2005 Itasca Meridian Motorhome - GOOD or BAD?

Am seriously considering the purchase of this motorhome. It has less than 10,000 miles on it.  Has a 350 Cat with a 6 speed Allison, on a Freightliner chassis. I haven't been able to find many 34 footers, and that's what we want for length. Almost afraid to ask, but does anybody have good or bad experiences with such a rig. Thanks in advance.

Which make & model? What year?

Tom:  It is a 2005 Itasca (Winnebago) Meridian 34' 2 slides.  Gary

The Winnebago/Itasca products are generally pretty decent and offer good value for the money. The Meridians I've seen have been quite pretty inside and out.

According to the chassis specs shown for the 05 Meridian on the Freightliner chassis site, the chassis has Neway air suspension with an I beam front axle (not an IFS). It has air brakes with ABS, a straight frame rail and rear mounted radiator. Wheels are by Accu-shield aluminum with Michelin tires. It has a 90 gallon fuel tank and fills from the left side only.

Are they offering a good deal?  The NADA Guide says this rig can be expected to sell for $105,000 (low) to $126,500 (average/high), so shoot for the $105k or less. 

Gary

We wanted to get the 34H Meridian back in ?05 and found one we liked, but there was a shortage of $30K in our motorhome fund. We ended up with a used ?03 36LD Itasca Horizon. It was a little bit longer but the interior layout was acceptable. We are the third owner, but have had very little problems. With the galley slide we did have a problem with a water line ?tee? coming loose and a break/leak in the drain line. I replaced the ?tee? with a new design and replaced the drain hose. Haven?t had any problems in this area since. The 300 Watt Dimension inverter failed and I replaced it with a 400 Watt Xantrex sinewave unit. I had to do some good engineering to get it to work OK. The roof line caulking came apart and I recaulked that as well. It seems OK now. The TV in the bedroom was a 19? head knocker. I replaced it with a flat panel LCD unit. The 34H that we were looking at had the same TV problem. If you buy it and have the same head knocker I can send you pictures of how I fixed the problem. The rest of the changes that I have made are to make it fit my own taste. The Horizon came with a good set of records and a LOT of warranty claims was made in the first two years of its life. By buying a 2 year old motorhome most and hopefully all of the problems will have been fixed. There were some problems that have come up but if you are a somewhat fair to good mechanic they can be fixed with little or no cost. All makes and models have similar problems. For the price range Winnebago products would be on my short list. You can get lots of advice on this forum as to how to fix about any problem.

Wayne

  To Gary and Wayne: Thanks for your comments! First of all - the advertised price is $139,900. Sound as if that's a bit strong to start off with. But, there's a trade-in involved and that always complicates things a bit. and, they don't seem to think my 2002 Winnebago 36' Brave is worth as much as I do.  Even though it has just over 20,000 miles on it, a Workhorse /Allison chassis, 2 slides - loaded and clean. As I get older, I don't enjoy this negotiating process as much as I use to.
I appreciate your comments about your experiences  you have had with your Horizon. I guess when you have a motorhome you need to expect a certain amount of repairing, which I can handle if it's not the MAJOR stuff.
Will let you know what decision we make??? Thanks again, and add comments as you see fit.
Gary

Gary

For pricing, these are the things I found out in 2005. New, the Meridian (actually I was looking at an equivalent Journey) listed for about $200K and could be bought for about $150K. The depreciation is about 10% per year based on the $150K price. So now, the list price for the 2 year old used unit should be about $120K to $125K.  To determine your actual trade-in price, look up your vehicle?s mid level price in the NADA guide and use 60% of that value. I believe this to be the wholesale price. These were the numbers, within a small margin, that I received from every dealer that I talked to. If you can do better than this, then you have a good deal. Things are probably tight for the dealers so you might be able to do better. If you expect to get more than the calculated wholesale price for your vehicle, I recommend that you sell it to another individual for close to what the dealer would ask.

Wayne

Wayne's pricing estimate is a fair one.  What you should be paying is the NADA low-mid price less the wholesale value of your trade (which surely will be less than what you think it ought to be!).  It's OK if the dealer has a high asking price, as long as he gives it back to you in the trade value (but don't count on it). If he doesn't, make an offer equal to the low NADA price minus your wholesale trade value and stick to it. You could actually make an offer below this and allow yourself to be negotiated up a bit. If he won't come around, walk away - he will likely call you in a day or two. And if not, there are other rigs to buy - thousands of them across the country.  You travel in an RV, so you will be getting service and repairs away from home anyway and a local dealer is of little advantage.

To Wayne and Gary:

            It's really helpful to talk to you guys about this. OK - the sticker price on my 2002 Brave was $106,816. I did the NADA thing on it this morning and I came up with a low retail value of $55,375, and an average retail of $66,822.
Now, if I take the $106,816 sticker price and take 60% of that - it amounts to a $64,089. Is that what you were referring to?

Like I said earlier, they have $139,900 on the 2005 Meridian's windshield.

They want someone to give them $85,000, and I don't know if I'm that person. Thanks for your input.   

Gary


(I'm sure some readers out there are getting a buzz out of this.)

You take 60% of the NADA value, not the sticker price of your Brave, to determine an approximate trade in value.

Gary

This is my opinion of how the dealer would want to work his best deal.

From the present NADA price at $66.88K the Brave wholesale value is about $40K. (60%)

The Itasca asking price should be about $120K.  With the Brave trade-in I would expect the dealer to ask about ($120K-$40K) $80K difference. All of these numbers are approximate except the ones I got from you and the bottom price can vary by as much as a couple of thousand dollars.

If you can sell your Brave yourself you could better the deal by about $12K.

From the Brave list price of $106.8K you should have been able to negotiate the no-trade-in price on your new 2002 Brave to about $80K.  (25% off) This has nothing with the present deal, just for future reference.

This is my opinion and others may come up with other numbers and they can be right.

Wayne

Gary/IA,
You are way high on your estimate of the Brave's value. You must have added in a lot of options, most of which are already in the price (NADA rates them "as typically equipped", not bare bones) and the dealer won't give you anything for anything extra anyway. The low mileage should be worth a bit extra, though. Taking the NADA for a 35 ft Brave on a Workhorse chassis with 20k miles, the figures are roughly $46,100 - $55,500. 60% of that is $27,660 - $33,300, so the Brave has an actual wholesale value of $30k, give or take. Hoping to get the full $33k and taking the low retail value for the Meridian ($105k), you would like to get it for $72k.  If you allow a higher price for the Meridian, e.g. Wayne's 120k, then it would be about $87k. So the dealers price of $85k means he is getting near top dollar for it. You would like to see it under $80, maybe even $75k.

Gary & Wayne.    For your information, we did go ahead and purchase the Meridian. Didn't have alot of luck in getting the price reduced, but decided we deserved it??? Picking it up next week and heading down to Mesa, AZ for a couple weeks. Our IA weather continues to be lousy - snow, wind, and cold. Current temperature is +2 degrees.

Gary

Congratulations! Have fun!!!!

Congratulations,  I am sure you will enjoy it.

Hi Wayne, I recently purchased a Itasca Meridian, and have a problem with the galley kitchen sink drain hose disconnected. I noticed you had the same problem The Dealer "fixed" the problem, but still leaks. I noticed you had a fix for this. What did you use for the repair?. it seams that the original flex hose is too stiff, and the black ABS plastic 90 degree elbow going into the grey water tank ,does not have much thread or surface for the swivel connector that connects the white pvc fitting to the black ABS elbow. They did reconnect the 2 together, but still leaks. Thanks Wayne, Mike
(GREAT Coach- Love the ride, Cat diesel ,air suspension and  brakes, good quality and finish)

The TV in the bedroom was a 19? head knocker. I replaced it with a flat panel LCD unit. The 34H that we were looking at had the same TV problem. If you buy it and have the same head knocker I can send you pictures of how I fixed the problem

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Hey Wayne, I have the same coach and the same head knocker! As much as I love the rig I'm a mech. not a woodworker. I would love to see your pics to have an example of exactly what I could do.
Did you also convert the front Tv?
Edit: Fixed quote.

Gary/IA said:

Am seriously considering the purchase of this motorhome. It has less than 10,000 miles on it.  Has a 350 Cat with a 6 speed Allison, on a Freightliner chassis. I haven't been able to find many 34 footers, and that's what we want for length. Almost afraid to ask, but does anybody have good or bad experiences with such a rig. Thanks in advance.

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That sounds like a good rig. You have the best diesel and transmission you could ask for. 10,000 miles on a 2005. Not bad at all. The tires are approaching  that 7 year mark. Have those looked at closely.

I realize this post is old, looking to see what MH you bought and how it worked out.  Anything you would advise.  I am looking at Country Coach 32-34 footers and Meridian Itasca 34 models.
Thanks!

The original poster hasn't been here since 2009.