Foremost

Foremost? If you want to find out anything about the new Foretravel coach built on a Prevost chassis, skip the Foretravel website. For some strange reason, you won’t find anything on the site about their new Prevost conversions. And don’t get me started on their poor website design or the fact that their website is still insecure.

Foretravel will charge you a lot of money for a coach and there is some level of support for their business model so perhaps the whole website thing isn’t much of a factor for their business. But still. The Foretravel site has to be one of the poorest website designs I have seen in the RV industry.

Oops. I got started.

Where was I? Oh yes. I was curious to learn more about their new Prevost build.

First up is an over-the-top video of their new coach. A video full of dramatic theme music, exploding volcanoes and references to Pompeii and Vesuvius. Fair warning. You might not stay with it for the entire 11 minutes and 32 seconds. That’s okay. I understand. In addition to hiring someone to build a decent website, Foretravel needs to hire someone to create a decent promotional video.

Doesn’t it want to make you run out and spend $2.8 million USD on the coach?

Meh.

This coach doesn’t grab me. Especially not at an MSRP of $3.735 million Canadian. If our current tax and spend Canadian government regains power at the end of the month, they will slap an additional “luxury tax” on vehicles over $100,000 Canadian. Assuming that one would be foolish enough to pay list price for this coach, the sales tax would be $485,510 CAD. Throw in the new luxury tax of $373,470 CAD and the total would come to a mind-blowing $4.6 million CAD.

But wait. There is a sale. Right here. A brand new 2020 Foretravel Prevost H3-45, with an MSRP of $2,882,70 USD for only $1,999,999 USD.

That might change everything.

Let’s run those numbers again. $2,667,638 CAD to buy the thing. Sales tax of $346,792 CAD. Luxury tax of $266,763 CAD. Probably a bunch of other little taxes here and there to bring it across the border: import fees, air conditioning taxes, gas guzzler taxes, excess weight taxes, perhaps some dealer prep. But, leaving those extras aside, the total comes down to a more manageable $3.3 million.

Sign me up.

Here is part of the description for the 2020 Foretravel:

The 45′ Emperor Sauna Suite (45ESS) M.S.R.P. $2,882,700. Foremost, by definition, means first in place, first in order or first in rank. The Foremost in luxury motor coaches is here and available now at the #1 volume selling motor home dealership in the world. For over 50 years Foretravel has remained at the pinnacle of the luxury motor coach industry. Offering only the finest in coach design, materials and quality. This legendary coach manufacturer has now infused its more than half a century of coach building expertise into the “ultimate in excellence”, the Prevost H3-45 VIP The Prevost chassis and shell is truly second to none and reserved for only a select few motor coaches and motor coach enthusiasts per year. In a Prevost coach market, filled with opulence and options, the Foretravel Prevost stands second to none. You will not only find the customary luxury features found in most all Prevost conversions, but an unprecedented level of function, livability and appointments never before offered in a motor coach.

There’s a bit more detail about the coach on the ad including a photo gallery. You can find that here. It is also featured on RV Trader over here.

Not sure about this particular Prevost conversion. Having spent a lot of time with the other Prevost conversion builders, the Foretravel model doesn’t strike a chord with me.

The exterior, not surprisingly, looks similar to the other Prevost conversion builders. Perhaps the four windshield wipers on the front might be different though. Then again, it is a Fourtravel (bad pun).

The interior and the colour scheme?  And the flooring? Not to my taste but presumably you can have the coach built to your own decor preferences.

I was expecting a bit more punch from Foretravel as this is their first foray into a Prevost build. I doubt that the other Prevost conversion builders are too worried about this entry. Nothing particularly earth shattering, given all the references to exploding volcanoes in the marketing material.