Community Forums

mricet1005 · 04-17-2014, 01:16 PM

I will be looking at a 2012 Fleetwood Discovery 40X tomorrow. Any owners of a similar model have experiences with this model to share? I have never purchased a motorhome before. The unit is via a dealer, not a private sale. Based on NADA Low Retail prices it seems to be priced reasonably.

One cautionary flag for me is that it only has 7,113 miles. Wondering if buyer remorse or changed minds or whether it has been problematic and was dumped. Looks like maybe they took on big long trip and then decided to get rid of it or maybe the moved up. Will be asking salesperson about it, but who knows if their answer can be trusted.

When purchasing a used motorhome from a dealer, should you still have it independently inspected by an RV Tech. If yes, I am having a problem finding one via internet. We live in NJ and I have not found any links to rv techs / inspectors via google search. Any suggestions on how to find one?

I had my heart set on a used Newmar Ventana or Dutch Star, but have not been able to find what I am looking for yet.

pagosajoe · 04-17-2014, 02:01 PM

Welcome (potentially) to the Fleetwood club! We have a 2012 Discovery 36J and love it. Few problems, well built, lots of features for the price, and Fleetwood customer service is without compare. I wouldn't worry about the low mileage. We only have 5K on ours, but use it frequently in short hops/long stays around CO and the southwest.

If there are issues you find, have them reduced to writing to ensure the dealer will resolve them to your satisfaction. If you can find an independent tech to check it out, no doubt it will be money well spent. We purchased ours new from a dealer (La Mesa in Albuquerque) and they were great.

Good luck in your decision!

mikey52 · 04-17-2014, 03:06 PM

We have a 2013 Discovery 40X and we love the floor plan. We looked for two years at the Discovery and the Phaeton QTH which is, or was the same floor plan. As Joe said Fleetwood is a quality product. We had some minor issues with ours, but are very happy with it. As stated Fleetwood stands behind their products. I looked at ours very closely and have not found any major issues. I am very picky with my automobiles and RVs and have not found much to complain about with this unit.

mricet1005 · 04-17-2014, 03:08 PM

I see that the 2015 Discoveries are out. So what kind of deal should you be able to get on a New 2014. On RV Trader I see some dealers posting $209,999 which I suspect is only 26% or 27% off MSRP. I would think when "new" you should be able to get 30% but now they are a year old, so should you be able to get up to 36 - 40% off. Will any dealer go that low? Trying to decide between a used 2012 and a new 2014 in terms of what the difference in price will be. Willing to pay some more since it would be under warranty. Any input or advice is appreciated.

mricet1005 · 04-17-2014, 03:12 PM

Mikey52 and pagosajoe show USAF retired in profile / signature. I guess the Fleetwood Discovery is the motorhome of choice for USAF? LOL

vsheetz · 04-17-2014, 03:17 PM

I don't have a 40x, but it is on my short list for a next coach in a couple years so have been researching it. I think you will find it a very popular coach and floodplain. Fleetwood is good quality and support.

As for the miles, it is common to find coaches without many miles. We get out with our coach about once a month for long weekend, and a couple times a year for longer time. Current coach we've only put about 8k miles in the past two years. The PO put 30k in 10 years.

Independent inspection is a biggie. Service records are a biggie. Anything the dealer says they will fix after you drive it away, get it in writing.

What if any factory warranty remains? I am not a fan of extended 3rd party warranties, but they can be good as a mitigation against unknown problems on a coach you are not experienced with. For example, I bought a service agreement through Good Sam for one year when I bought my coach, with a high deductible to keep the coat down. Then after a year of no problems and gaining confidence in the coach did not renew.

Good luck!

brian-nicola · 04-17-2014, 05:44 PM

A dealer out my way has a new 40x 2013 fully loaded and converting to USD would be abt $205k and I bet they would drop even more for a all cash deal. They show a new 2015 Discovery fully loaded at US$312

pagosajoe · 04-17-2014, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mricet1005

Mikey52 and pagosajoe show USAF retired in profile / signature. I guess the Fleetwood Discovery is the motorhome of choice for USAF? LOL

You got THAT right! Off we go, into the wild blue yonder!

SarahW · 04-17-2014, 06:49 PM

"Discovery, the Zoomies' Choice."

dubdub07 · 04-18-2014, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pagosajoe

You got THAT right! Off we go, into the wild blue yonder!

I bought mine last year and my commander just bought a 2014. You know that the AF will get it right!

Craig N Deb · 04-20-2014, 09:37 AM

We have a Fleetwood Discovery 40X and absolutely love it!! After two years of looking I found a 2008 with only 6100 miles on it. When I asked the owner why so low on miles he said...."well, we use it but just stay close to home when camping and then over the last couple of years we have not used it too much!"
His loss was certainly our gain!
In my opinion there is no better layout than the 40X and simply cannot say enough about the quality!

in other words......BUY IT!!!!

Daytripper63 · 04-24-2014, 09:18 PM

I would not worry about the mileage, I believe I read that the average RVer drives 3500 miles per year. As for the 40x I may be a little bias but I think it's the best out there

mscully103 · 05-03-2014, 08:31 PM

As it turns out we just agreed and came to terms on a 2013 Discovery 40x. We certainly looked at a lot of coaches and while price was certainly a factor the layout, features, and I hope quality will make this a great choice. My concerns, that newer coaches seem to lack general quality of material construction that say pre 2008 coaches seem to have..I think sacrificed to keep prices at a point that more folks could tolerate...I have seen the same thing in home construction since he 08/09 meltdown. We certainly hope this Discovery 40x lives up to the praise I have seen mentioned in this forum.