The money angle was the original question (How Do People Afford This). So depreciation, repair, fuel, etc, all figure in.
For folks who travel a couple of weeks a year, an RV would be economic idiocy, unless they really love the lifestyle and have money to burn. If you "live" on the road most of the year, yes, it can make economic sense. Lots of folks live that way, and really enjoy it.
Yes, cars aren't investments, but you pretty much have to have one to function in everyday life. RV's are not necessary to travel, so it's a choice. But you better put a pencil to it.
Big difference between how do you afford it and getting what you paid for out of it. So no actually those things don’t figure in, at least not the way you’re using them.
Yes, folks who travel a couple of weeks a year shouldn’t RV. But that’s not the target market. You don’t have to be on the road most of the year, really just 2 or 3 months for an RV to start being cheaper than air and hotel. Especially when you start considering convenience cost: no TSA, no airline schedules, no hotel BS, no wondering who had what kind of filthy sex on that bed, no bed bugs. There’s a lot of positives to the RV travel, even at just a couple of trips a year.
Depending on where you live you don’t need a car to function in everyday life. Meanwhile NO mode of transportation is really an investment. Even if you want to get into the classic restoration business tastes in that change so rapidly one is much better off treating it as a hobby that sometimes might pay for itself. RVs are a choice, and can be the right choice for a large number of people.