After a wonderful couple of (hot) days in Nacogdoches (followed by a couple of cooler days in Hot Springs) and some time to discuss/reflect on what we learned, Jo Ann and I are thinking that a Foretravel is the top candidate for our full-time coach, and we're moving on to the next step - trying to identify which one is the best for us. My task is to deal with the mechanical end of things, and she will look more at the floor plans, colors, etc. We're limiting our searches to the mid-90's. If we had to buy now we'd be looking only at the earlier end of the list, but we're hoping that in 12-18 months, when we expect to be actually looking to buy, we may be able to afford a somewhat newer coach. Stewart suggested that we look only at U280 or bigger coaches, so I went to Barry's site and printed out the specs and floor plans for the 1993-97 coaches. Then I made a table to let me compare various aspects. WOW! What an eye-opener!
Engines: It looks like Foretravel liked Cummins engines back then, using three of them for 9 of the 12 coaches I'm comparing. Only one used a Cat (the 1995 U300) and two used Detroits (the 1993 and 1994 U300's). The Cummins C8.3 300 HP engine was used in four of the coaches, and the 325 HP version in a fifth. The M11 400 HP engine showed up in 1995 on the U320's. Is there any reason to prefer one engine over any of the others? Any reason to avoid any particular engine? The Bluebird guys run the Detroits and are reporting 5-6 mpg, but 'Birds are quite a bit heavier than Foretravels. How do the Detroits in Foretravels do on fuel?
Transmissions: It looks like each coach got a different transmission! The two Detroits get the same transmission, but otherwise why all the variation? I don't see any mention of a retarder until 1995, and not on every coach.
Height: The 1993 and 1994 coaches show 77" headroom, and the 1995 shows 80" so I'm assuming that the difference is due to the GV body style vs the bus body style. Does that 80" headroom continue for all of the 1995-97 coaches?
Generators: It looks like a propane generator was standard, but apparently diesel was an option. True? Do most have diesel generators?
Enough questions for now. I'm sure I'll have more later.