[redraider]

I hope to purchase a newell soon. I am not really sure it will ever happen, because truthfully my wife is not very excited about being out on the road very long. We have 10 grandchildren of which the oldest is 8 years old. I have farmed my whole life and my farm was my hobby. I am retiring and my son and brother in law are taking it over. We live 100 miles southwest of Houston, TX so it is a long way to mountains and a lot of other places I  would like to visit. I feel like a 7 day trip would be a waste of time in a motorhome as I would spend way too much time driving. My wife wants to rent a motorhome for a few days to try it out. I do not think you would get much enjoyment out of 3 or 4 days of a rental. comments??

[Richard]

Rent. You will learn SO much in that short period. One or both of you may change your perspective. Rent the nicest thing you can. Whatever you spend will be far less than a buying mistake.

[redraider]

I am all ears.

[Richard]

This is one person’s perspective. There will be many on this forum.

First things first. You and your bride are not in agreement according to your original post. Seems that reaching agreement is the first step before investing 1/4 million in a hobby in which you said you had no experience. Renting a nice RV for a week will give both of you a taste for the RV world. Yes it will be expensive, more expensive than motels and restaurant food, but it will be far less expensive than money you will lose buying and selling an RV. Don’t drive for a week, instead take a fall trip up to the Texas Hill Country. You are collecting a data point, not trying to satisfy your desire to see other places.

Secondly, Newell makes a great product, and I think a used Newell is one of the better bang for the buck motorhomes out there. BUT, these things are not Hondas. The fancier the motorhome, the more things that will need attention. The universal truth is that if you own a motorhome, you WILL work on it. Now being a farmer, you had to have or develop mechanical and electrical skills. That will help tremendously. But be forewarned, you can easily spend 20k on a used motorhome bringing up to snuff, and another 5 to 10 a year for basic repair. Read the entire section in this forum about things to consider when buying a used Newell. There is way too much information there to even think about retyping.

The last two years have seen an explosion in the RV world, and Newell demand and prices have risen right along. The forum has already seen no RV experience folks jump feet first into this world and quickly decide it wasn’t for them.

If it sounds like I am trying to discourage you, I am not. I am trying to help you, as a potential future Newell owner, make an informed decision.

I also encourage my fellow owners to provide their own opinions.

[360]

As someone who's on the other end of the experience continuum from Richard I couldn't agree more with everything he said. Luckily you've got a bunch decent stuff for rent between Houston and Austin along with some great places to go hang out for a week or two. I can't say that we were a house divided, but having a coach was for sure my dream and for her it was something she eventually caved on. For us spending time in a couple rentals helped that process along so we could get on the same page. For me it didn't change anything as my mind was set already on what I wanted and on what was entailed in ownership.

The only thing I might also add is that I'd go for more than 3-4 days. For me the first time we rented we did the 3-4 day thing and having never owned any type of RV it was a bit overwhelming. Thankfully the owner was available for calls/texts to advise me on why my generator wouldn't fire, etc. but it was still a bit of a drinking from a firehose situation. By the time I got home I had that unit pretty well figured out and wished I'd had a few more days. Had I been experienced in basic RV systems that would not have been quite as true.

[Glenn and Laureen]

Welcome Red Raider. With that moniker I assume you are an alumnus of the Guns Up, South Plains variety. I am a 1967 graduate of that fine institution myself.

What Richard said, plus try for about a week on the first trip. Don't be in a rush to get from point A to point B. Give yourself time to get to a site, get set up and test out various things such as the water systems, switching between electrical shore power and batteries, levelling the RV, etc.

My wife and I bought a 1984 Newell a little over 2 years ago. Before that we once owned a tent that we used one time. No RV experience whatsoever. Has been a steep learning curve but it has been fun and in our retirement we have learned to work on RV maintenance projects together. Was not a big money issue for us because we paid not much for our now 37 year old Newell, plus we have close relatives who have been happy owners of a 1982 Newell for several years. I do strongly recommend that you rent something before committing any big money to the idea.

Good luck.

[HoosierDaddy]

We use our Newell to attend events. Last weekend we spent 3 nights at a fairgrounds about 3 hours away with full hookups to attend an automotive show and swap meet. Other times we have attended music festivals, and antique show and swap meets which my wife enjoys. We take trips with the grand kids often… many precious memories made on those trips. Rent an RV and attend an event or other attraction your wife would enjoy. Maybe take the oldest grand child!!

[MrE]

Don't be afraid of an older well maintained Newell, they're built to go over a million miles. Richard and Rhonda have a beautiful 1999 that would take you anywhere you wanted to go in luxury. I bought a 1973 in the mid 90's that I absolutely loved, found a 10 year old receipt that had the mileage at over 500k at that time. No rattles or squeaks, test drove much newer other brands that had lots of rattles and squeaks.

[TJ Clark]

So many great comments.

I did what Richard and the others are saying. I rented many RV's over the last 10 years. I've owned POPUPS, travel trailers, toy haulers car trailer/RV combos. The RV previous to my Newell was a 1984 SCAMP.

I rented a teardrop, and a Winnebago Revel in the last 4 years.

The YouTube channel Keep Your Daydream has a fine presentation on the subject of RV'ing with your partner.

https://youtu.be/-7MAuiLhI8I




I picked the Newell because of the quality and chose a class A because I'm not into "camping" as much as I just have itchy feet that need grounds to stomp on. The class A is an apartment on wheels. The Newell is a Park Avenue apartment.


Cheers.