Looking for some feedback on models we are looking at!

[koresample]

Hi there, my wife and i have owned several travel and tent trailers as well as cruiser style boats and are now looking to go for a class a motor home. I have done a ton of reading on here to educate us on the different makes and pros and cons and have narrowed our search down to units that are 34-40' in either gas or diesel. We won't be able to do a lot of touring for quite a few more years and plan to use it for 5-10 trips per year for the time being with the maximum distances being around 1000 miles round trip and many of them only being a couple hundred.

We are looking at the following;
2002 gulf stream sun voyager, 3 slide work horse/Allison $26,995 and 95000 km's
1998 Newmar dutch Star 3883 76k miles (8.3 l cummins) $39,995
1999 Newmar Mountain Aire Dp4080 325 cat-45k miles and $55k
1999 Fleetwood Discovery 34q 5.9 cummins 140k KM's and $39,000

All are pretty loaded but vary on the options. The Gulf Stream is being sold privately, the others are all through dealers. It is appealing due to the price. I believe the other 3 diesel pushers are all better quality for driving and power (with the Mountain Aire being at the top) but we would like to hear some opinions. We have bought in and then gone up in the past which never works out financially, but based on what we are planning to do, what are some of the realistic things we need to consider?

Thanks in advance for any advice/input and thoughts

Mike

[Mr_D]

Depends on YOUR budget and what you want. We'd go with the Newmar but that's just us after owning two Dutch Stars. We bought the 2002 with the full intention of going full time when we retired. Right now my wife's health went bad and we have a 13 yr old grandson to finish raising.
So, we may be looking at moving to a larger Newmar in the future but ours is in such good condition we don't really need to. NO it's not for sale!

[Mystery]

After a lot of looking we decided on a 2002 Newmar 3852 Dutchstar w a 330 cat. It seemed that the newmar's interior quality seemed to hold up better than other brands in a 10 year old coach. There are many nice ten year old coaches out there and look to see maintenance records the coach has for PO. There are nice gas rigs out there too. I wish I would have joined site before I bought bc I prob would have gone to a tag. This site is a weath of information. Welcome!

[GaryKD]

Hi koresample,
Welcome to iRV2. For coaches of this age, proper and timely maintenance is the second most important item. The first item is floor plan. Consider:
1. floor plan
2. will the coach carry you and all your stuff (NCC rating)
3. will the coach tow the vehicle/trailer you have (GCWR, hitch rating)

From a Newmar point of view, one can not beat the construction and permanence of a Newmar.

[FormerBoater]

The mechanical C8.3 engine in the Dutch Star is an excellent engine. No electronics and plenty of torque.

It likely is riding on a Spartan Chassis with a side radiator.

Mileage is about right for the engine to be broken in by now.

These factors would be weighted heavily for me if I was on the hunt.

Dave
1998 American Eagle 40EVS
Cummins C8.3 325 HP engine
Allison 3060 Six Speed transmission
Spartan Mountain Master Chassis

[koresample]

Thanks for the feedback.Does anyone have any input on the gas Sun Voyager?

[LDP243]

out of these choices I would go with one of the Nemar coaches, We had a list almost exactly like your's . a Monaco, 2 Newmar's and a Beaver, We went with the Beaver based on the condition and quality being very similar and both the Newmar coaches had 7k to 50k more miles . our 2 finalist were the Dutch Star and the Beaver Patriot same year model the D.S . WITH 7K more miles 3ft. shorter and 5k more moneys

[Steve Ownby]

Originally Posted by GaryKD

Hi koresample,
Welcome to iRV2. For coaches of this age, proper and timely maintenance is the second most important item. The first item is floor plan. Consider:
1. floor plan
2. will the coach carry you and all your stuff (NCC rating)
3. will the coach tow the vehicle/trailer you have (GCWR, hitch rating)

From a Newmar point of view, one can not beat the construction and permanence of a Newmar.

X2

With coaches in this age range, prior maintenance is the most important factor.

I agree the Newmars are the pick from a quality standpoint.

[dennis45]

Originally Posted by koresample

Hi there, my wife and i have owned several travel and tent trailers as well as cruiser style boats and are now looking to go for a class a motor home. I have done a ton of reading on here to educate us on the different makes and pros and cons and have narrowed our search down to units that are 34-40' in either gas or diesel. We won't be able to do a lot of touring for quite a few more years and plan to use it for 5-10 trips per year for the time being with the maximum distances being around 1000 miles round trip and many of them only being a couple hundred.

We are looking at the following;
2002 gulf stream sun voyager, 3 slide work horse/Allison $26,995 and 95000 km's
1998 Newmar dutch Star 3883 76k miles (8.3 l cummins) $39,995
1999 Newmar Mountain Aire Dp4080 325 cat-45k miles and $55k
1999 Fleetwood Discovery 34q 5.9 cummins 140k KM's and $39,000

All are pretty loaded but vary on the options. The Gulf Stream is being sold privately, the others are all through dealers. It is appealing due to the price. I believe the other 3 diesel pushers are all better quality for driving and power (with the Mountain Aire being at the top) but we would like to hear some opinions. We have bought in and then gone up in the past which never works out financially, but based on what we are planning to do, what are some of the realistic things we need to consider?

Thanks in advance for any advice/input and thoughts

Mike

Mike,
Here is some info from RV Consumer Group on the Gulfstream. I have also attached a link to their website that you might find helpful. I purchased their database when I was shopping for our MH and it was VERY helpful in making our selection.
RV Consumer Group - We Rate RVs

[koresample]

Thanks very much Dennis!

[dennis45]

Originally Posted by koresample

Thanks very much Dennis!

My pleasure, when I went looking, I had no idea what to look for and for $150 it helped me eliminate a lot of junk. Kept me from wasting my time on rigs that were not worth looking at.

[koresample]

So were dealing on a 98 Dutch Star 3865 with 83,000 KM's on the CAT Freightliner XC chassis (through a local dealer)! Asking price was $39k...we made an offer subject to test drive and review of the inspection reports. i'll report back on what we ended up with and if successful, the complete makeover/reno we plan on doing to it!

[Wolfpack Fan]

Originally Posted by koresample

Thanks for the feedback.Does anyone have any input on the gas Sun Voyager?

Several years ago when we were considering getting our first motorhome I asked one of my customers whether there were any particular brands I should steer clear of. The customer was the owner of a fairly high volume RV repair facility in our home city of Reno. I'll never forget him telling me to steer clear of Gulf Stream because he had seen so many of them in his shop. There's probably a lot of folks that have Gulf Streams that are very happy with them and they've been good coaches for them. One persons opinion.

[Dan DeBruin]

I looked at a lot of motor homes in our searches. Decided the diesel was a requirement for us due to a desire to have less limitations in towing and comfort in driving. The previous motor home was a 1998 38' DSDP but with the cummins engine on a spartan chassis. As you can see from my signature, we now have a 4009 DSDP. In all my discussions with folks have not found a motor home manufacturer that had less problems with construction quality issues. There will always be issues and if there is poor maintenance, does not matter the manufacturer. Wish you well with your search and enjoy whichever rig you decide upon. The process is part of the journey, enjoy it.