since garys dutch star thread got a bunch of us talking i figured id put up our actual numbers on the Phaeton after a full year. 2017 Tiffin Phaeton 40AH, ISL 380, Allison 3000, PowerGlide chassis, 63k miles when we bought it, two owners. found it on rubiautosales.com last spring after six months of watching the tucson and phoenix lots and getting tired of consignment coaches that had baked in the sun for a year.
asked rubi for the service history and they had it, the second owner had kept every receipt in a binder that came with the coach. paid an inspector out of el paso to go through it before we bought, and the only thing he found they had not already told us was a soft spot in the passenger dash pad from the sun. the clear coat fade on the front cap and the original inverter they had already told us about on the phone.
we have lived in it about eight months of the year since. here is what it actually cost to own a 2017 Phaeton for a year, for anyone trying to budget a diesel coach.
| Fuel (14k miles, about 7.8 mpg towing the jeep) | $6,900 |
| Oil change, both fuel filters, coolant test (mobile tech) | $610 |
| Serpentine belt (cracked, caught at the oil change) | $185 |
| New inverter charger (knew going in, priced accordingly) | $1,450 |
| Dash pad cover | $140 |
| Full timer insurance (annual) | $2,860 |
that is the honest year. nothing broke that was not a wear item or something we already knew about, and the price against the tucson dealer, 28 grand under for a cleaner coach, makes buying off the rubi lot an easy call looking back. every dollar of that spread went into the coach and our campground fund instead of a dealer's floor plan.