, you can always add these step stabilizers. 

Bargain basement vent fans

You’ve already seen my rant about the oven, but there are two bargain basement vent fans in here that do nothing but make noise. Yes, it’s really easy to install a replacement. But it drives me nuts to buy something that does nothing and I’m just going to throw away. C’mon, Grand Design. Let me opt for a real vent fan already. 

The same’s true of the suspension. Perhaps have a Grander Design line that specs more premium components like a real oven, real suspension, and real vent fans. Throw in a Furrion Chill Cube or Truma Aventa while you’re at it. Not everyone will be willing to buy the upgraded models but enough will and we won’t be buying something just to throw out perfectly good, but lousy, components. Now that would be Grand. 

Boondocking and travel access

Something I really like about this floor plan is that it’s equally usable with the slide in or out, other than you’re not supposed to sit on the couch when the slide is in.

In fact, I wonder if this would sell with no slide room whatsoever? Quite honestly this is such a good floor plan that, if they offered it without a slide, I’d buy one. I like it that much.

As for boondocking, Grand Design doesn’t really offer much in the way of upgrades to the standard solar package. However, they do provide provisions so you can. There’s a 180-watt panel on the roof, and they provide a 40-amp charge controller so you could add additional panels without much trouble.

The Grand Design Imagine XLS 22RBE

Overall, I absolutely love this floor plan. The slide on the camp side would work so well in my world because I moochdock with my sister and my aunt and, in both cases, having the slide on the camp side would work really well. 

In addition to the anti-lock brakes on the 2025 model, Grand Design has also employed those horizontal light bars inside as opposed to the puck lights in previous models. 

This also employs a BAL^® frame from Norco Industries, rather than one built by Lippert. That company uses huck bolts to put their frames together rather than welding them and claims this is a stronger construction. 

More about these RV reviews

These RV reviews are written based on information provided by the manufacturers along with our writer’s own research. They are based on information from a single unit and may not reflect your actual experience. Shop your RV and dealership carefully before making a buying decision. We receive no money or other financial benefits from these reviews. They are intended only as a brief overview of the vehicle, not a comprehensive critique, which would require a thorough inspection and/or test drive.

Tony comes to RVtravel.com having worked at an RV dealership and been a life long RV enthusiast. He also has written the syndicated Curbside column about cars. He also works closely with a number of RV manufacturers to get an inside look at how things are done and is a brand ambassador for Rockwood Mini Lite with his wife, Peggy.

You can also check out his RV podcast with his wife, Peggy. 

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