36ft VS 40ft Phaeton

[Shirken3]

I've been looking for a good previously owned Tiffin Phaeton 36QSH (2008 to 2010 model) for months. They are few and far between and none of them near where I live in California. However I do see many 40ft Phaetons for sale. Does anyone have any ideas why there are so many 40ft'ers for sale? The only thing that comes to mind is that you are limited on places to camp because of the 40ft size. Are there any other negatives? There is a real nice 2011 40ft for sale for a great price about 2 miles from where I live but I'm hesitant to go see it because I figure if there are so many for sale there must be a reason people buy them and then don't like them and turn around and sell them.
Thanks

[jfran304]

I think the main reason there are a lot of Phaetons on the market now is because of the economy but the Phaeton has had problems with the wet bay flooring rotting out and the roof cap rails cracking. Tiffin has been standing up and taking responsibility and repairing/replacing these and other problems at their cost.

There was also an issue with the double pane windows fogging up inside. Again Tiffin repaired/replaced a lot of them for free then they changed the warranty on the windows.

You can find out a lot of information on the Tiffins by joining or visiting the Tiffin RV Network.

Tiffin RV Network

Jon

[firedoc]

Originally Posted by Shirken3

I've been looking for a good previously owned Tiffin Phaeton 36QSH (2008 to 2010 model) for months. They are few and far between and none of them near where I live in California. However I do see many 40ft Phaetons for sale. Does anyone have any ideas why there are so many 40ft'ers for sale? The only thing that comes to mind is that you are limited on places to camp because of the 40ft size. Are there any other negatives? There is a real nice 2011 40ft for sale for a great price about 2 miles from where I live but I'm hesitant to go see it because I figure if there are so many for sale there must be a reason people buy them and then don't like them and turn around and sell them.
Thanks

Tiffin had been on the top of my next rv list but after following a problem with a new one and how it is being mishandled I would not consider a Tiffin under any situation!

[Mystery]

X2 agree with firedoc. Tiffin has not properly handled a problem on a 500,000 coach with less than 5000 miles which consisted of an engine failure and a crack in the sidewall. Tiffin has known about the problem for 6 years and has not corrected the mfg process. Stay away from Tiffin. My .02

[avid_dk]

Yeah,

What are you buying instead of Tiffin? A manufacturer that doesn't stand up for any of their failures? Some of the big names are in that league. I owned one and they don't even respond to problems. Let alone take care of them after warranties are expired. Because Bob Tiffin is so great people want him to be perfect and solve every problem. The fact that he solves most is waaaay beyond any other builder.

Some guy showed up at Red Bay the other day with a four or five year old second hand coach with a warranty issue and one of the techs came aboard and said they were also going to fix some of the other known issues with his coach. He was floored! Tell me what other manufacturer would do that?

[conmoto]

Just a hunch, but there may be more 40fters available because they sold more 40ft units.

[Largeandy]

Originally Posted by avid_dk

Yeah,

What are you buying instead of Tiffin? A manufacturer that doesn't stand up for any of their failures? Some of the big names are in that league. I owned one and they don't even respond to problems. Let alone take care of them after warranties are expired. Because Bob Tiffin is so great people want him to be perfect and solve every problem. The fact that he solves most is waaaay beyond any other builder.

Some guy showed up at Red Bay the other day with a four or five year old second hand coach with a warranty issue and one of the techs came aboard and said they were also going to fix some of the other known issues with his coach. He was floored! Tell me what other manufacturer would do that?

I agree completely with this writer's comments on Tiffin. We owned a 40' Phaeton for only a short time period but during the time we were Phaeton owners, we were treated excellently by Tiffin service personnel at all times. The main reason we changed to a more upgraded coach in the form of an Itasca Ellipse was to go to a 43' tag axel with a much better floorplan. We simply could not find an Allegro Bus at the time that could match the floor plan we wanted or we would not have left the Tiffin family. My experience with factory Tech help from Tiffin was far superior to the experiences we have had with Winnebago. Not to badmouth Winnebago but the personalized service obtained while we were Tiffin owners was just OUTSTANDING. We love the Winnebago/Itasca floor plan and coach.....but in my experience I would rather have Tiffin service any day. It should also be noted that unit sales of the Tiffin Phaeton is extremely high resulting in huge numbers of sold units in the market place which also explains you seeing many of these units in the resale market place.

[Mystery]

Please look at the Cummins engine forum and read ISX 500 failure thread. May be enlightening. In my opinion Tiffins lack of action is not acceptable. I would hope that this is an isolated example but from what I have read it is not. Especially with respect to side wall cracking. I have heard Newmar has a very good service reputation. I was looking at Tiffins as an upgrade bc I thought it was a great coach at a great price. My wife was looking at the Newmar Essex so I started researching the Tiffin. But, with Rudy's experience I am very suspect of Tiffin. As a group RVers spend a lot of money and I think we accept too much as standard operating procedure from the manufacturers. We need to pressure manufacturers to continue to step up and engineer fixes ( like this side wall cracking issue) in a way similar to the pressure the auto industry has come under in recent years. Thank you for all of your input as this is the best way to become more informed. Safe Travels.

[elainee]

My experience with the Tiffin people....My 2009 Allegro Red was 37 months old when the hwh pump started to leak oil.The Tiffin dealer in Fort Myers,Fl said it was past warranty but suggested i call Tiffin main office and tell them about the leak, within an hour i got a call from Bob Tiffin who told me to take the coach back to North Trails RV ..Tiffin shipped a new pump and also paid the labor cost, i believe the total bill was over $1200 bucks.. Janurary 2012 i traded in my 09 (39,000 miles) on a 2012 36' Phaeton..BTW this is my 3rd Tiffin.

peter d
Ft. Myers,Fl.

[Papa_Jim]

Originally Posted by conmoto

Just a hunch, but there may be more 40fters available because they sold more 40ft units.

Agreed. Generally, 40' coaches handle quite well. Generally, 36' coaches, ..., well, not so much.

[Cat320]

Originally Posted by Mystery

Please look at the Cummins engine forum and read ISX 500 failure thread. May be enlightening. In my opinion Tiffins lack of action is not acceptable. I would hope that this is an isolated example but from what I have read it is not. Especially with respect to side wall cracking. I have heard Newmar has a very good service reputation. I was looking at Tiffins as an upgrade bc I thought it was a great coach at a great price. My wife was looking at the Newmar Essex so I started researching the Tiffin. But, with Rudy's experience I am very suspect of Tiffin. As a group RVers spend a lot of money and I think we accept too much as standard operating procedure from the manufacturers. We need to pressure manufacturers to continue to step up and engineer fixes ( like this side wall cracking issue) in a way similar to the pressure the auto industry has come under in recent years. Thank you for all of your input as this is the best way to become more informed. Safe Travels.

Rudy has also started a thread on the Tiffin forum regarding a split in the side of his brand new $500k coach. These splits seem to happen all the time, even in the high dollar rigs.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Simple reason: Dealers order what they think they can sell, and once you get into that price class, there are a lot more people looking for 40 footers (or 42 or...) than 36.

[B Bob]

shirken3 - Wow lots of strong comments on your thread, haters and lovers of Tiffin. I also live in CA and when we were looking three years ago we looked at a few new Tiffins but saw almost no used ones. I think that is because Tiffin is made back east and until recently many class A motor homes were made out this way. So more western made RVs. Most of my RV friends out here have Fleetwoods and Nationals as they were made out here. Our coach was made in OR. As far as lots more 40 vs 36'. IMHO 40 is a sweet spot for diesel pusher motor homes. So there are a lot more of this size sold. In addition many 36' motor homes have a chassis that is shorter than ideal for handling. I don't know if Tiffin used short chassis or not on their 36' coaches. If yes than maybe they did not test drive so well and few bought them.

Make SURE you do not get one of the Tiffin "problem" coaches with significant factory defects that have not been corrected that others in this thread have written about.

[itgeekgal]

We were in the same boat a few years ago, we wanted a slightly used Phaeton and could find nothing on the west coast. We ended up buying new and going to Red Bay to watch it be built... the quote we got for a new coach was less than most of the dealers were willing to go for a used one.

We are very pleased with our coach, Tiffin makes a great product & stands behind it's owners 100%