MHRookie Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Wondering how others made a decision since I’m on the teeter taughter.... how to decide to keep and pour money in current coach OR trade up? What was your decision? if you trade up today..... what year would you look at. 2003 Monaco dynasty 94,000 mi second or 3rd owner. I would guess this beauty needs about $40,000 to make changes to equal today’s amenities. This is not about “keeping up with the joneses”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speerfamily Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 I am not sure trading up with make it any better. Nicer for a bit, but the way they make rigs today I am thinking my unit is more solid and dependable. You would still need to dump money in a newer one. Although less for a couple years if you started out new. JMHO.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Haggard Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Wont you spend 40 to $100,000 thousand to trade UP is what ? A Newell Prevost ? I am keeping my 99 signature for many reasons Its your $$$$$s Think it through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHRookie Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 No prevost or Newell... max upgrade budget is 175k. I realize MH’s are money pits. I enjoy current coach mainly because of a lot less electronics.. part 2 of this is money for current coach is out of pocket vs loan for an upgrade. just wondering what made others decide to trade up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stenderken Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 I think it's a matter of safety. My 2009 Dynasty is constructed semi-monocoque style using mild steel square tubing with welded joints. It's like a rigid box. I've been to the Newmar factory in the last couple of years and they were using aluminum extrusions in place of Monaco's steel tubing and the extrusions are fastened together with tec screws. Back in September I saw a photo of a newer looking motorhome which was involved in accident on US 395 south of Susanville, CA and the chassis was shown in an upright position with what looked like the floor system still attached to the chassis. Looked like a gas coach. The "house" box was laying on it's side next to the chassis, somewhat intact. The screws holding the sidewalls to the chassis obviously pulled out. We all are having service issues with our older Monacos, but I for one feel safer with my Dynasty. The interior may be dated, but the cabinets, floor tile and carpet still look new. A friend of mine had a 2009 Executive and his wife fell in love with a new Newmar Mountain Air because of the gorgeous interior. The new coach turned out to be a piece of junk and they have been in lemon law negotiations for nearly a year. The chassis was a Freightliner and it dog tracked down the highway. Apparently the drive axle trailing arms were not equal length. Also lots of interior fit and finish items. So we are keeping our old dog. Keeps me busy trying to figure out how to fix the latest issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planodp Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Keeping my 2004 Executive. It got everything I needs. I have a hard time already trying to figure thing out. I can't not imagine how much of a electrical night mare the new coach would be. All of the gadget are great but when it don't work, look out! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpasetto Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 We had our 03 Dyn for 15 years... Sold it, always wanted a Sig. We have a bit more luxury now. Continue to love these coaches. We discussed lots... decided if we ever 'trade up', an S10 Monaco is the only direction we go... That was our opinion and we stuck to it. Took years to find a Monaco we liked better that our '03. The S-10 chassis was designed to live under a coach, not truck or other. I was honored over a decade ago to meet an engineer who had been a designer of the old WW-II gliders, the ones which 'landed' at Normandy... He explained to me the 'hows" and 'whys" of semi-monocoque chasses... he talked about forces, vectors, trusses and all that. He owned a Monaco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis H Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Our Executive is older but well constructed and is dependable. That said, realizing that there have been improvements over the years, mainly with electronics, I've gone over our coach and made a list of 'upgrades' that I would like to make. I then prioritized that list and will work through them as time and money allows. I figure it'd cost me about $100 grand to upgrade the unit to something more "modern", not necessarily better, but more modern. I like the new rigs with the added fiberglass rails to hide all the 'stuff' on the roof, like solar panels and A/C units but again, that is just 'fluff'. I like the fact that my Cummins is pre-def although YMMV. I've got 100,000 miles on it so far and with proper care and maintenance I feel it will run another 200,000. So, really, 100 grand would only buy me interior upgrades. This year I replaced both TVs, cut about 500 lbs in weight and the GPS dash unit. (Click HERE for pictures etc.) The mirror bases need to be replaced/re-chromed, the interior day/night shades could use some freshening/cleaning/replacing and I have a two floor tiles that got cracked by items being dropped on them. I've replaced the headlights and tail lights and the exterior looks great. The electric awning over the door has ripped, (duct tape cures all) and that needs to be replaced soon. Other than that everything is tight and works. I figure repairs etc. that need to be done will be less than 5k so I'm way ahead by keeping my coach.....just my opinion, as I said earlier, your mileage/opinions/ideas may vary.....Dennis 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren A. Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Keeping my 2004 Navigator you just can’t find the quality luxury craftsmanship in todays coaches. Yes newer coaches comes with high tech gadgets but one thing i learned is with more gadgets comes more problems. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpasetto Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 @Dennis, I like the idea of a Coach Project List too. Boxes get checked but somehow the 'to do' section grows 🙂 I've been running two categories in the to-do part; The second in "Eventually" ; lots of stuff there too. Recently aded one other category, "Deferred" and a "Cancelled". Don't know how long those will stay. You have a beautiful coach! One of the Monaco models we were considering when we 'pulled the trigger' on out "last" coach upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr4Film Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 When I purchased the 2002 Windsor in December of 2003 I made sure that I would love it enough to be the first & last coach I wanted. I have now owned it for 17 years with many personal upgrades to make it "mine". It certainly doesn't look pretty unless I wanted to dump $50,000 into all new outside walls and paint. NOT going to happen. So it is what it is and so far I have never been turned away from any place that I wanted to stay at. Sure, there are repairs and maintenance but nothing that I cannot afford to take care of so far. Preventative maintenance is important in catching stuff BEFORE it becomes major. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnDean Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 The older coaches are definitely better made. Having recently sold off my 2002 Fleetwood Discovery and purchased a 2008 Camelot. {rather purchased the Camelot and then sold the Discovery} - I knew every inch of my Discovery, it was a well made coach the systems were straight forward and fortunately I never needed a major repair - (Transmission, Engine, etc...) But I knew that if I ever had the big one, sheesh what would a man do? Replace an 18 year old Caterpillar engine in a coach that is worth $30K? That's always a tough call. New to Monaco, I am enjoying the AquaHot & the Valid Air leveling system. Still cant ma ke myself look at the rear view camera when the turn signal is on, I have to use mirrors! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Nodine Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 18 hours ago, MHRookie said: Wondering how others made a decision since I’m on the teeter taughter.... how to decide to keep and pour money in current coach OR trade up? What was your decision? if you trade up today..... what year would you look at. 2003 Monaco dynasty 94,000 mi second or 3rd owner. I would guess this beauty needs about $40,000 to make changes to equal today’s amenities. This is not about “keeping up with the joneses”. Being retired and on a fixed income I tend to shy away from incurring new debt. If we traded coaches we would strive for something that would keep us within our cash resources. I also prefer the devil I know rather than take a chance on buying problems someone else decided they did not want to deal with. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throgmartin Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 Upgrading to a newer coach is always a personal thing. I have considered it numerous times but when it gets down to pulling the trigger I drop the idea. My main reasons are 1.) Our coach is paid off 2.) I know the condition of the coach we have 3.) I have done what upgrades we wanted. I am to the point in life where I do not want to start the debt cycle on a depreciating asset. Any investment we make these days goes towards assets that appreciate. We bought our coach new so I know what has been replaced, upgraded and I know how well the coach has been taken care of. Buying another coach could start the cycle all over again of upgrades and I also do not know what has been replaced or how well it has been taken care of. Again, this is all a personal thing. Everyone has different priorities so it all becomes a personal choice. I doubt we will ever upgrade but if I ever did it would be for more room ( 40ft - 45 ft ). I also would only upgrade to a higher end coach like an older Prevost, Newell or Foretravel. I nearly pulled the plug on 2 different Prevosts 1 was an 02 and another an 2000. Both were in excellent condition and were H-3 45's with low miles and both were under $ 150 K. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wamcneil Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 Right after we bought our 2003 we went to a big RV show in Houston. We were new to RVing. I was a little nervous and figured I’d leave there wishing I’d bought something else (ie newer). But I was pleasantly surprised to find it took a new $400k rig to make me jealous! Cheers Walter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHRookie Posted January 6, 2021 Author Share Posted January 6, 2021 2 hours ago, Ernie Ekberg said: Bring it to us for new flooring. ErnieEkberg if you buy something new, it will probably be in the shop for warranty work as there is not much quality control anymore Ernie, what is name & location of your business? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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