Foretravel Mystique

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Foretravel Mystique

September 10, 2013, 03:19:37 pm

I am a rookie looking to by my first Motor coach, I am impressed by the loyalty and passion for FT coaches I see on this forum.
As I visit other forums I read many comments regarding how dissatisfied owners are with their coach or the lack of support from the manufacture's and dealers.
Not so with FT owners, seems you all have drank the kool aid! I am definitely on my way to drinking a glass myself!
I would be interested to hear from folks on what makes their FT special and what inspires their loyalty.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #1 – September 10, 2013, 03:52:49 pm

Real simple rookie...

For me it's the quality of components and construction. In colloquial terms "they're built like Sherman Tanks to last & last". Only buy one if you're interesrted in owning one for a long time. Good luck. Only drink water or something other, as...Kool Aid has too much sugar.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #2 – September 10, 2013, 04:02:09 pm

This FT is my 4th coach. The first two were SOB's and neither were very comfortable to drive. This is my 2nd FT and I would not even consider another brand (except maybe Newell which I can't afford))
Getting there is more than half the fun. Norm H

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #3 – September 10, 2013, 04:14:54 pm

Rookie, This is my fourth coach and after the Foretravels nothing compares, built well, above average materials, workmanship like no other, parts availability, factory support, driveability, living comfort and on and on OH, and this Forum, I probably missed something.
If you want to find out personally hunt up a forum member and him them show you a Foretravel ( any year ), think you will see why we love them
Gary B

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #4 – September 10, 2013, 04:24:26 pm

I am on my third coach. Sure they had issues here and there but they are well built. My current coach is an 01 and I have 144K miles on it and plan to put on at least 300K miles more. They are built to last.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #5 – September 10, 2013, 04:24:57 pm

Oh and there are people who have owned 14 coaches or more and all of them the same brand.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #6 – September 10, 2013, 04:28:39 pm

A few of my reasons:

My 3rd Class A was a 1990 Foretravel. The difference in handling with the winds against the 8 airbag system made some routes very comfortable, after having felt wobbly and dangrous in the earlier coaches (Damon and Monaco). I was completely sold on Foretravels. So I bought a second one with more HP, more gears, a retarder (wonderful item!), wider body with a slide, and double pane windows. My heavier 2002 rides just as stable, if not a little moreso as it is wider.

The Chassis, or starting point, is rock solid. The interiors are womderful, quality wood compared to others.

The various items they put into the coach are the same as other coaches, (water heater, toilet, etc.), but they have an abundance of them and what seems to be a higher attention to detail and useful addons rather than just glitziness.

My FT is comfortable to be in, to live in and to drive. Even the design allows access to all my needs with the slide kept in.

I'm sure you can see by shopping that FTs certainly hold their value in the market.

Then there are the capacities that it has, and still allows for good carrying capacity for personal items. 175 gallons of fuel (around a 1500 mile range!), 95 gallons of fresh water, 103 gallons of grey water, 51 gallons of black water, and a sufficient amount of propane so that I need to fill it every couple of years at most. Then there are the batteries: Rather than a tiny single small 12 volt house battery, we have either 2 or 3 huge 8D batteries. No surprise overflows or empty tanks or batteries.

Then, of course, is this wonderful forum where folks share the knowledge they pick up along the way. It is a wonderful group and we are privileged with extraordinarily knowledgeable and helpful folks here (particularly thnking of Barry's work to document everything...and Brett Wolfe's tremendous knowledge base). We may grumble a little now and then about little issues, but overall, we love our coaches. Just my 2 cents after about 15 years of Foretravels.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #7 – September 10, 2013, 04:34:45 pm

Four years ago we bought our first coach (2003, U295, 36'), and probably our last. Since then we have lived in it for about a year full time and for an additional three summers. We've put on about 35K miles and traveled through a lot of of the US. It has been a great coach. Have we had any problems.... of course. Something as complicated as a coach, with probably millions of parts, is bound to have issues. But overall, things are fixable and reliable. Service from the factory, Motorhomes of Texas, RNR near Spokane and Tennessee RV near Knoxville has been very good. We could not be happier. I thank Pat, my wife, for having the good sense to insist that we buy a Foretravel. She's a very logical person that researches everything to the nth degree! So many satisfied owners are that way for a reason. I should add that this forum has also been a big factor in our satisfaction with this coach. One cannot buy this kind of support!

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #8 – September 10, 2013, 08:15:33 pm

Rookie, we spent a couple of years researching what we wanted, starting with how we intended to use the coach. One filter that I used in narrowing down the offerings was the quality. Since we knew that we couldn't afford even the cheapest new coach, we went for high quality and accepted the fact that it would be an older coach. A second filter was an active owner's group that was open to someone who didn't yet own the brand. One brand that was suggested to us as a possible won't let you join the forum unless you already own that brand of coach. We dropped them immediately. Other brands seem to have nearly dead forums, or the owners have only two tools (a cell phone and a credit card). Again, we can't afford that type of coach.

We got down to only a few brands, and researched those more fully. Long story short, we were fortunate enough to find the right coach fairly quickly. Yes, we've spent some money on it, but we expected that.

We've taken only one long trip so far, but that included a couple of long days of driving. No problems. I was a little more tired than I would have been driving the same amount of time in my car, but then I have several thousand hours in the car, and less than 100 hours in the motor home. Being able to see over almost everything else on the road sure makes navigating easier.

Take your time and really evaluate what you are going to do with your coach. Buying the right coach the very first time out is rare, but you can improve your chances by doing your homework. Since there are only so many ways to arrange the interior of a box to make a livable space, you can look at floor plans from other brands you happen to come across to determine what will and won't work for you. Use the member map feature to find someone with a Foretravel near you and make arrangements to see the quality for yourself. Once you know what you want and need you can start shopping for the right coach.

Don't be afraid to ask questions here. You may get contradictory answers to some questions, but that simply means that different things work for different people. Only you can decide what will and won't work for you, but sometimes the thinking of others will help you come to your own conclusion.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #9 – September 10, 2013, 08:33:30 pm

With one current exception here the Foretravel brand is where alot of experienced rv'ers ended up.

Very few leave the quality here for the SOB's buttons or floor plans.

Old beaver products were well made as were country coaches.

Any chassis coach will not have spread out air suspension bags necessary to stop sway.

The country coach and old beavers factory support is gone or lessened.

So the fore family products turn out to be extremely long lasting quality.

I started in 1984 and been a fan ever since.

Bob

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #10 – September 10, 2013, 09:00:35 pm

Ditto all the above. After only one year + with a Foretravel and having owned several other brands over 15 years, including "high line" coaches, nothing compares to this Foretravel on every count. I only wish that years ago I hade done it right the first time. You get what you pay for.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #11 – September 10, 2013, 09:02:26 pm

Although I have owned a 1998 U320 for over 2 years, I still consider myself a newbie. I recently completed a 2,400 mile trip through mountains in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. The old girl went down long 10% grades in 3rd gear at 30 mph at 1500 RPM, and I never had to touch the brakes: and only had to use the retarder occasionally, to slow for sharp turns. It went up similar grades with ease. I never felt that I was not in complete control of the coach, and, because of the presence of the retarder, I knew that the "cool" brakes were there for use if I had an emergency. I love the way the coach drives; like a large premier automobile, not like a truck. I also agree with all who expound on the quality of the build, but I believe that the road manners of a coach is the most important quality and would choose a Foretravel just for the handing alone. PS: My FT is equipped with a Silverleaf VMS 200 which indicated that my overall mileage, for the entire trip, including the travel through the mountains, was 9.2 mpg. I don't know how accurate the VMS is but 9.2 mpg for a 32,000 pound coach towing a 3,400 pound car isn't bad. I limit my max speed to 62 mph because GM recommends a max towing speed of 65 mph for my toad.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #12 – September 10, 2013, 09:04:49 pm

The wife and I have been campers and RVers for many years. She grew up camping in pickup campers and early motor homes (Champions) and I started in tents, then moved to pickup campers. Together we've owned small motor homes, 5th wheels, pickup campers, Alaskan Campers, and travel trailers (Streamline). We also built and sailed a 32' cutter-rigged sloop in the Pacific and in the Sea of Cortez (Mexico).

When we decided to get a Class A motor home in 2010 I knew exactly the brand I wanted: Foretravel. I had seen Grand Villas on the road and talked to the owners at fuel stops and camp grounds. We wanted to be able to drive down the Baja Peninsula and re-visit our favorite places and felt that a 102" RV would be too wide on that highway; we remember meeting Mexican buses just driving our compact car in the 1980s and that was stressful enough. So we found a U225 in the fall of 2011 and bought it.

During the search we discovered this forum and also discovered one very important fact: Foretravel is still in existence. People still work at the factory who were around 20 years ago when our coach rolled out the doors. They still sell some parts and if they don't, they can help find replacements (along with the experts on this forum).

Having the factory still in existence is not a trivial thing. It means that engineering drawings are not destroyed and people still remember details of the construction. There are people who know why it was built that way and where to find hidden switches and fuse panels. With a Bluebird or a Beaver or many other brands this is not an option.

It is also important that Foretravel is not just in existence; but it retains a reputation for the highest quality motor coaches. Sure, my motor home didn't cost me 6 figures... but it cost well into 6 figures back when a Dodge pickup truck with the same engine only cost $20,000; and a brand new top-of-the-line Foretravel will cost 7 figures!!! That reputation, along with the fact that FT has produced relatively few coaches, means we get people asking to see inside the rig and, always, making remarks about how much nicer it is than others.

And, for some reason, at least on this forum, we seem to have more "tinkerers" who are not afraid to do our own upgrades; including things like solar panels (almost commonplace now), new refrigeration systems, cooling system revisions, radiator replacements, and more. I think that the average Foretravel owner - and certainly the average Foreforum subscriber - has a more detailed knowledge of their motor home than most other brands. Partly because we've been around the block with RVs and partly because many of us are technically oriented.

But then, if you're here.... you know all that.

Craig

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #13 – September 10, 2013, 09:33:00 pm

Well rookie....my wife and I have been in TT for 15 years and this year we bought our first FT. We wanted quality first. After seeing our TT fall apart over the years we knew what life on our Michigan roads would do to it. My parents had an American Eagle at one point and now have a 2012 Newmar. My 1989 FT is nicer, rides better, and in my humble opinion has better fit and finish (an example...my interior doors have full piano hinges on them). Now like any used coaches you need to check it out (search 50 things to check here i think B.Beams tread) and hopefully find an owner that loved it like you will....my PO had this one for 21 yrs and only sold it due to health issues.

Also your right about this site. Most posts are positive where we found as you did that other SOB site seem to be complaint areas. I can't say enough good things about this site and the people I have responded with here all have been great!

Good luck from a newbie!!!

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #14 – September 10, 2013, 10:17:05 pm

Thanks to all for the responses, I hope everyone on the forum will keep the advice and comments coming my way. I am getting a great intro to motorhomes in general and FT's in particular. I appreciate everyone taking time to share their experiences. I am a former trucker and I am looking for the level of quality I enjoyed in Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks I have owned over the years. I am becoming convinced that FT is the brand for me. I thinking that I will need a U320 as I will be pulling an enclosed car trailer. Are there any particular models better suited to towing than others? Any models I should avoid?
Again, many thanks, travel safe!

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #15 – September 10, 2013, 10:42:51 pm

Quote from: GLV – September 10, 2013, 09:02:26 pm

Although I have owned a 1998 U320 for over 2 years, I still consider myself a newbie. I recently completed a 2,400 mile trip through mountains in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. The old girl went down long 10% grades in 3rd gear at 30 mph at 1500 RPM, and I never had to touch the brakes: and only had to use the retarder occasionally, to slow for sharp turns. It went up similar grades with ease. I never felt that I was not in complete control of the coach, and, because of the presence of the retarder, I knew that the "cool" brakes were there for use if I had an emergency. I love the way the coach drives; like a large premier automobile, not like a truck. I also agree with all who expound on the quality of the build, but I believe that the road manners of a coach is the most important quality and would choose a Foretravel just for the handing alone. PS: My FT is equipped with a Silverleaf VMS 200 which indicated that my overall mileage, for the entire trip, including the travel through the mountains, was 9.2 mpg. I don't know how accurate the VMS is but 9.2 mpg for a 32,000 pound coach towing a 3,400 pound car isn't bad. I limit my max speed to 62 mph because GM recommends a max towing speed of 65 mph for my toad.

I keep remembering things I used to explain to customers what the differences between a Foretravel and the rest of the rv's was.

The foretravel coach is a motor home. The motor part is first. Home second. The SOB's are home first, motor second.

Invariable the second or third time buyers have learned to ask more about the motor part versus the floor plans and fabrics.

Bob

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #16 – September 10, 2013, 10:44:35 pm

Quote from: rookie coachman – September 10, 2013, 10:17:05 pm

... I thinking that I will need a U320 as I will be pulling an enclosed car trailer. Are there any particular models better suited to towing than others? Any models I should avoid?
Again, many thanks, travel safe!

Just refer to Barry's specification sheet. Foretravel Vehicle Weight My U270, with a 400 HP ISL has a towing capacity of 10,000 lbs with a 1,000 hitch. 33,000 GVWR and 43,000 GCVWR There are some surprises in the sheets, as a 1990 U280 has a GVWR of 28,000 lbs...but its GCVWR is only 30,000 lbs.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #17 – September 10, 2013, 10:52:17 pm

One other comment that refers to all brands. If they have a slide, it will likely be open when you first see it. Make them bring it/them in and let you see what the coach is like closed up.

When I was first shopping for a motorhome, I discovered some coaches have a lot of restrictions to accessing such things as microwave ovens, etc. when the slide is in. It is a pain to have to extend a slide to get to what you want for a brief stop, like for lunch. Can't get a shirt out of a closet, etc. Foretravel doesn't seem to suffer from this, at least in the models I was looking at. Not sure about the newer ones, whether they suffer from this issue or not.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #18 – September 10, 2013, 11:00:32 pm

We bought our first diesel pusher motorhome on a whim immediately after our son and family moved 800 miles away from us rather than being 50 miles away. We made a couple of trips and really enjoyed it. We made a bad decision regarding travel and ended up in some blizzard conditions. We started looking for a coach to keep us safe in a broader range of conditions. Foretravel has worked well. It has keep us safe and comfortable in some very harsh weather.

You might want to review What led you to buy your first Foretravel for more reasons why people have their Foretravels.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #19 – September 10, 2013, 11:03:17 pm

Post your location and you might be invited to come visit one of us for a first hand inspection.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #20 – September 11, 2013, 06:17:21 am

Tennesee RV maintains a FT, just had engine rebuild and bulkhead rebuild, at 425,000 plus miles towing a huge enclosed work trailer.......

And they fixed it instead of retiring it.....

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #21 – September 11, 2013, 07:42:51 am

Rookie,
Most all the reasons people own FT's are listed above. You need to drive a couple other models then drive an FT.
That will show you what all these owners know. Get it on the road and you will feel the difference.
Has previously mentioned tons of components on all RV's so there are things going to break and need repair, but when you look at the quality it is pretty much unsurpassed.
Good luck with your search.

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #22 – September 11, 2013, 12:46:07 pm

Quote from: Tim Fiedler – September 11, 2013, 06:17:21 am

Tennesee RV maintains a FT, just had engine rebuild and bulkhead rebuild, at 425,000 plus miles towing a huge enclosed work trailer.......

And they fixed it instead of retiring it.....

Ten years ago Cleo Dunlap had 300k+ on his u280 I sold him in 1989

Bob

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #23 – September 11, 2013, 06:21:00 pm

Excellent point about checking the "livability" of a unit with the slide retracted. We have stayed in ours for several days at a time with the slide "in" ... no problem. We would spend winters (4 months at a time) in our '93 U225, which was a no slide 96" coach, and were very comfortable. We lived in a '95 non-slide for almost a year ... very comfortably. Now, we have an '02 single slide and feel like we have all the room in the world!

Re: Foretravel Mystique

Reply #24 – September 12, 2013, 03:42:08 am

A couple of points on the "slide" vs "no-slide"...Our last 3 TT all had slides and I was adement with the DW that our MH would have a slide. With that said we found our 1989 GV U300 with no slide and feel in love with it on the first drive. My parents have a 2012 Newmar with 2 slides and dont care for it and are selling it. One of the main reason is with the the slides in they cant get into the bedroom or the bathroom with out putting the slides out.

Someone also mentioned drive a few others then drive a FT...so true. Its night and day. As a former truck driver myself (and DW a bus driver) you will notice a difference.

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