Forum Discussion

barmcd's avatar
barmcd
Explorer
Nov 07, 2015

Is a Western RV Alpine a Quality Coach?

The first RV that we looked at, which fits our criteria, is a 2004 Western RV Alpine, 38DTS, with 101K on the 400 hp/1200 TQ Cummins ISL. We're not real familiar with Western RV and solicit your opinions on the coach.

It's been stored inside so the paint is good, although there are a few scratches and dings here and there. The inside looks good with very little wear and tear. No water leaks are evident. There are some issues with the coach that will need to be addressed.

The front left mirror is rusting and needs rechromed. The front tires are four years old, but the rears are right at 7 years old and will need replaced. The seller is replacing the awning over the large living room and dinette slide and doing a few other odds and ends.

The coach has the optional residential refrigerator which adds an auto start to the genset. It also has other options like an oven, a power awning with wind sensor (what does that do), a separate washer and dryer, dual 15,000 btu a/c with heatpump.

The asking price is well below the NADA low retail and very close to a couple of other Alpines on RV trader that are 3-4 years older.
  • They went out of business because of warranty problems. They built great RVs. Actually over built. It was very difficult getting warranty done correctly unless you drove back to WA to their facility. Now as we look backward that is now pretty much true with all manufacturers. Like a lot of high end RVs that went out of business because they were over building quality. I owned one of their 5ers, not their MHs.
  • Ivylog's avatar
    Ivylog
    Explorer III
    YES... Wolfe 10 (Brett) has a 03 for over a year now so I'm sure he picked a excellent rig and now can give you a good run down. They have a reputation of being very well made and a quality coach... two 15K heat pumps and a residential refer were not the cheap way to go. In addition to the rear tires I would check the age of the batteries. Sounds like it has a Girrard Awning ($$$) and the wind sensor will automatically retract the awning when the wind pickups too much... it's adjustable.
    If the front tires have less than 10K miles on them... almost new tread I'd put them on the inside of the rear duals so I'd have new tires on the front. Yes, I understad matched sets of tires but I also understand the crown in the road.

    If Brett does not chime in then give him a PM.
  • They were high line coaches, it's a shame the company couldn't survive.