American - Newmar & Spartan and Freightliner Chassis?

This is one you just have to drive...The Essex is the Spartan K3 chassis which is supposed to have superior handling and other ride characteristics..All Entegras are on a Spartan chassis (although I heard soon one will be built on the cheaper Freightliner chassis)....American uses Freightliner as their base properly due to economics but it is said that Spartan (who builds firetrucks, ambulances etc) is supposed to be better (noticed I said supposed)...I do know Spartan is way more expensive both the manufacturer and the consumer...but driving them is the only way you can see which chassis you prefer...As a side note, Spartan has the DEF tank on the right side of the coach whereas Freightliner moved it to the driver side...for easier filling...

This may be old info, but we had an '07 Essex on a Spartan K2 chassis. For 2 years we could not go anywhere without having a tow truck on speed dial. I know the other coach numbers around mine and it was not an aberration. Our problems were solely due to the chassis not Newmar. It took Spartan 2 years to get it right. They then sent people around the US to fix their problems, but for us it was too little too late. After that Newmar switched to Freightliner.

Again, it was several years ago, but to this day I will not buy a product with a Spartan chassis.

What a lot of people do not understand is that Freightliner has advanced its technology with new improvements every year to their chassis, while Spartan is still the same old chassis it had for many years. Freightliner chassis now even have added the Comfort Drive, independent suspension and have taken the business away from Spartan in the coach industry. As far as cost goes they are pretty much the same.

Freightliner is big in chassis. All you have to do is look at all the Freightliner chassis on tractors pulling 48' trailers down the freeways.

You are going to see more and more RV manufacturers switching to Freightliner chassis. From single axles to tag axle, they manufacture both.

I think Spartan was the premier chassis in the past, but in the last few years Freightliner has caught up. There is only so much technology out there, eventually everyone has it and incorporates it into their chassis. Realistically, it's an IFS front end and rear end with air bags and maybe a tag. Just not a lot that differentiates between the two. I also think that Spartan had some particular issues a few years ago that no longer exist.

I went from a Roadmaster chassis to Freightliner chassis. It handles well and their service department goes out of it's way to assist.

Agree with the others here....IMO unless you move to a very high end coach with proprietary chassis, there is likely little difference that you would feel or experience. It is more about how the coach builder mounts the box to the chassis in terms of rigidity, quiet ride, etc.

At one time American Coach was taking a Freightliner chassis cutting it in half and building what American called a 'Liberty bridge' between the sections, thus the name Liberty chassis.

Drive coaches from the various brands, levels you prefer and find one that drives and handles to your liking. Once you get to the higher end coaches with tag axles from any of the brands, I suspect the differences are marginal. Newmar's comfort drive is said to be a nice feature.

My previous coach had a FL chassis and it was just fine. Also, if you live or travel anywhere near the Freightliner Chassis Service Center in Gaffney, SC, they specialize in servicing their motorhome chassis and do a stellar job at a reasonable price.

Spartan too had the Liberty chassis.
I love ours!