[Burlyman]

Steve it seems as though you could be brothers. He too is used to being good at things and he's a perfectionist to boot. It's difficult with this 3 ring circus he's hitched to. No regrets so far on your purchase?

You seem to have assuaged my fear of mountain driving with plenty of power. We have a 2022 Hyundai Palisade but it has AWD so that doesn't work because he doesn't want to purchase a trailer you put the entire vehicle onto. He thinks at most a dolly with front wheels up or else a flat tow. He's concerned about needing to unhook a trailer and potentially move by hand (alone) in case of a tight spot.  We also have bigger and smaller vehicles but that's the size vehicle we need for travel so I guess we will need to trade that for something else that is about the same weight. All that to say we would be pulling that through the mountains in Mexico.

Once we hit the border it's only about 3 hours until we've ascended 5000 feet. 3000 feet of that is within 85 kilometers. It's brutal and unpredictable.

This unit has 270 gals of diesel and 150 fresh with 150 black/grey. There's some real appeal there for a woman who worries about everything.

If it's ok, I may have him reach out with any questions because it seems as though you both have the same skillset.

Blessings

Julie, I will send a PM to you with my phone number and your husband is welcome to call or text.  I'm still new to the Newell, but certainly not new to RVing.  I'll answer whatever questions I can. 

To Simon's point about $10k a year on maintenance, I haven't experienced quite that level of investment, but my wife and I have a couple of sayings... One is "It's not really an RV trip until something breaks", which we got a chuckle over when we were nearly home on our maiden voyage after nearly 1500 miles of driving and 15 minutes from home, my wiper quit working. The other saying is "budget an extra $500 to $1000 each trip because things happen".  They don't always happen, thankfully.  But we've had a fridge die on us in the middle of a trip (not the Newell) and that was a $900 repair. 

In the 4 RVs we've had since we started RVing, none have had slideouts.  It's not something I ever wanted because of potential malfunction or leaks, and it's not something that we felt we needed.  Don't get me wrong, they are nice to have.  If we lived in the coach full-time, I might change my mind, however, that was one of the things that I appreciate about the older Newells... They are simpler.  They get much more complex as they get newer.  My 50 amp cord doesn't self-retract at the push of a button.  I roll it up.  But that's one less motor to replace when it dies.  My entry door has a hinge and a latch, not an air-actuated "Star Trek" door.  As cool as those are, I'll take the standard door.  

To your comment about the 270 gallon fuel tank... I have a hair over 300 gallons on mine and when we drive through the middle of nowhere for hours at a time, there is a lot of peace of mind knowing that you can go 1000+ miles and not have to think about where the next fuel station is.  Same with the large fresh water/holding tank, considering the amount of bodies you'll be transporting.  

These days, it's generally just my wife and I traveling together, but the Newell has an incredible amount of storage, not just inside the coach but also down in the basement.  I've never seen a coach so well laid out for storing things and long term liveability.