Vantare

[Terry J. Sturgis]

Wife and I checked out a 1997 Prevost Vantare XL45 today. Question I have is how many Vantare conversions were made and anyone know of any problems with the Vantare conversions. 131000 miles, needs drive tires and a good bath. Series 60, 500 HP. Interior needs a little TLC but is priced right, $155,000.
Thanks for your invaluable guidance. Terry

[hillndale]

Sounds like a really good price if it is in good condition. We just bought a later model Vantare XLII directly from Featherlite and have been very impressed so far. Their systems seem to be top notch and built to last. All of the other owners we've talked to that have owned them have also had lots of positive things to say about them.

[garyde]

Hi Terry. I believe you have to seperate between older Vantares and Featherlite Vantares don't you? I don't exactly remember their history but I remember seeing some plastic Coaches named Vantares.

featherlite has such a confusing past, someone with more knowledge should pipe in.

[truk4u]

Terry,

Suggest you also talk to Mango Mike about his 97 Liberty.

[nrhareiner]

Hello Terry,


I have a 02 Vantare XLII S2. The coach has not had a major problems that I thought were due to Vantare. It is an early addition of the double slides, and have had some slide problems. However, Prevost has stood behind their product so no complaints.

Vantare systems have worked well over the past 30 months that we have owned the coach. Vantare service has left much to be desired, and i would not take my coach there again for service. This is just my experience since others eem to have had a good experience with the service.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

I think Vantare has successfully achieved designing their own unique interior designs separating them from the rest of the converters.

We have had the same sense of that in all we have been in.

We think their interiors are decorated in very good taste.

So it is a thumbs up on their interior design for us

[sawdust_128]

Terry J. Sturgis asked: RE: a 1997 Prevost Vantare XL45.

Question I have is how many Vantare conversions were made and anyone know of any problems with the Vantare conversions.

We have had some numbers in other posts on this forum about production for the various converters. If I remember correctly, Vantare'/Featherlite had fairly large numbers. I suspect that this was due to the use of these conversions in NASCAR and NHRA.

131000 miles, needs drive tires and a good bath. Series 60, 500 HP. Interior needs a little TLC but is priced right, $155,000.

I have a 97' H3 Vantare/Featherlite. I have owned it for just under a year. It is my first coach/rv of any kind. It had 122k miles at purchase.

I went through every bay and cleaned and tightened and reattached stuff. I'll bet I have spent at least 1 full day of each week I travel inside the coach fixing, adjusting, cleaning, etc.

Two issues you need to know about.

1. Vantare'/Featherlite/Amadas, who ever they are at the moment, unless you have all the documentation for the conversion portion of the coach, you're not likely to get any help. They have changed engineering system quite often in the past few years and older coaches plans and docs are no longer on-line. The folks from Amadas who were at the Tom Johnson Rally said they were going to get these back into operation and make them available. I am not holding my breath.

2. Vantare' did not do the auxiliary air system for pocket doors, floor slides and bed lift, belt tensioners, gen air bags, etc. any better than any other converter.

Vantare' did a very nice job of upfitting the coach. I have been reading POG for just over a year. Most of the systems/features which people like about their coach, mine has it. Now, I suspect that is more a function of the original owner. He very much knew what he was doing as this was his third/fourth coach. Most of the Featherlite techs knew him and recognize his coaches.

Just as an IMHO statement, you should not be worried about a vantare. Sometimes, because of the nature of the POG membership, you might get the impression that one particular converter offers huge advantages over another. I don't think it does. I think that the conversion business is full of a lot of efforts to answer the same basic set of questions. I think that there are a lot of right answers. You need to find which set of answers meet your needs.

Thanks for your invaluable guidance. Terry[/quote]


Your welcome and I hope that helps a little. Feel free to PM/email me if you want particulars.

P.S. Jack14 knows some venture owners. I don't think they are POG members, but if I remember, they are mechanically competent and knowledgable

[michaeldterry]

Wife and I checked out a 1997 Prevost Vantare XL45 today. Question I have is how many Vantare conversions were made and anyone know of any problems with the Vantare conversions. 131000 miles, needs drive tires and a good bath. Series 60, 500 HP. Interior needs a little TLC but is priced right, $155,000.
Thanks for your invaluable guidance. Terry

Terry - we bought our '96 XL45 Featherlite Vantare in January of this year and we absolutely love it. It was/is simply the "right" bus for us. At purchase, it had just over 90,000 miles on it and had been obviously well cared for by the original owner. We actually found it on eBay and won the auction at the reserve price (which turned out to be just what the selling dealer had paid for the bus at the estate auction of the elderly owners in Texas). We've not had any issues requiring interaction with Featherlite (outside of ordering some replacement switch light indicator bulbs), so I can't speak to converter service/support. However, we are thrilled with the design and quality of the conversion. It goes without saying that we could not be more pleased with the beautiful Prevost shell that our conversion is built on!

From your description, the price sounds fair - but I would negotiate to include some of the interior TLC needed to sweeten the deal. Also, you should require a complete and thorough PDI by yourself or someone you trust who has no "dog in the fight" before any money changes hands.

Good luck!

[Jon Wehrenberg]

This is hard for a relative newcomer to do, but in addition to the cosmetics, and making sure the stuff that is installed works, the systems need to be clearly understood in the context of how you will use the coach.

In English, make certain you have an overview of the systems and they are right for how you use the coach. On another thread there is a discussion about trying to run a house air conditioning unit from the inverters. The reason is the bus is set up so only one will run and the owner is going to rely on driver's air and that air conditioner for comfort while driving.

Anybody that has a coach set up like that and is trying to sell it will tell you how good that system works. Don't believe stuff like that. Prove it for yourself. On a hot day, drive into the sun and see how it works. If you are comfortable, that's great. If you cannot get comfortable walk away because those are expensive issues to correct.

Or how many inverters does the bus have, and what happens if one fails? I know of several coaches by several converters, mine included that will not by-pass electric if the inverter fails. What does that mean? Well if the inverter fails and the refrigerator full of lobster tails and steaks is on that circuit, even if you connect to shore power or the generator is running you still cannot get power to your now defrosting refrigerator. This is not a big deal if the inverters are easily accessed, or if the converter created a way to by-pass the inverters. but if not the bus has a system design flaw that can create serious problems for you when (not if) the inverter pukes. Failures of key components never ever occur in the garage at the end of the trip when you have time to fix them. They occur when you are at a rally or on a trip and need to have solutions for temporary repair.

Does the bus you are looking at have a back-up water pump? If it has two pumps a single pump failure means you may not be able to flush and shower at the same time, but you will have water. A single pump with no back-up means when it fails you are sharing the toilet with thousands of your closest friends at rest areas.

What kind of air conditioning units do you have? Roof air or Cruise Airs? Do a search for posts about the good and the bad with them.

How about long range fuel tanks. If you are going to drive longer distances nothers spells economical fuel purchases like having another 90 gallons on board. You can tanker fuel and shop for good prices. Having standard tanks cuts down on your flexibility.

[Terry J. Sturgis]

I appreciate the information you all share. Once again, THANKS!
A little more info on the bus. The owner is Canadian and has abought a house in Texas and tells me it does not make sense to drive the bus to Texas and look out the window and see his bus sitting there not used. The bus is in Michigan. This 97 is his third bus. When we went to see the bus I thought my Mapquest directions were goofy as we drove a little over two miles down a gravel road with low hanging trees. As I was about to give up and call, there it was. Outdoor storage on a gravel road. That is where the TLC comes into play.
I appreciate the insight about the systems. It has Cruise airs and the bays are decorated in a lovely shade of purple but as I see more Vantares it looks as that is Vantare's standard bay color.
A nice touch was having the generator completely enclosed in a stainless sound deadening cabinet.

[sawdust_128]

My vantare bays are done in grey. But, the coach has/had it's share of periwinkle (I used to call it purple but the extreme correcting method has finally worked -- :o)

In the not too distant future, all purp-errhhh periwinkle inside the coach will be gone. Exterior stuff will have to wait until coach gets repainted or I cover it with enough hanging crap.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Terry,

In today's economy if you are a serious cash buyer the market is yours. I wouldn't buy any coach that needed anything. There are too many for sale and even the best of them are being sold at prices sellers would have laughed at a year ago.

That means you do not have to compromise. Take your time and turn the market upside down looking. There are some exceptional coaches being sold at prices that cannot be beat. If the coach needs TLC let me be the first to tell you that if the cosmetics of the coach are in need of help the mechanical aspects of the coach are likely to have suffered long before the visible part of the coach was neglected.

If you like, all of us here can scare you with how much effort is required to bring a lousy coach up to first class condition.

[MangoMike]

Terry,

Sorry, didn't realize my inbox was full. Good to go now.

Mike