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Old 12-16-2019, 11:10 PM   #1
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Join Date: Dec 2019
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Prospective buyer looking for 40' Vectra information and opinions

I posted this earlier today in the Welcome Mat section, thought I'd post it here as no one was really looking at it there. Apologies in advance if this runs afoul of some forum rules, as I'm new here. Thanks!




Hello, this would be my first RV purchase. I realize I'm jumping in at the deep end, but I really don't have much interest in anything but a Class A diesel pusher. I'm at the lower end of the budget scale for one of these. I'm very mechanical, building and driving race cars for many years. I don't know too much about RVs, though.



All that being said, after looking extensively, the mid - 2000 years Winnebago Vectras seem to be much better built than any others in my budget range. I've seen numerous ones in the mid $50K range, which is where I would like to be, that look at least on the surface to be in very good condition. Even to my untrained RV eye, they seem to be more solid and well built than most others.



I've been looking at 40' models. I really prefer the KD floor plan. Can any of you give me the ins and outs of 2003-2008 or so year Vectras - common problems, good and bad things on them, what to look for, etc. Unless warned off by deadly problems, I'm looking......


Thanks, and happy to be here.
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Old 12-17-2019, 03:41 AM   #2
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I can not address the Vectra directly. You have a head start in the mechanical end of RVing. I moved from gas MH to diesel this past year and what a learning curve for a non mechanical person. I went from an 2017 coach back in years to a 2007 (many reasons why) and the quality can be seen.

Once you find the coach you like you may want to get someone to inspect the workings of the RV. A good mobile RV repair person would be a place to start.

Take the coach to someone who can check all of the diesel components. When I got my coach took it in and had all the fluids etc change so there was a starting point for everything.

Good luck and do not over think the question.
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Old 12-22-2019, 03:04 PM   #3
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Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Wasilla Alaska
Posts: 11
I bought my 2005 Vectra 40 kd about 18 months ago.
It had about 60000 miles on it. It has the cummins 400 ISL engine.
The only problems that I have had to deal with is a front air bag leak, replace the air dryer, and my jacks are slow to retract. Odometer reset itself back to zero, but the computer has the correct mileage.
Other than that, just maintenance. Filters are expensive. Cost me almost 600.00 for me to change the oil and filters on the engine and Gen set.

I have driven it for 10,000 miles
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Old 12-26-2019, 06:13 AM   #4
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We currently have a 2005 Vectra 36' with 4 slides. We had a 2002 Journey but sold it to my oldest daughter and family. Both have been mechanically excellent. The Journey has been to the Rockies in the winter a number of times. I took the Vectra to the it's home (where it was built) for a complete service 2 years ago. Well worth the trip. I had to clean the rear radiator on the Vectra - had the extension put on the breather tube - a must. Had the fan belt replaced this year. Other than minor things both have been bullet proof.
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Old 12-31-2019, 08:50 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug427 View Post
I posted this earlier today in the Welcome Mat section, thought I'd post it here as no one was really looking at it there. Apologies in advance if this runs afoul of some forum rules, as I'm new here. Thanks!




Hello, this would be my first RV purchase. I realize I'm jumping in at the deep end, but I really don't have much interest in anything but a Class A diesel pusher. I'm at the lower end of the budget scale for one of these. I'm very mechanical, building and driving race cars for many years. I don't know too much about RVs, though.



All that being said, after looking extensively, the mid - 2000 years Winnebago Vectras seem to be much better built than any others in my budget range. I've seen numerous ones in the mid $50K range, which is where I would like to be, that look at least on the surface to be in very good condition. Even to my untrained RV eye, they seem to be more solid and well built than most others.



I've been looking at 40' models. I really prefer the KD floor plan. Can any of you give me the ins and outs of 2003-2008 or so year Vectras - common problems, good and bad things on them, what to look for, etc. Unless warned off by deadly problems, I'm looking......


Thanks, and happy to be here.

See if you can find a Itasca Meridian or Winnebago Journey 40U. Great floor plan and huge basement. Starts in 2011. Meridian seems a bit harder to find.
Had a '05 Vectra. Was not happy with it for many reasons.
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Old 01-01-2020, 12:17 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jerichorick View Post
Had a '05 Vectra. Was not happy with it for many reasons.
Can you expand a bit on why? How is the build quality and level of equipment quality and luxury on the coaches you mention vs. the Vectra/Horizon? My understanding is that the Vectra/Horizon were the top of the line coaches from Winnebago at the time they were made.
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Old 01-01-2020, 04:58 PM   #7
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We must bought a 2007 vectra 40TD in September. We love the floor plan, and it runs great. just this week though it started to leak around the drivers side slide so we need to replace the seals around the slides. we had a few cosmetic things to fix, like a worn out key pad, one cracked marker light and a broken fog lamp casing and called winnebago and can't get the parts anymore. so we are looking for a salvage yard. and the only other thing that I need to research is how to fix the window shades as they just started to side down now on a couple of windows.
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Old 01-02-2020, 01:49 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug427 View Post
Can you expand a bit on why? How is the build quality and level of equipment quality and luxury on the coaches you mention vs. the Vectra/Horizon? My understanding is that the Vectra/Horizon were the top of the line coaches from Winnebago at the time they were made.
The Vectra was like the story of the guy with the beautiful blond on his arm. Great to look at but expensive sustain. The vectra was in the shop for common maintenance with the HWH slides; pads and alignment seem to be a common expense. Two common slide failures are the ram pan bending and the basement hanger bolts snapping. The odometer set back to 0 miles on ours. It took some sort of module replacement by Freightliner to fix the "known" problem but the mileage was not set to the correct reading. Something about them believing that that is "tampering with the original mileage". I tried hard to have the OD set to the correct value but all my arguments were rejected. The dealer who took the rig in trade for the Meridian charged me for the error, even though I provided all the computer printouts of the engine.
QC on later Winnebago products is differently an open and raw topic. As far as the 40U goes, we have dealt with a few issues that are not of great significance: Loose cabinet door hardware, poor quality of material and workmanship on some of the trim and the such. Overall this is a great coach. It's built for full-timing. Lots of cabinet space in the living quarters and a huge basement. The Freightliner chassis seems to be performing very well. With the DEF emission system the HP is increased by 20hp if I recall correctly. I love driving it. I did change the shocks to the Bilstein shocks and added vortex generators (https://airflowdeflector.com/home/vspoiler/). I was able to get black for my rig. Does a great job of stabilizing the rig in the wind and dampens the push from 18 wheelers.
The Itasca 40U has a few more minor bells and whistles over the Winnebago 40U. Both are good choices. The '12 and later model years had slide problems but I think they were all corrected by the manufacturer.
I hope this covers some of your (simple) question.
Happy New Year!
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