Best Ride

[Monaco Dave]

Ok you guys (and girls), I am beginning to shop for my next rig. I'm not afraid of the road and do a cross country at least a couple times a year. Number one on the list is quality safe ride with comfort.

My question today is specifically regarding Freightliner and Spartan chassis, your opinion and experience please, also, if there is something else you think would be of value to me in this regard, please comment.

In advance, as always, thank you!

Best,
Soon to be, NOT Monaco Dave

[mike brez]

I remember reading years ago of a fella who delivered motor homes for a living and him saying that the western rv was the best out of all he delivered. Not sure what others he drove.

[Crasher]

With a good alignment, good tires set at the correct pressures and the air suspension system within specs, I doubt the average person would be able to tell the difference between either chassis. I prefer the ride on our Powerglide chassis to the freightliner on our previous coach, but it also has IFS and a tag axle.

[Steve and Linda's APEX]

Originally Posted by mike brez

I remember reading years ago of a fella who delivered motor homes for a living and him saying that the western rv was the best out of all he delivered. Not sure what others he drove.

We own a 2007 40’ Alpine Coach Apex. Drives great. Want the best ride, find an Alpine!

[Alpine36]

Originally Posted by Steve and Linda's APEX

We own a 2007 40’ Alpine Coach Apex. Drives great. Want the best ride, find an Alpine!

X2. Test drove many, Bought the first Alpine we test drove.
The Peak chassis was designed by the same gentleman who designed the Powerglide chassis, currently the best on the current market IMHO. Spartan, Roadmaster and Freightliner are also good choices. Good Luck in your search!

[Cousin Ed]

Entegra advertises as the quietest best handling and best riding coach on the market. After three years with one I don't doubt them. However I don't think you could tell the difference diving a Newmar (Dutch Star and up). I think the insulation making it so quite adds to the precipitation of the ride quality. We had an '11 Journey 40L before and thought you could not expect a better ride, but the Entegra proved us wrong.

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by Monaco Dave

Ok you guys (and girls), I am beginning to shop for my next rig. I'm not afraid of the road and do a cross country at least a couple times a year. Number one on the list is quality safe ride with comfort.

My question today is specifically regarding Freightliner and Spartan chassis, your opinion and experience please, also, if there is something else you think would be of value to me in this regard, please comment.

In advance, as always, thank you!

Best,
Soon to be, NOT Monaco Dave

Dave,

Not to mess with your Question (Parade) BUT - IMHO - FloorPlan is the most critical thing to look for - then Build Quality - then Chassis - as most (I include Myself) will have a hard time being able to actually tell the Difference between Coaches - with the proper - Alignment - Tires and Shocks - and Level of Build (DO not compare Entry level with Upper Levels or Single Axle with Tag - ) as Apples to Apples Oranges to Oranges.

Now only you can get what You Think You Need when it comes to the Driving of these Beasts, as the motor thing is just so different now.

When I had my Coach Built, I had spent years finding/designing/working on the FloorPlan that worked - then, when I added all I needed to make it work for me, TS wanted to put a 500HP motor in it - - Having come from a Heavy Contractors background I knew I wanted a Smaller engine as we moved 150,000#'s with a 237 or a 300 Mack, so no hot rod for me. If I needed a sports Car I'd Pull it. - - So the moral of the story is I Love My Coach (Paid extra to have the Smaller motor - ) - If I built one today it would likely be the Same Floor Plan. - -Likely the Same Chassis.

So, not to mess with this post as I'm sure others, are sure they can tell the difference between the ride - Just a Note here as to Alpine - when I drove one for a test drive - new Unit in Colorado, yes did the Highway and RT 6 into the Mountains - it was the least impressive of all the test drives I took and I drove them all - and the Hydraulic brakes just made me nervous, as I had an issue in an Older, classic, GMC that had Hydraulic brakes that developed a leak causing the brakes to Fail in heavy Traffic at High Speed with the Coach Filled with Precious Cargo (Kids) - Rust, a Pin hole after 10 or so years, developed, causing the loss of brakes - long story but it ended well. So I'm more comfortable with Air.........

JMHO, Best of Luck,

[2cyber71]

Not make you all laugh but, I bought 4 Class A Motorhomes new, I never test drove one. I bought each one on floorplan & colors. I was always happy. I guess ride never crossed my mind. But in my 20 yrs of RVing. I know the more you spend. The better the chassis. Even within a chassis manufacturer’s lineup. I guess adequate power also trumps ride in my book.
I wouldn’t look at the 2007 Ellipse with the 350 CAT. It had to have the 400cummins ISL. which added $10,000 to the price. But worth it.
Example. A American Eagle rides better than a Revolution
A 2020 Winnie Horizon 42Q rides better than the Forza.
Even back in 2007. My Ellipse was not as good as the Horizon because they added IFS to the Horizon back then and it did drive better. Same chassis with one change.
Etc!

[Smitty77]

I remain a fan of older generation higher up the food chain coaches. They typically came with superior chassis and engines.

Since you have a Monaco, I'll point out that the Executive and Signature (And Holiday Rambler equivalents.), were available with Detroit Diesel 60 series, Cummins ISM and ISX. The Top of the Line Roadmaster Chassis is a good handling chassis right out of the gate...

Alpine Peak Chassis are as mentioned, well thought of as far as handling is concerned.

Spartan K2 & K3 (With a few variants for speciality coaches, like Foretravel.) are the top dawgs from Spartan. And usually the K3's also come with an abundant power plant.

I believe the Freightliner XCR was/is their top chassis(?).

A few variants to consider. American Coach had a few years where they had a cobbled together chassis, that had I believe Spartan(?) front/rear clips. Another newer chassis is from Tiffen, the PowerGlide, designed by the same Engineer that designed the Peak Chassis.

Also not sure, but believe almost any coach could go to HWH and have their Active Air Suspension installed. About $10.5K,

So a strategy of buying an older top tier coach, with solid upper end chassis, and reserving budget to refresh/upgrade the interior to what a new owner might want, and then visit HWH and adding Active Air. Would IMO, still get you a great coach with many years of life ahead, for probably between $150-300K range (Dependent upon how old, and how good of a price you get on a used unit.). And the quality of cabinets, and chassis components would, again IMO, be better then many current $500-750K Upper Mid to Top Tier coaches of today...

Best of luck on your hunt, and decisions,
Smitty