New to camping world

[flyboytravel]

My wife and I are considering purchasing a 2003 Holiday Rambler Admiral SE. The motor is a Vortec 8.1 with a workhorse chassis It only has 18,000 miles and is in pretty good condition. We would appreciate any advice/comments regarding this motorhome. We are also new irv2 members. Great forum!

[Dixieray53]

First...Welcome to iRV2.....I owned a 2003 Bounder on the W22 chassis with that engine and it gave us great service...If you like the floor plan and the price and it meets your needs then buy it Most Rv's use the same major parts, AC, Fridge, etc. So as long as you are happy with the quality of your purchase you are good to go. You'll get lotsa opinions on after market warranties, but IMO buy one...somethings gonna break sometime and you'll be glad you have it...
Peace and Safe Travels...D

[Steve N Sal]

If the motorhome fits your specs, go for it. The Workhorse platform is a great chassis and the 8.1 has more then enough power to get you to your destination. Along with that the Allison transmission is also a great piece of equipment and a real smoooooth shifter. Far from that most equipment aboard is pretty generic from brand to brand. Holiday Rambler makes a great unit that you can enjoy for years. Make the plunge and enjoy some traveling. Happy Motoring!!!!
Oh by the way, Welcome Aboard here. If you have questions ask them, there's a wealth of knowledge from the members here.

[DRosedale]

Don't know anything about that coach, but I did want to welcome you to the forum. I am sure there are folks on this forum that can answer your questions.

There are a lot of good buys out there right now and the prices are right. If you find a coach that you like and it is in good shape, and this is really what you want to do, then by all means buy it. Then your next step is to find a good insurance policy that will cover the cost or most of cost of repairs or replacement of items in the coach. Its kind of like an extended warranty.

Good luck

[HoRotica]

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyboytravel My wife and I are considering purchasing a 2003 Holiday Rambler Admiral SE. The motor is a Vortec 8.1 with a workhorse chassis It only has 18,000 miles and is in pretty good condition. We would appreciate any advice/comments regarding this motorhome. We are also new irv2 members. Great forum!

Flyboy,

We just bought a 2005 Gulfstream SunVoyager ourselves on the WH chassis with 17K miles on it. We have had an F53 chassis coach for several years and the WH is quite a bit more refined. Havent gotten to go far with it yet, just a half hour ride home.

As others have said, the components all manufacturers put in the coaches are all about the same. Watch out for the date on the tires. Most like to not run the tires for longer than 7 years, they consider them timebombs. I am probably going to take a chance running mine longer but we will see how that goes.

Take a really good look around the coach and operate EVERYTHING. Open everything and look everywhere for anything. Take pictures of things that are wrong and post them here and ask if you dont know what they are or what causes them (or what it costs to fix what is wrong). Take the coach for a 1/2 hour plus long ride. Get it out on the highways and see if it moves around a bunch when trucks go by. Drive it down the backroads and make sure it does everything it is supposed to do well.

If you decide to buy the coach put together a punch list for the dealer to fix and dont sign on the dotted line until everything is completed to your satisfaction. Watch out for the refrigerator and brake recalls. IF they arent done, get the dealer to get them done before you take delivery. Your money has a much higher priority to the dealer when its in YOUR pocket.

We bought our coach privately so I assumed all responsibility to fix anything I found wrong. I am very OK with doing so and the discount in price reflected my assumed responsibility.

Best of luck, it is an exciting event!
Chris

[tomwalt]

Chevy engine and workhorse are a good combo. I Recommend that you learn as much as you can prior to being on your own - test drive as much as you can to learn how to drive it. Also, do a detailed check-out on the roof and get any issues repaired prior to your 1st thunderstorm. Expect to be a bit overwelmed the first couple months - there is a lot to learn. If it has the auto park brake, read up on it - it works different than you would expect. Good luck and enjoy.