New to us, our 2005 Magna

[Steve n Jan]

Have had our Magna for 4 months now. So far it's been a cash cow, but I was expecting that. 8 new tires, all new house batteries and chassis batteries and we replaced the awnings over the slides. Hopefully we're near the end of big repair bills..

It's been an adjustment having changed from a large fifth wheeler, the 5-er had much more interior storage space which has the wife frowning, but it has more storage underneath, which makes me happy.

Only complaints are the ride, get on a rough road and it feels like you'll lose your tooth fillings. Don't know if the shocks are shot or what, that's next on my list of things to check... The drivers seat seems to soft, no support, after 150 miles I feel like someone hit my lower back with a baseball bat. 250 a day is now our maximum, we used to go over 500 with the 5-er and pickup. Has anyone else with a Magna experienced the rough ride and un-comfy drivers seat?

[Peralko]

We had a chassis inspection and renovation at Country Coach last year, and the ride was totally different. Strangely enough, the front shocks (original) were OK--had to replace the rear ones. Lots of places around to get a replacement seat; Country Coach can steer you to one of them.

[Smitty77]

I concur a chassis review for warn parts, and revalidated settings and alignment should get your Manga riding nicer. I believe the Intrigue chassis on up to Affinity (key word here is 'believe') have one at least four more air bags then our 2004 Allure model. Two bags each axle side of the Front and Drive axles. Don't think the Tag's have more then a single bag, like the Allure. So, your ride should be a bit more smooth then the Allure.

I'm also not sure what shocks came stock in 05 on the Magna. But the 04 Allure, in the 40' Tag model, had first generation of Koni Adjustable (SP1). The Rear and Tax axle seem supported by these. The Front IFS combined with the weight, were just not up to the job. Even with our shocks set on firmest 5 position, I felt the coach front end was very easily 'upset' in small dips, or twisty roads. We ended up going with Road Kings all around, and I also added Super Steers Motion Control Unit (MCU's) to the front and rear axle. These help the air bags 'set' faster, via a sort of air 'choke' valve. I'm very pleased with the handling of the coach. However, Road Kings are firmer shocks then you have now, so factor that if considering them. (I take handling for emergency situations over softer riding chassis. Just my preference.)

Road Kings are expensive. During my research, and after talking with Koni, I found out they were then (3 years or so ago now) coming out with a third generation of the Koni Adjustables, the SP3's. These were much more robust then the SP1 generation. I suspect that most owners would be very pleased with the performance of the Koni SP3 shocks. (And heck, many felt the 2004 Allure coaches road great on the shocks that I felt were just too small to handle the load. So to each their own.)

One bit of hmmmmmmm info, is that our little T28 Bounder, on the F53 18K lb chassis, used the same exact shock model number as our 40' 35-37K lb Allure...

Now all that info about our 2004 Allure, could transfer over to your 2005 Magna - especially if the Koni SP1 Adjustable shocks came stock. Worth checking and asking.

On front seats. I find ours to be comfortable most of the time. The 1st owner only had 13K miles on the rig, so not too much usage. I do find I have to adjust the seat back up pretty straight, and sometimes adjust it back and forth a notch as I drive, to allow the back to be in a different position. Lumbar support options are on the low side, so possibly a cushion is in order as it 'fits' your back.

Best of ongoing luck with your rig, getting it dialed in will pay dividends as you put some miles on it!
Smitty

[Medico]

Our 2006 Magna rides very well! I would suspect the shocks as well.

Your coach must have had original tires. I had the dealer verify the date codes on all my tires prior to agreeing to a purchase. The chassis batteries were also replaced by the dealer. They also "fixed" a slide topper (real hatchet job. I'm going to see them Monday and bring it up.)

All the items you mentioned so far are wearable items that were probably original. This is why we always suggest to have an independent mechanic check used RV's.

[B Bob]

Here is my experience. On rough broken pavement roads the ride on my coach is rough. I have made a couple of comments to my wife about fillings falling out. Your coach is slightly heavier than mine so yours should ride smoother. I have never had RV tires on my coach, only truck tires. First I had Michelin Energy 315. Now Dunlop 315. (on the front. 295 on rear and tag) Both provide ride that is indistinguishable to me between the two. My coach has 118,000 miles on it. My front shocks are still working as expected. I replaced the rears with same as from the factory.

On relatively good pavement our coach rides like it is floating on air. It is near dead silent and floats down the road at 60mph. But when the road turn bad it is very different. We drove from Bakersfield to Sacramento a couple weeks ago on Hwy 99. A horrible highway. Miserable. Had to check to see if all my fillings were in place.

On the other hand I have no back issues at all with my original seat. I have thought about getting the seat cushion new foam under where I sit, but no back problems. I try to limit my driving to 250-300 miles due to boredom. More than that and I don't want to sit in the drivers seat any more.

We have a 2013 Jeep Wrangler 4 door. On rough roads it is smoother than the bus. On good roads the Country Coach has a far superior ride. I think when my steer tires are worn I will put either the Michelin or Goodyear RV specific tires on if they make them in 315. They are supposed to ride smoother than the truck tires.