Opinions???

[deanjeep]

Ok, so we are headed to Tampa tomorrow for the big show. We have an older model Newmar, which we love, but suffering from upgrade fever. To this point all I've really considered is Newmar or Tiffin. We are staying at a large RV park in Sarasota and 3 people in the last 24 hours have told me to be sure to look at Entegra. So for those of you that are knowledgeable on all 3 brands and their service after sale...what do you think. How exactly is Entegra affiliated with what used to be Travel Supreme. I know that Jayco is the parent company and it's hard to think of Jayco and not think of an inexpensive camper.

Enlighten me, educate me. I figured this was the best place to go for the answer.
Thanks in advance.
Dean

[BobGed]

I can't answer all of your questions, but I have heard very good things regarding the quality of construction of the Entegra. If I were in the market for a new coach, it definitely would be on my short list for further investigation.

[Ann n Gene]

The ONLY connection to an Entegra Coach and Jayco is that Jayco is the parent company. They built a brand new factory, hired many of the Travel Supreme workers and some executives, included the head of the service department. They have a separate service facility right across the street from the Entegra factory. They build a very high quality coach that rivals anything in the $750k and down market. They use a spartan chasis with a minimum 450 hp ISL Cummins engine. The standard equipment is very long and impressive. They are at least as good as any Tiffin or Newmar on the market. Our Anthem has a diesel aqua-hot unit, hand crafted Amish cabinets and woodwork, residential tile floors, in floor hydronic heat, a fisher-paykel dish drawer,stacked washer and dryer, air mattress king size bed, large residential fridge, fireplace, leather upholstered furniture and on and on and on. The quality and fit and finish is suburb. The IFS and the tag axle make for an unsurpassed ride and drive quality. If you have any particular concerns or questions feel free to post them and I will attempt to address them. I had a "punch" list when the unit was new, which most coaches will have, and I choose to take it to the factory to test them out. I found that they bend over backwards to make everything right and please the customer. They go above and beyond requirements to meet your expectations and what would be thought to be required of any company. They truly are building a very high quality coach, backing them to the hilt and have proved that they plan to compete in the high end coach market for many years to come. In short, we are very happy with our purchase and service after the sale. Again, if you have specific concerns or questions please just ask and some of us who own these great coaches will respond. All, as you already know, just my opinion and experience.

[Ann n Gene]

PS -- Enjoy the show, wish we could join you. It will be a great place to compare coaches from all three front line companies at one place and time. Pay particular attention to the fit and finish inside the Entegra units. Travel Supreme was great in this area, Entegra is much better. Have fun and enjoy shopping!

[bill2011]

We had never before had a Class A motorhome. We looked at several brands including Tiffin, Newmar, and Entegra Coach. These three wound up being our short list. We did a feature by feature comparison and talked to several salespersons who were selling all three. We also purchased JR Consumer Reports RV ratings. In addition we subscribed to RV Consumer Group and reviewed their detailed ratings. We reviewed the wealth of information available on this and other forums. After all of this we had several questions during our purchase investigation. We called or emailed the factory and somebody got back to us promptly with the information we had requested. We eventually (six months into our review) purchased our Entegra Coach. After the purchase we had a few issues that required us to visit the factory for corrections. We had all items attended to and cannot say enough good things about the folks there at the factory. There were a few other new owners at the factory for warranty work the week we were there and everbody felt totally pleased with the high level of customer service. If you spend some time looking for comments on forums about this issue I think you will not find negative opinion but much praise for the Entegra people. I can only comment on Entegra Coach as to support after the purchase. Maybe the others are just as good. As far as I know the Entegra warranty is one of the better ones in the industry and the quality is top of the line. While we have only 9,000 miles or so on our coach and are only into our first year of Class A RVing we are extremely pleased with our Entegra Coach. As regards Jayco and the quality issue just look at the specs, the features, the construction method and quality. Sorry for going on so long but we are happy campers.

[deanjeep]

Thanks to both of you for your comments. I love reading and learning. I look forward to more comments in the morning as I'm sure there will be more. Before today I hadn't even considered an Entegra, looks like that has changed.

[Nowabeachbum]

We are currently in Tampa and attended the show today and will be there tomorrow. What you realize real quickly is that there are a lot of different motorhomes! And equally a lot of happy owners! Of the 3 manufacturers you are looking at, I can’t imagine you not being happy with any unit you put down your hard earned money for. Considering you are asking about Entegras on an Entegra site, what I think you will find with most of the Entegra owners is they feel they get a lot for their money(We certainly do). I don’t know where your price point is but most of Newmar’s tag axle models are north of $500,000!
There's lots to look at here, bring comfortable shoes!!

[Mr_D]

Newmar will do customization that I know Tiffin won't do. I looked at the Entrgra and thought they looked pretty good. However I didn't sit down with a sales person and go over the options and what they would customize, if anything.
Saying that I'd buy another Newmar. I like the King Aire and Essex, but would buy another Dutch Star just because we don't need the glitz of the other two and I don't want to totally deplete the checking account and IRA'a

[Mr_D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nowabeachbum We are currently in Tampa and attended the show today and will be there tomorrow. What you realize real quickly is that there are a lot of different motorhomes! And equally a lot of happy owners! Of the 3 manufacturers you are looking at, I can’t imagine you not being happy with any unit you put down your hard earned money for. Considering you are asking about Entegras on an Entegra site, what I think you will find with most of the Entegra owners is they feel they get a lot for their money(We certainly do). I don’t know where your price point is but most of Newmar’s tag axle models are north of $500,000! There's lots to look at here, bring comfortable shoes!!

A really nice Dutch Star 43' with tag will set you back about $375,000 with tile floors, electric window shades, all electric, etc.

[FlaSam]

A couple of you mentioned taking your coach back to the factory for service. Can you tell us a little about that process. How difficult is scheduling, if at all? Do they have a place available to stay in your coach at night? Are their service facilities customer friendly? I feel that the service you get after the sale is almost more important that what you get before it. It sounds like Entegra is doing things the right way.

[Nowabeachbum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_D A really nice Dutch Star 43' with tag will set you back about $375,000 with tile floors, electric window shades, all electric, etc.

A comparable Entegra Aspire to the Dutch Star is $320,000. But to get all that Ann n Gene spoke about above in a Newmar, it will be closer to $500,000+.
Newmar will do a lot more customization than Entegra will. Entegra's goal is to standardize as much as possible.
I have not gone to the factory for any work(It's too far away, maybe someday for a visit) but I have had my share of warranty work done. We are currently at Lazydays for service. Entegra has always been most concerned with getting us back on the road with as little inconvenience to us as possible. They even sent a mechanic to our location so we wouldn't be inconvenienced. And this goes on for 2 years!
Gary

[bill2011]

Flasam in our case we picked up our coach in Orlando in June. There were some issues with the slideouts knocking that we were unable to resolve at the dealer. There were alsoa few of the normal minor things that need fixing. We called Joyce Skinner at Entegra Coach and she advvised that if we could re-route our trip back east so as to go through Indiana they would be happy to fix up any issues we had. We did that and were there 2 nights. Our coach was in the shop daytimes and out on the parking lot hooked up to water and 50a electricity nighttime. I believe they may have been at the time constructing additional facilities (mini RV park) to accomodate service customers. I don't know if that was completed. There were hook-ups at the time we were there for I think 2-3 units. Inside there is a general lounging area and another room with TV. Ideally you would have a toad so you could tour the area while your work is being done. In our case we had flown to Orlando so had no vehicle but we met up with a very nice couple from Texas who had their Anthem in the shop same time as ours and they were good enough to take us around with them. We very much enjoyed our stay there and there'slot's to see. The staff there are quite friendly and served us refreshments from time to time. I believe some of the other customers took a tour of the factory. We didn't do the tour as I have to admit I wouldn't understand what I was looking at. The customers who I spoke to who did the tour were quite impressed and everybody felt that Entegra Coach was an extremely good value for the money coach. Every customer we observed and talked to who left the service depot on completion of their work left there totally pleased with the way they were looked after and the quality of service and care provided to them.

We are going back there for a bit of customization work this summer and I was advised (by Joyce) to block out my time now to ensure all goes smoothly so I guess they do get busy.

[Ann n Gene]

As Bill indicated, we found the facilities, attitude and service at the factory to be first class in every regard, they bend over backward to make your coach perform to design specs. As for the price, you can buy an Anthem with everything I listed above for under $300k, quite a bargain in comparison to the others in this class of coach. As the Mr._D pointed out that list in a Newmar would be about $375k AND YOU WOULD NOT HAVE A SPARTAN CHASSIS, A HUGE DEAL IN MY OPINION. Again, any of the three you are considering will be great coaches, but there are differences. You just need to look very carefully at specs, fit and finish, floor plans, make sure you are comparing apples to apples and make an informed decision about what will work best for you and your family. AGAIN, all just my opinion and experience.

[racryf]

Thought I would weigh in on Entegra customer service...after a couple years of research, we finally bumped up to a DP from a class C. Long story short, we purchase a "pre enjoyed" 2011 Insignia with a mere 1500K miles. Prior to our purchase I was in contact with Entegras customer service numerous times with warranty questions, recall questions, etc regarding the particular coach we were interested in. All my questions were met with kind, courteous responses---and prompt to boot! I will tell you that their interactions with me prior to our actual purchase made the decision to buy an Entegra product easy. After we took possession I realized I didn't have an Entegra owners manual. I requested one- Heather sent it to me 2 day air!
Last week we had the rig inspected in our home state and one of the running lights was blown. Our local RV dealers service manager (who is a certified Jayco dealer) called Entegra and they covered the parts & labor no problem under the remaining warranty. No problems-no questions-no stress! We couldn't be happier with our choice of becoming part of the Entegra Family!!!!