Newbie, help appreciated

[Prevost T]

I just joined the forum and would appreciate some assistance regarding Prevost Coaches. I'm interested in a 2006 to 2007 as my first Prevost (upgrading from current Fleetwood). I've done some research and some folks have indicated the Prevost is under powered. I'm also looking for a coach to drive much better in windy conditions than my current Fleetwood. I've also seen where there are several Prevost coach conversion companies (Liberty, Marathon, and so on). So my questions are for the 2006 to 2007 model year Prevosts:
1. Is the 515 to 525 hp engine adequate for the coach?
2. Does the Prevost drive as well or better than say a 06/07 Newell or 2010 Foretravel?
3. Please explain the differences in the Prevost Coach conversion companies or at least the largest 3.

Any assistance is certainly appreciated,

Tommy

[jack14r]

1 The Detroit Diesel is a 14 Liter and I gross 71,000 with a trailer and it is more than adequate
2 I recently had a Nascar coach driver visit to look at my trailer and he stated that the last coach that they had before the Prevost was a Newell and the Newell would wear you out in 8 hours
3 There is really no need to explain just buy the best a LIBERTY!!!

[garyde]

Welcome Tommy. Very good questions,
Regarding HP, the Detroit Engine with the Allison Transmission is the best. Strong Torque and the low RPM.
Hands down, Prevost has an uncomparable ride.
I have a Liberty so its all I know. It's great.

I have owned several different plastic Coaches. Prevost is in a league of its own.

[Sid Tuls]

Tommy,
I use my bus a lot and travel about 25-30 thousand miles a year and believe me there is no better ride on the market! I can drive 700 miles in a day and still go on except the wife she wants to stop. I drive the 40 from Ca.-Tx. and believe me I know wind driving and no problem in a bus that weighs 53,000 lbs. As far as the Newell goes it's a great park model. You don't see very many on the road. My best friend has a Newell and wish he bought a Prevost. My two cents take your time and ask a lot of questions and look at the buses that the sponsors of POG have for sale. You couldn't pick a better time to buy than now. There is such a great selection of late model coaches on the market. Go an get the one you want and start to a whole new ride

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Welcome to the asylum. I guess based on the questions you assume we know what we are talking about. Please correct that impression. We will always answer your questions, and on certain rare occasions we actually get one right.

Here are my answers, followed by some questions:

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Personal Choice

Here are may questions as relates to your questions:

1: Are you suggesting after your Fleetwood experience that perhaps a Prevost will not keep up?
2. They handle very well, track straight and handle the winds nicely. But these are not race cars and need to be recognized as having the potential to get you in serious trouble like any vehicle you push to the limit (see #1 above). You can go a lot faster than you can stop.
3. Since mostly Liberty guys are awake, I will echo what they said. Just go buy a Liberty. Everybody else that wishes they had a Liberty will chime in soon, but consider their posts as envy.

[GDeen]

Just yesterday, the family and I returned from Oklahoma towing our 5000 lb GX470. We were bucking a very gusty 25 mph headwind and I was amazed at how well the coach burned a hole in it with the cruise set at 68 mph. Solid as a rock and the only thing I had to watch for was tractor trailers blowing around in the wind. That is with the 500 HP copy of the DD.

It is not a racing machine and will probably lose off the start line to a 625 HP Cummins or Cat equipped glass coach, but it is way adequate and much, much more stable in the wind. I would say many of those coaches are overpowered to be honest rather than the other way around.

DD's have quite the reputation in my line of work (oilfield) as bullet proof. If a roughneck can't tear it up, we are very unlikely to.

[Prevost T]

Thanks all for the replies. I have done some research and do think that sacrificing a little speed "off the line" is way better than sacrificing driveability in the wind. So I'm dialed in now on an aluminum sided Prevost in the 06 / 07 range. Some mentioned there are some POG members with some for sale. Is there a specific forum for this or are they refering to the prevost-stuff.com website? Thanks all and I look forward to joining the "club". Tommy

[Jon Wehrenberg]

This is a pretty savvy crowd and collectively this group probably can find out or figure out the condition of a lot of the coaches in the market. Because there are limited number of Prevost owners on the planet those of us that have a Prevost also know who in Prevost land might have one for sale and who we can deal with.

If I were you I would go down our sponsor list and start your search by dealing with them. I am not suggesting them because they happen to be on this site, but because every sponsor on this site knows the Prevost coach intimately. When seeking a coach if you can get good accurate information you are further ahead than if you deal with a guy trying to sell his first Prevost and who makes stuff up as he goes along. I'm not going to name names, but I can assure you our sponsors who are in the business of selling Prevost Coaches are going to be straight shooters.

Yes Prevost -Stuff is a good start for your search, but if you read some of the posts here such as Colorado bus posted earlier you will see some opportunities that are not yet on the open market.

If there are POG members with a coach for sale you should check your email or PM's They read these posts and will be in touch.

I'm really curious because of your focus on HP and speed....just how fast are you planning to go? You do realize these are RECREATIONAL vehicles right?

[rmboies]

Hi Tommy,

Welcome to POG! Bob and I are two of the earliest members and we have watched in amazement as our group has grown. We have had the pleasure of meeting some extraordinary people and look forward to meeting you as well.

We have a beautiful coach for sale, 2007 Legendary at Florida Luxury Coach. Here is the link if you would like to view some photos:

http://www.floridaluxurycoach.com/pocoach/entries.php?comments=267

Loc, I can hear you saying geez, what's that Bob up to now? Well, you never know it is really hard to keep up with Bob at times! Jon calls me an enabler and that is likely true when it comes to coaches, Roger just feels sorry for me, and Truk just shakes his head :-) If you would like to chat with Bob about the coach, please feel free to give us a call.

Debi and Bob

[jack14r]

One thing about Bob is he is consistent.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I pick on Debi just because I can, but any coach Bob has is a good one. And if Debi has worked her magic on the interior it is going to look good. I have no idea what Bob is selling now because he has had more coaches than anyone on here.

[garyde]

Thanks all for the replies. I have done some research and do think that sacrificing a little speed "off the line" is way better than sacrificing driveability in the wind. So I'm dialed in now on an aluminum sided Prevost in the 06 / 07 range. Some mentioned there are some POG members with some for sale. Is there a specific forum for this or are they refering to the prevost-stuff.com website? Thanks all and I look forward to joining the "club". Tommy

Hi Tommy. The Prevosts are Stainless Steel polished, not Aluminum siding. Hence our obsession.

[Prevost T]

Thanks again folks for all the replies. Sounds like a very knowledgeable group and I look forward to meeting some of y'all (that's Texas language). Jon, regarding you speed comment - I currently have a 330 hp Cat in a much smaller coach. It is adequate. However, recently I drove a 650 hp Foretravel and I felt comfortable getting up on the freeway and such. I then read that the Prevost is heavier than the Foretravel and has a 515 to 525 hp engine so it raised a concern for me. However, my research and comments from this forum have convinced me that the Detroit engine should be adequate. I'm not a speeder, just not interested in getting in to trouble entering the freeway and such.

One more question for the group: A few have indicated that the Liberty is by far the superior conversion. I would appreciate a quick run down between the Liberty, Marathon and Country Coach? Also, does anyone have knowledge on the 2007 Country Coach at Liberty Coach of Florida or the 2006 tan Marathon coach at Buddy Gregg that would be helpful in reviewing these coaches?

Thanks again all, Tommy

[Jerry Winchester]

Tommy,

Don't let these morons jerk you around. Its late enough that all the Liberty guys are in bed, so we can speak freely.

Liberty a "superior" conversion? Not hardly. Very good, great or outstanding? Absolutely. Overpriced or gaudy? Dead on.

Log back in around 3am when they all wake up to pee. They'll check the forum and post their spewage. The Country Coach guys won't show up until their Viagra wears off.

[rahangman]

Great one, JDUB(?) way to start 2011

[rfoster]

Anybody need new Bumper Stickers yet?

[phorner]

Welcome, Tommy and Happy New Year to ya.....

You have made a wise choice to place a Prevost conversion bus at the top of the list of recreational vehicles. There are simply no others like them.

As to the best of the best, there are subtle but important differences between the various converters.

As an example, if you want a converter that routinely provides real over-the-road bus air conditioning, a transmission retarder instead of an exhaust brake, cruise air conditioner/heat pumps instead of roof air conditioners and a single waste holding tank that can be dumped 3 ways; drivers side, passenger side or by macerator pump..... all from within the comfort and convenience of the inside of your coach..... well then that would be a Liberty Coach.

But those others are nice too.......

[Jon Wehrenberg]

OK, Tommy it looks like you've done it.

The debate begins (again). Here is a simple way to sort out preferences. You have to do this one owner at a time and via email or private messages because you are seeking the truth and not what an owner is compelled to say due to peer pressure. Keep in mind if an owner publicly demeans his particular conversion, it influences others and has a detrimental impact on market values.

So here is how you negotiate the fertilizer that can get spread when the serious forum discussion begins.

Ask individual owners privately what coach / conversion they have.

Ask if they would buy another of the same type.

Then ask what other conversions they would buy.

From that data you will see which conversion gets the most votes. Everything you read on the open forum is nothing but background noise because no owner of a XXXXX conversion will publicly state any dissatisfaction, or openly express desire for another conversion.

Having said all of the above in a serious manner I can sum up what your results will be. The numbers you tabulate if you actually do the survey will be very close to the percentage of market share a coach will have. Because of the numbers out in the market place and the fact the converters are still building and supporting their products Marathon and Liberty will be at the top of the list. I would be very surprised if that was an incorrect statement because owners of those conversions are usually very loyal and satisfied. But that doesn't mean a Millennium or a Parliament or a CC or a Royale is a bad coach or may not be for you. It likely means that since they are relatively small in numbers a lot of us in POG really don't know about them or have experience with them.

What you need to understand however is that the coach you select should have nothing to do with anyone's opinion. You will spend some serious money to buy and maintain a coach and what other people think really shouldn't infuence you. I don't think there is a lousy coach out there. They all share the Prevost chassis, either an XL or an H3. The converters have copied and stolen ideas from each other for so long that it would be difficult to say any particular conversion is so much better or worse. Each converter has its own way of doing things. It will be a rare Liberty that does not have over the road air and heat. Those that own a Liberty will almost universally rank that as important.

Others will have their version of coach climate control and will stress the importance of that. What it boils down to is you need to identify what is important to you. OTR? Availability of converter support? The decor? The outside paint scheme? The floor plan? Storage space? The more you look and learn the easier it will be for you to focus on those coaches that meet your needs.

The salesmen will give you a lot of information biased towards their product. There is no better way to get the differences out on the table so you can sort out what you are looking for. But apart from salesmen who represent a particular conversion we also have sponsors who sell all conversions. Get their opinions also.

Or you can save yourself a lot of time, get a great coach you will never regret buying by just going out and getting a Liberty.

[Reagan Sirmons]

This whole thing is a joke... right?
Pres

[garyde]

One of the most interesting things about all Conversions is the engneering developed by the convertor. There are reasons why one convertor chooses Aqua hot heating and another chooses Webasto heating for instance. Roof air units instead of OTR and Cruiseaire units. Stainless steel water & holding tank instead of plastic. And the list goes on and on. Its up to the individual to determine what is important to them. This takes an endless amount of time. Then, one needs to determine the condition of the Prevost Bus itself and what condition it is in. Its a journey, enjoy.

[Prevost T]

Just booked a whirlwind trip to view 2 Prevost for later in January. Thanks all for your comments and assistance. I'm sure when I return from looking at them that I'll have additional questions. They are different in one has the roof mounted a/c units and the other the OTR units. Should be an interesting trip being able to look at 2 mfgs. Looking forward to the compare. Tommy

[scott13]

There's a great deal on a 2000 H-3 dbl slide over at Donnie Meyers on Sanford. Over $200,000 in remodeling and a huge stacker all for $350,000. The paint is pristine. Yhe owner bought a new coach and is looking to sell this old one.

[Prevost T]

Thanks. Trying to hold to 2005 to 2008 range though.

[merle&louise]

Tommy,

Welcome to POG! You are fortunate to be among a great group of guys and gals who know Prevost buses. I am a Newell owner and may be one of the few POGGERS who have actually driven a 2007 Newell and Prevosts. I have driven 2 XLs and 1 XLII. Both have a slight edge in smoother ride than a Newell; however, the difference is minimal IMO.

With regard to your first question about hp; 2006 Newells have a CAT 625 hp and a 10 or 12 speed ZF transmission w/2050 lb/ft of torque.

Your second question was about which rode the best; I would have to say in this vintage (2006 and newer) the Newell with ZF suspension has the edge. It is simply awesome; cornering is tight like the Prevost. Also, the turning tag axle (turns 23 degrees) gives you a 37' turning radius in a 45 coach.

I would drive both Prevost and Newell and see which you like the best.

As to your third question; all of the top Prevost converters have certain advantages - just choose the one you like best.

The Prevost/Newell arguement is like Ford/Chevrolet - it will go on forever. The truth is both are good units.

Happy hunting!