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Old 10-20-2014, 11:37 AM   #1
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Question about Fleetwood overall quality

Good afternoon. My wife and I purchased a travel trailer in the past few months because she was not sure she would like camping. Now that we have taken it out a few times, she loves it, but she hates the ride we are getting with the TT. The other day when we were camping she came to me with an idea to purchase a motorhome. Over the past few weeks we have been looking various model and discussing various options. Having done this for a number of years prior to the purchase of our TT, we have the field narrowed pretty quick given our budget and other factors. We are looking at two class Cs (MinnieWinnie/Sunseeker) and two hybrids (FR3/ACE). While on the lot we had a salesman visited us and show us a Fleetwood Storm, which at the price point, blew us away! We loved everything about the coach, but here is my problem.

In 2007, my brother-in-law traded in his Winnibego Sightseerer for a Fleetwoord Discovery (used). That coach had significant electrical problems and they gave it back to the dealer and stopped RVing all together (They stopped rving for other reasons). I know Fleetwood was having bankruptcy problems around that time frame and maybe they just got in a bad situation. How is the quality on Fleetwood motorhomes? My gut tells me that no matter what we buy there will be some issue to deal with for the coach. We concede that to be a given. Does Fleetwood stand behind their product? I know Bounder coaches have been around forever, how are they will entry level A coaches? Any stories or advice would be useful, this is a huge purchase for our family, we want to have fun not deal with massive problems all the time. Thanks in advance.
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Old 10-20-2014, 11:56 AM   #2
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My wife and I just bought a 1997 Bounder. The interior was well kept no leaks that we have encountered. we bought a used one so all the bugs where worked out for the most part. We knew there would be some minor problems. I did find an oil leak but can fix that myself. Runs great called FW to find out about some trim and they responded back within 48 hrs. We shopped for three months before we decided on our Bounder. Personally I don't think you can go wrong. Good luck and have fun.
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Old 10-20-2014, 12:09 PM   #3
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As you see I own a Fleetwood and have had no problems to speak of with it, bought it used in Sep 10.
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Old 10-20-2014, 12:13 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FreddieMac View Post
Good afternoon. My wife and I purchased a travel trailer in the past few months because she was not sure she would like camping. Now that we have taken it out a few times, she loves it, but she hates the ride we are getting with the TT. The other day when we were camping she came to me with an idea to purchase a motorhome. Over the past few weeks we have been looking various model and discussing various options. Having done this for a number of years prior to the purchase of our TT, we have the field narrowed pretty quick given our budget and other factors. We are looking at two class Cs (MinnieWinnie/Sunseeker) and two hybrids (FR3/ACE). While on the lot we had a salesman visited us and show us a Fleetwood Storm, which at the price point, blew us away! We loved everything about the coach, but here is my problem.

In 2007, my brother-in-law traded in his Winnibego Sightseerer for a Fleetwoord Discovery (used). That coach had significant electrical problems and they gave it back to the dealer and stopped RVing all together (They stopped rving for other reasons). I know Fleetwood was having bankruptcy problems around that time frame and maybe they just got in a bad situation. How is the quality on Fleetwood motorhomes? My gut tells me that no matter what we buy there will be some issue to deal with for the coach. We concede that to be a given. Does Fleetwood stand behind their product? I know Bounder coaches have been around forever, how are they will entry level A coaches? Any stories or advice would be useful, this is a huge purchase for our family, we want to have fun not deal with massive problems all the time. Thanks in advance.
For what it's worth, we spent our first 10 months or so as RVers in a Sunseeker Class C (3170, nice floorplan), and we decided we wanted to move into a Class A. Ultimately, we moved into a Bounder Classic 34B. We had a couple of small issues on our first trip, although to be fair, far fewer than we had on our shake-down trip in the Sunseeker, and all were handled immediately under warranty by Fleetwood. I even had a couple of questions about AV wiring that was a bit unclear; I sent an email to customer service and had diagrams back within a couple of days. Very happy with the Fleetwood product thus far.
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Old 10-20-2014, 12:13 PM   #5
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We purchased our 2012 Discovery 36J new, and only have 7500 miles on it. The cabinets on the driver's side came loose from the wall recently. We had it repaired, and sent the bill to Fleetwood. Got a call from the CEO's office saying that the check is in the mail. Very nice of them to stand behind their out of warranty coach!
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Old 10-20-2014, 12:16 PM   #6
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Question about Fleetwood overall quality

You might want to consider renting an RV for a while until you learn more about what you want and how other owners feel about them by talking with them when camping. That's what we did and I learned a lot. Started out considering some of the models you discussed, but in the end decided on a used 40 foot DP. After 20,000 miles and two month long 5,000 mile trips, I'm sure glad I did. Personally, I would never buy new, just too many great deals on lightly used RV's. Renting instead of buying makes A LOT of sense if you're not retired or full-timing. Depreciation is huge.

On the rental side we rented from Motorus (part of Camping World and the ONLY business I would ever do with Camping World-another story). We found a one-way rental special on a 33 foot class C that needed to be moved from Portland, Oregon to Oakland, Ca and only paid $7.95 per day! Yes - SEVEN DOLLARS AND NINETY FIVE CENTS PER DAY, for 10 days. Great trip along the Oregon/California coast, sand dunes, horseback riding on the beach, redwood forests, etc...

Good Luck!
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Old 10-20-2014, 12:18 PM   #7
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We have an 87 Southwind and all but two of the problems have been with the Chevy chassis and poor mechanics making improper repairs. The other problems are due to age of the coach (water heater and furnace not working) and from sitting idle for 10 years allowed one window to leak because the PO did not look after the MH as he should have.

That being said, we are pleased with the quality of the coach, the curtains washed up just wonderful and looked new despite their age, the cabinetry is still solid and after applying Scott's Liquid Gold they looked like new again. The outside is badly faded so when the money allows we will be getting it repainted. I agree with the other poster, you will not go wrong with a Fleetwood.
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Old 10-20-2014, 12:29 PM   #8
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Having owned a Thor ACE, I would never ever own another product made by Thor. We did enjoy our ACE while we owned it and got good use out of it, however, Thor quality is just so bad. That was our main reason for selling our ACE, every time we used it stuff was falling off or apart. We were always finding screws every time we used it, had no idea where they came from. Passed along the jar of screws when we sold it.

The other huge, and I mean huge problem with Thor is the customer service. Was always each to reach someone, but the constant lies they told were just too much. What was even funnier, but yet so sad, is when several of us ACE owners would start comparing notes here in the forum, the stories that Thor would tell each of us was just so shameful. Thor would finger point on every single problem, oh its the hot water heater manufacture, oh its Fords problem, oh its Onan's problem, oh its Liperts problem, oh its Dometric, etc, etc, etc. Now everyone says this is normal, but I would have to disagree.

We currently own a Fleetwood Discovery, and I can tell you it is night and day. Have yet to find an odd screw laying around and the quality is 10 fold. Our coach is out of warranty, and Fleetwood has been very helpful. We have a Spartan Chassis, and Spartan has also been great to work with. So far, have to give a big thumbs up for Fleetwood.

IMO there can't be a worse manufacture than Thor, so my advice is buy anything NOT manufactured by Thor and you will probably be just fine.

Good Luck!
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Old 10-20-2014, 01:19 PM   #9
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We have a 2007 Fleetwood Terra LX, it was purchased new in 2007. We have encountered very few problems and the few we had were taken care of quickly. The Terra line was the lowest in the Fleetwood line when we purchased ours. I would not hesitate to purchase another Fleetwood product.
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Old 10-20-2014, 01:32 PM   #10
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Got a 2002 discovery a few years ago. No problems with the coach itself. Just with ref, nevercold, micro GE, tires as a normal wear item. Love the coach and just realize, all RVs have problems. Some little and some large.
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Old 10-20-2014, 01:55 PM   #11
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Fleetwood Revolution

Last year we traded in our truck and 5th wheel on a low mileage 2002 Fleetwood Revolution 40c. It's our first motor home. Took it on a couple of short trips last summer and a 4,000 mile trip this year. We had to replace the two slide awnings due to age and we have a burned out light in the microwave. That's it, not one single significant problem with anything. Smooth ride, decent mileage, plenty of power in the mountains. We got a good one.
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Old 10-21-2014, 07:11 AM   #12
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Thank you everyone for the advice. My wife and I appreciate it.
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Old 10-24-2014, 12:03 PM   #13
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2013 Storm

I traded in my 2000 30' Georgie Boy Pursuit(no slides) for a 2013 Fleetwood Storm 32BH, 32 ft bunkhouse, and just returned from a 7500 mi trip New Jersey to San Francisco via Glacier NP, Portland, Oregon coast via 101 to San Fran and return to Jersey via I-80. Everything worked great, loved the ride, extremely comfortable, nothing went wrong with the coach, loved the trip. Very happy with my choice of Fleetwood product and would second the idea of buying "gently used". I am a widower who plans to take daughter, son-in-law and new grandson out and this has plenty of sleeping room. You need to define how you plan of using and living in your MH when checking out layouts. You might get something bigger than necessary for the way you utilize it. Too big going down a 7% grade twisting and turning like the Columbia River Gorge or the Oregon coast, which was my favorite, in a 25 knot wind is not fun, exciting but not necessarily fun. Good luck.
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Old 10-24-2014, 05:45 PM   #14
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We bought our Discovery a few years ago and other than doing some modifications and upgrades we haven't had any problems. Fleetwood customer service has been great even though the coach is 12 years old they still know everything about it. The floor plan fits us perfectly and because it's such a good coach the thought of purchasing a newer one is very remote.
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