Fleetwood Providence

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Don Jensen

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 20, 2006
Posts
178
Location
The Woodlands Texas
We recently completed our first RV experience.? We drove a Winnebago Class C 30' from Iowa to Anchorage and loved it!? I have posted our trip report in the library section.

We are looking to buy a diesel pusher and a friend who has been a RV salesman in California tells me to get a Fleetwood Providence 39'.? I have done a search of posts on this forum and have not been able to find any discussions of this MH.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Don
 
Hi Don,

I'm not familiar with Fleetwood's Providence, but hopefully someone here is.
 
2  Providence  owners where here at PEM this past winter and they bpth liked them but both also said they wished they had upgraded  Didn't ask to what  I was just listening not in on the conversation,.  I would figure they are talking about  Monaco  or Holiday but can't be sure.
 
It's a pretty new model and not one I've seen anywhere on the road yet.  Fleetwood slots it above the Discovery but below the Excursion & Revolution in its model line-up. MSRP starts around $200,000.

 
Sorry  didn't know it was that high priced.  Think I'd go the step higher too.
 
RV Roamer said:
It's a pretty new model and not one I've seen anywhere on the road yet.? ?Fleetwood slots it above the Discovery but below the Excursion & Revolution in its model line-up. MSRP starts around $200,000.

The Excursion and Providence are almost exactly the same.? I called my friend who used to sell RV's and he said the models are the same with different names to get around the "territorial issues" of dealers.

Don
 
Yeah, but I don't see many Excursions either.  Discoverys run up to $200,000 and change too, so Fleetwood has quite a few products in this price tier.  Probably  so that they can sell thorugh several different dealers in the same market area (each brand name is separately franchised).
 
RV Roamer said:
Yeah, but I don't see many Excursions either.? Discoverys run up to $200,000 and change too, so Fleetwood has quite a few products in this price tier.? Probably? so that they can sell thorugh several different dealers in the same market area (each brand name is separately franchised).
That is strange.  I guess then that a good comparison for fleetwood would be GM and what I thought were model names are really makes like Pontiac, Chevy, Saturn etc... Did not know that about Fleetwood.  ???


 
I ran across this thread while search for another topic.  Not sure if you've purchased anything yet but thought I'd give you some input as a Providence owner. 

We purchased a new 2004 Providence 39S and love it.  At the time, there was nothing on the market that luxurious in that price range.  We paid approximately $155K for ours after about 2-3K in add ons, electric awnings on all windows, motion satellite, rear flap guard, etc.,  (list was apx. $198K) We went in to look at the Revolution which was about $30 to 40K more and wasn't finished out the way the Providence was.  We just couldn't see paying that much more for the Revolution although the body style was really cool.

Now the Providence lists for around $215 to $220K.  We are extremely happy with ours and everyone who sees it is "wow'd" when they walk in - we have the unique purple/eggplant & gold decor package).  The trim is very nice and the closet is huge!  We have experienced only minor problems with ours - minor electrical and an inverter problem.  Our main problem is a roof leak on the passenger side above the window that we are still trying to sort out and repair. 

I highly recommend the Providence for the price.  In 2005, they increased height on the inside and a few other things.  Now they have a pull out island and a few other options.  The Excursion is identical to the Providence but much more money.   
 
Racinrhonda said:
The Excursion is identical to the Providence but much more money.     


The dealers may be trying to charge more, but the dealer invoice is identical for both models including all of the options.

Don
 
We test drove a 2005 Providence when we were on our motorhome hunt in 2005-2006.  We liked it but three things kept it off our final short list (Monaco and Newmar).

The biggest thing was that it did not have full passthrough basement storage, which was a must for us as full timers.  If we were not full timing, it would not have been a deal killer.

The second, however was a deal killer even without full timing.  All of the floor plans that year had the bed with the head of the bed at a window.  While this looks appealing, it caused us problems when we owned a Fleetwood trailer and we did not want to repeat those problems.  The Admiral and I like to sit up in bed and read and/or watch TV.  The only way to have privacy in the evenings is to have the window curtains closed.  This does not work well with two adults leaning back and reading.  In the trailer it put constant stress on the curtain rods, and it looked like we would have the same problem in the Providence.  So one of our musts was a solid wall with a sturdy headboard.  Our bedroom windows on the Newmar are on either side of the bed as part of the slideout.  this works well as either of us can control our own ventilation, and on really hot nights the cross ventilation can minimize the need for air conditioning.

I do not know if the current Providence models have eliminated these two concerns.

A third concern we had was that none of the Providences in 2005 had independent front suspension, which was another must have for us.

I do know the Fleetwood Revolution has full basement storage, but I don't know if it has IFS or solid wall for the headboard.
 
Smoky,

The last I knew the Revolution did not have IFS but that may have changed.

The Revolution started out life as the American Revolution. It is built in the American Coach plant in Decatur, IN. They had all the documentation set to go to the printers when they realized that they had a marketing problem. I forgot the exact numbers but the ones I will use are in the ballpark. They discovered that by labeling the Revolution an "American" coach they could only place it in about 40 dealerships around the country. By removing the "American" part they could now place it in over 200 dealerships. All the documentation had to be gone over to remove any reference to the American coach.

This is the same thing as the Providence/Excursion situation. There are many others out there as well.
 
Jim Dick said:
Smoky,

The last I knew the Revolution did not have IFS but that may have changed.

The Revolution started out life as the American Revolution. It is built in the American Coach plant in Decatur, IN. They had all the documentation set to go to the printers when they realized that they had a marketing problem. I forgot the exact numbers but the ones I will use are in the ballpark. They discovered that by labeling the Revolution an "American" coach they could only place it in about 40 dealerships around the country. By removing the "American" part they could now place it in over 200 dealerships. All the documentation had to be gone over to remove any reference to the American coach.

This is the same thing as the Providence/Excursion situation. There are many others out there as well.

Jim- I have a different view of this I think. In August 2001, FW brought the prototype Revolution along with a couple that had been decked out as show coaches to FMCA in Redmond and said that it was to "fill the price point gap" between Discovery and American Tradition. They never called it an American there. Then several years later they came out with the Expedition which was below Discovery and the Bounder Diesel. They eventually put together a price point plan that today has the line up of Revolution 200-300K, Excursion/Providence 200-250k, Expedition/Bounder 150-200k and Discovery in the 150-250k notch by itself. The President/CEO they hired from Paccar and then fired saw thiis as too many models and hired a Brand Manager to try and rationalize the product line but I never heard of anything he done and assume he went out along with the President.  They did rationalize the American line by pulling in the standalone Heritage and eliminating the American Dream.
 
Leo,

What I know came from the mouth of the guy giving the factory tours. He apparently was involved in some of it. Perhaps it was a sales pitch since he used to be in sales. :)
 
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