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Old 05-13-2013, 10:16 PM   #1
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Convinced about Monaco but what year?

I'll soon be a new used Monaco owner but I've been told to stay away from the model years when they were having financial troubles (quality problems). I'm told those were the years 2007 thru 2011. Can anyone verify those years? Would 2004 thru 2006 be ok? Did they really get back on track after 2011?
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Old 05-14-2013, 12:05 AM   #2
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2007 was the start of monaco running short on money, by 2009 I believe they were out of money, a lot of coaches got built with "what was left over". IMHO the 04-07 were the best monaco coaches ever built, we have a 04 diplomat and it's been trouble free.
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Old 05-14-2013, 05:14 AM   #3
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Our '04 has the dreaded fiberglass problem that shows thru the paint and is common in that era...
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Old 05-14-2013, 07:04 AM   #4
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The best and latest one you can afford. deSanford
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Old 05-14-2013, 07:29 AM   #5
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We have a 2010 Diplomat. We have not had any problems with form, fit or function. The coach runs great and is, we feel, well built. We feel we have a quality product.

Others who have older model Monacos may disagree with us however or may in fact have a higher quality coach. We do not have anything to compare this coach with except our previous coach, a 2012 Thor Challenger, which we traded in for the Dip because of major problems that both dealers and the factory were unable to correct after many weeks of downtime.

Good luck with your decision.
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Old 05-14-2013, 07:34 AM   #6
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We love our Monaco! I would watch out for the year models that had the trailing arm failure problems. Someone can jump in here and tell you which ones were affected. I understand that can be pretty expensive to fix!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!
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Old 05-14-2013, 08:16 AM   #7
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My wife and I have lived full time in a Monaco for 6 years now and I have heard the opinion about quality control falling off a cliff late in Monaco Coach Corp life. I have seen no empirical evidence to support this notion and my personal opinion is that it's urban legend. There are broadly two issues to watch for in looking at used Monaco produced coaches. The 4 air bag chassis between 02 and end of production had issues with trailing arms and all the 4 bag chassis have a hard ride. Source Engineering can cure both problems for about $7000 total. There were a batch of Cummins ISL engines produced in late '05- early '06 with a possible defect that was serious. This was all motorhomes not just Monaco. The batch was a narrow range of engine serial numbers and if you look at coaches in that time frame here is an excerpt of the recall letter with the serial number range:

The following information is submitted in accordance with the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration's reporting regulations, 49 CFR Part 5 73.6.
Cummins Inc. (Cummins) has decided that there is a potential safety-related defect with
respect to connecting rods in ISL CM850 diesel engines manufactured by Cummins and
installed as original equipment in those motor vehicles identified below.
1. Product identification and customer channels.
This defect involves Cummins ISL CMS5O diesel engines produced for recreational
vehicle applications between October 17,2005 and April 18, 2006. There are 2 159
engines in the subject population that we intend to campaign.
All ISL CM850 engines in the subject population are covered by this recall. The ISL
CM850 recreational vehicle ESNs eligible for this campaign range from 46543077 to
46603939. A complete listing of the subject populations by vehicle manufacturer is
attached in Appendix A.
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Old 05-15-2013, 12:14 AM   #8
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Some off-topic posts have been removed from this thread. Please keep it civil and on-topic, folks. Thanks.
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Old 05-15-2013, 05:02 AM   #9
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Best Bang for your buck is a Dynasty '04 and above. '05 and above had a taller ceiling. Many slide combos with as many floor options. Watch the ISL SN range as mentioned. Three things to look for: Tag Axle, Aqua Hot, and Air leveling. If you have those and a floor plan you like you can't go wrong.

IMHO
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Old 05-15-2013, 05:03 AM   #10
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Notice that the owners telling you that the later coaches are full of either leftover parts or are of poor quality do not own one of those coaches. It is merely something that they heard from another person who also does not own a later model coach. Steve Ownby's post is the most factual in this thread.
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Old 05-15-2013, 05:28 AM   #11
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I own an 08 Hr. It seems they had an abundance of very long screws to use up. I seem to find the same size screw in places a very short one would do. I have not had any serious issues at all. Making a hundred modifications to it has shown me it is well built. I have owned three previous Mh, 2 tt, and one camper so am familiar with a lot. I do know one mfgr I will never buy from again but won't mention it.
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Old 05-15-2013, 05:38 AM   #12
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I had an 08 Beaver Contessa 42 and it was perfect. I would recommend you look no newer than 07; the last engine year before the sometimes problematic emission systems. I now own a Prevost conversion and would recommend these are over looked bargains. You may be surprised how affordable an older Prevost can be. Unlike traditional coaches, a Prevost is designed for a million miles of service...yes, really. I have a 99 Country Coach conversion and couldn't be happier. At 100,000 miles its considered just broken in.
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Old 05-15-2013, 10:14 AM   #13
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What emission issues are you referring to? Mine does the exhaust regen once in a great while but hardly ever now I have 16000 miles on it. I do drive it like it was stolen.
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Old 05-15-2013, 11:04 AM   #14
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There is nothing problematic about the DPF systems used since 07. Ours works as designed.
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