Should we pass, or is this a great bargain?
We are two women shopping for our first motorhome, and for monetary reasons are looking for an older coach. We thought we found one we liked, a 1999 National Tradewinds diesel pusher. Very clean, low miles, engine and generator run great. Just a beautiful coach, and a diesel pusher in our budget. We were about to make an offer on it, but wanted to test drive it first. The engine was really strong (it zipped onto the freeway like a sports car, and didn't slow a bit climbing hills) and the air brakes were amazing. But the problem was that the thing was a complete rattletrap! Not just little things like the stove grate and a door rattling, though it was doing that, too. There was rattling in the front end (dash and overhead compartments? frame? demons? I dunno!), so much that it sounded like I had been dropped into a can of pennies being shaken up.
Now, I understand that coaches have rattles and squeaks. But this was a LOT and was alarming. We had an experienced RVer with us, who was also alarmed by the rattling. The seller didn't seem bothered or even to notice, and blamed it on the "California roads" (which is where we would be driving it most of the time). But it seemed very excessive, to inexperienced me.
The thing I don't know is whether this is a big red flag and perhaps a sign of some serious structural problem or something, or if it's something that could be ameliorated to a substantial degree by going on a screw driver frenzy. For instance, the passenger side rear view mirror was shaking like crazy, but when I checked it out after the test drive I saw that it just needed tightening down.
Everything else about the coach seemed great, and the experienced person who inspected it found no major problems.
What do you experienced folks say about this? Should I run away or not be afraid of this?
