Community Forums

MFortie · 07-02-2020, 08:35 AM

We are now members of the Renegade family after closing the deal on Frank Tamez’s old coach.

I spotted a familiar looking (familiar looking from the forum) coach for sale on the IWS website and got in touch with Steve at IWS. We had stopped at IWS four years ago on our way back from the Black Hills and test drove a couple of units. Steve also spent quite a bit of time showing us their operation and facility.

I kept in touch with Steve as their inventory changed and this coach was finally the right coach at the right price point at the right time (per the other half’s requirements

).

I thought it might be Frank’s, having read a number of his posts over the years, and sent him a PM. Sure enough it was. Frank shared more info about the coach and it was definitely a plus knowing the history of the coach.

We pulled the trigger and drove up last Sunday from San Diego. The coach was all we had hoped for and more. Frank took excellent care of it and made a few useful mods while he owned it.

We are working our way back down to San Diego - currently at Bear Lake UT, on to Park City for the 4th, with a stop at Oasis in Vegas after.

Our old coach (which we passed on to our oldest and his family) was a 2000 Alpine and we owned it for about 17 years. It’s somewhat refreshing to be in a newer and more up to date unit!

Looking forward to many adventures with the Explorer!

Rumline · 07-02-2020, 08:53 AM

I'm pretty new here as well, but welcome to the family! That's a nice rig you bought. It tempted me also since I'm sure Frank took real good care of it. I hope it brings you lots of enjoyment and a scarcity of headaches.

Frank Tamez · 07-02-2020, 08:48 PM

Its great to hear your having a good time in your might as well be new coach... It was a great pleasure conversing with you and I will gladly continue to answer any questions you may have...

Take good care of her Mark... She's truly a sweetheart

Frank

5050 · 10-28-2020, 01:30 PM

Since your new to renegade family can you tell us why you bought yours and any troubles? Wife and I went from a Travel trailer to a villagio renegade. Not two years old nothing but trouble and we don’t use it because of problems. Can’t get straight answers for repairs if anyone ever calls back. So we are trying to figure out if we got the lemon and bought from wrong dealer.

MFortie · 10-28-2020, 01:45 PM

Sorry to hear you're having problems.

We went from a Class A diesel pusher (Alpine Coach) to the Renegade after test driving a few different Renegade units and a couple of newer Class A coaches.

Completely different ride characteristics with the truck conversions. More stable and essentially a heavier duty chassis. Unfortunately the Villagio doesn't come on the heavier FL chassis, so it isn't anywhere near an apples to apples comparison.

The Alpine Coach was twenty years old and as such, the house (and other) systems were 20 years old as well. Eventually we would've had to start overhauling the twenty year systems and chose to upgrade to a newer unit instead. Case in point: the Alpine is still sporting the old CRT TVs and analog entertainment system from the original build.

As to problems? Nary a one (knock on wood); the original owner (who posted on this thread) either ironed out any issues or just didn't have any (which I believe is the case). We haven't had any issues and are extremely pleased with our choice.

Hope you're able to get your coach issues resolved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5050

Since your new to renegade family can you tell us why you bought yours and any troubles? Wife and I went from a Travel trailer to a villagio renegade. Not two years old nothing but trouble and we don’t use it because of problems. Can’t get straight answers for repairs if anyone ever calls back. So we are trying to figure out if we got the lemon and bought from wrong dealer.

Rumline · 10-28-2020, 04:45 PM

5050, I'm sorry to hear that you're having troubles. Are they with the coach (house) side or the chassis side? Have you reached out to Renegade directly? You may have a crappy dealer but Renegade should be able to help you out or at least point you to another dealer.

SteveS · 10-30-2020, 03:32 PM

MFortie - Got a chuckle reading your post. We also sold our 2001 Alpine and bought a Renegade. Had put a few upgrades in the Alpine but the new owner has put many, many upgrades in it and loves it. We love our Renegade also.

5050 · 11-02-2020, 05:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rumline

5050, I'm sorry to hear that you're having troubles. Are they with the coach (house) side or the chassis side? Have you reached out to Renegade directly? You may have a crappy dealer but Renegade should be able to help you out or at least point you to another dealer.

Yes we contacted Renegade Woody helped some,being on phone best he could do.More help from him than at The dealer we bought from.Its on the house side Mercedes went through their end but don’t touch house side or things dealer/Renegade changed out.That and we were told that it’s common for an RV to go to the shop 6 times in the first year.No one will work on RV with extended warranty from Holiday World of Katy Tx.We would have to pay and get refunded.Not hearing good things about them from others.Like a lot of other businesses,employees have attitude that we are here for them not them here for us.Thanks for listening.

5050 · 11-02-2020, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MFortie

Sorry to hear you're having problems.

We went from a Class A diesel pusher (Alpine Coach) to the Renegade after test driving a few different Renegade units and a couple of newer Class A coaches.

Completely different ride characteristics with the truck conversions. More stable and essentially a heavier duty chassis. Unfortunately the Villagio doesn't come on the heavier FL chassis, so it isn't anywhere near an apples to apples comparison.

The Alpine Coach was twenty years old and as such, the house (and other) systems were 20 years old as well. Eventually we would've had to start overhauling the twenty year systems and chose to upgrade to a newer unit instead. Case in point: the Alpine is still sporting the old CRT TVs and analog entertainment system from the original build.

As to problems? Nary a one (knock on wood); the original owner (who posted on this thread) either ironed out any issues or just didn't have any (which I believe is the case). We haven't had any issues and are extremely pleased with our choice.

Hope you're able to get your coach issues resolved.

Yes wife is already looking at trading up .She is undecided about New or used.???