No Slide Marathon XLII's

[mikedee]

We have an XL 2, 40 foot coach, never see them. I was told only a few were done in the no slide configuration. I love it, looks and drives great, easy to park.

[carguy]

I have coach 724 non slide marathon

[0533]

Hello Gordon,

If it were possible to spend some time in both a slide and non slide coach I would do so. Ask the seller/Dealer to allow you to be alone with your wife and really get a real living feel of the difference between the two.

I think that owning a slide verses a non slide bus will boil down to price and how you plan to use the bus, how long you will be out on the road, full time or not etc.

I would then make certain (if it is a slide coach) that I were able to see the repair history for the bus, especially anything to do with the slide, how many issues there might have been and if they have been fully resolved.

The older buses (rivet) slide buses had rather uncomplicated slides, no air pin locks, all hydraulic with a simple Air Lock on top, no pins that could get out of alignment with the room. The only requirement was to lubricate the slide arms carefully, make sure the hydraulic reservoir was full, no leaks in both Hydraulic or air lines at top and you were good to go. 13'X3' slides in the salon and one in the bedroom really added a lot of living space.

If I were going to purchase an newer XLII or H model today, I would want to ask Prevost Car to give me in writing that they are and will support the repair and replacement of the following (for all owners beyond the original),
All Stainless (peeling off from poor glue bonding). all fixed windowed that crack due to road stress, any slide room pin alignment issues, and slide room roof metal lifting issues and repair. These issues along with a few minor ones have been an ongoing problem for these models.

Prevost Car is going through it's own restructuring and internal evaluation of department profits and expenses, and I would want some assurance from the manufacturers that they are standing by their products as long as they are out there.

Having said this, Prevost Car has been great, and have allows been there as far as I have been concerned, but these are changing times and I would add this to my check list when making my decision to purchase.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I feel compelled to balance the discussion about slides.

Again, depending on how you intend to use the coach they could be a significant asset or a needless complication.

With slides the coach is opened up. No question about that. But you do not get more sleeping space, more storage or more furnishings. You get a wider aisle. You actually lose space because of the slides, both inside and underneath because of room required for the walls and mechanisms plus added structure.

If you live in your coach or spend a lot of time in it parked the extra space is a blessing. You can walk around without bumping into one another.

The downside is the slide mechanisms may require maintenance. There will be costs associated with the slide such as seal replacement. There is a greater risk of water damage to the coach. Service on slides can be scary. I have seen an entire slide removed, and the gutted coach interior scattered around so Prevost could repair the water damage. The slide walls had become a large water vessel and the water corroded the structure.

The resale value will be higher, but as yet unknown is the impact on the coach integrity due to cutting a big hole in the structure. So far no bad news on that front, but the folks here don't put 80,000 to 100,000 miles annually on the coach.

If you contemplate a slide coach try it with the slides in so you can see clearly if you can easily use it and access closets and cabinets and move about while traveling. Find out if the slide has any bad design features because Prevost has gone through at least four variations trying to get it right. One failed sensor on a slide coach keeps you from engaging the transmission. There are ways to work around problems like that, but nobody is publishing that info.

If we were to ever get a slide coach it would only be one with a Prevost slide. I like being in a coach when the slides are out, but do not like them when the slides are in.

[GDeen]

Appreciate all the input and guidance. For our first bus, we have decided to go without slides for the sake of simplicity. After renting a 3 slide Monaco a couple of summers ago, I would have thought we couldn't live without them. After looking at no-slide Prevost we realized that the no-slide models are much more efficiently designed than a slide model in travel mode, which was my reference model for no-slide living space (if that makes sense).

There will certainly be times that we will wish for slides but we are convinced for now this will work well for us. There are certainly plenty of families in this group that do just fine without slides so that is a good data point as well.

[phorner]

FWIW we had a 3 slide Monaco product prior to our non-slide Prevost and we couldn't be happier.

We actually enjoy being "slide free" and it is a very rare day when they are missed at all.

[nrhareiner]

Jon describes the differences very correctly. I now do have a slide coach, but spent many years in a non slide XL. The one thing I would make sure prior to purchase is that the slides are 'Prevost" slides and not after market. If you remember in 2007 we had serious problems with a slide not going out (better than not going in). Prevost fixed the problem in F/W at no charge to us. However, the bill would have been huge if we had to pay. We like the advantage of the slides since we do live in the coach for 5 months/year. We also made sure that every drawer, closet etc can be used with the slides in.

[TG Transport]

I saw a 2001 either on Phil Cooper or rvonline that looked like a decent one. I do not recall whether it is still available or not. We have been pretty happy with our 2003 non-slide.

[GDeen]

I saw a 2001 either on Phil Cooper or rvonline that looked like a decent one. I do not recall whether it is still available or not. We have been pretty happy with our 2003 non-slide.

Phil Cooper had one on there about a month ago that had a lot of custom extras on the order sheet. Pretty good looking bus, done in coolish interior colors - silvers, blacks, white, etc. Roof air, double sofa setup. Some of the bays looked pretty messy and one of them looked extensively stained from some type of spill or leak as I recall. That bus is no longer on his site.

[BrianE]

Was talking to the folks at Royale Phoenix today and they mentioned that Millennium has a super clean '03 no slide Royale. It's listed on Stuff:http://www.prevost-stuff.com/2003_pr...ium_Luxury.htm