If you were buying...

[grusco]

What would you want to know about a particular coach if you were buying today? This forum is fabulous. It has brought to mind some issues I'd have never thought of. Here's a few things I think might be important.


Age of tires (not miles but actual manufacture date as listed on sidewal)
Age of airbags
Age of batteries
last service date
Lived in or not
engine performance (milage, oil consumption)

These are a few obvious issues. Once I found this information I'd come back to this forum and ask for your opinion on what service issues I might face in the near and long term. I'd love to have your input based on actual Newell experience.

Thank you Newell owners for this most valuable and interesting resource for us wannabes!

[jwe648]

One big one for me would be "Water Damage" from leaking windows, plumbing..ect.

What would you want to know about a particular coach if you were buying today? This forum is fabulous. It has brought to mind some issues I'd have never thought of. Here's a few things I think might be important.


Age of tires (not miles but actual manufacture date as listed on sidewal)
Age of airbags
Age of batteries
last service date
Lived in or not
engine performance (milage, oil consumption)
These are a few obvious issues. Once I found this information I'd come back to this forum and ask for your opinion on what service issues I might face in the near and long term. I'd love to have your input based on actual Newell experience.

Thank you Newell owners for this most valuable and interesting resource for us wannabes!

[encantotom]

not sure some of those would be on my list.

mileage.....if ya care about that, you should buy a hybrid car. mileage is what it is. 6-7mpg for 8v92, a little more for 6v92, around that for the series 60. if i thought about how much it cost to drive, i wouldnt drive the old girl. we spent the summer of 2008 touring when fillups were well over $1000. we just looked at it like how much is the points we are getting on the credit card....

age of things is a nice thing to know, but if the price of the coach is right and everything else is ok, not an issue. front tires you should replace 3 years or so, batteries might last years or a year as some have found out on the site. depends on lots of things.

lived in or not. i would have had that on my list at first, but after seeing a number of the coaches of fulltimers on this site i wouldnt let that be a key decision point. fulltimers take care of their babies and part timers may or may not. i could ask wally, michael, or a number of other folks when they changed the fuel filter or changed the water filter cartridge and they could tell me.

i know there has been a lot of discussion on airbags on the site lately. if you are buying a coach, you are likely to get one that has original airbags. a receipt saying they are newer would be great, but again, not a key point for me.

oil consumption. thats why on the 8v92's there is a FIVE GALLON reservoir to put oil in with. mine doesnt leak a drop, and i just put in the oil i need when it needs it. the newer engines probably dont use as much, but big rig diesels use oil. some more than others.

service date....kinda, for me, proof of consistent service for the drive train, and the rest of coach is the key item.

i do fluid samples and keep track by having them analyzed. but single samples may or may not provide any value. only if there is something really wrong.

when you buy one of our rigs, there will almost always be something about to wear out, something that the previous owner didnt care about so they didnt fix it, or something you want to change just cause....

darlene wanted the corian counter side inlay changed. now it is black instead of blue. (i will do it for you for only $5k).

i am not shutting you down on what is important to you, but just giving my free advice.

when i was shopping for mine, i paid too much attention to things that didnt matter.

if it looks nice, and is clean and has some evidence of being well maintained, and you drive it and it drives nice, and you like it. that is the key.

one of the things many of us do is help each other with advice on newbies buying. so feel free to call or contact any of us when you are actually looking at things. you will not find everything that doesnt work (ask russ), but you will feel better about alot of things.

for the newer electronic DDEC engines, you can take it to a dealer and have them check the codes in the computer. i have one for DDEC1 and DDEC2 if you are in my area. russ took his to a detroit dealer and had it checked out and dyno'd....(really cool).

get other opinions and ask lots of questions.

if you dont feel comfortable about it, run away. (ask steve mcg).

it is nice to get things that are recently new like the things you mentioned, but in a few years they will need replacing again. so if the price is right, you can get new yourself.

as wally says....thats my 2 cents worth and i am sticking to it.

tom

[fulltiming]

Concur with Tom's comments.

[Richard and Rhonda]

Hi Gene,

Welcome to the forum.

I also agree with Tom. Newell's are well engineered and almost everything can be fixed.

Here is my list.

Floorplan. If it doesn't work for you, walk away. It's really expensive to change the floor plan.

Wife/Spouse/Significant Other. Do they like the layout and colors? Or do you plan on an interior rework right away?

Mechanicals. Have the engine and tranny checked by a Detroit Diesel shop or a mechanic you trust.

Water ingress. Not common, but nasty if you have to fix it.

AC and Heating systems need to perform properly. All are repairable, just takes time and money.

Drive. How does it drive to you?

Fridge. There is much debate on this one. We like the all electric because we like the big fridge and the fact it will cool down in hours. The downside is it will only run overnight off the battery bank, so extended boondocking means running the gennie. The gas fridges tend to be smaller, and take a day to cool down from ambient, but they will run forever on gas. So take your boondocking needs into consideration when you think all electric or propane options.

Size. Do you want a 45 for the space, or a 38 to get in tighter campgrounds.


None of us are saying your origninal list wasn't a good one. What we have learned through ownership and a lot of greasy knuckles is that just about anything on a Newell can be fixed by parts obtainable at any truck supply, Home Depot, or McMaster Carr catalog. (Tom likes Grainger, he gets a discount) If you buy a classic, they do require work. All coaches require work whether new or classic.

Good luck in your search. Do you have a vintage that you are interested in? Owners of those particular years can zero in on specific things to look for.

[prairieschooner]

I agree with Richard and Tom, choose the colors that are pleasing, find the layout that works best for you.
Then before you buy I would get a look at the roof and whatever equipment is up there. Next get an evaluation of the underside, best to use a knowledgeable mechanic here and make sure that the coach is blocked prior to anyone crawling around under there.
Look closely at the sub-floors, leaky plumbing can wreak havoc. Test all of the equipment more than once, when I inspect yachts I turn things like air conditioning systems on and leave them on during the inspection. Take a long look at the coach from the inside and outside for any possible issues.

:thumbsup:Lastly I would recommend a 1982 38' Classic! my favorite Newell.:thumbsup:

[rheavn]

Gene,
You said in a prior post that you are trying to decide between a Newell & a Foretravel. You first have to compare apples to apples & oranges to oranges. Not all Newells are the same. Newell has very distinct eras where the coaches were built with different engines, different heating & cooling systems, slides-no slides etc. Without you stating what era coach you are interested in, my list of things I would be looking for is only three items. Things like tires, batteries, maintenance records, and even price were not important to me until I was focused on a specific coach. Here are the three items, in no special order, that were the most important items to me when I was deciding which era Newell I wanted to buy.

1. Wife/Spouse/Significant Other. Do they like the layout and colors?
2. Wife/Spouse/Significant Other. Do they like the layout and colors?
3. Wife/Spouse/Significant Other. Do they like the layout and colors?

I walked away from many coaches that failed this test. In learning what she liked I learned what I liked. After a 2+ year search we made the right decision.
This forum is a great source for getting information on Newells of specific eras. You can talk to owners first hand. Once you have decided on coaches from any era the next best source of info is seeing & touching them first hand. For me the most valuable source of info was the Newell factory.

Good luck in your comparison & decision.

[zcasa]

Steve, love it. Still laughing. She is too.

David

[chockwald]

Steve wrote: " In learning what she liked I learned what I liked."

This is THE secret to a happy marriage.......

[Wally Arntzen]

My 1988 coach now has over 200,000 miles and has the original air bags and I have no concern at all of problems with them. I put new maintanance free 8 D batteries in 6 years ago and installed the pulser gagets and expect to get 10 years out of them.
My thought is if you have a good woman, duct tape and a Newell coach you got it made and go anywhere with a minum of problems.

Just bite the bullet and go get one.