Well with having had a 2004 Gulfstream Atrium we have first hand knowledge about these coaches. It was a great coach and we loved it dearly especially the Atrium, the view through all those windows was amazing, loved it.
They are well built coaches but do have their flaws and that's why we upgraded. The biggest issue, (in our opinion) was all the windows, although being nice to look through they had a tendency to let the cold / heat through. Being single pane window and not being well insulated all over sure didn't help. It was a fantastic "Warm Weather" coach. When it got cold below freezing, like when we drive down to Arizona in late Oct then come back in the spring the 2 furnaces ran constantly to keep it warm. Also when it was really hot it was hard to keep it cool in the blazing heat. It was the perfect unit for Canadian summers and Arizona winter. It was great!
The Cat 330 Hp C7 was enough to get us where we wanted to go and the Freightliner chassis gave a decent ride and it actually handled quite well for a 42 footer.
Our new to us unit had to check off a few must have boxes, minimum of 3 slides, got 4, tag axle, (not a deal breaker but got one) bath and a half, again not a deal breaker but got them too. side rad, Aqua Hot, minimum of 400 hp, got (425) and a king size bed.
We got all of this and much more with the coach we bought, a 2009 Monaco Camelot 42DSQ 425 Hp ISL Cummins on a Road Master Raised Rail 10 chassis, it has 10 air bags and 10 shocks for an amazing ride. Has dual pane windows and much better insulated over all, and the build quality is second to none. All the cabinetry throughout the coach is top notch, found out when I drilled a hole to mount a USB power port that the entire interior is made of 5/8" cherry veneered plywood, no thin flimsy paneling, even the big long walls are the 5/8" plywood. (contributes to the curb weight of the coach that's for sure. The drawer slides are roller slides like on a tool box.
Everything in this coach impresses us more every time we use it. Being a mechanic I work on my own stuff and this is much easier to work on with the side rad and such.
I installed 790 watts of residential solar panels on the roof run into a SNRE, MPPT charge controller and does it ever work nice, charges up all 10 of my 6V batteries in no time no matter how much they are depleted over nite. Generally all charged by 9:00 to !0:00 in the AM, even when it's cloudy or smoky like it is now.
To say we love this coach is an under statement, but we sure loved our Atrium. The million dollar question is, would we go back to an Atrium? Probably not, but we sure don't ever regret owning it. We did sell it for $10,000.00 more than we paid for it 7 years ago but that's because I took very good care of it and it was better and improved allot from when we bought it.
We did get a smok'in good deal on our Monaco but it still cost us "Twice" what we sold our Atrium for. We got it for about $50,000.00 to $60,000.00 lower than NADA listed it's value at so we are happy with that. When I'm done getting it fixed up to my standards the value should be up there a little bit more. Fingers crossed.
Don't know if my post will have any influence on your decision, you have to look at everything closely and make sure that the unit is in good condition before you lay the money down. Good luck and let s know how you made out.
You won't regret buying the Atrium, it is a better coach than allot of the other's out there and you "Will" love the Atrium, can't beat it for the money.
If we did have to down grade for what ever reason and get a cheaper coach we probably would consider another Atrium, you never know.
Good luck on your search!!
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