[Jimmy daniel]

Me too. Keep us posted.

[pgchin]

Chuck,
I'm afraid I cannot help you with the Newell but I can give you a little insight to the original owner. He's a down home boy from Virginia. Elder statesman for the NASCAR Drivers and drives for one of the elite teams in NACAR "RCR" Richard Childress Racing. 35 races a year plus "extras", and the rigs go to them all so high highway mileage is the deal here.......... family guy with two teens now..... It got what it needed under him......see if you can track how it went from Him to now........... it should tell you a lot about maintenance after him in you "fall in love"! Good luck!

[cmillsap]

Chuck,
I'm afraid I cannot help you with the Newell but I can give you a little insight to the original owner. He's a down home boy from Virginia. Elder statesman for the NASCAR Drivers and drives for one of the elite teams in NACAR "RCR" Richard Childress Racing. 35 races a year plus "extras", and the rigs go to them all so high highway mileage is the deal here.......... family guy with two teens now..... It got what it needed under him......see if you can track how it went from Him to now........... it should tell you a lot about maintenance after him in you "fall in love"! Good luck!

Hi Pete,

I sold my M380 so I'm looking for a replacement. We've been looking at Prevosts & Newells. After a whole lot of comparing, I believe a Newell coach is the better deal. I just do not want to deal with the stainless skin problems on a XLII and you can get a lot more coach in a Newall for the same money providing that you do your homework.

Yes, this coach was originally Jeff Burton's. He sold it to a (yet unknown to me) person who sold it to the present owner. Supposedly, Jeff Burton's driver did all the $400K upgrades at about 150K miles. Let's hope that some of that $400K was spent on chassis and equipment upgrades as I just don't see $400K in interior improvements. Yep, you and I being used to seeing much less miles on the same year Wanderlodge might be a little concerned about a coach with 180K miles on it. But several Newell owners on this forum don't see that as an issue.

Tela has come around to prefering the Newell over the P-bus. She likes the mid entry and the rear bath. I like the 2001 to 2004 models better than the 2005 and up. I also perfer 2 slides on a coach as 4 slides just adds too many complications for me personally. And you can buy one at a reasonable price now.

I'd bet your next coach will be a Newell..... You need that '05 at Motorhomes of Texas.........

[bikestuff]

Chuck, be sure to check the Air Conditioner units. My coach is a year newer but it looks like that one has the same AC setup as mine. Although I bought my coach at Newell and only let those guys work on it....it seems that I can never get the ACs working properly. If that coach is the same as mine (I think it is)....It has two AC units in the "basement". Each one has two compressors. One of the units supplies air to the front of coach and the other one to the back. In my case, I had problems with both units (multiple times) and one of the thermostats.

The weather in Las Vegas may not allow you to "feel" the cold air...but at a minimum you should turn both units on full blast cooling. Then look at the meters above the driver. You should see around 20 amps draw on L1 and L2. (The units are wired to separate circuits).

Many of the guys on here have had good luck with these Acs. My experience has been a bit more trying. I think that if the units work, they work. If they don't work...well they are hard to repair and as far as I know there is not an option to replace them.

Good luck with that coach. I hope it is as good as it looks in the pics!

[pgchin]

Hi Pete,

I sold my M380 so I'm looking for a replacement. We've been looking at Prevosts & Newells. After a whole lot of comparing, I believe a Newell coach is the better deal.

I'd bet your next coach will be a Newell..... You need that '05 at Motorhomes of Texas.........

Hi Chuck,
Congrats on moving the m380. Always good to go shopping! I do like the mid doors myself as well as the circular staircase. I'm starting to have trouble getting in and out of the bird.... bad knees. I'm also not gonna take your bet! Right now when I'm yacking, my American express Black is safe. When I go radio silent for a few months, then Watch out! :-0. I',m stopping out at the factory on our way to the west coast in May and will be test driving some of the 05's they have there and talking to them about structure / assembly/ subsystems of the 05/6 build era. I'm partial to the 05 in Texas and crazy enough I love the floor plan BUT it will be long gone before I'm ready to pull the pin. You could turn that desk into a 2 stool bar in a snap which is what Donna and I truly love out of all the dinette combos and the bed does not bother me. You could yank that aft cabin sofa out and get a sofa bed / love seat with a blowup mattress( like the m450's), this way if you have to use it in a pinch in a Walmart or rest area, use the new blow up sofa bed, slides in! Alas, it will be long gone before I am ready as I need to do too much research yet! Good luck and let us know how you make out! Yeah, agreed, if the factory info pans out, then Newell is my top choice as well for the era I want.

PS Bill, FWIW, I'm no Newell expert, but I'm told those bus basement AC units get the condenser coils dirtier than the top ones due to the vents on the floor etc and really need to be taken apart down to the condenser and cleaned more often....... they get very grimy and sticky...if you have pets, worse......maybe that's your issue??????? Or it needs a shot of freon???????

[encantotom]

the basement airs on my 02 work fine. as a preventative issue, i bought all new relays and when russ white was out visiting, he changed them on all 4 A/C circuit boards and a spare.

we left on a trip last year when it was 115 degrees and it was not ice cold but cool enough. as soon as we got out of 115 degrees it got cold.

i think the roof airs cool better, but there is no real easy way to retrofit mine. the 3 roof airs in my 90 made it very cool inside quickly.

tom

[cmillsap]

the basement airs on my 02 work fine. as a preventative issue, i bought all new relays and when russ white was out visiting, he changed them on all 4 A/C circuit boards and a spare.

we left on a trip last year when it was 115 degrees and it was not ice cold but cool enough. as soon as we got out of 115 degrees it got cold.

i think the roof airs cool better, but there is no real easy way to retrofit mine. the 3 roof airs in my 90 made it very cool inside quickly.

tom

I know zip about them but I would think that one of the greater benefits of the basement air is the noise factor. I have yet to find a roof air that is not noisy. The noise produced by the bedroom roof top units reminds me of a cheap motel room cooled by a wall or window a/c unit. How anyone can sleep with that thing running is beyond me?

[Chester Stone]

Chuck, sorry to say but the my basement air conditioners are anything but quiet. My generator is quieter. Sometime the cool, and too often they do not.

[encantotom]

i agree with chester. they are not all that quiet.

tom

[afrench]

I agree, I would much rather have roof air. My buddies 01' has roof air and its much quiter and efficient.