Completed one year living in 2008 Tour -- Great Coach!

rv rick · 03-02-2009, 04:59 PM

I had followed this and other RV boards for a while while we planned to pursue the fulltime RV lifestyle. We decided we wanted a motorcoach, but after hearing of all the problems on the discussion boards, we were somewhat concerned about having endless problems ourselves.

Fortunately, we decided to go for it and purchased a new Winnebago Tour 40 TD and have just passed our first year of living fulltime in in it. Here is a quick update of our experience.

So far, this coach has been a great performer and very reliable. We have had very few minor problems (which were quickly taken care of by our dealer Lichtsinn or Winnebago directly). In fact, we have been able to spend every night in the coach since we purchased it.

We have enjoyed about 14,000 miles of great travel and have had a wonderful time. I would encourage anyone thinking about a motorhome to take the plunge and enjoy it. Based on my experience, you can enjoy a well-built, reliable coach for many years to come.

becks · 03-03-2009, 06:35 AM

Rick...Its great to have your one year reveiw, as the Tour is on our short list for a retirement coach in a few years. Nice to hear good things about Lichtsinn also since they are only 130 miles from us. Thanks for the report, and keep the updates comming.

Roadking · 03-03-2009, 06:37 AM

It sounds like you're having a really great time. Really glad to hear you've had no problems. We've been living in our coach for 5 years and we've been on the road for about 18 months. We love it! We've had several minor problems (splendide, HWH, SF furnance, leveling jack) which we have repaired ourselves. Last year with diesel prices really high we made about 10K miles traveling southern, western, and northwestern parts of the country. We're currently in NE Louisiana taking care of DW's sister. (Almost free parking!!) We just tooka two week break and wandered thru Cajon country (New Orleans and vincinity) and the Mississippi gulf coast. Enjoy your travels, stay away from the gremlins, and be safe!

RVThere · 03-03-2009, 06:44 AM

Rick,

Great to hear the the Tour puts up with long term use. We have the 2007 version of your coach and love it too.

The only improvement I'm working on now is an expansion of the 'office space' in the layout. The little slide out platform behind the passenger seat does not give me a lot of room when I work on the road (as a small business owner that means all the time...). I just build a 17" x 32" countertop out of Corian that slides over the small platform, locks down with some wing nuts, and gives you much more workspace for a laptop, mouse, etc.

Have you seen any improvement in gas mileage? I have 8000 miles on mine and I'm still waiting to get to that 'sweet spot' in mileage after the diesel fully breaks in.

Great travels!

rv rick · 03-03-2009, 04:44 PM

Great to hear from everyone. We were asked about our mileage and I am happy to report that we are getting about 9 mpg. This is confirmed by hand calculation and the engine computer.

We run about 60 mpg most of the time and pull a toad, so I am very pleased with this. The Cummins 400hp is running great after 13,500 miles and I think we will soon get through the break in period.

JayLodge · 04-27-2009, 01:17 PM

Just bought a clean 2006 Tour FD this winter. Plan to use it locally this summer, with the possibility of full-timing in the future. Our first trip was as pleasant as expected.

Question: My Aux. battery disconnect doesn't want to work some times, and the other day, with my ENGINE batteries disconnected, my stairs were still working, obviously getting current from my HOUSE batteries. Any ideas?

tigersharkjd · 04-28-2009, 11:34 AM

Rick,We recently purchased our 2008 Vectra and are looking at going full-time within the next year. We have spent about 90 days in the coach so far, and have fallen in love with its amenities and comfort. We have had the usual minor items and also a roof skin problem that will be corrected at the Winnebago factory in June. Overall, we are very pleased with the coach. Your 9 miles per gallon is enviable. I don't expect our 425 Cummins to reach that MPG. I spoke to Cummins recently and they indicated break-in of the engine is generally around 30,000 miles. Thanks for posting, enjoy your Tour and travel safe.

JayLodge · 04-30-2009, 05:55 AM

What was the nature of your ROOF SKIN problem?

Jeeperrmartin · 05-01-2009, 05:49 PM

We took delivery of a Vectra 40TD in Dec. 08. We have had a few repairs, but the coach had meen made 14 months before we bought it, and had 3700 miles by the time we got it.

We need not know about the mode button and what it was. We get better mileage when it is on. Maybe .5 mpg. We get around 8 right now.

We live in it full time, even when we are at home. We do pull a 18' trailer with 2 atv's and a Jeep wrangler.

It has so much more zip than the 99 Suncruiser diesel we had. I am still adusting to turning the 40' on tight corners. I run over the curb as wel as the trailer going over it.

Glad to hear everyone is enjoying their coach.

Jerry J · 05-01-2009, 11:55 PM

I have been looking at a 2008 Vectra for some time and with your experiences I am wondering how the Vectra or Tour is insulated for winter cold or summer heat. 4 season or 3 season use?

Jeeperrmartin · 05-02-2009, 07:40 PM

I am sure it is insulated better than my 99. The 2 furnace works well. It is nice at night, as you can close the doors to the front and only heat the bathroom and bedroom.

The front furnace seems to dump a lot of the heat into the cargo bays. It keeps the floor warm.

The weak point for us is the sewage compartment. Our filter froze and broke. It got down to single digits. We have since put a box heater in the sewage compartment when it gets cold, and a hair dryer in the water pump compartment. It didn't really need it, but looked like it was going to be bad there. I also put 2 remote senders to moniter the temps.

When we took delivery it was in a snow storm, so we started right out in below freezing temps and did have any experience.

We don't have any experience in hot temps yet.

JayLodge · 05-04-2009, 04:23 AM

Picked up a 2006 Tour in Virginia, that we had purchesed in November, and drove it back to Michigan this past January. I had the dealer leave the water system winterized, so I can't speak to that. However, I had some (self-created ! ) battery issues when overnight at Ohio rest stop that had me sitting there for several days in SUB-ZERO temperature. Had the generator going all the time, and the heat pump on LPG selection, and one night did put the back furnace on. Actual temp one night hit a MINUS 20 degrees. I had to leave the coach at the stop for 2 days with no power or heat going while bringing back batteries. Later in the spring when getting the water systems ready, found that the only damage was the little drinking water spigot had not been "red popped" and had cracked. Considering the abuse it took, I'm pretty pleased so far.