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Ted III · 08-24-2007, 01:54 PM

Joe, it certainly proves that there are two sides to every situation!

Ted III · 08-24-2007, 02:10 PM

Bob Mahon, I knew you would have to get into this. Wait until you see my 2005 painted purple & chartreuse. Boy, then there will be some real jealousy. I will bet that WRV will put this up in their hall of classics!

Ted III · 08-24-2007, 02:15 PM

takepride, what else do we survive on besides a little vanity. I am sick of humility. Have not found the middle road but it certainly sounds as though I am well out numbered.
I will momentarily conceed, sort of.

two sailors · 08-24-2007, 03:23 PM

Ok it's not scary anymore! Good to hear people are proud of the coach they own. We are planing to trade for a 36, 04 or 05.

takepride · 08-24-2007, 09:57 PM

Ted 3-

Humility is overrated. The only thing worse than humility is humiliation!

rmmpe · 08-25-2007, 01:14 AM

Ted,
I can't wait to see the new paint job. Who knows, I might "have to get me one of those". Now if I can only find an artist to paint a mural on that vast, beautiful rear panel I'll be all set.

Regarding humility: I'd be perfect if I wasn't so darned humble.

For all:
The only major difference I see in exterior design of the earlier Coaches versus the newer is the slight slope in the roof line over the cab.
The interior is another matter. Although the earlier Coaches were very nice, the newer have been dressed up nicely. But, there are many things a guy like me can do to copy some of the ideas. It's part of my enjoyment.

Ted III · 08-25-2007, 03:22 AM

two sailors, I have to apologize for beating up this post. Some of us and certainly I was the originator got way off of your subject. You can appreciate that we all seem to like our Alpines despite there various problems.
I can't imagine that trading for a different brand motor coach is not always scary but I can vouch that Alpine is without a doubt the best handling motorhome built with the exception of Prevost, Newells,etc. I imagine they handle quite well.I will never know.

takepride · 08-25-2007, 11:40 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Alpine is without a doubt the best handling motorhome built with the exception of Prevost, Newells,etc. I imagine they handle quite well.I will never know. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've seen plenty Prevosts and Newells, I'd like to be able to afford one, but I certainly wouldn't want one. I'd have a problem driving a cheesy, over-glitzed Las Vegas casino down the road. I figure if money was no object, I'd order a Newell with an Alpine interior.

But is it possible to handle better than an Alpine? I like it even better than my daily pickup truck (which is quite decked out).

gjstacy · 08-28-2007, 03:54 AM

Okay, I have to weigh in on this discussion...I know you are all surprised, since you know I am such a fan of Alpine & supporter of WRV, even with their problems.

We are now on our 4th Alpine...I don't know if I am bragging or moaning. Here's why we are on number 4: We LOVED our first, a 2001 36er and never had any real problems large or small, but our 2003 40 was kind of like Buddy & Beverly's...it seemed like we had something major happening every time we took it out even on short trips. However, since we loved the 2001 so much, we decided to give it another chance, so we traded the 2003 for a 2004 (even tho we probably should have looked at lemon law stuff...call us gullible or???). The 2004, also a 40 footer, was a GREAT coach, with the only problem being our recurrent Inverter issues. Of course, when we finally got that sorted out with Xantrex, we got the bug and ordered a new 2007. Yes, we have had some relatively small issues with our new 2007 that have required some debugging, and we did have a brake hose rubbing on our left front wheel (a real fluke) which caused us to lose all of our brake fluid on a SoCal freeway during very heavy traffic (and caused John and I to lose about 10 years off of each of our lives). I have to tell you that in the course of this dangerous mishap, WRV was extremely responsive and expressed concern every inch (literally) of the way. Chris even called to ensure that we had safely reached our destination. So, we still love Alpines (and especially this coach) and we still strongly support WRV.

Two sailors, I don't believe you could do better for the price than an Alpine. And, given that EngineerMike is trading/selling his '06 36er, I would suggest that his coach would be a great one to start with. You could be confident of a great rig that has been thoroughly debugged and has had some great new stuff added!! Not to slight other owners looking to sell, you should contact anyone on this Forum who has mentioned having an Alpine for sale or who is trading up.

Good luck!

Ted III · 08-28-2007, 05:44 AM

I would think who ever buys Engineer Mikes rig will probably get one of the finest Alpines ever manufactured and then re-manufactured by Mike.

two sailors · 08-28-2007, 06:22 AM

Thanks Gail&John and TedIII, I will be talking to Guaranty RV.

Joe Hamilton · 08-28-2007, 05:37 PM

Up until about six months ago before I found this site I didn't know there was any problems with the Alpine Coach. I have a 02'36MDDS which has had no problems due to the coach itself. I put about 11,000 miles on the MH last year and about 6,000 this year pulling a race trailer with road race motorcyles, tools, spare parts, barrels of gas and misc. stuff. We were towed once from Baker Ca. to Mira Loma Ca. due to a ground wire that was broke because of an added brake installed and during the removal of this brake (which I didn't like) a ground wire was pulled loose and caused low voltage to the transmission. I also had one flat (inside duel). But other than that no problems since new.
We are getting ready to head from Riverside Ca. to Bermingham Ala. to Barber Motorsport Park in three weeks after some testing at Cal Speedway and Button Willow near Bakersfield Ca. I will leave for Bermingham around the 15th and not worry one bit about making that trip.
Like I said in the beginng if I had never looked here I would have thought all Alpines were trouble free.

Buddy and Beverly · 08-29-2007, 03:48 PM

Two Sailors,

I will tell you that I think you are on the right track buying a used Alpine. In all honesty, I wish that is what we would have done. We are SICK of our problems, but can't think of another coach we'd rather have. I wish we would have let some one else get the bugs out (at this writing, I feel like it's a virus, not bugs).

We went for a day of coach looking at the Redmond FMCA Rally. Even test drove another Country Coach (we had them on our short list in '06). Buddy just got out, handed the keys over and said, "It doesn't drive any better than the one I drove in '06, and it won't start to drive with my Alpine."

I am not "defending" Alpines. We took the Country Coach factory tour, and they really have their act together when it comes to quality control. That's one of the areas that needs the most work on at the Alpine factory. We took that tour, too; and Buddy came away feeling their QAQC Dept. was non existent. While we were at the Country Coach factory, he commented to me that the new Alpine factory was far superior to the Country Coach factory in the way it was set up to build coaches, and there was no excuse that they shouldn't build a top quality coach that didn't need so much "debugging."

Beverly