Community Forums

jgs999 · 08-19-2005, 06:05 PM

Hello,
This seems to be an active thread. We're thinking about springing for a 40ft '05 Ltd on a close out. Would appreciate all of your thoughts, because we're not familiar with WRV.
Thanks,
John

jgs999 · 08-19-2005, 06:05 PM

Hello,
This seems to be an active thread. We're thinking about springing for a 40ft '05 Ltd on a close out. Would appreciate all of your thoughts, because we're not familiar with WRV.
Thanks,
John

Danny Gayhart · 08-19-2005, 06:24 PM

Hi John

Welcome to our forum. My wife and I have owned an Alpine since 2000 and are very happy with it. We just left the FMCA rally in Minot ND. The final number are not in yet but I believe WRV out sold most of the other brands.

If you are interested in a 05 there are some great deals out there. Take your time and shop around you will be rewarded for you effort.

Danny

Dave Fernandez · 08-19-2005, 06:30 PM

Hello and Welcome JGS999:

Donna & I purchased our Alpine in Jan 2001, and have enjoyed since we received it. I think it is the best handling coach on the market. I wish you the best, and hope to see you in your travels.

Dave

htg3 · 08-20-2005, 12:53 PM

Hello John,

After much research, I decided to buy a 2005 Alpine 40FDTS. We took delivery in Las Vegas in April '04 just after I had retired and were on the road for almost four months. Now, after 15 months and over 18,000 miles, I have a much better insight into what I did.

The Alpine consists of very fine componants. Unfortunately, many of them were installed poorly at the factory. The coach is the best handling on the market and the factory and dealer have been excellent in getting things fixed. It is ashame that the quality control at the factory is not better as we would have spend quite a few less days in the shop and WRV would have had to spend less money on repairs.

We are almost to the point where we are satisfied with everything although it is in the shop as we speak.

To be fair to WRV though, I have talked with owners of other high tech coaches, some considerably more expensive than the Alpine, and they all have horror stories and lists of things to be fixed. You can't take a box full of appliances, shake it for 4-8 hours a day and have everything keep working all of the time.

I recommend the Alpine as being a lot of coach for the money, but be prpared for problems no matter what coach you buy. It helps to be handy as I was able to fix quite a few minor things myself. We only have a couple of more cronic items to be solved and then it will be perfect...until the next thing.

Good Luck.

P.S. I wouldn't recommend a long "shakedown" trip. We had to do that for personal reasons. It would make more sense to do a few long weekends or a week not too far from your dealer. As things get worked out, you can venture further from home.

EngineerMike · 08-22-2005, 09:49 AM

I'd say htg sums it up well. We just took delivery of our '06 at the factory, and spent an unpaid week as the QC inspectors for WRV (just on our coach, the others don't get an ispector till they have an owner if our experience is any indication).
But during the week, I called my partner who has a one year old Dynasty. He's lost count of the number of visits to repair facilities, mostly on chassis items (no Jake brake, no turn signals, blah, blah, blah). And Dynasty's cost more than Alpines last time I checked. If you want the good ride of the Alpine, you won't find it elsewhere. One advantage of buying off a dealer lot is you can do a full PDI before negotiating on price. You can't do that when ordering. See my thread on PDI, The Good, The Bad & the Ugly for more info. Also see Audrey's prior threads on her ordered '06.

Stretch · 08-22-2005, 06:12 PM

ht3
I agree with everything you said. Regarding doing some of the work yourself, absolutly!! i'm on my second Alpine. While I love the coaches I find the after sale service has sucked, on both occasions. I find the dealer's mechanics are in "training" if you know what I mean. I now prefer and do all of my own repairs. I have to learn too, but am retired, have all the tools and the time. i really feel sorry for folks who know nothing about the coach systems and dont want to learn. They will have a lot of face time with the various service managers. Very inconvenient.
Gooduck in the future.