Community Forums

jcbron · 09-07-2015, 11:34 AM

Hi

We own a fairly new Allegro 35QBA gas RV. After a few trips we have learned that we are going to spend more time RVing and that we are probably candidates for a diesel pusher.

Perhaps some of you wouldn't mind sharing your comments about the following.

We want to be in the 40 -42 foot range and have looked at the Winnebago tour (42), the Tiffin phaeton (42) and their Bus (40).

Trying to figure out the range of these compared to our V-10 gas which we get 8 mpg towing 4500 lbs. Wondering what can I expect out of any of the above RV's towing the same vehicle.

Any and all comments would be much appreciated including the justification for considering the higher priced Bus vs. the Phaeton,

Thanks

John

TMan59 · 09-07-2015, 11:57 AM

All nice coaches right there.
The Tours have or had some issues with the wall slide gearing I would look into.
I don't know if that is an ongoing deal or has been corrected.
You will love a DP, just my opinion.

Comparing a 35 gas against a 40-42 dp for mileage I would suspect your about the same.
We are at 7.5 to 8 ave.

Gordon Dewald · 09-07-2015, 12:04 PM

We have a QD. We pull a 20' stacker trailer and gross about 53,000. Our coach is still new but is making close to 7. Expect that will increase slightly.

I expect the mileage will be similar no matter which coach you get. Most are on the same chassis and but certainly will have the same Cummins engine.

Our mileage also includes fuel for running the generator and running the aquahot.

MSHappyCampers · 09-07-2015, 01:02 PM

Hi John! We love our DP! I can't say about those three, but our 40' gets between 8 & 9 MPG average towing a Honda CRV. I suspect those would also be in that range!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

HR2004 · 09-07-2015, 01:09 PM

We lover our DP also. also between 8 and 9 mpg at 62 mph, but with a 100 gallon fuel tank, driving all day on half a tank ain't bad..

greystroke · 09-07-2015, 01:18 PM

Have an older diesel MH. Rides great. My low mileage is 9 and my high is 13. I pull an RX300 Lexus. AVG is 11. For 94000 miles computer logs avg mileage and 10.5. Average about 63mph.

cdinatl · 09-07-2015, 01:52 PM

Don't rule out some of the mid 2000 DPs. There are some well taken care of and will save you a ton of $! With what I'm reading I would be a bit nervous buying a thing, new, right now. We bought our 08 about 6 mos ago, low miles and she's solid.

HR Ambassador 38 PDQ 360DP

zmotorsports · 09-07-2015, 02:52 PM

If you are merely looking at a DP for fuel mileage you will not be happy with the change. As far as going from a 35' to a 40-42 foot coach, yes you will have more room and liveability but mainly because you are gaining somewhere between 40-60 plus square feet of living space which really has nothing to do with being a diesel coach.

There is a misconception out there that in order to be happy RVing you have to have a DP. This is mainly campaigned by those who have DP's.

I don't necessarily believe that. If you "need" a DP for the reasons in which a diesel coach excels at then by all means get a DP. If you are only looking to upgrade because someone planted the idea in your head that you must have a DP then I don't feel that is reason enough.

I know many people who are full-timing and thoroughly enjoying their gas coaches. If you are towing heavy loads or want many of the "residential" amenities that equals weight, then a DP will be your best choice.

Diesels really shine for the weight they are designed to carry, pull or haul. Along with the drivetrain you will also get a heavier built chassis that will come with air ride and in most cases air brakes.

Really only you can decide if a DP is in your best interest based off of your intended uses and budget. If you already have a fairly new gasser, you may take a bit of a loss dumping it in favor of a DP which again only you will be able to weigh that option.

What I used to tell my wife when we had our first motorhome, which was a 30' gasser, was those people in their high end DP's aren't having any more fun that we are and they aren't going anywhere we can't go.

That being said, we love our Dynasty diesel pusher, but we also are loaded heavy and tow 12,500 plus pounds of trailer behind us. We don't have any more fun or go anywhere in this coach that we didn't go in our very first motorhome back in the mid-90's.

Just my opinion, take it for whatever it's worth.

Mike.

jondrew55 · 09-07-2015, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcbron

Hi

Trying to figure out the range of these compared to our V-10 gas which we get 8 mpg towing 4500 lbs. Wondering what can I expect out of any of the above RV's towing the same vehicle.

According to my computer I get about 10 MPG on my DP. Not sure I really believe that, it's probably more like 8Ish.

Just remember, diesel costs more than regular (at least until recently!). So a DP will most likely cost more in fuel than a gas. Frankly, fuel cost is one of the cheapest components of the cost of my RV use, so I just don't worry about it.

That said, I don't see much MPG difference in towing my my 3700 pound Murano as opposed to when I'm not towing.

Good luck with whatever you choose

Koop · 09-07-2015, 03:14 PM

Like OP, we started with gasser before we decided to go full-time. We found our wants and needs changed, so we moved to a DP. I posted about it here. BTW - we average 8 mpg. Sometimes with really favorable conditions (i.e. tailwind, no hills) we get as high as 10, other times with headwinds and hills it can be as low as 6.5 mpg. Overall it hovers around 8 mpg. We tow a 3,000lb cargo trailer.

DD788Snipe · 09-09-2015, 12:21 AM

I've had 3 coaches. The first 2 were gas and they were great for what we purchased them for. Mainly weekend jaunts and a couple of weeks a year on vacation. We spend over half of the year on the road now that we're retired. That's why we opted to purchase the DP we have now. I couldn't see us living in our last rig for 6 months or more out of the year (33'). I bought used because of the depreciation factor and the smog issues with the newer diesel engines is still a work in progress. We love our DP. My suggestion is go out and test drive a few. Then go from there and not all DPs are created equal. Some bad, some good and some are great. Since your on this forum your in the right place for info to help you make a decision.

Gary RVRoamer · 09-09-2015, 11:11 AM

The diesel engines made after 1/1/2007 and before 1/1/2010 got a bit poorer fuel mileage due to EPA emission requirements. Coaches built in roughly that era (some had older or newer engines) may get 6-7 mpg rather than around 8. And 42 footers with big engines (500+ hp) are also likely to be in the 6+ range rather than 7-8. The toad won't have any meaningful effect on the large DPs - maybe 0.1-0.2 mpg difference with or without.

Our 2004 (40 ft, 37k lbs) with the Cummins ISL engine runs between 7.6 and 8.1 mpg.

Mr_D · 09-09-2015, 11:29 AM

We got a little less than 8 mpg with our '02 Dutch Star 4090 with ISC 350. Didn't get any better with the Banks kit I installed. To be safe I used 7.5 mpg for estimating costs.
With the Magna we get 7.6 overall (45,000 miles) although since the last top end rebuild it's gone down some but I expect it to come back up as the engine breaks in.
We tow a Honda Odyssey four down and it doesn't seem to affect mileage much if any.

Mr_D · 09-09-2015, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zmotorsports

What I used to tell my wife when we had our first motorhome, which was a 30' gasser, was those people in their high end DP's aren't having any more fun that we are and they aren't going anywhere we can't go.

That being said, we love our Dynasty diesel pusher, but we also are loaded heavy and tow 12,500 plus pounds of trailer behind us. We don't have any more fun or go anywhere in this coach that we didn't go in our very first motorhome back in the mid-90's.

Just my opinion, take it for whatever it's worth.

Mike.

We also don't have any more fun in our 45' quad slide MH than we had in our first 17' Type B MH!