I test drove my first motorhome today - Noisy

[praisetoGod]

The wife and I are looking at a small 35' diesel pusher. I've never driven a motorhome and I don't know what I expected, other than I thought it would be a lot quieter. Because the engine is in the back, I guess I expected to hear nothing but wind, but that wasn't the case. Of course our Louisiana roads are in poor condition, and this particular stretch of interstate was horrible (uneven and potholes), but still. Is your motorhome quite? Do you have to spend $300-$400K to get a quite ride?

[Mile_High]

praisetoGod wrote:
I heard that motorhomes were slow to accelerate, but I was surprised by the amount of power.

Ya I would say mine is a little sluggish (400 ISL) compared to the 5th wheel and dually Ford we came from. But in reality, the Ford had more horsepower (less torque but not much) and the weight was nearly half.

[praisetoGod]

The noises were rattles. No issues with noise from the diesel engine in back. I heard that motorhomes were slow to accelerate, but I was surprised by the amount of power.

[Mondooker]

The smallest Diesel coach I drove was a Thor Palazzo a 37' diesel pusher. The largest I drove was a 40' Newmar Ventana LE and both rode well, drove well and was quiet. I drove one gasser a 40' Newmar Canyon Star, the top of the gasser line. It was definitely louder than the diesels with engine noise. I did not like the gasser experience!

I don't know of any NEW diesel pusher less money than the Thor Palazzo. Some would say that the quality of the product is suspect but I found no problem from the noise standpoint. If the noise you heard was rattles etc than that's the coach builder. If the noise was from the rear diesel that is a surprise!

[usersmanual]

praisetoGod wrote:
The wife and I are looking at a small 35' diesel pusher. I've never driven a motorhome and I don't know what I expected, other than I thought it would be a lot quieter. Because the engine is in the back, I guess I expected to hear nothing but wind, but that wasn't the case. Of course our Louisiana roads are in poor condition, and this particular stretch of interstate was horrible (uneven and potholes), but still. Is your motorhome quite? Do you have to spend $300-$400K to get a quite ride?

rough roads are rough roads.Diesel pusher or not .the longer units especially with tag run very smooth compared to a short wheel base like the 35 u tryed

[dkreuzen]

I have had three motorhomes, a gas Flair, a Bounder Diesel, and a Monaco Knight diesel. Sometimes I would like to have some ear muffs in the gas rig. In both diesels I could barely hear any engine noises, only wind and some rattles.

[We_Cant_Wait]

As to the 3rd noise being frame noise I'd suspect that the dealer has the tire pressure set at the max. as shown on the side wall of the tire. Once you buy any unit get it weighed, then go to the tire makers chart for the appropriate air pressure i.e. our max tire pressure on the tire is 120psi, according to my weighs I run 100 in the front and 90 in the rears, this is according to the tire makers chart.

[praisetoGod]

We are looking at a Fleetwood Pace Arrow on a Freightliner chassis. One thing that really attracted us to this model is the drop down queen bed above the driver area. It has bunk beds too. We have 4 kids so it has enough sleeping space so that I can leave the dining table for dining, and the sofa for sitting, without having to pick up bedding. The drop down queen bed is motorized and has 4 chains, one on each corner. The chain is surrounded by a metal plate and on the bad road was vibrating against the metal casing. The dealer said there wasn't anything they could do about it, and suggested putting a piece of foam in it while traveling (there is in open slit in the middle of the metal casing exposing the chain).

The second noise was the console to the left of the driver where you shift from neutral to drive/reverse. They found something loose and said that can be tightened.

The third noise I'd say was the frame and that came on the hard bumps in the road. I test drove this on a super rough stretch of interstate and for this noise I'm guessing that was the problem.

My dad has a Fleetwood, and while I haven't ridden in his, I've heard that Fleetwood makes a quality product.

[tropical36]

old guy wrote:
have heard,(haven't driven one yet) that the entegra's are the quiet ones out there. I would like to see for myself.

There's an Anthem sitting next to me, as we speak and talked to another owner as well.
Also looked at a bunch of new ones yesterday, including and Aspire.
They are nice and a good bang for the buck. Thing is, they didn't really get above the competition until lately and especially with the new ones.
We never buy new and I'm not about to spend a 1/2 mil or so for a new Cornerstone model, either.

[jplante4]

We chased down most of the squeaks and rattles in the Sahara during out first few trips. Unfortunately, I introduced an annoying squeak when I rebuild the overhead cabinet where the big tube TV was. I have since disassembled that cabinet and put it back together with felt damping, but it still squeaks some.

The difference in engine noise between the Workhorse chassis gassed and the Magnum chassis diesel pusher was tremendous.

[Bruce_Brown]

Our Newmar is as quiet as can be. Our last one was too.

I'd be interested to hear what MH you tried.

[Tinstar]

My newer one is quite. Very little noise and not even close to the $300 - 400 K range. It's a Monaco Windsor.

My older one was not real bad. Seems like I could never pack the dishes, etc, etc so it wouldn't make some noise. The microwave turn-table had to be packed away. On good roads, I was happy with it. It was an old Tiffin Allegro Bus.

What kind of noises are you getting? Wind noise, cabinets shaking, frame or walls creaking? Some noises you can correct as long as you can locate them. Some, maybe not so easy to correct.

[slickest1]

If the road was as bad as you say it would be hard to judge if the coach is quiet. Sometimes it is hard to find a good road anymore. Poor road surface can be heard in a luxury car.
Not to say it wasn't the coach, but I have driven a few and found most very quiet.

[Nomadac]

I have a 38' Travel Supreme on a Spartan Chassis with a Cummins 350 HP and do not notice any noise going down the Interstate. We listen to the radio and have regular conversations. If it is windy we may hear some of the wind flowing by but not what I would call noisy. I have been in more cars with more noise while driving.

[kalynzoo]

Not sure what you tested, but our Tiffin is extremely quiet. My 40+ previous years of RVing were in gas engine motorhomes. Comparing the noise level is really beyond compare. In my rig now I can hear the radio, even with my poor hearing, I can have a conversation with my wife, and on a good road the drive is totally peaceful. Now some of the highways of SoCal are really bad, a result of deferred maintenance, which also means spending highway funds on other worthwhile projects. There is nothing I can think of that would make a drive on the I-10 quiet and comfortable. Anyway, best of luck with your quest.

[old_guy]

I did a little looking around on u tube for you. If you look for great escapes rv on u tube and look up entegra factory, the owners drive their entegra and their car with a noise meter inside and the entegra is quieter than the car at 60 mph onthe freeway. I have looked at MH's for some time now and haven't bought one yet but leaning towards entegra cornerstone or the Newmar kingaire