I wouldn't be at all afraid of buying an older coach. Last year I bought a 1999 holiday rambler endeavor. It has the 5.9 cummins and runs like a top.
There are a few things on the cummins you should be fully aware of before you decide to buy one. The first thing is the VP44 injection pump. This is a very expensive part to replace when it fails($3000 roughly). What happens is, the lift pump(fuel pump on a diesel) starts to get weak and then when the fuel pressure to the injection pump gets low, the VP44 injection pump overheats and fails.
If you get an aftermarket lift pump or even replace the stock one with a new stock one, you should be good.
The second issue is the 53 block casting. There were a lot of the engine blocks made in brazil and apparently some of them were no good. They will develop a crack on the side of the block, making the engine junk. There will be a large "53" casted right onto the block in big letters, passenger side of the coach, mid-block.
My coach has the 53 block and I checked it for cracks. At 130k miles, it shows no cracks anywhere. I am getting ready to add an aftermarket lift pump, just to be on the safe side and possibly save myself thousands.
I say if the coach looks good, go for it. It should definitely have an exhaust brake switch on the dash. Freightliner chassis are awesome and ride really nice. The brakes last a long time and the air brakes are fantastic. Look around some, but if you got it checked out and it looks good, pull the trigger.
I would ask to go for a test drive, even if you're not driving. You can still tell a lot just by riding in it.
