looking for our first class a diesel

[majortwo]

hello, my wife and i are looking to buy a class a diesel. first of all, Jonny i read your article and thank you for taking the time to write it. my question is what brands are the best as far as fewest problems, quality of materials used. we like the floor plans on some of the fleetwoods but i have read a few negative things about them. the brands that seem to be best (from what i've read so far) are winneabago,newmar and one other one that i can't remember at the moment. we are looking at used units because lets face it new ones are very expensive. how important do you guys feel having a washer/dryer are? do most of you use them or just find they fill your holding tanks faster then you would like? what are the most important things to look out for when shopping for a used RV? roof,delam,rust? how many hrs on a gen is alot? we are looking at RV's between 38 and 42 feet. also is there any advantage having an RV with tag axles other then more weight carrying capacity? our goal is to buy in the next couple years and use it for weekend trips and one major trip per year until we retire and then be snow birds or full time RV'ers. any advice you guys have is very welcome and appreciated. thanks guys

[marek]

There are so many mid to high end 98 - 2007 pushers out there at great prices its amazing. People are not buying these diesel units and are buying new gas ones. They are really missing out in my opinion

[sdianel_-acct_c]

Foretravel and Country Coach are well built. We have an '04 Country Coach Allure 33' and full time in it. Over 110,000 miles!!

[1BryNelson]

Here's a good book. "Take Back Your Life" by Stephanie Bernhagen. It walks through deciding what to buy, how to load it, it helped me decide on my rig. Was worth the $ I paid for the book. Then it was finding something I could afford. Bought my rig based on it's floor plan and condition and what I'd have to do to get it ready to go full time this year. If you buy used make sure you have an RV Mechanic go through the rig to give you a luandry list of needed repairs and updates. Cost bout $350. I walked away from 1 rig I wanted because he found so many things that needed repair and there was a problem with the engine, something about the spark plugs (ford v10) tjat would cost several thousand $ to fix. The one I bought, his laundry list helped me get the price where I wanted it. Very happy with my Pace Arrow.

[jauguston]

The #1 item to consider when shopping is what floor plan does your wife like best! Everything else is secondary. It took me three coaches to figure that out (-:

Don't worry about what engine it has they will all most likely out live you. We don't full time so I took the W/D it had out and use the space for out printer and storage.

I wish I had bought our third coach first. We went from 27'C to 31'no slide DP to what we have now.

[Ivylog]

My answer to the most important question is "Buy more MH than you think you need... ONE TIME". Buy a used tag axle as for FT you'll need the CCC plus they handle better. Having worn out one 2100 combo W/D it's all you need once you learn it will hold more than you think and loosen items up after the high speed spin before drying. High hours on a diesel generator are not important BUT the amount of use on the MH because of those hours is important. A diesel generator is good for 20,000 hours. Search RR10S..

[Executive45]

If it's all about the money, then buy the biggest rig you can afford while you're working. Changing rigs to go full time is an expensive proposition. We traded up to a 40' when we thought about full timing. Then we figured out that was too small so we traded up again to the 45'. We could have save some had we bought the 45 to begin with. The floorplan IMHO, is the most important feature you should consider. We like the extra room as my wife can watch her shows in the living room and I can watch my sports in the bedroom without interfering with each others TV time...except for getting up for the beers...:W.....Dennis

[John_Wayne]

How long before you retire, say you buy a used unit let it sit most of the time except for 3 or 4 trips a year for week ends and one 2 week trip. Then six years from now you retire depending on the year your used rig was it is now of 8 or more years old.
Would you be better off buying a used gas rig till you retire use it find out what you like and dislike about what you bought, and you would have a better idea what to look for for the retirement rig. Very few of use are satisfied with our first rig.

[justlou]

The common brands like Winnebago, Newmar, Tiffin, Monaco Beaver, HR and others use a basic set of appliances like refrigerator, microwave, water heater, stove, oven & generator, so you are not going to find many options here or gain any advantage in these areas. The most common engines you will find in older DP's are Cummins & Cat. however Cat has stopped making engines for MH's, so newer DP's will have mostly Cummins. There are some other engine brands like Navistar but are limited to Late Model Monaco's. Your best bet is to settle on a model year range and start doing your research. Make a list of what is important to you and fill in the blanks. If you start a general search without some parameters you will get confused very quickly by all the differences. If you are not sure about something you can come here to get clarification and consensus. You have time to do your homework, so have fun.

[lanerd]

Hope you don't mine, but I've taken the liberty to add punctuation, capitalization, and paragraph indentations to make it a little easier to read and answer your questions. No disrespect is intended.

majortwo wrote:
Hello, my wife and I are looking to buy a class A diesel. First of all, Jonny I read your article and thank you for taking the time to write it.

My question is: what brands are the best as far as fewest problems, quality of materials used? All brands make different levels of coaches...from entry level gas rigs to almost million dollar DP coaches. Is one brand better than another? Probably not, but you can get different levels of quality in each.

We like the floor plans on some of the Fleetwoods, but I have read a few negative things about them. The brands that seem to be best (from what I've read so far) are: Winneabago, Newmar and one other one that I can't remember at the moment.Tiffin?.... Country Coach?.... Monaco?.... Beaver?.... Holiday Rambler?.... Safari?

We are looking at used units because let's face it, new ones are very expensive. How important do you guys feel having a washer/dryer are?Our previous coach had a "combo" w/d and we hardly ever used it. Our current coach has a "stacked" w/d and we use it a lot.

Do most of you use them or just find they fill your holding tanks faster then you would like? Typically when using the w/d, you open the gray tank so that you don't fill the tank.

What are the most important things to look out for when shopping for a used RV? Roof,delam,rust?Yes. In addition, a record of maintenance by the previous owner really, really helps out a lot in determining how well the coach was taken care of. No record? Try to find the name of the previous owner and contact him directly.

How many hrs on a gen is a lot? Again, it depends on how well the unit was maintained. Good records showing regular maintenance...great. No records...who knows.

We are looking at RV's between 38 and 42 feet. Also, is there any advantage having an RV with tag axles other then more weight carrying capacity?A tag will provide a much smoother and better ride with less wind deflection.

Our goal is to buy in the next couple years and use it for weekend trips and one major trip per year until we retire and then be snow birds or full time RV'ers. Any advice you guys have is very welcome and appreciated. Thanks guys

[majortwo]

thanks Dean and Bob i'll start searching for those threads

[BobandShaz]

Floor plan should stay in the list..

[deandec]

You have asked for opinions about several topics. Many of those topics are covered at length in older threads.

Try seaching for Washer/Dryer, tag axle, or best motorhome and you will find hours of informative reading.

Most of us are one or maybe two rig owners and probably very biased in our opinions when answering your questions.

In addition, we all use our rig differently, from families, to full timers, to part timers, and occasional users. So our needs and experiences can vary a great deal.

I will tackle one of your questions. 3,000 hours on a generator is a lot of hours, but it is likely the generator will still have many hours remaining to run well in its life.

The key is maintenance done during its life. Some buyers may think 1,000 hours is a lot. We each have our own opinions of what we are willing to accept in purchase decision.


Enjoy the search. It is almost as much fun as owning the rig.