[Fred F.]

Welcome. You should have little problem finding a nice coach in that price range (or less), we did. Before buying, I would suggest first reading everything on this site, attending a seminar at ETLC, and limiting yourself to a Prevost with a Series 60 Detroit Diesel. The 8V92 engines are harder to find qualfied techs. Good luck

[Archived]

Thanks for the welcome and advice. After doing some research I think a Prevost is the way we are heading. Now please educate me. What is ETLC and the series 60 detroits. I know about the cummings and the cats because I thought that is where I was heading but have not done much with the Detroits. Thanks for the help.

[Bill]

RV,

You can get a coach in the price range you mention and if it has been maintained, and you continue to maintain it there is a strong possibility you will never wear it out.

Or if you do not do your homework and you do not carefully inspect what you are buying and adjust the price to reflect what it might cost to make needed repairs it could turn your dream into a nightmare. A Newmar can also so that is not advice exclusive to Prevost buyers.

Start by reading all you can, seeing as many coaches as you can before you start getting serious about any, setting your budget with allowance for bringing the coach up to your standards, and learning what your wants and needs are. Your budget is going to narrow your choices substantially so that is the first step, and make certain the total budget is comprised of the price you will pay, plus what you will have to spend to make it meet your standards

There are endless decisions you have to make and they are going to be based on your planned use of the coach, your budget, and your level of participation in the care and maintenance in the coach. The people on this forum represent millions of miles of experience, and many years of Prevost coach ownership and they are willing to answer your questions and offer opinions. You may actualy get an accurate answer to your questions from time to time.

Keep in mind one very important thing. Owning a coach such as a Prevost or comparable motor home is not cheap, but I doubt if you will find anything more satisfying than travel in one, and nothing can compare to the friendships you will make if you participate at rallies and on the forum.

[Ron]

Thanks Jon,

I take this as advice and a welcome. We are going to be hitting the road for ar least 2years and hitting it hard. We dont plan on sitting inside much…except at night and eating meals. Right now we do not plan on entertaining much in the bus. We like the idea of sleeping in our own home. The Prevost as I am learning quickly has some different systems that need attention, like the otr air. Education and investigation will be key. I hope to be educated from the fine folks on this forum and like you said hope that some of that education will be accurate. (too funny) Thanks

Ron

[John]

ETLC is East Tennessee Luxury Coach. You will find the advertisement under repair facilities on this forum. Jeff Rowe, who owns the place, is an expert on all things Prevost conversions, and is highly regarded by a lot of people. The series 60 is the Detroit Diesel engine succeding the old V-8 two-stroke engine. It is a six-cylinder four stroke diesel, and was used in Prevost conversions from the mid 90’s until Prevost switched to Volvo engines somewhere around 2013. Highly recommend you find a coach with the series 60, and you should be able to find one in your price range. Next time you have the chance, check out the heft of the Dutch Star entry door and compare it to the heft of a Prevost entry door. The difference is indicative of the difference in the sturdiness of the two motorhomes.

[Archived]

Thanks again for more education. I will take you up on comparing doors. will be looking at my first vintage Prevost on Monday. And I will check out ETLC as well on the internet.

[steve]

Being the owner of an 8V92T in my vintage coach, I would like to defend the old girl. Of all the money (which is not chump change) I have put into the coach, (maintaining & bringing her up to snuff) I have spent almost nothing on the engine other than general maintainence that you have to do to any engine. We have almost 200,000 miles on her and she runs great. I expect her to run another 200,000. The original 8V92’s were junk, but after the electronics came out, we would get 400,000+ miles out of them. The electronics have made rebuilding them much easier. Any good mechanic can replace cylinders, liners, heads, and bearings. Heck, I did one myself, a long time ago- and according to one of my mechanics, wrenches do not fit my hands.

If you don’t lug it and don’t fry it, don’t worry. If she does go bad, American Fleet has one one the shelf.

I know that the 60 series is really a better engine in a truck fleet where you need to make an engine bullet proof, but for the relatively few miles that we run, and only pulling 42,000#’s to say 50,000#’s as opposed to 80,000#’s+ that we subjected these engines to in semi’s, you should not totally rule them out. You will pay a premium for the 60 series, and may not get a better overall coach.

[Archived]

Where do you live? If you live close to us, contact me via email and you can come and visit. I’ll tell you about our Prevost, our buying experience, and what its like to own one.

I was introduced to Prevosts 25 years ago by a friend who had one and also thought having one would be more than I wanted to spend, but while they are not a cheap date, getting one and owning one wasn’t as expensive as I thought it would be. Good luck!

[Archived]

Bill, good to hear that old girl is still running strong. What is the difference between the older model and the T. How can one tell the difference when looking? When did the T come into the Prevost.

[Per]

Dick

Thanks for the invite. I live in coastal NC. Around Edenton, NC just south of Suffolk/Norfolk VA. If I get up that way I will give you a call.

[John]

Ron,

I won’t reveal your address, but if you want to see if other members are near you you might wish to provide a general location and see if you can hook up with them. They are going to be your best source for learning about a Prevost and what is involved in ownership.

Bill is one of many members whose coach is near the vintage you may be considering and I know there are others located less than a day from you. ETLC is a days drive and while Jeff and his folks likely cannot spend time with you it is probable there will be a number of owners on his site that might be willing to share information and show you their coaches.

One thing you are going to learn is we who own Prevost coaches are biased towards them for a variety of reasons. The best evidence of why we are biased is the fact that a lot of our members are driving coaches 20 to 30 years old and those coaches are still very nice, reliable, and have decades more life left in them. That cannot be said of conventional motor homes. The key is our coaches are all based on a commercial chassis that with routine maintenance is easily going to deliver a million miles or more. The systems are robust, and the converters all built high quality conversions.

[Ron]

The seminar I refer to is held at ETLC and coordinated and taught by the PC site owners (Jon and Tom) and Jeff Rowe. It is informal, hands on and definitely worth attending if one is new to Prevost as we were. If at all possible attend before buying a coach. You’ll be happy you did.

[Shelby & Barbara]

Jon

You make me believe the direction I am heading with Prevost is the right direction. I was trying to respond to my location earlier, but for some reason I was blocked out. Dont know if the system was down or my computer was acting up. Thanks for the help

[Archived]

I am not sure of the problem you describe, but our policy is to never ever reveal any information about a member unless we have permission from the member to do so. If you want to add a signature line and include your location or geographic area you can do that. Go into your profile to access that ability.

Maintaining confidences goes for posts on the forum as well as privately via emails.

In case you are unaware if you put the cursor over a user name on the posts and it changes to a yellow you can get the member’s email and send an email to him or her. We do not have PMs because they are not private and we are almost anal at preserving the privacy of our members.

And we are welcoming to all Prevost enthusiasts. That is our common tie and as you may be aware our members run the gamut from new coaches to coaches more than 30 years old, from professional conversions to homebuilt conversions. We have a lot of members of other coaches such as Newells and Foretravel because we share our fuel discount program with them and they in turn have allowed us to share some of their discount programs.

Our members range from folks whose coach is a hobby with occasional use to full timers. We have professional entertainer coach drivers as members. We have people who use their coaches for their profession. Prevost Car has been a good supporter of our site and whatever our members cannot answer we often get answers from Prevost or from other professionals.

When you ask questions just be aware that on certain rare occasions you may actually get correct answers.

[Chas]

Welcome Ron!

Having been on the road for the last 20-months, we’ve yet to stay in any one place more than two weeks, and that’s for our volunteer work or working on the family farm.

I’m so glad I went with our now 16-year old Prevost. She did take some money to get up to snuff, but the way we travel, I wouldn’t want any other motorhome.

These commerical buses are rated for a million miles … try finding another motorhome like Bill’s with more than 200,000 miles and see what shape it’s in.