rickvikki
Ottawa, Canada
New Member
Joined: 06/20/2012
View Profile
 Offline
|
We are purchasing first motorhome for full timing. We are down to a Tiffen Phaeton 2006 350 Cat or a Forest River Charlseton 2007 Mercedes 330 Hp. What is everyone's opinion on Mercedes engine?
Thanks in advance Vikki and Rick
|
jauguston
Bellingham, WA
Senior Member
Joined: 07/03/2005
View Profile
Offline
|
If the engine needed work where would you go? Lots of Cat service centers. How many for Mercedes heavy duty engines?
Jim
2005 Coachman Sportscoach Elite 402 40'
350hp Cat C-7 w/MP-8
7500w Onan quiet diesel generator
6-Kyocera 130w solar panels SB3024i MPPT controller
Pressure Pro TPMS
1987 Suzuki Samurai tintop Toad w/VW 1.6 turbo diesel power
|
SWD
Land of Living Skies
Senior Member
Joined: 06/07/2005
View Profile
Offline
|
jauguston wrote:If the engine needed work where would you go? Lots of Cat service centers. How many for Mercedes heavy duty engines?
Jim
Not as many as CAT because they dont break down as much!
Personally its a flip of the coin. CAT will no longer be manufacturing engines anymore, Mercedes will probably fill the gap. They have been in the diesel market forever!
|
jauguston
Bellingham, WA
Senior Member
Joined: 07/03/2005
View Profile
Offline
|
The last I heard Mercedes was having trouble getting EPA passage for emissions. Hopefully they will get it straightened out. Navistar is in big trouble with EPA on a couple of their engines.
Jim
|
vance
USA
Senior Member
Joined: 01/19/2003
View Profile
Offline
|
No problem getting service on Mercedes Benz engines, Freightliners are pretty common. If you want to average around 10mpg and have a little more torque, the MB is the way to go. I've had both. The Cat is quicker off the line, but the MB pulls better(my opinion).
vance
2007 Coachman Encore
330 HP Mercedes
Honda CRV toad
"If you see our children, PLEASE don't tell them where we are"
|
|
|
LoneCowboy
Colorado
Full Member
Joined: 04/26/2012
View Profile
Offline
|
I had a mercedes in a semi-truck I had and I wish i had gotten the Detroit.
The common concerns that you'll hear and I had the same ones.
Underpowered. It says it has the right amount of torque, but it doesn't. You get passed by everything going up hills.
the engine brake is a joke. (commonly described as holding a sheet of paper out the window as you go down the hill.) you pass everything going down the hill (which is totally not cool)
Mileage is no better than everything else.
Parts are ridiculously expensive. (an oil pan was $2400. the detroit oil pan is about $500)
On the plus side, it's light.
|
Bruce Brown
Northern NY
Senior Member
Joined: 06/01/2001
View Profile
|
That engine didn't stick around long in the RV world. At the time it seemed if you got a good one you loved it, if you got a bad one it was a dud. Seems some were recalled (not 100% sure), some were replaced before they ever hit the road. Again, not 100% sure.
There are 24 hours in every day - it all depends on how you choose to use them.
Bruce & Jill Brown
2008 Kountry Star Pusher 3910
|
rickvikki
Ottawa, Canada
New Member
Joined: 06/20/2012
View Profile
Offline
|
Hello everyone: thanks for your replies but still a bit confused.
Is it the Cat350 that is not made anymore? Also we have looked at a lot with a 350 Cummins diesel engine . Looks like majority of MH 2006 and newer have this Cummins. Are they the best and most popular?
Vikki and Rick
|
LoneCowboy
Colorado
Full Member
Joined: 04/26/2012
View Profile
Offline
|
CAT is out of the on road diesel market. (they still make off road diesels)
They stopped at the 2010 emissions standards because honestly they had picked the wrong path to take with the 2003 and then 2007 standards and didn't have another couple billion dollars to start all over again with a new engineering solution.
There are tons of CAT engines in the world and lots of people work on them. There are not as many after 2000 or so as Cummins and way fewer CAT engines after 2007.
Cummins better than CAT better than MB
|
randallb
On the road
Senior Member
Joined: 11/19/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
The of first MB engines was designed to run on whatever was available; diesel,gas, etc. They have been producing engines long enough to probably know what they are doing.
Randy
|
|
|
