A used Newell, what do you think?

Foodman, Newell builds a very nice coach on a robust chassis. I looked extensively at Newell crawling in and out of the whole unit.

On the year that you are looking into, I'm not sure if they used the bi-fold cargo doors. That was such a turn off to me. For one, you could seriously pinch your hand in the crease and you 'have' to touch the paint to close the door. I could see a small child getting hurt easily (just my opinion).

If the coach has the outside mirror arms attached to the upper part of the chassis, the sunshades are made NOT to block the view of the mirrors. So, that means that you have a shade that is 12-18 inches away from the A-Pillar which makes them useless from the low sun coming at you.

Newell does have the option on some coaches of mirror attachment like regular coaches at the base of the windshield which is what I would prefer. Otherwise, Newell's are great coaches and usually have big power plants.

We leaned towards the Prevost because of the solid proven 2,000,000 mile chassis. Also, I wanted Prevost slides vs. any other brand. That way, Prevost is responsible for them at the Prevost service centers.

Take a peek at used Prevosts and see what you think.

Another thing I like about the Prevost vs. any other brand, is that all the steps are on the inside. You never have to worry about jamming your steps or damaging them on a boulder that you didn't see, etc. (once parked).

Safe travels,
MM.

On edit: Surprisingly, my fingers are slower than my brain and I missed a couple of words.

Do some price checking on these sites. On the Newell site close the error and then select the menu tab. The inventory is at the lower end of the options list.

http://www.newellcoach.com/flash.html/

http://foretravel.com/

http://www.bus-stuff.com/busforsale.htm/

http://www.rvonline.com/motorhomes-5th-wheels.asp?Searchmethod=1&SortedBy=4/

http://www.prevost-stuff.com/used_coaches.htm/

Harry, I think you are headed in the right direction... a older used high end coach BUT I would include most major manufactures. After racing around the country a couple times most FT settle down and only put 5-7K miles per year on their rigs so any high end DP should be good 200K miles or 25+ years without any major problems. Are the AC's, refer, AquaHot, Girrard awnings ect any better in a Newell/Foretravel than American/Monaco/???? I would not go back more than 10 years as that is when there was a big increase in the number and size of the slides. Good Luck :B

Foodsman - Newell is a great coach. We bought a high end 7 year old coach 5 years ago. It is IMHO one step below a Newell. High end coaches are a luxury way to travel. But there are lots of parts and systems. More luxury = more parts and more systems. When this stuff works it is great. When they don't they can be a PITA and expensive. We get most of our work done now in the Junction City area of Oregon. There are lots of skilled people in this area plus the Country Coach factory. They fix things fast and at a fair price. We struggled getting things done correctly and at an affordable price locally for several years with limited success.

Our coach this year seemed to know when we were going to the factory as all kinds of little stuff stopped working. Nothing expensive, but things that are useful like the keypad for the lock on the door. The solar electric monitor. And so on.

So keep that in mind with any coach you buy. The simpler the coach the less things to go wrong.

Appliances and furniture are not made by the chassis or house manufacturer and they do age out just as they do on all other brands. It is they that make living comfortable.

I was reading some of your comments to my wife and she said “you remember reading about that guy in Miami with the Rolls Royce?”.

This guy decided he was tired of buying a new car every few years and losing his shirt each time and decided to buy a Rolls Royce and drive it until it would no longer drive. When this story was in the paper it was 16 years after he purchased his pre-owned Rolls Royce and he said it was the best purchase he ever made. She thought the Rolls was 5 years old when he bought it so that made it 21 years old at the time of this article.

The article went on to say that he admitted it cost more for general repairs and maintenance but when you factored it all the cars he would have bought and sold in that period of time he came why out on top. He said there was not a single day he ever wanted any other vehicle than his Rolls, something he could never say for his "every 3 year cars"!

Maybe the same could be true of a Newell... Or any million $+ coach!

We toured their plant in Miami, OK several years ago, and I had the money I would buy one of the year model Newell coaches you mentioned in a heartbeat over any other brand of a later model coach.

Good luck with your choice & safe travels...

My personal favorite.

Foretravel

The chassis is what separates a Newell from the coaches you mentioned. Newell and Prevost are million mile chassis. I would say IF you are going to do a lot of driving, then the Newell is the coach for you. As far as the house part there are some differences on the outside of the walls in materials, but the interiors are basically the same as some of those high end coaches you mentioned.
American brand coaches are very well made coaches also, but even thought they have great chassis they do not compare with the Newell or Prevost chassis.

why are people concerned about a 2 million mile coach, or even a million mile one? Is anyone here going to drive theirs even 500K? These companies boast about the mileage these coaches can last but who drives that many mies other than the bus companies they were made for in the first place. I understand marketing to some point in that they have to say these thing to have some kind of justification in charging the kind of dollars they do. JMHO, also if you are interested I can point you to a 03 45' Country Coach with 16K miles for less than 200K