Thinking about a CC

[brucedelta]

After seeing some country coach products at the Atlantic city RV show last month we decided to stop at the dealer and have a closer look, which we did this past weekend. Having never owned a RV before the selection process is very daunting to say the least and exhausting for sure.
They had a 42' allure there that seemed like a very nice coach. It fell into the relatively short list that my wife and I both agreed we liked off the bat. We did not drive the unit or any CC for that matter. The dealer says they have a rear bath founders edition coming in this week and we look forward to seeing the layout of that unit.
Up until now I have been leaning heavily to a Newmar MADP rear bath. I really liked the comfort drive and it was heads an tails above a 2001 Holiday rambler we rented. We looked closer at the Travel Supreme while there, but the layout with the slides closed has been a real turn off as it is just too tight. Additionally we drove a used 07 Select limited with 30K miles and I have to say I was disappointed with the ride when compared to the new comfort drive(We were told this coach was traded for an Affinity). So when we go back to drive the country coach is it reasonable to expect a tighter smoother ride. They tout the dynomax chassis and I would expect that to be a advantage. I am looking for feedback on maybe what to look for or how to test better. I am hoping it is not a case of wearing rose colored glasses with respect to my memory of the newmar ride, since we liked the coach so much.

I will ask here about the other thing which bugged me the most about the 42' allure. With the slides closed it was impossible to open the shower door. It was close and the carpeted corner below the vanity stuck out a little to far. I immediately thought it was a design flaw as they could beveled the corner and it would have been fine. So my question is if this is normal. I doubt it is really designed that way, so after thinking about it for a day or two I have come to the conclusion that this can not be a intentional design and the door should in fact open with the slide closed. Therefore the next logical conclusion is that the slide is out of alignment enough to make this a problem. Is it normal for slides to go out of alignment? The salesman touted the "vacuum slides" and how much better they were than what is found on the other brands. He was not able to adequately explain the difference to this engineer such that I can understand the benefit, but supposedly they are better. So I am just wondering about this groups thoughts on the matter. Are the vacuum slides of the CC actually any different than others and what is the benefit?

And a final question that maybe some CC owners have thoughts on. Basically it seems to me that CC touts high build quality and charges a substantial premium for their product. In general is the premium worth it and would you buy a CC again?

[brucedelta]

After seeing some country coach products at the Atlantic city RV show last month we decided to stop at the dealer and have a closer look, which we did this past weekend. Having never owned a RV before the selection process is very daunting to say the least and exhausting for sure.
They had a 42' allure there that seemed like a very nice coach. It fell into the relatively short list that my wife and I both agreed we liked off the bat. We did not drive the unit or any CC for that matter. The dealer says they have a rear bath founders edition coming in this week and we look forward to seeing the layout of that unit.
Up until now I have been leaning heavily to a Newmar MADP rear bath. I really liked the comfort drive and it was heads an tails above a 2001 Holiday rambler we rented. We looked closer at the Travel Supreme while there, but the layout with the slides closed has been a real turn off as it is just too tight. Additionally we drove a used 07 Select limited with 30K miles and I have to say I was disappointed with the ride when compared to the new comfort drive(We were told this coach was traded for an Affinity). So when we go back to drive the country coach is it reasonable to expect a tighter smoother ride. They tout the dynomax chassis and I would expect that to be a advantage. I am looking for feedback on maybe what to look for or how to test better. I am hoping it is not a case of wearing rose colored glasses with respect to my memory of the newmar ride, since we liked the coach so much.

I will ask here about the other thing which bugged me the most about the 42' allure. With the slides closed it was impossible to open the shower door. It was close and the carpeted corner below the vanity stuck out a little to far. I immediately thought it was a design flaw as they could beveled the corner and it would have been fine. So my question is if this is normal. I doubt it is really designed that way, so after thinking about it for a day or two I have come to the conclusion that this can not be a intentional design and the door should in fact open with the slide closed. Therefore the next logical conclusion is that the slide is out of alignment enough to make this a problem. Is it normal for slides to go out of alignment? The salesman touted the "vacuum slides" and how much better they were than what is found on the other brands. He was not able to adequately explain the difference to this engineer such that I can understand the benefit, but supposedly they are better. So I am just wondering about this groups thoughts on the matter. Are the vacuum slides of the CC actually any different than others and what is the benefit?

And a final question that maybe some CC owners have thoughts on. Basically it seems to me that CC touts high build quality and charges a substantial premium for their product. In general is the premium worth it and would you buy a CC again?

[RVRONINPA]

Alot of good questions. I hope you will get some good answers. I will tell you there are 4 coachs that have a custom chassis. (Which is the heart and sole of the motor home. Country Coach, Foretravel, Monaco and Alpine,.(well Tiffen just came out with one also but will have to see how it does when all the bugs are worked out) Your Best ride, handling, stopping coaches are indeed on a custom chassis.Slide realisticly should be about 5th or 6th on your list of concerns if even that high. Saftey, ride, steering braking, power train, simplicity to work on coach(pay now or pay later) customer service, aqua-hot or not, surge protection, generator, holding tanks, over all quality and price range of coach. And there are many other features you may or may not want like washer/dryer, storage access, etc. etc. I have alot of good info I am here to help. Feel free to contact me at ronstrait@embarqmail.com or call my cell at 717-360-4627.

[76dc]

I have an 07 Allure 42ft. and took care of the shower door problem. Had friend who is handy come over and trim the courner off the sink base about 1/8" was all that was needed because most of what the shower door hits is carpet, so he took little more off put same carpet back and it looks like it was made that way.
Because I travel alone and many times drive long hours and stop at rest stops and take a shower, putting slide out was a real pain.
Had Newmar prior to purchasing CC. Liked the Newmar, love the CC.

[brucedelta]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by D. Cote:
I have an 07 Allure 42ft. and took care of the shower door problem. Had friend who is handy come over and trim the courner off the sink base about 1/8" was all that was needed because most of what the shower door hits is carpet, so he took little more off put same carpet back and it looks like it was made that way.

Had Newmar prior to purchasing CC. Liked the Newmar, love the CC. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I guess the root of my concern is it should have been made that way to start. As you noted the fix is relativly simple and obvious when one looks at he problem. How could the factory not spend an extra 2 minutes with a power planer before carpeting the coach to resolve this. What else do they fail to resove becomes my next question.
We rented the holiday Rambler and visited my suster for Thanksgiving. Parked on the street in front of her house we did not use the slides. Basically caused me to add usability with slides in as a deal breaker requirement.

After having to repair a silly design defect, why do you love the CC.

[76dc]

Of the five coachs I have had in the last seven years, they all have had some silly thing wrong with them, spent lots of days at Newmar with two coachs for corrections and they always took care of me. One had a three year warranty and it was in every year.
My point is, they all have silly things that need repaired.
I just think at this time the CC Allur has been the best riding, best handling. Love might be poor choice of words, don't love coachs just use them. Both Newmar and Country Coach are good companies and take care of their customers. This is only my opion based on my ownership.

[JerryKelly]

Consider where the factory is when you select a coach. I am on my 2nd diesel MH in 5 years and each coach has been to their respective factories to correct defects, usually things that a dealer just can not do. As a Newmar owner, I would go with Newmar again. If CC was located in Indiana, it would be a hard decision.

[deandec]

Ride quality at the test drive is dependent upon the correct prep of the rig prior to the test drive. Tire inflation can greatly alter the steering and ride of a coach so check that before trying to compare performance of brands or models.

You should find that the CC rides and handles as well or better than most rigs.

[RVRONINPA]

Remember to compare apples to apples....C.C. is a Great coach,custo chasis etc. Any New Coach you buy is going to have to return for adjustments, etc. like building a new home a punch list is required.... so use it and make a list then take it back and have it fixed and do the same over and over the first year,,,break in period....good luck....Ron

[bnd]

I currently have a Winnebago Adventurer and am planning to move up to a CC Allure. Am interested in positive or negative input from current or previous CC owners as to why they chose CC over other manufactures and experiences they have encountered. Also interested in experiences with or references for CC dealers on the west coast (Oregon, California, Arizona).

[Techie]

We chose CC due to the quality of the house & chassis. There was nothign else close in terms of quiet ride, easy to handle, no "funny" noises while driving, high net CC, etc especailly on some of the not so great roads in CA.

IF you find one that is bad ride then it's more likely the dealer that doesn't have the rig set up right (tire pressure usually). But if they don't have a CC that is ready-to-roll find a different unit (just in case) or a different dealer.

Also, ANY rig will drive better once it has a full fuel tank and/or is loaded up.

If we had to do it again we would stil go with a CC (in our case an Allure). Short of moving up to a Prevost I woudl be surprised if you could find a better rig.

In the almost 2 years we've the rig we had only one major problem and that was Cummins related in the first 3,000 miles -- an oil line blew. That was handled dircetly by Cummins (CC helped us though especially since we were new to Diesel's their input was great) and haven't had any re-occurrence.

The other problems we have were very minor which we had them do at the fcatory at one-year as part of a punch-list.

The only other problem which was not so minor was the inverter went out on us. It was out-of-warranty by CC and Xantrex wanted us to remove it, take it to an authorized centere,m etc and then would only cover the parts & labor on the unit itself. CC stepped up and overnighted a replacement unit and paid for a Coach-Care center tyo remove & replace it,,,so we were very happy with the outcome.

On the dealer front keep in mind that no dealers are wholly a single brand and its nowhere near like taking your car in for service. personally, I have not run into a dealer yet (including our prior rig which was W22 based) that I woudl take any RV to even for an oil change. I think that you're better off going to an independant (we lke Coach-Care centers) for all of your service and buy from the dealer that has what you want at the price you can afford.

After all, what's the odds of your having a major problem at home? It's mor elikely your hundreds of miles away when a problem occurs so the selling dealer isn't going to do anything for you.

Just my 2 cents.

[John66]

As far as dealers go, check out the state as well. Rumor has it that California will charge you sales tax on the whole sale, even if you have a trade in for which the tax has already been paid. If you have no trade in, this should not be a factor. I don't know anything about Oregon. Arizona doesn't have any gotchas when buying the unit, but the registration is based on the value, so getting plates in AZ can cost 1000s of dollars.

In Arizona, I've dealt with Beaudry in Tucson. From a sales point of view (assuming you get the right salesman and the only one I know has left for Buddy Gregg in Texas) they are ok. They will, as many dealers will, attempt 'fast ones', but if you pay attention, don't freak out, insist on what is right and don't finalize the deal until things are right, you can do ok.

Unfortunately, their service is (or at least was) less satisfactory. It took several weeks from the date we agreed on the sale until the unit was 'ready to pick up'. And then we lived on their transition lot for several more weeks until it was really ready.

[ricere]

No one has answered brucedelta's question about "vacuum slides". After reading his post, I got curious about how they work and how they are better. After reading the whole thread, I did not see a response.

If anyone knows how the "vacuum slides" work, please share it with us.


Thanks.

[sharbra]

I don't know if brucedelta's salesperson was referring to the HWH slide system that is on our 2006 CC Intrigue, but we find the slide system on our couch to be very satisfactory. It was necessary to add rollers to the galley slide but other than that all works well. Roller addition was a factory install.