rayincorrales
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2007
- Posts
- 64
Hello all, I'm glad to see this site as I am in the midst of trying to see if I can upgrade from my 2001 Southwind 35R. We have had no problems with our current coach, but we could use a little more elbow room and with this being a buyer's market I started to look around.
I would like to present my current options to see what the group thinks...thanks in advance, I hope you don't mind these sorts of posts.
#1) Itasca Suncruiser 37B it has the Workhorse Chassis and Allison 2100MH transmission. It is a 2006 with 18700 miles and a "marked down" price of 100k. This unit has the extra room in the bedroom that we are looking (we have dogs that sleep in crates at night) and the feel of the interior trim seemed very nice. I liked the double pane windows, no oven, four door fridge, control panel. The only thing that seemed odd to me was the waste station interface, the sewer cap pipe points "out" and I could imagine a rude surprise if one had a leaky valve when removing the sewer cap prior to sewer hose installation!
The unit also seem ungodly tall, perhaps due to the 22.5" tires. I wonder about gas mileage with the base weight of 20300 pounds unloaded (my Southwind is 16200 pounds unloaded an we've averaged 8mpg while trying to drive just over 60mph).
#2) Allegro 35QBA, this is the bunk bed model, the Ford gas unit is new with a "marked down" price of 93k, they also have a FRED version, also a 2008 with a "marked down" price of 108k. Should I be concerned with the power of the FORD? (I seem to have the impression that the Workhorse/Allsion set up has more power (and hill climbing skills) when compared to the FORD V10.)
The trim package on the Allegro (open road) seemed a bit cheap, even compared to the Southwind, and it only has single pane windows.
#3) Monaco Monarch 35SFD, this is also a 2008 and the guys are still working on their "best price" to me. For a new unit, it has 5000 miles on it. I wonder if that means anything, i.e. lots of people have driven it but no buyers....this unit is out of town and I've yet to inspect it. They need to come down quite a bit from their advertised MSRP but "call for price" ads.
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I was surprised by one of the other threads that gave me the impression that the Suncruiser would not necessarily feel like an upgrade compared to my current Southwind.
Tiffin and Monaco get very high marks for their customer service, but clearly the Allegro is the entry level, just for grins I went into an Allegro Bay and the difference in trim package was obvious.
Any thoughts??? Thanks...
Ray
I would like to present my current options to see what the group thinks...thanks in advance, I hope you don't mind these sorts of posts.
#1) Itasca Suncruiser 37B it has the Workhorse Chassis and Allison 2100MH transmission. It is a 2006 with 18700 miles and a "marked down" price of 100k. This unit has the extra room in the bedroom that we are looking (we have dogs that sleep in crates at night) and the feel of the interior trim seemed very nice. I liked the double pane windows, no oven, four door fridge, control panel. The only thing that seemed odd to me was the waste station interface, the sewer cap pipe points "out" and I could imagine a rude surprise if one had a leaky valve when removing the sewer cap prior to sewer hose installation!
The unit also seem ungodly tall, perhaps due to the 22.5" tires. I wonder about gas mileage with the base weight of 20300 pounds unloaded (my Southwind is 16200 pounds unloaded an we've averaged 8mpg while trying to drive just over 60mph).
#2) Allegro 35QBA, this is the bunk bed model, the Ford gas unit is new with a "marked down" price of 93k, they also have a FRED version, also a 2008 with a "marked down" price of 108k. Should I be concerned with the power of the FORD? (I seem to have the impression that the Workhorse/Allsion set up has more power (and hill climbing skills) when compared to the FORD V10.)
The trim package on the Allegro (open road) seemed a bit cheap, even compared to the Southwind, and it only has single pane windows.
#3) Monaco Monarch 35SFD, this is also a 2008 and the guys are still working on their "best price" to me. For a new unit, it has 5000 miles on it. I wonder if that means anything, i.e. lots of people have driven it but no buyers....this unit is out of town and I've yet to inspect it. They need to come down quite a bit from their advertised MSRP but "call for price" ads.
**********
I was surprised by one of the other threads that gave me the impression that the Suncruiser would not necessarily feel like an upgrade compared to my current Southwind.
Tiffin and Monaco get very high marks for their customer service, but clearly the Allegro is the entry level, just for grins I went into an Allegro Bay and the difference in trim package was obvious.
Any thoughts??? Thanks...
Ray