I fell in love....

[Tom-NC]

To Techie and Herbie,

Techie Winnebago only uses third party for appliances, generators, water pumps, etc but most of the other components are made at Winnebago. I know for a fact that the front of a Monaco is made by someone else. You are however allowed to have your opinion as this is the USA.

Herbie, I wish you the best of luck on your coach purchase, selling of house, full-timing and that you get what you and your wife like. It is a big step to take which we will never take as we like our home. It is true I like Winnebago and that is my choice, however I really don't appreciate you naming it what you did. I wouldn't call your CC another name other than Country Coach although I could think of a few names. Please refer to it as a Winnebago, thanks

Again I wish you and yours the best of luck and may all your travels be great ones.

[Herbie801]

Originally Posted by Tom-NC

...however I was just making a statement from what I have seen on the road. There are a lot of Winnebagos either high end or not, Tiffins whether Allegro Bay or Bus, Newmar Dutch star or not out there on the road and enjoying the rving lifestyle. There are not a lot of Country Couches, Blue Birds or Prevosts for the obviuos reason, people can't afford them.

Yes, there are a lot of Fords, Toyotas, and Hondas on the road too. But just because there are more of them on the road, doesn't mean they are a better built or superior to the Mercedes, Porsches and VW's. It just means that there were more dealers selling more cars.

Originally Posted by Tom-NC

It also depends on where you want to go and what you want to do. If you want to go to State Parks, Nat'l Parks, Corp of Engineers or just a small campground anywhere you can't use the high dollar coaches as those must go to Resorts or Wal-Mart.

You have educated me on this one. I had no idea that State Parks, National Parks and The Army Core, would not allow originally expensive coaches in their camp grounds. Under that logic perhaps I should settle for a pop-up trailer.

Originally Posted by Tom-NC

There also is a maintainence issue with a lot of the high end coaches like $200.00 or better for an oil change ( 20 qts of oil) and yes I did my homework. Then there are all sort of filters to change.

Again, I have learned something. I didn't know that the Oil change on a Cummins Engine in a Winnabago would be less expensive than the same Cummins Engine in a Country Coach. Again, you have been a great source of enlightenment to me.

Originally Posted by Tom-NC

The last post mentioned win-a-bagel well WINNABAGO has a lot of ammenities that others don't and I wonder if you have a high end coach can you get the original fresh water tank if you spring a leak or if you get in an accident can you get original parts? Well with a Winnebafgo you can as they manufacture all their own components and if you don't believe me go to the factory and take the tour.

I admit, I have not taken the factory tour, perhaps I will some day. However I have been to many RV shows, and several Winnabago dealers and as of yet, I have not seen any amenities that have not been available on other similarly priced coaches.

Originally Posted by Tom-NC

Lastly sure if I had the money (1.2-2.0 million) I would love to have a Prevost but I don't so I have the next best thing in my opinion and I enjoy it as a matter of fact it just came home from a 11,361 mile trip with no problems other than a bad tire caused by me hitting a pothole and loosing the balance on that tire.

Congratulations on your Country Coach and I hope you enjoy many miles in it as I am enjoying in My Winnebago Adventurer.

Now this is where I am going to have to differ with you. IF I had the million dollars to spend on a Coach, I wouldn't buy a Prevost. I would probably buy a newer Country Coach, pocket the difference and enjoy the same lifestyle without the "Hey-everybody-I've-got-money-to-burn" badge on my chest.

So finally Tom-NC, I appreciate your comments, and I admire your loyalty to Win-a-bagel, but this group of threads are for Country Coach owners and dreamers like myself. Frankly, I was just a little miffed that you would come to this particular thread and pimp for your favorite coach. Since you're a member of the Win-a-bagel owners group, I would appreciate it if you would let us dumb Country Coach owners wallow in our stupidity alone. Thanks.

[Tom-NC]

Herbie,

When I originally posted my comments I thought I was giving you info that I have learned over the years but apparently it wasn't any good and so be it.

I didn't just go to Country Coach Forum to answer questions or give advice as I saw "I fell in love" on recent discussions and clixcked on it.

At no time did I knock or say anything bad about any of the RV's I mantioned and above all not Country Coach so I would appreciate it if you being the gentleman and fellow Rver that you are refrain from playing down WINNEBAGO.

The comment about State Parks,etc wasn't mean to knock high end coaches but meant to tell you that a lot of those parks have length restrictions assuming you are talking about a 40' RV.

It has been nice to be on an RV forum that doesn't want other owners to speak on but you can visit the WINNEBAGO forum anytime you want to.

["007"]

With all due respect to both of you the pass posts are not what irv2 is all about.
Its for friendly exchange of information between members and to be taken as such.
Comments about brands in disparaging comments are demeaning and unnecessary.
"There is no forum on irv2 that someone is not allowed."
We all try to help each other out with information that we feel maybe helpful, Please take it as such.

[Herbie801]

OK... I stand rebuked. I have the information that I think I need, and I will refrain from any disparaging comments in the future. Thanks to all who answered my Country Coach questions. Let's see what I settle on in the next few months and if I need help I know where to come.

[Good man]

herbie801,
Since you are looking at coaches which are around 10 years old... and getting a repair warranty or program is moot, why not look at the top model coaches of your choice which are a few years older?

By going down a couple of years in model production year, your budget can buy the top-shelf model with all the bells and whistles. There are many people who bought the most expensive units available, who are "aging out" or whose health situation has changed. Most of them have been meticulous with service and TLC on these very expensive MHs. A lot of them have been "upgraded" with flatscreen TVs, solar and other recent refinements.

Given that a diesel engine is designed to easily last 500,000 miles or more, mileage should be looked at differently than for other engines.

The difference in a meticulously-maintained 1995 MH as opposed to a 2000 which was not as well cared for will favor purchasing the older one, regardless of which one is the fanciest of the two.

You sound as if you are a very thorough reseacher and I am sure you will do extremely well in you selection.
Best wishes,
Jim

[Herbie801]

Thanks Goodman for the suggestion. The thought has crossed our (Wife and I) mind, but as I said, I think we are pretty set on getting at least one slide. I have seen a Newell and Foretravel and even a couple of Prevosts which we could afford in the 15 year old category.

One of the things I worry about is showing up for service and having someone assume that you are the original owner. Thinking that you paid close to a million, or even a half million for your coach tends to skew the service price in my opinion. I wouldn't mind stepping up to an Affinity if I can find one when we are ready.

I AM looking for that "pride and joy" coach which has been very well take care of, serviced regularly, and maintained in like-new condition. If I find something like that it won't bother me that it has 100,000 or more miles on it. Like you said...the engines and undercarriage are really just getting broken in at about 100K miles.

[Good man]

You betcha, Herbie801 !
Just take your time looking and keep doing the appropriate "due diligence" for such a major investment... you'll do fine.
Jim

["007"]

Looking for information for this forum I found many CC's that you can compare with on this link.
You can always take pride with one of these coach's, good luck in your quest, enjoy.

[deandec]

Just spent three nights next to a 2005 DP Winnebago owner. I commented that he had a nice looking 40' rig and had commented to my DW that Winnebago should be on our next MH list.

Wow, this gentleman relayed his dissatisfaction with Winnebago and their follow on treatment of owners and equipment failures very forcefully....otherwise seemed to be a reasonable and knowledgeable owner of 9 motorhomes over his RVing career.

[TQ60]

We picked up a 1989 38SE this last year for a very good price.

It was called the McGiver coach because it was claimed to have many problems.

Well, the engine starts the instant the starter touches the flywheel and all vehicle systems work as they should.

Yes, there were a bunch of items that needed attention, but considering the coach was 21 years old and it did not have the care it should have had for the last 10 while it was stored we are still impressed.

Simple things like failed glue joints in cabinet doors,because the coach was not stored correctly or plubming leaks because the PB fittings failed, both not actually the direct fault of the manufacturer.

The quality of the plumbing installation made some things a little more difficult to repair because it was well attached while the good fit of the glue joints made repairs easy.

The quality of the work done by country coach along with the higher grade of components selected to build the coach make the difference between a Country Coach and anything else.

Given ours was 21 years old and we are DIY folks our expenses are small to get it fixed up, other brands may be more difficult as their condition may not be as good for the same age.
One must compare apples to apples, comparing a 10 year old winnebago to a 10 year old Country Coach is not a valid comparison.

Our coach is on the Gillig chassis, some frown on the "school buss" chassis, but given Gillig is located in California and they sell product to schools in California, the state with the most critical safety requirements for school equipment I would assume the design of the chassis is very close to the ones used on the school busses and would have safety, reliability and longivity designed in, and would most likely be better than any other "generic" chassis of the day.

So as others have stated, limiting to lesser years of age limits your choices and increases your cost.

Starting around the early 90's the Country Coach lines changed to the look more common today while the construction and quality is some of the best, these older coaches are much more affordable than one may think.

Keep your choices open and whatever is selected have it inspected before any money changes hands, the history of any unit determines what condition and repairs will be needed to bring it up to date.

[Good man]

TQ60,
What you have written is exactly my experience with my oldie-but-goodie country coach.

The same is almost certainly true of any of the other premium coaches which were built with qualtiy components by craftsmen who truly cared.

I think the critical element here is that one must be relatively handy with a wrench and willing to tackle the job of repairing things which eventually wear out. Otherwise, any MH of any age will eat your lunch.
Take care,
Jim