Rick, if possible I'd wait until this winter to buy! There will be a lot of sweet deals out there due to the economy and people letting coaches go back for numerous different reasons. Buy the brand coach that suits your needs the best. John
As to the "rubber roof" issue. We had one DSDP with fiberglass and the present one with Brite Tek (a TPO product).
Fiberglass has a one year warranty, Brite Tek has a 12 year warranty
Ours is just over 6 years old and has never chalked yet. I was up there over the weekend looking at the joints. There is some dirt on it but it comes right off and we store it partly under some fir trees.
Rubber can get holes in it, non-issue for me as I've never put a hole in a roof since I started RV'ing, neither did my father.
Newmar vs Tiffin: In the club we used to belong to there were 12 MH's, 6 of them were Newmars (no Tiffins).
Yes, I've been back to the factory, ONCE in 2004, so Spartan could replace the front axle assembly (12,000#) with a 14,600# unit as no cost to us and Newmar paid for all the fuel there and back.
But: find the floor plan the DW likes and buy it, they'll be happy and then so will you!
Deen - Vancouver, WA
'02 Dutch Star 4090 (41+', triple slide)
435/1200 ISC Cummins/Banks PowerPak
'08 Honda Civic/dolly
'05 Honda Odyssey/dolly
NRA Benefactor Life Member
FMCA f47302s, Life Member: Good Sam, Newmar DP Owners Group
51st yr of RV'ing
Yep, pretty much middle of the road. We don't need anything fancy, just something modest. No big ego here that needs support. I hear what you and others are saying but I still don't get the Tiffin/Newmar thing. I don't think they are any more luxurious than the other brands. In fact, some models are down right ugly.
J-Rooster,
Yes, that's pretty much what we intend to do. We are just trying to get most of the footwork out of the way. Once we can settle on a couple manufacturers and models we will be all set. Then it's a matter of waiting a few more months and trying to find the best deal on our coach of choice. We plan to pay cash so interest rates will not be an issue.
The hunt is intriguing, fun, and frustrating. But, it's the experience of a lifetime.
i had an 08 tiffin alegro 32BA, (FRED chassis)
i hated it... in warm weather the coach had a perminent smell of the glue used to hold down a cheap vinyl floor. in cold weather the back slide leaked air right on your head... your body stayed warm but your head froze.. no one could ever sleep in the bed room while we were traveling because they could easily be launched 6 to 12 inched in the air when the coach did it's dolphin act.. the dog house over the engine was installed and engineered so poorly that you would get regular blasts of hot air every time the underpowered 5.9 cummins would try to make it up a hill...
i thought the reason the coach was such a joke was because i only paid 100K for it.. not true had i bought a HR 34 vacationer for only 10K more i would have had thermal windows and coach that was 10 times better. tiffin has the worst dealer in the south central midwest and i'll never buy anything from them...
the sad part of the story is i sold my junk coach for $89,999.00 it only had 5k miles on it...
2009 Safari Cheetah 42ft tag axle by Monaco
400hp C-9 Cat 6sp Allison in motion satelite
Quad screen color LCD gps factory installed in dash
Dinghy is a 2600lb 08 Toyota Corola 5-spd manual 37mpg
Tow Bar by Blue Ox Avanta LX 10K
Equal balancing polymer
Yep, pretty much middle of the road. We don't need anything fancy, just something modest. No big ego here that needs support. I hear what you and others are saying but I still don't get the Tiffin/Newmar thing. I don't think they are any more luxurious than the other brands. In fact, some models are down right ugly.
J-Rooster,
Yes, that's pretty much what we intend to do. We are just trying to get most of the footwork out of the way. Once we can settle on a couple manufacturers and models we will be all set. Then it's a matter of waiting a few more months and trying to find the best deal on our coach of choice. We plan to pay cash so interest rates will not be an issue.
The hunt is intriguing, fun, and frustrating. But, it's the experience of a lifetime.
Ugly is a personal opinion, someone liked it when they bought it. I see a lot of mhs on the road, even new ones that I think are ugly and would not buy. The price question is related to demand, the ones in demand will bring a higher price. Buy the one you both like but I would add to make sure you have factory support and can buy parts from them without going thru a dealer. I do not want to have to deal with a dealer when I need something, it is a lot easier to call the factory and have it delivered to my door in a couple of days. Think about what will happen if you damage a bay door or another body part, will they make you a new one and ship it to you or will you be left to try to find one in a junk yard. When you find one you like at the price you like call the factory and ask them a few questions about getting parts if you need them. If you are satisfied with the answers buy it.
Maj Easy wrote: i had an 08 tiffin alegro 32BA, (FRED chassis)
i hated it... in warm weather the coach had a perminent smell of the glue used to hold down a cheap vinyl floor. in cold weather the back slide leaked air right on your head... your body stayed warm but your head froze..
My parents 34 BA is was pretty much like Swiss Cheese with a door on it, till we emptied 3 cans of Great Stuff on it. Its much better now, but there are still holes we can't find. There have been many disappointed with the Tiffin/FRED product. I have to think that the FRED chassis must be too expensive, and Tiffin aimed at too low of a price point. I saw a Tiffin/FRED product at an RV show. The construction quality seemed to be much cheaper than my parents Allegro Bay. I can see why people would be disappointed.
I owned a small but perfectly good Class C (actually a B+ Lexington by Forest River) The instant I heard that National RV was bankrupt I started shopping. I felt that somewhere I would be able to find a dealer who was in panic mode and needed to get rid of something he had floor plan financed.
We had to travel to Alabama from Tennessee to get it but got a sweet deal on an new 07 Sea Breeze, 35' on a F53 Ford chassis.
We've put about 6k miles on her so far and it is a dream. I went from a "truck" to a bus over night and would never go back.
We have the 1350 floor plan which we love bucause of the side aisle back to the bedroom and the two entry bathroom.
National is bankrupt but everything major is covered by its manufacture and like someone else said dealers can work on anything.
If you buy something over 3 years old you'll have no warranty on anything except maybe some chassis warranty left. Not much though.
I picked this up for under 80K and it listed new for 119K. Even if I had to put an engine in it tomorrow I'm still ahead.
Look around, lots of good deals now and some really sweet deals if you are willing to chance it on a National. The are solid and the quality is better that lots of entry level coaches.
Good luck...
Economical Handyman wrote: If I was buying a used Class A, more than a year old (NO FACTORY WARRANTY) it would be a Tiffin. ....
My choice would be a used ForeTravel....
Sully, I should of said "if I was buying a gas MH" !
DeWayne & Judy
04 3810 Dutch Star
ISL 370
Frank's autoformer
01 Sahara Jeep-toad
F 374382
It is hard to kiss the lips at night, that has chewed your butt all day long!
Seems to me like most of the reply's are about factory service. I don't want to purchase something that I plan to have at the factory all of the time. I don't care if I need to buy a part from a dealer or other source. I don't buy my car parts directly from the factory. I'm looking for mid level coach that is well constructed. As I mentioned before, there seem to be so much hype about the Tiffin and Newmar products.
I am probably going to purchase something that is out of warranty. That being said, other than factory service what supposedly sets Tiffin and Newmar apart from the others?
What makes their models so much higher priced than a comparable floorplan of another manufacturer.
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