Narrowing search and need advice

[Weimaraner]

What was the date on that post? Yikes! I wonder when the book comes (or came) out. Thanks for alerting me!

[Steve Ownby]

Originally Posted by Weimaraner

What was the date on that post? Yikes! I wonder when the book comes (or came) out. Thanks for alerting me!

The post was today.

[waynem55]

Originally Posted by Weimaraner

Hi all you experts! We are narrowing our search for our first MH and are looking for opinions. Here's what we are looking at:

1. 2003 Monaco Executive, 40', 500 Cummins, 3 slides, 76K miles, $129k

2. 2002 Fleetwood Expedition, 36', 300 Cummins, 2 slides. 37k miles, $51k

The Monaco is gorgeous; the Fleetwood is nice. Obviously huge difference in price!

Your opinions really matter! Thanks for all!

the monaco is the way to go, 300hp is just not enough especially when you get a tow on behind. build quality is better in the monaco. i have a beaver montery love it

[Chuck 1935]

One piece of advice I would suggest is to call each manufacturer that you may be interested in and see what factory tech support they offer. Most coaches are fairly well built but if you have a problem the tech support people can save you a bunch.

[MaverickBBD]

If you are asking for opinions I would say BOTH are overpriced. The Monocco by about 20 to 30k . They are selling the name. The Fleetwood about 10 k for the age.

[rexabbot]

Originally Posted by Weimaraner

All such good advice. As to why the huge difference, it's because the one we fell in love with is the Monaco. It has gorgeous rich purple trim in the Ralph Lauren designed interior and a lighternpurple stripe on the outside. We are going to be tailgating in it at the TCU games (colors are purple and white!). The big drawback it that it does not have a king bed. We also looked at a Tiffin Phaeton 2012 but new that really has everything, but a price to go with it. It even has a deep blue, almost purple!, stripe on the outside. You'd think the price would go down dramatically because it's a 2012, but it has not. Anyway, the Expedition was purchased yesterday, so it's no longer an option. I liked it because of the neutral colors that I could a essorize with purple. It had a lot of seating too.

If we got one on the $50K range, we would probably pay cash, which is attractive; if we got one more than that, we would finance half. At least the interest charges are deductions. Any thoughts on that? I guess I'd not like to get something just because it was cheaper and then be unhappy with it. Thanks to everyone for the helpful discussion!

Failing in love with a color before deciding what the rights coach is sounds crazy. You are comparing 2 totaly different coaches and one of them it sounds like you picked it because it was purple. You need to do a lot more serious research.

[Clayobx]

My DW and I were right where you are today. IMHO, whatever you buy now will not be your ride two years from now unless the coach is new or late model with updated floor plans. Technology does exist in the MH industry! What was ten years ago is not close in today's market. Remember we're talking DP, torque is king when pulling a grade with a trailer full of toys or large toad behind you. Have fun, look at a lot of coaches, no maintenance records, no purchase. Just my .02 $ worth.

[Weimaraner]

I have had misgivings about the 2003 Monaco Executive because of the age and had also been thinking that technology would not be up to date. I found a 2011 Monaco Cayman listed for $159,900. It sounds like a reasonable price by comparison. The monaco brochure lists the cayman second behind the camelot for 2011. It has everything we're looking for, except the TCU purple trim. I know that can be changed. Should I be worried it will sell fast because of the price, or does the price still sound high? It's the 40' pbq, 3 tv's, extra sink, king bed and residential fridge. Should we rush on this one? It's at a very large dealer we visited last fall. We've bee looking for a long time! You all are the best with your time spent helping us newbies! Thank you!

[csrrsr]

Originally Posted by Clayobx

My DW and I were right where you are today. IMHO, whatever you buy now will not be your ride two years from now unless the coach is new or late model with updated floor plans. Technology does exist in the MH industry! What was ten years ago is not close in today's market. Remember we're talking DP, torque is king when pulling a grade with a trailer full of toys or large toad behind you. Have fun, look at a lot of coaches, no maintenance records, no purchase. Just my .02 $ worth.

I don't want another coach. We are thrilled with the one we have and didn't see enough of a difference in the new ones today to quad-triple the price. Fact is, we found we have a few more perks than the new ones at the RV show? We pull some pretty large boats and a Jeep and I'm glad we have the color Windex because I can't even tell they're there. We gave it a full body paint and everyone thinks it's a brand new coach? heh..heh..I'm just an old sentimental man I guess.

[CanWeGoDad]

Originally Posted by csrrsr

I don't want another coach. We are thrilled with the one we have and didn't see enough of a difference in the new ones today to quad-triple the price. Fact is, we found we have a few more perks than the new ones at the RV show? We pull some pretty large boats and a Jeep and I'm glad we have the color Windex because I can't even tell they're there. We gave it a full body paint and everyone thinks it's a brand new coach? heh..heh..I'm just an old sentimental man I guess.

I totally understand. We just bought a 2011 Berkshire DP for the size and ability to run down the road a few hundred miles without beating us up with noise, etc, (I travel for work with DW and 3 kids) but there's actually something I miss about our old 1998 Powler TT....weird. Lesson is I guess, find one you like, and that works, take care of it, and enjoy!