Ultimate advantage question

parts1 · 11-21-2009, 08:13 AM

Hi you all. as you can tell i am a newbe. Wife and I are looking to move up to a diesel and I am intrigued by the UA 36c. While I was researching the UA36c I see they were only made for 3 or 4 years and I was wondering if any of you know why Winnebago discountined the line. I know it was a rather unique chasis, were there problems or were poor sales the issue? All that I have read so far seems to indicate it was a great motorhome. I would really appreciate your insights.
Thanks, Dan

McDuff · 11-21-2009, 11:08 AM

I believe it was a marketing decision, they tried to "break into" the luxury level of MH and did not get the sales they were expecting from UA's and UF's(Freedom).

We've had our '03 UA 40E for almost 3 years and have put about 17k miles on her(had 25k when we bought). We've had a few trifling problems along the way, but otherwise has been bulletproof. We recently took a lightning strike surge that took out our a/c control board, our power mgt board, sat dish and even our holding tank sensors(they are "stuck" now).

"Betty Lou"('s getting out tonight

) has more bells 'n whistles than we were originally looking for but we couldn't pass it up, now very happy we did not. (mine is a w/c accessible model from the Winne factory, ordered by previous owner.

Doubt you would find a UA not to your liking.

rnabors · 11-21-2009, 11:57 AM

I have my second Ultimate and have excellent experience with both the 01 Freedom,my first, and my current 04 Advantage. The unfortunate marketing decision of Winnebago to discontinue the Ultimate line was not based on the quality of the coach but rather Winnebago's inept marketing efforts with a higher end coach resulting in sales volumes lower than expected. Instead of hiring some marketing professionals that knew how to market in this segment they discontinued the line.

parts1 · 11-21-2009, 01:52 PM

Thank you both for you feedback, I was really hoping it was something like that, because I really like the coach and the 36c floorplan. my research so far hasn't come up with any thing negative, but i could not understand why they would quit after four years.
Thanks
Dan

Garbageman · 11-21-2009, 08:27 PM

We have a 2000 UA 36C and love it. We have owned it now for 2 years and have not had any major problems with the coach. Ours has the Freightliner chassis with the Independent Front Suspension option, which we really like. We bought the coach with 35K miles on it and have put an additional 10k miles with no problems.

I have noticed that what Winnebago did with their Ultimate series has ended up in the rest of their line of coaches.

As with any motorhome purchase make sure you have a service history with it and you do a thorough inspection.

Good luck and enjoy

robbstein · 11-22-2009, 09:54 AM

We have the 03 40K Advantage and love it. We now have 93K miles on it (original owner). Part of the problem with the UA and UF was the pricing point when they brought out the Vectra/Horizon top of the line models. The pricing was right where the Ultimates were. The series was also a smaller run (more custom) machine with limited dealers. We have the Spartan chassis and love it.

AFChap · 11-22-2009, 06:44 PM

We have an '03 40e, 6 years (4 + fulltiming) and a little over 50k miles. We were looking at Journey's and Horizon's when we came across a UA that had been a dealer "show coach" for a year. It had 5k on it. We love the MH and have never seen another we like as well. We see more UA's around the UF's ...I think the only UF's we have seen have been at Winnebago GNR and twice seeing used ones at dealerships. The last used UF we saw had much less inside storage and absolutely horrible color carpet. They are great quality coaches. It's a shame Winnebago doesn't make them anymore.

Nick Russell · 11-24-2009, 02:05 PM

We have fulltimed for over 10 years, first in a gas powered rig and then a bus conversion. We bought a 2002 Ultimate Advantage in August and love everything about it! In our opinion, and we shopped for a long time before making our decision, it is one of the finest coaches made.

KIX · 11-24-2009, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Russell

We bought a 2002 Ultimate Advantage .............. it is one of the finest coaches made.

I completely agree

Roadking · 11-24-2009, 08:03 PM

After looking at several rigs and performing extensive research we purchased our UA new in 2003 primarily because of the excellent price as compared to the features and floor plans offered in other brands.

The UA on the Sparton chassis with the Cummins 350 was much firmer, appeared to be better built, was better handling and driving, had a better floor plan, and had many features found in high dollar coaches, like power lock. (not that power locks was the decision maker). The weight capacity of the rig is outstanding and the rig handles like a dream. I currently have Yokohoma tires and they handle really great however I believe the original Michelans drove a little better. The Sparton is an excellent chassis and the suspension is very smooth and forgiving. Brakes are amazing.. no issues or concerns. The Jacobs exhaust brake could be a little better as I has trouble holding the rig on 7 and 8 percent grades. I may switch to the PacBrake..

We have been full timing for more than six years and have had only minor problems with the coach and one minor issue with the chassis/power train and that was a faulty ABS sensor which I replaced when my last set of tires was being replaced. We love the coach and we're glad we didn't buy one of the other rigs were were looking at.

P.S. One of our comartment door power locks recently failed and I found the exact vendor replacement on-line for $5.99. A very easy replacement.

KIX · 11-24-2009, 08:07 PM

RoadKing,

"One of our comartment door power locks recently failed and I found the exact vendor replacement on-line for $5.99. A very easy replacement."

Please tell me the website where you found the OEM compartment door power lock. Thanks

rowesort · 11-28-2009, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KIX

RoadKing,

"One of our comartment door power locks recently failed and I found the exact vendor replacement on-line for $5.99. A very easy replacement."

Please tell me the website where you found the OEM compartment door power lock. Thanks

Me too. My power locks are not broken but I like to have the information in the event I may need to replace same.

Steve

Roadking · 12-03-2009, 08:27 PM

The door lock actuator is a TESOR 2202. THis is a 2 wire 12 volt actuator.

The tesor site is: Taiwan 2-wire Car Door Lock Actuator. Chung Ho Manufacturer, Exporter

TESOR is located in Taiwan and appears to be a wholesale firm only so I searched the web for "high power door lock actuators" and looked at the 2 wire 12volt versions.

On AMAZON.com I found one for $5.49 and the picture looked very similar, or identical to the TESOR and I purchased it. The received part looked identical to the original TESOR 2202 and works great. The AMAZON link is :Amazon.com: HIGH POWER DOOR LOCK ACTUATOR 2 WIRE: Automotive

KIX · 12-03-2009, 08:42 PM

Roadking.........Thanks

bachler · 09-06-2010, 12:00 PM

We have a 2000 ULT, ADV. 38 foot. Bought it new 68000. miles on it now. #7 motorhome we have owned. It is the best; I think the reason they did not sell is. it was a franchised line. only scertain dealers could sell them. This caused problems. Basicly sales suffered. People like to shop, and will buy from a sales person they like. Or they walk'., The ULTIMATE line was tops Others are trying to catch up;

David K · 09-10-2010, 07:30 PM

I have the 36C --- 2002 Ultimate Advantage on the Spartan chassis with 350 HP Cummin. I have had very few minor problems with anything on the MH and the original owner (I am the second owner) upgraded everything available except for the GPS system. List price on the coach was over $300K. Has all the bells and whistles available for that year. He was a race car driver and only used the coach for two years -- limited use the next two years -- it had 28,000 miles on it when we purchased in 2006.