Community Forums

yellow73 · 04-06-2021, 01:03 PM

While waiting for our Bay Star for last 6 months now in the bone yard waiting for the awning I've noticed so many problems coming out of the factory. A lot of plumbing problems causing large amount of damage slides that are damaged by the wire containment system trying to come through the slide or out the bottom. I know they are well known for bending over to repair this damage but how long do you think Winnebago will continue to let this happen.

KenJr · 04-06-2021, 04:20 PM

Just like any other mass produced RV, we like our Tiffin but overall very disappointed in their QC and wasn’t impressed at all with service in Red Bay.

Crasher · 04-06-2021, 06:08 PM

Overall Newmar's QC is good, but every manufacturer has employees who can have a bad day. My son had a 2015 Mountain Aire that was as good as they come. He traded for a 2016 MA and ended up back to the factory twice in the first year with over 45 defect items. Some pretty serious and some minor. My 2013 Allegro Bus had a hand full of issues in the first year, but has been near perfect for the last six years. Others have had quality issues with Tiffin. It these two upper end companies can have problems, I can only imagine what the middle and lower level coaches must be. Having a good dealer, like I do, and not having to go to the manufacturer can make all the difference.

chuckftboy · 04-06-2021, 09:02 PM

I have been pleased with Winnebago's quality and customer service has done a good job for me so buying Newmar could only help if anything at all.

theroc · 04-07-2021, 01:12 AM

My opinion is that Newmar and its reputation for quality will suffer less now being under the Winnebago umbrella than Tiffin's will being under Thor's. Even though the Tiffin family supposedly will still manage the Tiffin arm of Thor, I'd be a little worried about their keeping the good reputation they've had over the years. I don't worry as much about Newmar as I too have always had relatively good experiences with Winnebago products and customer service.

edgray · 04-07-2021, 06:04 AM

Having owned a Class A coach from each of them, I am amazed that some here think WBGO will "improve" anything at Newmar. My 2003 Kountry Star was virtually trouble free for 7 years and 98,600 miles. The 2010 Suncruiser went back to Forest City before it was 3 months old for multiple problems, and continued to have issues thereafter. We bought both of them new, and used / maintained them regularly.

PanJH · 04-07-2021, 06:19 AM

Very little QC at Newmar--- that's why people pay thousands of $$'s for factory pickup-- to pay them to do what should be normal course of business. maybe that's their plan . produce shoddy RV's and charge extra to fix them . When we bought our Newmar, it was in the shop over 6 months of the first year getting things fixed like roof leaks, broken slides, AC units,awning that deployed and self destroyed while driving, etc.

edgray · 04-07-2021, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PanJH

Very little QC at Newmar--- that's why people pay thousands of $$'s for factory pickup-- to pay them to do what should be normal course of business.....

I agree it is absurd that a buyer has to pay thousands to get factory service and a complete quality control inspection on a brand new coach. I don't know of any other coach builder that even offers that on a production line product. It seems the alternative is to HOPE you are buying from a competent dealer, who will actually look for, find, and actually correct all the manufacturing defects during the dealer's "PDI", with emphasis on the Pre Delivery Inspection definition of the term. PDI is not supposed to be during a buyer's walkthrough / orientation, but all too often it happens.

IF I were buying a luxury DP from Newmar, I would make that investment of my time and money and consider it part of the total cost of buying a "quality" mass produced house on wheels. Not sure I would do that on any of their gassers, but I don't know if the factory delivery charge is a flat fee, or varies by model / MSRP.

Jabber Jaw · 04-07-2021, 11:34 AM

[QUOTE=edgray;

IF I were buying a luxury DP from Newmar, I would make that investment of my time and money and consider it part of the total cost of buying a "quality" mass produced house on wheels. Not sure I would do that on any of their gassers, but I don't know if the factory delivery charge is a flat fee, or varies by model / MSRP.[/QUOTE]

Why not "CPU" on a gasser?

I did, and well worth it! And yes, it does mean that the "QC", "PDI" is done correctly & problems or issues corrected prior to Delivery! That is a whole lot better than having to go back to the selling Dealer,2,3, even 4 times or more to fix what should have caught caught & corrected during the Dealer's "PDI"!, Much less frustration, time & expense, after the fact!

The price is the same! Unless, like I did, You negotiate it, just like negotiating the selling price!

Would I do it again! YES, in a heatrbeat! My coach has not been to a Dealer since purchase! Yes, Newmar techs did fix two issues at a Newmar Rally.

All manufacturers have some "QC" issues, even the multi-million dollar coaches. Have a friend with a $2 million dollar Prevost, went back to factory for service/warranty issues. They had it for almost 2 months.

Bottom line, Newmar may have some issues, but will take a Newmar over others, because of Factory Service Center, the fact they work on any year model coach they built, and most of the time, go beyond, to help customers with out of warranty isssues, etc.

And lastly, some folks would never be satisfied!

edgray · 04-07-2021, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jabber Jaw

Why not "CPU" on a gasser?......

I meant no offense to gasser owners. I was one, 3 times. Of those, my Newmar KSCA was the most trouble free.

My comment was based on "thinking" that FPU costs several thousand dollars (more or less, depending on your dealer) and that whatever the cost, it would be a bigger % of the total cost for a gasser VS a more expensive DP.

I hope you will agree that "most" gassers do not have the same level of expensive to repair amenities and systems that can cause grief than do "most" high end DPs.

I'm glad to know you were satisfied with your decision to pay more so you could take delivery of a better finished coach.

Crasher · 04-07-2021, 12:26 PM

Over the years the same QC complaints have come from all brands of RV's. We are probably on our last motorhome. It's going on 8 years old and only 75,000 miles on a Cummins ISL. It's a trouble free pleasure to own and drive. If I were to buy another new coach, I would buy it from a dealer that had the proven ability to correct and repair any defect at delivery. I also would not take delivery until all items were corrected and the agreement that new QC issued would be addressed within a reasonable time. Until you write the check, you can negotiate terms that both you and the dealer can agree to. I'm fortunate to have a dealer 40 miles away from me that handled everything I needed quickly and efficiently with our last three coaches. I wouldn't buy from a dealer that did not offer complete service without referring customers to the factory.

EcoRick · 04-07-2021, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crasher

If I were to buy another new coach, I would buy it from a dealer that had the proven ability to correct and repair any defect at delivery.

Does this dealer exist? We took delivery of a new Tiffin Phaeton in November 2020 and items like paint defects, wood/cabinet repair, bay door adjustments have to be done at the factory. I don’t think any dealer can repair all defects.

yellow73 · 04-07-2021, 11:35 PM

I don't feel like you should have to pay any extra cost to pick up a complete and operational Motorhome no matter what you've paid for it. Seeing a lot of these since January some happening during walk through.

Jacjetlag · 04-08-2021, 12:13 AM

"I don't feel like you should have to pay any extra cost to pick up a complete and operational Motorhome..."

+++++

We decided to buy and once we got to our negotiation phase, the first words outta my mouth were "The price will include CPU". Long silence...."Okay." said the salesperson. Did I get it for free? Maybe. We got a discount off of MSRP that some say can't be matched today with CPU included. Our dealership pooched the order and caused us to lose some time, but Newmar stepped up and recovered pretty well. That was impressive on their part.

I'm going to Nappanee on Monday to do our CPU, which I'm told fixes many things in a timely way that the dealer's PDI can't or won't. These RV's are very complex and essentially built by hand. I'll take every opportunity to bring my coach closer to a higher standard. Newmar's tech.s doing the work is a good thing, IMHO. Most who have done CPU say they would do it again.