Today’s RV review is of the 2023 Wildcat 369MBL, a large mid-bunk fifth wheel from Wildcat. I remember selling the Wildcat brand at the dealership I worked at but, apparently, the travel trailers are only available on the left side of the country. It appears that the fifth wheels are universally available, but not the travel trailers.
Interesting. Come to think of it, I believe the travel trailers were made up in Oregon, so I guess that’s that. Which makes me wonder.
There is such a huge number of RV brands out there, how do you all decide what to get? I have often recommended shopping your dealership before you start considering RVs, as a good dealership will make all the difference in the world in your overall experience.
Perhaps that’s why we sold Wildcat trailers—and why we sold a lot of them.
Also, this model replaces the Wildcat 368MB, which we looked at before.
But considering the incredibly vast number of RV brands there are out there, it does make me wonder if someone would seek out a brand or model, or if people just shopped the dealership and then chose the product. This is what I would see quite a bit, actually.
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Mid-bunk
We have looked at a few larger fifth wheels with mid-bunk floor plans. These are really a good idea if you happen to have a larger group that you travel with. But they also work well if you want a separate room for an office or something like that.
The mid-bunk in this is just what I’ve seen in most of the trailers with this floor plan—there’s a couch and flip-up bunk. So if you did have travelers who wanted their own space, this is a place they could have that. If you wanted a den or something along those lines, you could work that out, as well.
The bunk room in the middle also means there’s a space above the bunk room which we used to refer to as baby jail. We called it this because the bars along the side to keep the occupants from rolling out onto the floor kind of look like a jail, in our minds.
One of the nice things about the way Wildcat designed this is that there are actual proper steps going up to this room. This works well if you have occupants who are going to be sleeping up here. But it is also nice if you just want to remove the mattress pad and use this for some sort of storage.
Bumper pull vs. fifth wheel
The most obvious difference between a bumper pull trailer and a fifth wheel is where it attaches to the tow vehicle. Clearly.
But something that also separates many fifth wheels is that they have significantly upgraded features over their bumper pull counterparts. For example, you usually see larger ovens and refrigerators, and often microwaves. So if you like to cook, a fifth wheel could make more sense than a bumper pull for this reason alone.
Further, fifth wheels very often have islands, so kitchen prep space is made even better with that.
The Wildcat 369MBL holds true to that, with a very large 12-volt refrigerator and an island with the sink to add additional cabinet space and counter space. But they also employ the standard stove with 16” oven, so that’s a huge bummer in a rig designed for more occupants.
Fifth wheels also have the benefit of the upper deck. That often means a much bigger bathroom than a bumper pull and, in that case, the stereotypes hold true there, too. This is a nice bathroom with good space.
But, and there always seems to be a but in the bathroom, there’s no medicine cabinet. And there’s your goofy Tonyism for the day.
Living space in the Wildcat 369MBL
Interestingly, Wildcat put the couch at the very back of this space, all the way toward the camp side. They placed a larger cabinet over on the road side. There is so much effort toward symmetry in the RV world, so it’s interesting to see this. It does put you closer to the theater seats and gives a slightly better view of the TV. But the TV doesn’t have a swivel mount so it’s not that great of a view.
The theater seats in this model are power operated, and I’m not a fan of this idea. The reason for that is that you can just flip the footrests down quickly in manual mode. You need 120-volt power to operate the seats. Just give me a manual recline and footrest thingamabobber and we’ll all be happy, okay?
But then those power hatchbacks in SUVs also bother me. I can close the doggone door faster and not pay for that ridiculous mechanism when, not if, it breaks.
Upstairs
In the bedroom upstairs you have a choice of a queen- or king-sized bed. Choice is good and, with the king-sized bed, there are no side tables. Sort of.
There is a flat spot in the boxes above the windows that is meant to hold your phones and whatnot. That’s okay, I guess, but I don’t know if a CPAP would fit up there.
Boondocking and travel access
With the slide rooms in, you can forget about the entire lower floor, quite frankly. Nope, nope, no getting into the fridge or any of that silliness.
Smaller brands like Wildcat have a lot of catching up to do to match companies like Keystone for their adoption of solar. If solar’s your thing, this might not be the trailer for you unless you want to add it after the fact.
Final thoughts
There are a few other things about this model that I caught. One of those is that a small bar-sized fridge is in the front pass-through storage compartment. I would much rather see a 12-volt cooler here, and the fridge is set back far enough that some younger travelers aren’t likely to be able to reach it.
There is a well with a cover in front of the fridge and it has a drain. I could see this serving to house your water hoses and that sort of wet stuff. That’s a good use of this space.
Companies like Grand Design, Alliance, Cedar Creek, Rockwood/Flagstaff and others have made such a strong name for themselves I wonder if there might be an eventual shakeout in the RV industry as it makes less and less sense to keep building so many brands.
As markets start to retract perhaps that’ll be the case. These are certainly not bad rigs at all, but I wonder if sticking with a more well-known name might also mean it’s easier to swap or trade when the time comes?
No matter what, this is a decent model and I like these mid-bunk floor plans just for the flexibility they provide. Wildcat has done some surprisingly good things like the large 12-volt fridge and actual steps up to the baby jail, er, loft.
More from Tony
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Tony comes to RVtravel.com having worked at an RV dealership and been a lifelong 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.
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.
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##RVDT1937
Waaayyyy too much white and black! The bedroom looks like a shed in your picture…..
Has Glidden been running a special on black latex enamel for 3 years? A bargain-basement price is the only reason I can come up with for the persistence of black cabinets in RVs. Then the designers add black upholstery, black shades, black appliances, etc. RVs are already small spaces without having black interiors make them feel even smaller!
I agree on the proliferation of models by the “big two”. It’s ridiculous that Forest River keeps adding new brands without killing off old ones. There may be more brands now than before the Great Recession. Are RV shoppers so brand-loyal that Wildcat owners won’t even consider exactly the same floor plan in, say, a Cherokee or Palomino? At least Rockwood and Flagstaff are built on the same assembly line, but most of the other FR brands are built in their own factories. Competition among FR brands may be a good thing for FR, but not at the cost of the duplicate administration and overhead that we buyers must pay for!
I disagree about the power recliners. Ours (2017 Montana High Country) came with a handle you pull to recline, and you have to push the footrest back down. The handle on my husband’s recliner has already broken twice. We just replaced the recliners with power ones. Also, you have more options as to how much to recline with the power ones.
As tony mentioned, there’s no medicine cabinet in the loo. Now, if it was just me who was going to use this trailer (very unlikey of course) l wouldn’t care. Men, you know. But if you travel with a wife this would NOT work – ever! What were they thinking?
Also, with the king sized bed there is no room for next-to-the-bed stuff.
Sleeps 7 but has 46 gallons of fresh? That’s 6-7 gallons per person. Maybe if you are just camping in your side yard for fun, but if you are planning to leave your house this just “ain’t gonna work”. IMHO anyway. My biggest opposition to 5ers these days is that, at my ‘advancing age’ (ahem), the fewer steps the better. I’ve heard a couple stories about ‘oldsters’ taking a dive because of 5er stairs. You youngsters can have them.
Agree! I always add the gray and black gallons, and that’s how much fresh water you should have minimum for units that sleep that many bodies.