As I stated in my first post we took delivery of our Revolution LE from the factory. We arrived on the 19th of July at “Camp Decatur” in our soon to be “not ours anymore” Providence 40X. If any of you have been to Fleetwood for service are aware that their day starts at 6 AM sharp. This is quite an adjustment for those of us that have spent the last 10 years since retirement practicing sleeping-in until 9 each morning.
But, we made it to the plant the next morning and met our delivery person Chris.
She immediately took us to our new coach which was parked adjacent to the end of the assembly line, where we spent the next 3 full days getting aquatinted with the inner and outer workings of the Revolution. I say full days as, although their day is typically over at 2:30 PM, ours was just beginning again with the transfer of our belongings from the “old to the new” coach.
A little observation on my part concerning the factory and Fleetwood and their people. We were at the old Fleetwood the first time in 2000 when we retired and purchased a 30 ft. Flair, bare bones model, just to see how we would do with the RV lifestyle. We went to the factory and watched our chassis move down the line. My impression at that time was, “How could they get anything accomplished with what looked to me as complete chaos, and parts sitting everywhere you turned”. Fast forward to 2010, we have been back to Decatur for service work on our Providence and I have taken the tour 2 times in the last year. What a difference!! Organization with a capital “O”, clearly defined work cells (each stage of the process) absolutely no product sitting around until needed at the stage of the assembly process. I found it amazing that at one point, I would see a floor, and the next, all the wiring and plumbing installed but no sign of either around the line.
OK, back to the delivery. As I stated, Chris was with us for 3 days reviewing all segments of the operation of the coach. If we, OR she, found anything that either of us were not satisfied with, she would get on her radio and the person/s with the appropriate expertise would come into the coach and correct the problem. A good example is, we were not satisfied with the flush lever of the commode in the half bath. Chris looked at it and agreed, within 5 minutes a gentlemen came into the coach with another commode, removed the existing one and replaced it, said excuse me and was gone. Simple as that. I could go on and on regarding the ability to have the qualified people available to support the delivery process but I think you’ve got the jest of how happy we are that we elected to have the factory delivery.
Oh yea, I did take time to go on the factory tour once again. It’s amazing how much more you see each time you take the tour.
I would have posted this sooner but we have been too busy using the coach and traveling. We left Decatur and drove straight to Oshkosh, Wi for the EAA Airventure and stayed for 8 days, Came back thru Decatur and had 2 problems that came up resolved at the service center and then back home.
Now to the coach itself, if my posted pictures turned out OK I’m sure you can see why we are really, really excited about the Revolution LE. Both Carol and I feel so much more at home in this coach than any of the other 3 we have owned. It is just beautiful and the level of “fit, finish, and amenities” is amazing!
The coach does have the “new” EPA required emissions fluid. I will say that I’m very happy with the MPG of this coach as compared to our Providence with the 8.3L Cummins engine. We currently have ~1900 miles on the coach with 1100 by us, Fleetwood put 800 miles on it driving it to the Rally in Illinois. In the 1100 miles the DEF tank is now down to the 3/4 full mark. Since it is so new, Fleetwood spent some time finding the fluid in Decatur to fill it before we left. I’m sure they will have a supply at the factory before long.
Our last short trip was to southern Ohio and it’s rolling hills. We had no problem maintaining a speed setting on the cruise (60 mph) and got 7.2 mpg with our 2010 Honda CRV in tow.
That’s about it with our Revolution LE delivery. I hope I didn’t bore you too much and once again I’ll just say Fleetwood and Co. (people) bent over backwards to make the delivery process better than we ever expected.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Shawn Nelson with General RV out of Utah, who was our selling dealer and salesman. Shawn made this process seamless for us, living in Ohio, seeing the coach for the first time in Illinois at a rally, purchasing from a dealer in Utah, and arranging to take delivery in Indiana. Wow, makes me dizzy just thinking about it....
Ron & Carol
Renegade Garage Unit
Linear Mode
