I believe it has the 8.1 engine with 90,000 miles!! Is that something to be concerned about. I have not seen the maintenace books yet as it was a fairly quick look at it. It's a 2004. It is in really nice conditon. Normal wear and tear. Does need tires and I think that's around 2700 dollars for 6. There is a minor bit of water damage above the shower. There is the typical rusty areas (hardly noticeable) no delamination that I can see. It has the double fridge and all appliances work well. Very clean and spacious. Now the money thing. The dealership has it priced at 27,000. The dealership said they will take it in and do all the necessary checks and will fix anything that is in need of fixing (within reason for the price). My question.... I'm wondering if they are pricing this fairly? I talked the dealer down to 26,000. But he won't budge any more. They told me it was a consignment deal. They would have to talk with the owner and see what she would accept as I offered 22,000. The manager of the place said thats the workhorse model and what I offered was not enough. Hence his lowest was 26 grand. Thank for any advice. I am concerned 90,000 miles might be to high??
Hi Folks, I'm looking at a 2004 Southwind M-36B Workhorse.
- Thread starter RedsToy
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Isaac-1
Well-known member
90,000 is about what you should expect for a 2004 coach with roughly average mileage on it, my coach is a 2002 model and I am at about 95,000 miles, I would tell you exactly as I am in it at the moment, but I don't feel like getting up. It had 74,000 miles on it when I bought it 5 years ago, and I had been averaging about 5,000 per year up until covid hit. It seems most motorhomes average 5,000-6,000 miles per year over the long term. I have no comment on price or if it is a deal in the current market, though if it is located up north chances are prices will start being slashed as temperatures start to drop.
Ike
p.s. also never trust a dealer to do an inspection, hire your own NRVIA certified level 2 inspector, as the dealer has no incentive to finding show stopper problems. You can use the inspector locator at nrvia.org
p.p.s. the 8.1L Vortec engine was designed as a 200,000 mile engine in medium duty truck applications, it replaced the 7.4L Vortec which had a 150,000 mile design service life.
Ike
p.s. also never trust a dealer to do an inspection, hire your own NRVIA certified level 2 inspector, as the dealer has no incentive to finding show stopper problems. You can use the inspector locator at nrvia.org
p.p.s. the 8.1L Vortec engine was designed as a 200,000 mile engine in medium duty truck applications, it replaced the 7.4L Vortec which had a 150,000 mile design service life.
Arch Hoagland
Well-known member
I have a 2004 Monaco with the 8.1 engine and Allison 1000 transmissionI that I bought brand new in 2004. We've put 95,000 miles on it now...averaged 7.1 mpg pulling a toad all over the country.
$27,000 sounds good to me.
Make sure the Actia dash gauge read out works and find out if the Bosch brake recall has been done. I've had my exhaust manifolds fail three times over the years and replaced the engine air conditioner compressor once.
Find out if the transmission and filter have been replaced on a regular basis. I've replaced mine four times and finally switched to Transynd fluid.
I've replaced plugs and wires twice along with all hoses, belts and idler pulley twice as a preventive maintance thing.
$27,000 sounds good to me.
Make sure the Actia dash gauge read out works and find out if the Bosch brake recall has been done. I've had my exhaust manifolds fail three times over the years and replaced the engine air conditioner compressor once.
Find out if the transmission and filter have been replaced on a regular basis. I've replaced mine four times and finally switched to Transynd fluid.
I've replaced plugs and wires twice along with all hoses, belts and idler pulley twice as a preventive maintance thing.
Kirk
Well-known member
If you check out that Southwind on NADA you will find that they list the low retail as $26,050 and average retail as $31,400.
As Isaac has said, get it professionally inspected before you spend your money. No matter how great an RV may be when initially sold, after 17 years it could be just junk or it could be near perfect and only an expert can tell for sure which.
As Isaac has said, get it professionally inspected before you spend your money. No matter how great an RV may be when initially sold, after 17 years it could be just junk or it could be near perfect and only an expert can tell for sure which.
Mark_K5LXP
Well-known member
In this price range every single RV you look at is going to be wounded in some way, you just have to decide which one you love enough to keep hobbling along. At this age and mileage there's no sure thing one way or the other no matter who made it. I would have some concern about the water damage around the shower. There's a skylight there that could leak and if it's been that way for a while you could have some roof and wall damage. Something to look at anyway, along with the rest of the roof because at that age it's definitely "bad" unless someone has already resealed it in the recent past.
Yours is the probably the W24 chassis which I think is "decent", as is the engine and transmission overall. But I wouldn't buy the story about how because it's a WH that it demands a particular price - at this age they're all in some state of decay no matter who made it. You're also at a mileage there's some involved service required which either you will have to do or pay someone to do it, which factors into the ownership value.
Aside from the nuts and bolts though, it comes down to if you love the thing or not. If you love it then it's not hard to justify or rationalize some expense to acquire and service it. In the grand scheme you're into it for $100K+ below what it would take to get into a new or newer used one so it's all relative. I'm in pretty much the same position you are with mine and overall it's providing no less utility than a newer one would, at far less expense. If you're "handy" you can manage a lot of the house and chassis issues and with any luck even if the thing only runs another few years and 10-20K miles that can represent a lot of RV time you may not have been able to afford otherwise. I consider myself the "last" owner of my RV, treating as a 100% loss in the event of catastrophic failure. It think that needs to be an ownership consideration for any RV in it's waning phase of life but that doesn't mean you can't own one like it and have a great experience.
Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
Yours is the probably the W24 chassis which I think is "decent", as is the engine and transmission overall. But I wouldn't buy the story about how because it's a WH that it demands a particular price - at this age they're all in some state of decay no matter who made it. You're also at a mileage there's some involved service required which either you will have to do or pay someone to do it, which factors into the ownership value.
Aside from the nuts and bolts though, it comes down to if you love the thing or not. If you love it then it's not hard to justify or rationalize some expense to acquire and service it. In the grand scheme you're into it for $100K+ below what it would take to get into a new or newer used one so it's all relative. I'm in pretty much the same position you are with mine and overall it's providing no less utility than a newer one would, at far less expense. If you're "handy" you can manage a lot of the house and chassis issues and with any luck even if the thing only runs another few years and 10-20K miles that can represent a lot of RV time you may not have been able to afford otherwise. I consider myself the "last" owner of my RV, treating as a 100% loss in the event of catastrophic failure. It think that needs to be an ownership consideration for any RV in it's waning phase of life but that doesn't mean you can't own one like it and have a great experience.
Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
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Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Sounds to me like the right price range, maybe even a bargain at today's crazy high prices. Any class A in fairly clean condition is going to bring that much - the bottom of the price range is around $20k.
A professional inspection would be a good thing if you don't know anything about RV systems and how to spot problems. The dealer will only fix what is blatantly obvious (visible) unless you point it out and put it on a fix list as a condition of sale. And if it's really a consignment, who isn't going to fix anything unless you or the seller pays for it - he isn't going to spend his sale commission on repairs! But he may have been blowing smoke about it being a consignment sale. figure about $500 or so for a "level 2" inspection. Maybe just $200 if you only want a quick check. You can also hire a mobile RV tech for an hour or two to give the rig a once-over.
A professional inspection would be a good thing if you don't know anything about RV systems and how to spot problems. The dealer will only fix what is blatantly obvious (visible) unless you point it out and put it on a fix list as a condition of sale. And if it's really a consignment, who isn't going to fix anything unless you or the seller pays for it - he isn't going to spend his sale commission on repairs! But he may have been blowing smoke about it being a consignment sale. figure about $500 or so for a "level 2" inspection. Maybe just $200 if you only want a quick check. You can also hire a mobile RV tech for an hour or two to give the rig a once-over.
Kirk
Well-known member
A professional inspection would be a good thing unless you are an RV expert and have a really good checklist. Every inspector uses one.
