Low Miles on a 2005 DP

John S. wrote:
I think it is how the person took care of the coach. I know I have preemptively changed out the fuel lines and the shocks again and will do air bags this winter. I think that if you care for these units and they are built well in the first place you can get a lot of life in them. We have people remodeling and driving Foretravels of early 90s vintage to Alaska and back all the time and we have them running the roads with well over 200K miles on them. They have a lot of life left in them and the cost to buy are very cheap in comparison to the new ones. In fact, I would put my 13 year old coach against many newer coaches and I bet that it is still competitive. You will always have maintenance to do no matter the age and at older ages you have some major maintenance that needs to be done but that is why it is cheaper to buy.
I see 90s buses who are still working and running the roads that still have loads of life left. It is all in the initial quality and then the ongoing care they received.

These are good points and I think that is why we have moved toward looking at a few years old DP instead of a new Gasser. I think we would be happier with it for what we want to do.

I think it is how the person took care of the coach. I know I have preemptively changed out the fuel lines and the shocks again and will do air bags this winter. I think that if you care for these units and they are built well in the first place you can get a lot of life in them. We have people remodeling and driving Foretravels of early 90s vintage to Alaska and back all the time and we have them running the roads with well over 200K miles on them. They have a lot of life left in them and the cost to buy are very cheap in comparison to the new ones. In fact, I would put my 13 year old coach against many newer coaches and I bet that it is still competitive. You will always have maintenance to do no matter the age and at older ages you have some major maintenance that needs to be done but that is why it is cheaper to buy.
I see 90s buses who are still working and running the roads that still have loads of life left. It is all in the initial quality and then the ongoing care they received.

Can you expound on your statement of 'systems were tired'? What systems were affected?

Probably the biggest issue would be the basement HVAC unit. I had it out twice for repairs, and it was still having issues. Other than that,it was a whole list of less serious issues, caliper slides on the brakes, dash air issues, check valves in the HWH system, muffler replacement, etc.. All possibly expected wear items, but it adds up. Keep in mind that this was a coach with an excellent history and with $20-25K dumped into it in the two years before we bought it. (new fridge, Turbo, six new Michelins, Awning fabric, inverter, roof resealing, batteries, and other repairs and replacements)

Soren, I think you have made a good point. It's not mileage alone that a person should look at.

The condition of the interior is very important. If the insides are equal on two similar units with one having high miles and one with low miles, a unit with the systems that have been exercised would, to me, be better (I don't mean worn out).

I exercised our coach drive-train and systems monthly. Did things need repair over the years?, sure. I had to replace the hydraulic pump for the leveling system (wasn't terribly expensive). Vibration is what caused it's failure. So, when the new one was installed, I had the service shop build a brace for it, so, it's better than new.

Our fridge has been running since day one except for when the coach was in service, just like your house fridge. I'm a firm believer of not letting things go unused.

I have an old car that is 50 yrs. old. I have learned over the 15 yrs. that I've owned it to run it regularly, operate the windows (electric), turn on the air, honk the horn.... use every system! It has worked so much better since I started that regimen. I have someone start all my cars weekly when I'm not in residence. It has saved SO many battery replacements.

Can you expound on your statement of 'systems were tired'? What systems were affected?

I can honestly say that I don't think any of our systems are tired.

Safe travels,
MM.
On Edit: Our awning fabric will need replacing in about a year. Not torn but starting to dry out and fading which is normal for 7.5 yrs. It's priced accordingly. I spent $10,000 last year for new AGM batteries and 8 new Michelins.

Mr.Mark wrote:
I agree too that 32,000 miles is not too low only if it was driven evening through-out it's life. Was the 32,000 miles put on in the first three years then has been sitting?

I think we were all trained to get the lowest mileage cream puff that we can find. It's hard to get that thinking out of our heads.

Our coach is on consigment and has almost 70,000 miles that were put on evenly through-out it's life. We've used it just about once a month since purchase (2008 Dynasty).

The salesman mentioned a couple of times that there are many '08's with less miles and people might baulk at higher miles. On a diesel, 70,000 is just about breaking it in. Only a true diesel person I think would understand that Only a true diesel person I think would understand that (I was not that person either as I had to learn it).

Diesels like to run on a regular basis although people talk about farm equipment that sit all winter and then they start them up again in the spring with no problems. It's hard to kill a diesel I guess.

MM.

How about another perspective from the buyer's point of view. We are on our second used class A, and probably our 9th or 10th RV. On the first A I fell for the "it doesn't matter how many miles are on a diesel" line. It's a true statement in some ways. However, it avoids a harsh reality. A ten year old coach with 80K on it, often has got a lot more overall wear and tear than a similar rig with 1/3rd the miles. Now, there are huge exceptions to this, including many low mileage rigs that we found that were hammered to death by snowbirds. In our case we bought a sweet Journey nine year old with 80K on it. It looked and ran great, and probably will run great for another few hundred thousand miles. However, many of the systems were tired, and expensive to maintain and repair. In retrospect, I should of held out for a similar rig with 30-40K miles. Not only are they commonly available, it's a better overall buy. I agree with your salesman. If he has a nice selection of rigs with less than half the miles of your unit, on his lot, I'm not going to bother looking at yours.

The Journey is gone, replaced with a very low mile Vista. Half the cost, three times the condition, and my only regret is that it isn't powered by a small diesel.

Wow, I have an 01 and I have 166,000 on it. I rather run them they let them sit.

Agree with all. We've now got 31,000 on our DP & it's a 2005. We just make a lot of close runs to the house + 1or 2 long trips a year. Runs great!!!!

Low miles can be a bad thing if it was allowed to sit for months and months on end without being run. For example did they put 30,000 miles on that motorhome in 2005 and then let it sit in storage unused for 2006 through 2013 and then took it out and drove 2000 more miles on it? Probably not, but if that did happen that would be a bad thing.

We have owned our 05 since new. Got 28k on clock. 4k-5k year is all we can do,

If you intend to go further with the coach in question ask the seller for the date codes off the tires. If the tires are original (2006) then the possibility that the coach saw a lot of use initially than sat idle is a good possibility.