Impressions of our new Seneca from an old-timer..

[Grandpa]

As I was driving today I was adding up the RV’s we’ve owned over the last 38 years. I was surprised that it added up to 9! Very quickly, here they are: A little Jayco TT, a Pace Arrow Tioga “C”, a Pace Arrow “A”, a Safari Trek “A”, a Coachman 38’ diesel pusher, a Winnebago View “C”, a Dynamax Super “C”, a Leisure Travel Vans “B+” and now the Seneca TS. Out of these nine units I would rate 3 of them as poor to very poor (Pace Arrow A, Coachmen Diesel Pusher and Dynamax) and the rest as good to very good…

So, after having the Jayco Seneca for only a couple weeks now, and only 3 days on the road here are my initial impressions on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being excellent:

Chassis: 5
This is the second Freightliner M2 chassis I have owned and it is an extremely capable and comfortable chassis. By far the best driving chassis out of the units I have owned. I am extremely happy that Jayco balances the drive shafts. The Dynamax that we owned had a severe vibration which required balancing the driveshaft. Jayco is very smart in balancing all of them. The 22” aluminum wheels are fantastic.

Coach Workmanship: 5
Having gone over every inch of the coach wiping it down to get rid of any stray manufacturing dust and film, I am very happy with Jayco’s workmanship on the coach. The other brand that we were considering was a Newmar Class A. I would put Jayco’s workmanship up there with Newmar for fit and finish.

Coach Amenities: 4
I think Jayco has done a very nice job with their layouts and use of space. For the most part Jayco has included quality appliances and accessories. (See my note on electronics…)

Coach Appearance: 5
I think Jayco has done a very nice job with their paint schemes and interior décor. I really like the new stain color in our unit. At first I wasn’t crazy about the new fascia trim, but it has grown on me. To me it has a western feel to it.

Coach comfort: 4
We love the layout and find it to be very comfortable and spacious. The couches are very comfortable. I dinged them 1 point for the following things: The mattress isn’t that great. I’d like to replace it with a 12” foam mattress, but on the TS you can’t because the bed tucks under the cabinets when the slide is in. We might be able to use an 8” foam mattress.

A couple other things; I don’t find the dinette seat cushions to be comfortable (not enough support) and the dinette table has a very sharp edge on it making it extremely uncomfortable to rest your arms on. As I'm typing this, my arms are sore from resting on the extremely sharp edge... (I’m thinking about routing a radius on it, just not sure if the edge lamination would handle it…) Otherwise very happy with the comfort…

Coach electronics: 2
So far this is my biggest and only real gripe. In my opinion, Jayco really cheaped out on the electronics. The Jensen TV’s are obviously older generation, and likely completely obsolete TV’s that they got a good deal on. Low resolution, extremely low dynamic range, and very low viewing angle.

The bedroom TV is especially bad… I bought a sound bar for the main TV, but have yet to be able to get the audio-out to work on the main TV.

If I’m going to take time watching TV, I at least want it to be a good picture. Come on Jayco, at this price point you should match the competition and include decent electronics.

As much as I hate to, and it seems like such a waste, I’ll probably wind up replacing the electronics.

Overall: 4 ½
I am overall very pleased with the unit. By all indications this is going to be our all-time favorite coach!

Concerns? I expressed some concern about the main slide during my PDI. They assured me everything is normal. I still have some concern about its operation, so we’ll see how that goes.

I replaced the Thetford toilet with a Dometic. The Thetford seems like a nice enough toilet, but mine was malfunctioning. After researching it and finding several complaints about the valve not shutting off and flooding the RV, I decided not to even chance it with a new valve. Being under time constraints to get the unit set-up and head out for a commitment, I didn’t have time to try to get a warranty replacement so I bought a new toilet myself…

So, for what it's worth... I'm a happy camper.

[Grumpy]

You seem to feel the same way I did about our 08 SENECA and now our PINNACLE, for the most part all is well, but as with anything there are always some little glitches. I am somewhat surprised about the TV issues. Our 08 had an RCA in the entertainment center which was fairly nice and we now have a Sharp in the PINNACLE. The Denver mattress definitely had to go. We found a nice 8" innerspring lightweight mattress at "Mattress Firm".

[WDW]

Curious which Dometic toilet did you install ? We're looking at the 310 to replace the economy unit installed in our GH.

Your write up was nice to read. My uncles had PA motorhomes back in the 70s and 80s I remember them well.

[Grandpa]

WDW, Yes I replaced it with the 310 (in Bone in our case). We had that toilet in our previous coach and really liked it... They make an elongated version of it too, but it's about $100 more...



I would caution though that the plumbing did not match up perfectly with the Thetford plumbing. I had to get some Pex and re-plumb it a bit to get it to match up.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Grandpa]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

You seem to feel the same way I did about our 08 SENECA and now our PINNACLE, for the most part all is well, but as with anything there are always some little glitches. I am somewhat surprised about the TV issues. Our 08 had an RCA in the entertainment center which was fairly nice and we now have a Sharp in the PINNACLE. The Denver mattress definitely had to go. We found a nice 8" innerspring lightweight mattress at "Mattress Firm".

Grumpy, yea I'm surprised by the TV's too. You would think in their flagship Jayco branded MH they would include decent TV's. Ours are really lousy...

[anav8or]

I"m really surprised by the TV thing - we have a 2015 FK, and although our TV's are a brand I wasn't familiar with (Continu-us), I'm happy with them. All are 1080i resolution LED TV's. The sound isn't great (flat screen's rarely have great sound anyway), so we added sound bars to the two main coach TV's.

Sounds like Jayco went backwards on the TV quality with the latest models. Does your coach have the Clarion GPS/radio up front on the dash, or did they change that?

[WDW]

Interesting .... Our Jensen TV are nice - or I have lower standards. But the Clarion radio system is a worthless POC.

[snowbird47]

Originally Posted by WDW

Interesting .... Our Jensen TV are nice - or I have lower standards. But the Clarion radio system is a worthless POC.

X2

[TJEli]

On the Jensen TVs you have to turn off the internal TV speakers before the audio out will work. This is in the audio menu. In the setup menu you can then select fixed or variable audio out.

Hope this help!

-Eli

[The Bus Driver]

Grandpa, thanks for the great hands on report on your new Seneca. How are you finding the propane use between the tankless hot water, fridge, furnace and stove?. That's my only worry always having to fill up after just refueling. At least on the HJ floor plan it have the electric fireplace to supplement extra heat when on short power besides the heat pump.

[Grandpa]

Originally Posted by TJEli

On the Jensen TVs you have to turn off the internal TV speakers before the audio out will work. This is in the audio menu. In the setup menu you can then select fixed or variable audio out.

Hope this help!

-Eli

Yes, that's exactly what I did. Can't get any sound through the radio, or the sound bar...

[Grandpa]

Originally Posted by The Bus Driver

Grandpa, thanks for the great hands on report on your new Seneca. How are you finding the propane use between the tankless hot water, fridge, furnace and stove?. That's my only worry always having to fill up after just refueling. At least on the HJ floor plan it have the electric fireplace to supplement extra heat when on short power besides the heat pump.

Bus driver, have only been out for four days so far and haven't needed to use the furnace yet. From my previous experience in other MH's, the only thing that really uses the propane fast is the furnace. The Seneca has a really nice sized propane tank (ours is 56 lbs) so I anticipate it to last quite a while.

One thing that I really like is that the fridge is staying in the proper cooling zone set on 6 on propane. Some fridges that we've had in the past wouldn't keep cold enough even set on 10 when operating on propane.

[Grandpa]

Originally Posted by anav8or

I"m really surprised by the TV thing - we have a 2015 FK, and although our TV's are a brand I wasn't familiar with (Continu-us), I'm happy with them. All are 1080i resolution LED TV's. The sound isn't great (flat screen's rarely have great sound anyway), so we added sound bars to the two main coach TV's.

Sounds like Jayco went backwards on the TV quality with the latest models. Does your coach have the Clarion GPS/radio up front on the dash, or did they change that?

anav8or, our unit has a Jensen radio... As far as TV's go, I know from experience that the brand they use will constantly change. A dealer once told me that the manufacturers buy old inventory from whoever offers the best price... I can't even find our TV models listed on the internet. The biggest problem I have is that the dynamic range is so low the picture looks really lousy. My dealer admitted that they are "cheap" TV's. He said Jayco chooses to put the money elsewhere.

[canuckowner]

I actually drove past the Leisure Travel Vans factory this past week in Winkler, Manitoba. Nice vans. You must be loving the living space on the new Seneca by comparison!

[Mr.Oz]

We had our front TV replaced under warranty. It was terrible, the replacement works great even though it appears to be the same brand and model. I turn on aux 2 on our dash unit and the tv sound goes through the coach speakers without doing anything to the tv. Sounds like your delivery went well Grandpa.

[Grandpa]

Originally Posted by canuckowner

I actually drove past the Leisure Travel Vans factory this past week in Winkler, Manitoba. Nice vans. You must be loving the living space on the new Seneca by comparison!

canckowner,

We had the LTV for 4 1/4 years and put 44K miles on it. We were extremely happy with the performance and quality of it. The Canadians put out a great product. We were continually impressed with the quality and their use of every last inch of space. Just like the freightliner M2 the Mercedes chassis is a fantastic chassis. And yes, we are very much enjoying the space in the Seneca.

[Grandpa]

Originally Posted by Mr.Oz

We had our front TV replaced under warranty. It was terrible, the replacement works great even though it appears to be the same brand and model. I turn on aux 2 on our dash unit and the tv sound goes through the coach speakers without doing anything to the tv. Sounds like your delivery went well Grandpa.

Mr. Oz. I have tried getting audio out through Aux 2 On the radio as well as piping it into a sound bar which I purchased specifically for the front TV and nothing is going to either of them. I am convinced the TV is not outputting anything to the audio out channel. Based on your experience I have made a request to our dealer that Jayco replace the front TV. We're going to be out for a month and I'd really like to be able to use the audio out to improve the sound, especially when the air conditioner is running, so we'll see how they choose to handle it...

[Sam]

Grandpa, I have a 2014 TS. What is your concern about the main slide? Mine has always seemed very slow. Thanks Sam

[Mnwelsh]

I also have a 37TS and the main slide is very slow. I think that's normal. I also have very weak volume on the main TV and have not been able switch to the coach speakers. However I've only spent two days in it and have a lot to learn about the electronics. Thanks for your report.

[Sam]

I've had my Seneca five months and I still can't get sound hrough the coach speakers. I can get radio sound but no TV. I'm sure it is something I am not doing correctly.