Monaco Camelot Prospective Acquisition

[Hugh D]

My wife, Michelle,and I would very much welcome some advice from you wise Monaco folks out there

Sometime during this next year, we intend to purchase new a 42/43' rear bath floorplan diesel pusher - which we will to drive East Coast to West Coast, do some touring along the way. and then live full time in the motorhome while we acquire some land and oversee the building of a new home there (probably in the Russian River Valley area, Sonoma County, Northern California). This could be a two year process.

A rear bath 42' Camelot is on the shortlist of motorhomes that seem to fit our needs. Also on our radar screen (in alphabetical order not preference ranking) are the 42/43' rear bath versions of the: American Coach Allegiance, Beaver Contessa, Country Coach Inspire, Fleetwood Revolution, Holiday Rambler Scepter, Monaco Camelot, Newmar Dutch Aire, Tiffin Phaeton (and would be too an Allegro Bus if they choose to come out with a rear bath plan).

We would be most grateful to hear from any of you (as briefly as you like) why you might consider Monaco the best choice to make, or equally why others on the list might be poor choices. As well as product and service matters, given the current state of the RV industry and prospectively the broader economy, we are also naturally concerned about the financial health and business stability of some of today's participants.

Many thanks for any input you can share with us.

Hugh & Michelle Dickinson
Currently Nantucket 'wash ashores'
2009 42/43' rear bath DP TBD
1965 RHD Morris Minor Traveller
Two English Springer Spaniels, One Maine Coon cat

[Hugh D]

My wife, Michelle,and I would very much welcome some advice from you wise Monaco folks out there

Sometime during this next year, we intend to purchase new a 42/43' rear bath floorplan diesel pusher - which we will to drive East Coast to West Coast, do some touring along the way. and then live full time in the motorhome while we acquire some land and oversee the building of a new home there (probably in the Russian River Valley area, Sonoma County, Northern California). This could be a two year process.

A rear bath 42' Camelot is on the shortlist of motorhomes that seem to fit our needs. Also on our radar screen (in alphabetical order not preference ranking) are the 42/43' rear bath versions of the: American Coach Allegiance, Beaver Contessa, Country Coach Inspire, Fleetwood Revolution, Holiday Rambler Scepter, Monaco Camelot, Newmar Dutch Aire, Tiffin Phaeton (and would be too an Allegro Bus if they choose to come out with a rear bath plan).

We would be most grateful to hear from any of you (as briefly as you like) why you might consider Monaco the best choice to make, or equally why others on the list might be poor choices. As well as product and service matters, given the current state of the RV industry and prospectively the broader economy, we are also naturally concerned about the financial health and business stability of some of today's participants.

Many thanks for any input you can share with us.

Hugh & Michelle Dickinson
Currently Nantucket 'wash ashores'
2009 42/43' rear bath DP TBD
1965 RHD Morris Minor Traveller
Two English Springer Spaniels, One Maine Coon cat

[Duffy's Dad]

Hugh,

I don't know all the things about all of the brands you have mentioned, but having recently purchased a 2009 Camelot 40 foot QDP I have gone through some of what you are experiencing now. So here goes:
1) The name. Camelot, Sceptre and Contessa are all cousins--all made by Monaco with diffent badges (names) because both Holiday Rambler and Beaver were purchased by Monaco. The Contessa may have a Cat engine as opposed to a Cummins in the Camelot and Sceptre.

2) The chassis Of the RVs listed, only the Monaco lines and the Country Coach are on a chassis made by their respective manufacturers. I believe Tiffen is starting to make their own chassis, but not on the Phaeton. If I was narrowing down the list I would consider a Monaco product or a Country Coach product for this reason. A custom chassis by the manufacturer is definitely a plus and I think Monaco makes the best chassis.

3) Service. Monaco and Country Coach both have their factories in Oregon if your coach should need factory service (sometimes the factory is the only facility that can fix a problem). Being that you are going to be living on the West coast I think that should be a consideration. I recently talked to a new Tiffen owner ( Allegro Bus) and he told me the factory (in Alabama) was setting up service appointment 9 months to a year in advance. Can't say I would want to travel that far and wait that long.

4) Value. In my opinion the Camelot/Sceptre/Contessa have more value than than the others. Sure the Inspire is very nicely equiped, but you will pay almost $100,000 more for it. Yes you will be getting an all steel sidewall and roof construction as opposed to aluminum, but you have to decide if you want to pay the extra money. If that's what you want you may want to consider a Dynasty by Monaco.

Hope this helps.

[Majeasy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">1) The name. Camelot, Sceptre and Contessa are all cousins--all made by Monaco with diffent badges (names) because both Holiday Rambler and Beaver were purchased by Monaco. The Contessa may have a Cat engine as opposed to a Cummins in the Camelot and Sceptre. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
don't forget the 42ft. tag axle Cheetah by Safari it's also a Monaco product... check-out MHSRV dot com. right now you can get a fully loaded bath and a half for only 200K... i've got one and the only difference is the camelot, scepter, and contessa have fancier furniture...

[waco kid]

I have an 07 Scepter 42PDQ. I took delivery in late 2006, I now have over 10,000 miles on it and have been fulltiming in it for three months.All I can tell you is its an outstanding coach. I cant comment on factory service because I've never needed it. I hope this helps...Bruce

[Lukeaa]

I am in Coburg, OR today, getting some work done at Cummings Northwest. With nothing else to do, I walked across the street to the Monaco factory and took the factory tour, for the third time. If you have questions about how Monaco builds a coach, you need to see it being done. They build the Roadmaster chassis from the ground up, specifically designed for the model and floorplan it will go under. It is amazing to walk through the paintshop and see them masking off the various designs. The tour guide was formally in quality assurance and she really knew the coaches inside and out. The employees attitude shines. I am on my third Monaco product because of their attention to customer service.

[Hugh D]

Duffy's Dad, Majeasy, Bruce, Luke - thank you so much for your comments/advice. The more I learn, the more it sems like service quality/availablity is going to be a big determinant...Hugh

[Zbugsii]

As my signature says, I have a Monaco Dynasty, and after a very lengthly considerations of everything out there and talking with a number of service people that service many makes, my short list was Monaco and Tiffin. Newmar and Country Coach just left me unconvinced and I would never consider a Fleetwood product after really pouring over them and talking with service techs...

Now, even within the Monaco family, there are enough differences, if you really look hard and compare, to the point that Holliday Rambler was dropped from consideration for me. So, ended up leaving only Monaco and Beaver, for the features and trim I was looking for.

I find the Dynasty to be a very good coach for fulltiming, which we do.... But an Aqua-Hot system is a must for us and we love it.

It really takes a long time to figure out what really works for ones own tastes.

Spend lots of time in each of them...

Good luck.

[Lukeaa]

On the Monaco factory tour yesterday, they said that the new electric heated tile floor is VERY popular.

[Hugh D]

Thanks, Zbugsii. I know some people on Nantucket with a Dynasty and very happy with it. They just left this week for a Virginia trip. Probably the only people with a coach on the island; streets are very narrow!...Hugh
.

[Hugh D]

Yes, heated floors sounds most enticing...Hugh

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lukeaa:
On the Monaco factory tour yesterday, they said that the new electric heated tile floor is VERY popular. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Hugh D]

I know this is by no means scientific. However, I thought some of you who have viewed or contributed to this topic over the past two weeks might be interested to see a simple consolidated nose count of the number of positive and, in a few cases, negative comments posted on the Eve Community and Yahoo Groups regarding the various competitors/products my wife and I have under consideration:

American Coach (11 positive, 1 negative); Country Coach (13+, 0-); Fleetwood (3+, 2-); Monaco (7+, 0-); Newmar (6+, 1-), Tiffin (35+, 2-)

It is notable that Tiffin has a clear lead in owner 'votes', but maybe this just reflects the relative composition of the various owner groups. Don't know. Any comments or interpretation most welcome....Hugh

[moisheh]

Trying to build a spread sheet with positives and neagtives from various forums is an exercise in futility. But forums can provide an insight into factory support and problematic items. One other thing you might consider is whether the mfr. will survive the next 6 months. You mentioned Country Coacah and they are this close to shutting down. CC does not service units that are out of warranty. Do not believe everything you read about Tiffin. Bob Tiffin is one great guy and they will assist you even when you are out of warranty. But unlesss you live near Red Bay or are ready for an annual trip to Mecca you will be disappointed. We bought a Dynasty and so far with 12,000 miles our problems have been minor. Also keep in mind that within each mfr. there are huge differences between models. Not in quality control but in construction methods.

[Duffy's Dad]

When you consider Monaco sell more diesel pushers than any other manufacturer it is noteworthy that they have no negative responses. I think you need to consider this when presenting statistics like this.