new Monaco search

[lp5151]

anyone have any first hand knowledge of the new Navistar made Monaco's? we've looked at the 2011 Diplomat and the 2010 Camelot. liked the Camelot because of side radiator, but what about the assembly quality of the coach itself?

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lp5151 ... but what about the assembly quality of the coach itself?

lp5151, Trust your gut reactions. If it says this is nice then it must be. It's your checkbook and if it looks good to you that's all that matters. Just make sure you take your time and ask lots of questions. Trust the dealer that you are working with. That's the BIGGEST plus that you need to establish, if not find someone else.

[moisheh]

Trust a dealer?? That is a first!! I think Driver means "find a dealer you can trust". You wont find much info on the new units as they have not been on the market very long. Apparently the build quality is very good but that could be just heresay. Personally I would not buy one for another year.

[Lukeaa]

We attended the Monaco International rally in Salem the first week in August. Most of the current Monaco managment was there and openly talked about the changes that Navistar is bringing to the Monaco design process and their assembly line in Coburg. They mentioned that Navistar starts the QC process with the first weld and at every station all the way to the end. What a concept! The Monaco team meets weekly with Navistar management via a sophisticated video conference. Navistar has given Monaco access to a large design engineering staff, a huge parts supply chain, volume purchasing agreements and many other areas. Navistar also builds trucks in which truckers spend a lot more time than RVer's do. So they spend a lot of time and money on things like driver ergonomics and how user friendly the cockpit is. Navistar also has 800 dealers and so Navistar knows a whole lot about how to treat dealers and support them. I think they said that they have 12 regional distribution centers and can deliver parts to any dealer within 24 hours. 130 of the Navistar dealers have signed up to get involved in supporting Monaco products and will be required to meet the same standards as they do for their trucks. I came away with the feeling that within a year, we probably will not recognize the old Monaco that we all hate.

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moisheh Trust a dealer?? That is a first!! I think Driver means "find a dealer you can trust"..

[Bobs911]

If you are anywhere near the West Coast, go up to Coburg and take a Monaco factory tour. We were there last month. I was involved in numerous large fleet purchases from Navistar over a 10 year period in my prior life. They are a first class outfit and aren't going anywhere. I agree with the previous post, Navistar has brought a lot of quality control experience to Monaco.

[tuthpick1]

I sent a question to the Monaco sales staff, received and automated responce saying they would get back to me within 24 hours, and that's been over a week - what's a buyer supposed to think...?

[bullydogs1]

Based on the above, I think they some work to do....there is nothing worse than getting a canned response and then having your true inquiry fall through the cracks....they cannot afford to make a single mistake...yet here it is...Meet the new boss...same as the old boss....(and in this case, the shoe fits...)

[ramblin10]

I agree with Lukeaa- Navistars new QC process is impressive I believe they call it MQS sounds very encouraging . Also I know they are monitoring dealers PDI process and are on alert of any similiar failures. They are really improving the paint process.
The 12 parts distrubution points will mean more parts in stock and shipments of parts in a more timely matter. No other Rv company can do this
Navistar engineers are driving Monaco's and testing for Noise, Vibration, rattles and overall ride. Being verticaly intergrated means they can not just say we have an issue but deal with the issues and deciede if it is Chassis, Motor, or Box related. Other RV companies try but can't always get all 3 on the same page but Navistar engineers are responsible for it all. They also spend a lot of time on what they call ergonomic design to make the coach a better experience (can you see the gauges on a sunny day or reach the switches).
My understanding is that dealers getting new Maxx 10 engines are very happy with the performace and MPG. They are very quick on acceleration.
They are also looking at better ways to build RVs as well.
Navistar is very committed to this venture and could set a new standard on how and RV is built and serviced. They have the resources do do thinngs no one else can do. I am encouraged and this is a good start and I think 1-2 years fom now we will see a completly different RV manufacture compared to the old Monaco or for that matter anyone else.

[moisheh]

There is no question that Navistar has the ability to build the best RV ever!! Whether that will actually happen is another story. There is a lot more to selling a product than just having a good product. Customer relations has to be as good as the product. Decent dealers, parts availability and tech support are also important. I wont start a war here but Navistar has failed in the past on some of these items. The parts dept. is not yet fully stocked nor are there enough people in this department. Tech support is still SUPER. They have never failed me. Personally I think that Navistar will be able to pull this off. Presently the market is very small. Not many dealers and not many sales. If and when things improve they could easily set the standard for others. I suppose time will tell. I still am not thrilled at the prospect of the Navistar powerplants. I remember the Cat 7 and everyone posting how they would blow Cummins away. IMHO it was not a good powerplant. Navistar does have a public relations problem with all this pollution equipment. They are acting like big babies and asking the Calif. EPA to not approve the SCR engines.

[gnm]

How do you spell Tiffin?

That's the next RV I will buy!

Camelot or Alegro Bus?

[bullydogs1]

I read this thread...and I become from Missouri--that is, SHOW ME....
Have some get together in the northeast....get dealers within 3 1/2 hours of someone etc....There is a big gap in NJ/Pa central area/northern area, now that DeWalt's in gone..So what dealer have they gotten?none.....

Tech support and those guys are great and I give them extreme high marks....Parts is tough to get on the phone and then the price of the parts is ridiculous so you do an internet search, go through an extra step and you have the part at 1/2 the Monaco price.

They have a recipe to make a heck of a splash...but if they rely on corporate BS rather than a go-get em attitude and get dealers on and get people charged....this will not work as well..I can tell you that there are at least 3 shops I know of, that well , have a very bad taste in their mouth about Monaco/HR and they are not forgiving...this attitude gets passed down to the customer...

This can work, but not with the present powers that be..

[Drifter]

Something to watch for.

Quote:

We are in a wait and see position right now. Our intentions are to sign with the new company as soon as we can verify that they are producing a viable reliable product for our customers. At this time I do not know that and don’t think that they have full production lines going for building high line coaches. They claim they will build one on a special order basis but I do not believe that they could build a quality high line coach on a one at a time basis. In my opinion it takes a normal production line with all the stations to get consistent quality coaches. We have purchased plenty of prototypes that were built like that and we didn’t think were up to quality standards. Maybe they will eventually get to that point where we could verify good quality coaches coming off the lines but I don’t think it is happening yet. As always we are very concerned with the quality of coaches that we sell. I believe that the new company are now starting to build an assembly line of lower line diesels this month and we will see how they come out when they are finished. The new company is a LLC subsidiary of Navistar and we don’t yet fully trust them after what we went through with the old Monaco Coach Corp. leaving us high and dry. Thanks for checking with us. We appreciate your business and will be happy to help you anytime in the future. We have a lot of Monaco special parts in stock and will gladly help you if you ever need anything for your coach. Thanks Sincerely Tim DeMartini DeMartini RV Sales

[itdave]

Mike,
It would be helpful to know when DeMartini posted this info.

We took a factory tour in August and found that Monaco LLC was building all levels of coaches. They did say that they are only building Signatures if they are ordered all other are being built to supply dealers with replacement of current inventory. We did find that Navistar has instituted a station by station quality control process. Requires all workers at a given station to sign off on the work performed at that station. Much better process than inspection after the coach is finished, I think the old Monaco called it a white glove inspection. We all know of all the assembly errors we found in our coaches.