Looking at purchasing an 05 U270 and would like some opinions on build quality and year model in general. I've found very little information regarding an 05 model. Seems to be a transition year from buyout? Most of the information seems to be geared toward 2001 and older. Any information would be appreciated on possible issues to look for on this model year.
Thank You,
Dave D
Jeannie and I have owned our 2005 since Aug 2014 and absoultly love it. Before we purchased it looked at a lot of Foretravels in the 1999 to 2003 year range. During the time we were searching (Feb 2014 to Aug) only one 2005 was for sale that I was aware of and because we were focused on buying an 03 or earlier at first I did not even look at the 05 because it was a transition year.
However, because Jeannie preferred the floor plan of the 2005 over the other earlier model years I took a close look at it and found the interior and exterior fit and finish to be excellent and all of the drive train components to be the same on earlier models except for the brakes and cooling fan motors. May be others but I'm not aware of them if there are. I was told when I had annual service last September that some of the early builds in 05 had meritor brakes on the fixed axles and new style calipers on the front, not sure that was the case or not. Ours was built in Aug 04 and has the new brakes all around. We also have different cooling fan motors than what was being used previously. From what I understand about the last 15 05 coaches built have the new fan motors.
On the exterior no signs of delamination nor do we have any water leaks. We have put a little over 14,000 miles on the coach and could not be happier with the way it handles as well as no interior rattles or exterior wind noise. Our coach has 295 vs 275 tires which I really like the way the coach rides, not sure if they went with 295 starting in 04 or 05, I know all the 03's that I looked at had 275"s.
Keith Risch performed a very thorough inspection of our coach and found it well built and maintained. Dave if you have any questions give me a call (954 826 1842) and I'll do my best to answer any questions or concerns.
We had a 270 2005 36 ft. Two slides. 295 tires and rated to tow 18000lbs. the ISL seemed excellent engine. Coach was brown. Found extensive paint crazing that seemed to increase with time in Texas heat or maybe underlying fiberglass related. Drove nicely, ride nice.
Thank you for the replies. We went down and looked at it this weekend. It's exactly what we are looking for in a coach! I'm picking it up Thursday contingent on it passing an inspection. Looks like we'll be joining the ranks of being a new Foretravel Owner!
This will give us time to get familiar with the coach and get it ready to hit the road this fall when we retire and go Fulltime!
Thanks,
Dave D
Congrats on finding "YOUR" coach! And on being so close to Full Time status! Post photos when available - we LIKE photos.
Please add your new coach to your signature line
Thanks, I think I'll wait till it passes inspection. I'm sure it will, but First things first. Don't want to Jinx anything. LOL
I loved my 99 270 and if truth be told, I should have kept it but wanted longer and slides.
Dave - Little late to the party but I'm happy with my 05. We've had ours for 5 years and have now spent more on repairs than upgrades. But saying that, I've had a fair amount of preventative maintenance done that others might consider premature for an 11 year old coach. To each his own...
Don't know of any problem specific to 05's. When we were looking in 2011 it was the only one we saw. Most at that time were 02's & 03's. We ended up buying the layout, not the year.
Over the years others have mentioned that late 2004/2005 was an iffy year with the company experiencing some serious financial "challenges" that may have impacted what "FT could build". That was probably true, but at least for my coach (September 04 build), the company financial issues did not impact the folks on the production line and their commitment to building quality coaches.
Hope all works out well for you.
I'm glad to see most everyone is happy with their 05. I really like the more modern fixtures and fabrics, and also the Walnut wood in ours. I've looked at a lot of other Brands, and the quality of a Foretravel is just overwhelmingly superior. Since this will be our fulltime home, I was not going buy SOB. Can't wait to pick it up Thursday!
Well it's official, we picked up the new rig Thursday! Took it straight out on it's maiden voyage, and except for a few minor glitches it passed with flying colors! We absolutely love our Foretravel! Here's a few pic's!
(https://www.foreforums.com/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FplTFwEkl.jpg&hash=ecc7d16342c69e0ee91b57466a1cb12c" rel="cached" data-hash="ecc7d16342c69e0ee91b57466a1cb12c" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://i.imgur.com/plTFwEkl.jpg)
(https://www.foreforums.com/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FAJZd1Tgl.jpg&hash=b279e2669eaa3158834dad8002da20fa" rel="cached" data-hash="b279e2669eaa3158834dad8002da20fa" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://i.imgur.com/AJZd1Tgl.jpg)
(https://www.foreforums.com/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FWGwLeijl.jpg&hash=b40af3c2d7c63064698ff76658ba9805" rel="cached" data-hash="b40af3c2d7c63064698ff76658ba9805" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://i.imgur.com/WGwLeijl.jpg)
(https://www.foreforums.com/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FbFMCidQl.jpg&hash=10e9e933e4d3ae60b04f279cfcd8c6ae" rel="cached" data-hash="10e9e933e4d3ae60b04f279cfcd8c6ae" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://i.imgur.com/bFMCidQl.jpg)
(https://www.foreforums.com/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FLa4cISul.jpg&hash=7e6439cf9874263038e72ec9bf9a6abb" rel="cached" data-hash="7e6439cf9874263038e72ec9bf9a6abb" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://i.imgur.com/La4cISul.jpg)
Beautiful! Congratulations and wecome to being an owner. Adventures of all sorts begin.
Thank You, wish we were hitting the road tomorrow to full time! Oh well 4months & 2 days but who's counting! LOL
Congrats on a Beautiful coach. Love the silver color, tempts me to have mine painted. :D
Seriously we love our 2000 - 270- 40'
Enjoy - Ric 8)
Congratulations! She's a beaut. Now the fun begins. We hope to see you down the road.
Lynn and Marilyn
Very nice FT. Enjoy.
She's a beauty! Congratulations, hope to see you down the road. b^.^d
Thanks everyone, can't wait to hit the road. We still have to sell the house and sale of the company is still in transition. But things are coming together nicely and hopefully there will be no delays. We also still have to sell our Nexus class C, so if you know of anyone looking for a nice class C, I've got one for sale.
Dave & Danette
Congratulations and welcome! You will find that this forum is invaluable! Safe travels.
That's a great color - love it. Another congratulations from us.
Just wanted to update our status. Our home sold in 10 days back in November! Been full time since. We have put over 10,000 miles on the coach with no real issues. I've replaced the kitchen faucet and shower. But that's about it, other than regular maintenance items. The coach has performed flawlessly! Still have to work a couple weeks a month until my son can take over the business. But hopefully by the end of this year we'll be able to hit the road. We just returned from a 3 week trip to South Florida visiting family & friends, wish we could have stayed longer! Hope to hit some events & rallies in the future.
Congratulations. Gorgeous looking coach. Pulls me even closer to having mine painted.
I hope you enjoy full time as much as I am.
Ken
You will love having your coach and being full time. Congratulations
D&D-- That is a very pretty coach! Have a ball and take photos of your travels. What fun!
Floor it, maybe a bit softly at first...nah! You're qualified after 10,000 miles to tell Big Stories. Hope you enjoy the coach a bunch. Cheers!
Thanks everyone, We really love the full time life. Our 3 week Florida trip was the longest vacation we've ever had! It was great to take our time driving only 350-400 miles a day and being stopped before dark. Also love always having everything with us all the time. Not having to pack & unpack after every trip. We honestly have not missed the House at all. It's been nice not having to worry about the house or pets while traveling. Our Pug and even our old cat(17yrs) have adjusted nicely to the lifestyle. I think we're in for the long haul! No Regrets!
Danette and Dan,
I think you have gotten the true feeling of owning a Motorhome. I think the word
FREEDOM is a good descriptive term. We can choose everyday to travel or not, to
go 150, 250 350 or more miles a day. We know there will never be a no vacancy turned
on when we are ready to stop. There are alternatives and we get to choose which one(s)
we want, everyday. We have the option to sleep late and drive late, as I do, the there is
my friend Brad Metzger that gets up at 4:30 every morning. We prefer to grab McDonalds
for breakfast. sandwich on the road for lunch then a good evening meal and when our house
has its legs under it on firm land we have options from the pantry and freezer.
Great food from a day of cooking with extra portions frozen away for yet another gourmet
meal. So many options. Life is great when you set the cadence that the band marches to it.
Carter-
True words. When I was still working, we could only travel for days/weeks/months. "Mr. Organization" had a clipboard listing our "ETA" to "enjoy" the trip. We found a little County Park on a lake (not on the clipboard) and stayed overnight. Pulled out the next a.m., got about three miles down the road, both looked at each other, and said, "THAT was a cool site!" Turned around and stayed for a week: so much for clipboards and ETA to this day. ^.^d
We have found a better alternative to McDonalds for breakfast. Jimmy Dean makes outstanding breakfast sandwiches and (especially) breakfast bowls. It's so easy to pull them from the freezer and cook them in the microwave and so nice to eat them at "home" that there's generally no need to go anywhere else for breakfast--unless it's somewhere special that we really want to try!
Mike so true. We never took a vacation without the strict time lines. I always dreamed
of being able to just get in the car and drive where ever, it never happened. Now with a
MH one can really relax and go to where ever the wind sent us.
David I agree on Jimmy Deans, we use them when we are parked and probably
should use them all the time. On the road a Mickey D's stop has become a
tradition. The cook does not want to make coffee, cook anything and have to clean
up after a meal (paper plates are "clean up" ?). Took a long time to get to free Sr.
coffee !
Carter-
WELCOME ABOARD!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!