35', 40', or 45' Newbie asks round 3

[PP]

The wife wanted a 35er and I wanted a 45er. We looked at a lot of buses until we found our 40'. It was a low mile one owner rig in excellent condition. (BTW-excellent doesn't mean you aren't working on it all the time LOL) We bought it because it was too good a deal to pass up, not because we were compromising LOL. She is now happy with the extra lenght and I love the way it handles on the road-we both won

[Tom Y]

Gary 5C, I thought they had a Cummins in the 3500. Not a big one but 400 HP or so. As always I may be wrong.  Tom Y

[Sean]

FWIW, anything over 40' will ace you out of the vast majority of California, including some of the most beautiful parts, such as the coast highway, parts of Yosemite, Sequoia, and Death Valley National Parks, most of the Sierra Nevada including Lake Tahoe, and the list goes on and on.

Anything over 40' (or, technically, 96" wide) also keeps you out of large parts of the northeast; New Jersey is particularly snippy about this.

We have generally not had too many problems finding camp sites even in state and federal parks with our ~40' coach, but there have been a few.  Organ Pipe Cactus has a firm 40' limit, and tried to convince us we are longer than that (we're not).  Grand Canyon south rim has a strict 30' limit in the Park Service campground.  Many state parks in California can not accommodate anything longer than 35'.

Most conventional (car) parking spaces, BTW, are 20' long (though there has been a trend towards shorter, 18' spaces).  We find we can often parallel-park the bus if there happen to be two adjacent parking spaces available.  Also, we only take up two spaces in a conventional parking lot such as at Wal-Mart.  If we had a 45', we'd have to park across the stalls instead of inside them, reducing the number of locations available to us.

When we bought our bus, we had no choice -- it was not legal to have anything longer than 40' in California at the time, and that's where we lived.  In hindsight, though, I am glad we kept it under 40', as it has been much more convenient for us.  Now, if I had just bought something that wasn't 13' tall...

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

[belfert]

The MCI F3500 was available with either a Detroit Series 40 (not 50) or Cummns ISC engine according to MCI's website.

The Series 40 is actually an Navistar/International DT466 engine. 

[NewbeeMC9]

35 footer, 
less tires, but must carry spare
2 axles, don't have to worry about 3 or more type axle restrictions on Highway.
if just you and misses then 35 enough for what you need,  you just may have to think a little harder about what you need



you could prolly get a better deal on this.

[Gary '79 5C]

Tom & Belfert,

I might very well be incorrect with the series 50, and yes Tom IIRC, I have seen the Cummins in the F3500.
Belfert, I did not know that the DT466 was a Detroit. Recently, I drove (1,300miles) a Rider 28' box truck with the DT466 diesel and it was a great running engine, smooth & powerful. I did not challenge it with mountains out west or max load, it seemed to be geared to deliver 10 mpg @ 62mph.

My "qualified" opinion of the 35'er is with my one and only (present) coach. I find that the 5C with the steep straight stairs facing directly to the driver's position, keeps the driver on the same elevation as the balance of the coach. Also since the steeps do not turn to the rear, I can make use of every thing right up to the windshield,(w/ platform over the stepwell).

Thanks guys for clarification,

Gary

[BG6]

Hello again,

Thanks for all your input.  This is a great forum and I am learning.  Round 3 asks how long should a couch be?
I want to drive down the road but be able to also pull a little off onto a dirt rd.  I also understand the 45' aren't even allowed in many parks.
This 2001 MCI 35' is way out of my price range but seems really inexpensive for the age and mileage, which is 44,000 not 440,000.  What do you all think?  Might it be relatively inexpensive due to its shorter length.  Is longer really better?    Or is it truly compensation for some?

Lee

Assuming that you have your choice of a good, affordable coach in each length, here is how to consider them.

If you have no recent (past 10 years) experience driving a bus or a semi, OR are planning to use this for weekends or vacations, get a 35-footer.

If you DO have recent experience AND are planning to full-time, get a 40-footer, AND if you are planning to full-time primarily west of the Mississippi, test drive the 45-footer and compare it to the 40.