Holiday Rambler

Thanks for all the great info i have narrowed it to a spectra HR and a monoco executive which think they are built in the same house will see which one comes along first thanks again

JimM68 wrote:

Any Monaco or Holiday Rambler with the RR8R or RR10R roadmaster chassis is counted as one of the best motorhome's on the road, regardless of year.

I agree with that statement. I have a Scepter and absolutely like the ride and performance. I think they are great RV regardless of the year they were built.

Greg1 - I have several friends that own Holiday Ramblers. One is on his second one. He gave his old one to his son and the son is still driving it. HR is a long time brand with a good reputation. I would not worry about years too much. Concentrate on the specific coach you are buying. Make sure you get it carefully checked out for defects. I personally bought an extended warranty when I bought our coach 4 years ago. That way I took some of the risk out of the purchase.

It is true that with a 2010 you will likely get a diesel motor that needs urea in a separate tank. I am not fond of the smell of urea or the smell that comes out of the exhausts of urea burning diesels. I personally would not buy a motor requiring urea burning. Smell alone would keep me from it.

Another point... I assume you are looking for a diesel? There was a major change in "smog control" systems in diesel engines effective in January, 2007. And, there was another major change in the past few years.

IMO, the jury is still out on effect of the smog control stuff the manufacturers had to add to their engines. While it may take many years to access any changes these controls have on the engine longevity, the 2007 change seems to not have affected the engines. But, for this reason, I purchased my coach. Although it is a 2007 model, it has a 2006 engine which falls under the "old rules".

There were a string of Cummins engines that were made during this period that had a major problem. Maybe someone on this forum can tell you more than I can remember, my "oldtimers" kicking in again. I believe it had to do with an engine rod, or something like that, and Cummins only solution was to add a red light on the dash to let you know when you had the problem! I called Monaco and got my engine number and was able to confirm that my engine was not affected by this problem. Do a search on this site for Cummins recalls and see what you can find.

Other than the engine issues (affecting all manufacturers), and the R4R chassis problems, Monaco has a great reputation for building quality coaches during the time period you are looking at.

thanks for all the info

I would not cut off at 2006, but...

Stay far far far away from the low end DP's with the 4 bag RR4 roadmaster chassis. These are directly responcible for putting monaco under, and while source engineering has a fix, it's still a low end product and best not to go there.

Any Monaco or Holiday Rambler with the RR8R or RR10R roadmaster chassis is counted as one of the best motorhome's on the road, regardless of year.

I would continue the time frame through 2008, but would be very careful of 2009 & 2010 models, as that was the time leading to the bankruptcy. Any 2010 model with the Navistar sticker by the entry door was either built under the eye of Navistar or they QA'd the Monaco built unit and gave a warranty on it, so it should be OK.

The RR4R chassis on the lower level models from 2002 till bankruptcy, is not a chassis of choice and has a serious chassis trailing arm safety recall that you as the owner will have to address. It also is a very rough riding chassis without lots of upgrades.

The RR8R and higher level chassis are the chassis of choice with no recalls and is a good riding chassis. Personally, I would only look at the Endeavor and higher level coaches, but that is only my opinion. The Monaco line is a twin of the HR line, with the Diplomat being the twin to the Endeavor.

Monaco and HR had some great coaches from 2004 to 2006. I would look at those years first but just my opinion. PM me if you want more details as to why I believe those were the best years.

After Monaco's (the manufacturer of Holiday Rambler) bankruptcy, Navistar bought them. They put in their Maxxforce engines, which have been a total disaster and caused so many warranty claims, that forced Navistar to sell Monaco to raise cash to keep from bankruptcy themselves. Having said all of that, Monaco builds a nice coach and had excellent customer support. Just stay away from any Maxxforce engine and you should be okay.