Hi Everyone. Well, after 15 years the RV-Dreams Community Forum is coming to an end. Since it began in August 2005, we've had 58 Million page views, 124,000 posts, and we've spent about $15,000 to keep this valuable resource for RVers free and open. But since we are now off the road and have settled down for the next chapter of our lives, we are taking the Forum down effective June 30, 2021. It has been a tough decision, but it is now time.
We want to thank all of our members for their participation and input over the years, and we want to especially thank those that have acted as Moderators for us during our amazing journey living and traveling in our RV and growing the RV-Dreams Family. We will be forever proud to have been founders of this Forum and to have been supported by such a wonderful community. Thank you all!!
A 3-4 year old Foretravel will be over $500K and all I have found online are 45' with much larger engines. A new Tiffin Allegro Bus is less. Tiffin just changed their factory service rules and anything over 4 years old is lower priority. I am biased, but you should also look at Newmar.
__________________
Bill Joyce, 40' 2004 Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid Journal at http://www.sacnoth.com Full-timing since July 2003
Definitely look at the Newmar and if thinking about Foretravel, go back maybe 6-7 years in your search. If we were looking for a new coach, Newmar would definitely be ahead of Tiffin for us.
__________________
Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Welcome, fugazi chef. Every brand has both supporters and detractors. The original price point is intended to reach a particular customer base. Once you toss used coaches into the mix all bets are off. Consider a more familiar area: cars. For $15,000 you can buy a new car. It won't be large or fancy, but it will be new. For the same amount you can buy a year-old car that is a bit fancier. Going on out farther, you can buy a used luxury car, but again, it will be a couple of years older. You see the point. That Lincoln you can buy for $15,000 originally sold for a lot more than that. Somebody else took the big depreciation hit on it.
Now consider your motorhome choices. Our 40' Foretravel sold new for about $350,000. It is currently on rvtrader and foreforums for $45,000. Of course, it is a 1993 coach, although with quite a few upgrades and a new engine. Before we bought our coach, a salesman tried to sell us a brand-new (okay, previous model year, but still new) MH for $50,000, claiming that it had a list price of nearly twice that. It was a 36' gasser. Fortunately, we passed on it.
I'd suggest that you join the owners forums for the brands mentioned and ask them some questions about quality, known issues, suitability for YOUR intended use, etc. The group for Foretravel owners is foreforums.com and it is open to all. Another brand you may want to consider is Newell. Their group is newellgurus.com and again, it is an open group. By "open group" I mean that you don't have to own the brand in order to join and participate in the discussions.
Take your time and do your research. Don't let "bling" blind you, either for or against a particular brand. Since you are considering going full-time in a few years, you have plenty of time to decide what really best fits YOUR plans. Be sure to consider towables, too. Motorhomes need to be driven frequently, so if you are going to go to a park and stay there for several months you would be better off getting a towable. Remember that you WILL be towing something, no matter what. If you get a MH you will need to have a towed. If you get a towable you will need to have a truck to tow it.
I see your from Texas. Motorhomes of Texas usually has a good inventory of preowned Foretravels. Also there is a new company called Old Town Motorcoach that has several Foretravels. I would also join the Foreforum they have a classified section. Good Luck
__________________
Dave & Danette 2005 Foretravel U270, 3620 PBLW, Build #6331 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee 2016 Polaris RZR Turbo