[rheavn]

I'm writing this post for the readers of the forum who are not Newell owners. The forum is a great place to lean on others experiences in fixing and tinkering with things. On the other hand when a non Newell owner reads the forum, he/she might get the impression that Newell owners are constantly having to deal with problems. Therefore I thought I'd reflect on our recent trip of 1700 miles to our favorite resort down on the gulf. The Newell performed absolutely perfectly over eleven days. Some might be surprised considering my coach is now 15 years old. We used every system on the coach, every thing worked and never had to go to the tool box or spend any time diagnosing a problem. Not even a light bulb. The performance of the Newell just made the trip that much more fun! I'm on my fifth year of Newell ownership and couldn't be more pleased.

[Dmatz]

Steve

I am so looking forward to that experience. A Bluebird, and 2 Prevost I was never able to make any trip or even weekend without the tool box coming out for some minor or major reason. Used or new did not seem to make a difference. I have been on both blogs for some time and there is definitely a lot less repair help request here. I know so e has to do with the number of coaches however 6 years and 3 coaches of issues has me very excited to get my Newell! Prevost my be the ultimate as they market it's the ultimate what to be concerned about.

[qcj]

Good point Steve. We seem to talk about only the things that are not working and never about all the things that are working. There are a very small percentage of things that don't work in comparison. I have owned five other motorhomes of other makes and all of them were later years than my 99 Newell. I had many more problem with them than with my Newell and none were near as complicated.

[Fulltiming]

I find that the less frequently I use my Newell, the more things I find that need attention. I guess I am finding and fixing the little things more timely when I use the coach more often.

I will say that my Newell has only had one issue in 7 years that required me to change my plans to get it fixed. I blew the seal between the blower and the turbocharger west of Las Cruces, NM five years ago and although I was able to drive it into El Paso to get it fixed, it took a couple of days. Other than that, my 21 year old coach has always gotten me to my destination on schedule.

[77newell]

We just returned from a 2000 mile round trip to the Georgia coast for a 3 week trip. While I returned home with a short list of things to work on, the tool box stayed in the storage bin while on the trip. Actually, that's not quite accurate; I helped a neighboring motorhomer on his maiden trip deal with a really odd electrical problem. In his case, 1998 Allegro Bus, his Autoformer controls quite working and jacked up his voltage to the point that his battery charger quit charging to protect the batteries from overcharging. The apparent symptom was his charger quit. It took awhile to figure out the charger was doing what it was supposed to do and that the Autoformer had a problem. Other than that my tools stayed put.

While my 77 coach had some problems due to neglect it amazes me the original stuff that still works. Even the Amana Radarange still works. I've gone through many microwaves in my house since 1977, the the one in the coach trundles on. AMAZING! If we stop to think about the stuff that continues to work it truly is remarkable.

[prairieschooner]

maybe we just stay on top of it on our coaches! In my case I am always aware of minor problems and diligent about making the repairs before they become more of a problem.

good points guys!

[whatsnewell]

Yep, deferred maintenance on small stuff can add up pretty quickly, and become major stuff before you know it. Thankfully the two prior owners of our coach never deferred any maintenance no matter how small.....this has made ownership of our 1982 Newell pretty pleasant. Of course it didn't hurt that they kept the coach indoors when not being used.

[rheavn]

Reliability Update: Just returned from a 4,000 mile trip from the Midwest into the N/E part of the country and back. Trip took 3 weeks--1 week we had hookups--the other two weeks we dry camped. We used every coach system extensively. Have to get it ready to go because in two weeks we leave on a trip to the Gulf of Mexico.

The fix it list update:
Must be fixed before we leave again--nothing
Be nice to have it fixed--nothing
Just needs attention--nothing
The only things I have to do is pre scheduled preventative maintenance.

We spent no time in a repair facility and had no delays waiting for me to fix something. I never opened my tool box. WHAT A GREAT TRIP!

[Fulltiming]

Great report Steve. That's the way we like it.

[qcj]

Steve, you just had the trip all of us want and hope we can have. Not all of us do as good a job looking after our coach as you do. We learn a lot from your post. Thanks.