Bad years

[bikerdavet]

Originally Posted by Robin_M

I agree with this. The collapse of the housing market in late 2008 was the beginning of the end for Monaco and other coach manufacturers. I bought a new diplomat in 2007, And after the initial "bugs", it's been a fine coach. This week I'm buying another brand-new Diplomat (made by REV). It will be an entirely different coach with many upgrades. But I hope I fare as well.

I looked at your web site for the 2007. That is a dandy rig.

[moisheh]

Our 08 Dynasty has been great I would never buy any of the post MCC coaches built by Navistar. Reading the forums it is quite common for a Monaco owner to post that he has say a 2002 and wants to upgrade. Looks at a 2016 Monaco product and walks away. They do not build coaches like the previous Monaco's. I would put our 08 against any of the present Monaco coaches. We have the Roadmaster chassis. High quality interior, windows that open to let in fresh air, a layout that allows you to use the coach with all slides in!

[timdriver]

After doing ALL the fixes on our 2005 Safari it is now a very reliable coach.

[Robin_M]

Originally Posted by moisheh

Our 08 Dynasty has been great I would never buy any of the post MCC coaches built by Navistar. Reading the forums it is quite common for a Monaco owner to post that he has say a 2002 and wants to upgrade. Looks at a 2016 Monaco product and walks away. They do not build coaches like the previous Monaco's. I would put our 08 against any of the present Monaco coaches. We have the Roadmaster chassis. High quality interior, windows that open to let in fresh air, a layout that allows you to use the coach with all slides in!

Moisheh,

Hmmm, I have to respond to that. First, I'll say that you could be right about the Dynastys - I've never owned one and am not familiar with the newer Allied/REV Dynasty's that they made in 2015/2016. However, I would not necessarily agree with your assessment of the 2016/2017 Diplomat. I just traded my 2007 Dip for a 2017. The 2007 was a good coach and we enjoyed it for many years. But there are so many "improvements" that I fell in love with on the 2017. And as I've searched this forum, I've not found any REV Diplomat/Scepter owners who aren't happy with their coach. (If you know of any such threads, please post a link - I'd like to read them.)

In the recent "Monaco Rumers" thread you posted this...

Originally Posted by moisheh

If the Allied/REV group had bought Monaco instead of those b------- at Navistar we would not be having this discussion. They bought Fleetwood and did a great rescue job!

I have to say this new REV Diplomat supports your position on that. The largest improvement is the latest Freightliner Custom XCM chassis with IFS, 60 degree wheel cut, and the Ultrasteer Series B Tag axle, and several other features that make it so much better than the Roadmaster RR8R chassis under our 07 Dip. Inside the coach there are admittedly a few "fit & finish" items that aren't up to the older Monaco standards - I think that's true of all newer vehicles today. But the vast number of upgrades, comfort and utility features, and new technology features far outweigh these "flaws". And it looks just beautiful inside and out. Furthermore, they are as affordable (in today's monetary terms) as the old Diplomats were 10 years ago.

As for slides, it's a bit cramped with them all in, but so was our 07. In the new coach, while on the road, we only have to put the full wall driver's side slide out to be almost as comfortable as we were in the older Dip with all slides out. Like I said, we really enjoyed our 07 Dip for the 9+ years we owned it. It was a great coach. But with this new REV Dip, we won't miss it all that much.

[Traps90]

Robin I really enjoy the way you chime in regarding the new Monaco. Those of us with the Navistar models went through a similar negativity from some of the old members.

Yes the old Monaco is gone, but thanks to Navistar and Rev, we still have support and help from the new Monaco.

As I said before, if we we're in the market today, your Dip would be on the short list.

[Robin_M]

Thanks, Trap. Having owned the 2007 Dip since new, I'm one of those "old members". But I really like the new coaches. I think of them as REV coaches, rather than Monaco's, but perhaps that is a wrong approach. REV is working very hard to maintain the Monaco brand name and customer loyalty. Not ONLY with continued customer support, but even to the point that, unlike their Fleetwood/American brands, the outside lines of the coach and the interior trims are truly reminiscent of the older Monaco coaches. The various systems, however, and of course the chassis, are very different. (I try not to say this too often on this forum, but I've always been a fan of the Freightliner XC chassis - ever since our original coach, which was a 1999 Fleetwood Discovery. )

[luckyd]

I guess threads have a mind of their own.

Thanks for all the useful info.

[Robin_M]

Most do. Sorry about that. But your questions did get answered. The consensus was that other than the trailing arm chassis problem on the lower end coaches, there were NO bad years until the 3 or 4 years during and immediately following the bankruptcy. You should have relatively few problems with any Monaco coach at the Knight level and above up through at least model year 2008. Allied Specialty (who became REV Group) purchased Monaco in 2013, were slow to gear up on the Monaco lines, but were producing pretty good coaches again by model year 2015 - although not as many. They do have tech reps who worked for Monaco during its "heyday", and are continuing to offer support on the earlier years as best they can.

There is not a lot posted in this forum about coaches made during the interim Navistar period, but if you have specific questions about any of those, ask away. Perhaps there will be owners of those coaches who can answer.