Chapter 11: Learning To Drive A Motorhome – Part 5 – Driving A Newell – Day 2

Here’s the understatement of the year:

There’s a lot to like about Newell coaches.

In fact any discerning potential purchaser will have a difficult time finding something they don’t like about a specific Newell coach. Possibly, you may not like a specific color scheme or layout, but if you’re building a new coach, Newell will design it just about any way you want and the colors and materials are only limited by your imagination. These custom coach behemoths are built like tanks and deliver a rock-solid feel to the driver and a smooth ride for the passengers.

During my first experience behind the wheel of a 2009 pre-owned Newell coach, even with my limited experience with motorhomes, it didn’t take long for me to learn the difference between a Newell and other brands. Granted, the other brands I’ve sampled to date, with the exception of Prevost conversion models, come with a much lower price tag than a Newell, so the exceptional quality found in Newell coaches is expected.

Considering the coach that was being used for my training sessions was pre-owned and had not yet undergone it’s PDI (pre-delivery inspection) for its future owner, the first thing I noticed was what I didn’t notice…creaks and squeaks. Yes, it was that quiet. In fact, maybe it’s my less than perfect ears, but it seemed I had to be listening carefully to just to hear the sound of the diesel power plant starting to hum when the ignition key was turned to the right.

That brings up a point that I wondered about…

On the 2009 model I drove for two days, I noticed it utilized a GM ignition key. While I’m far from being a motorhome expert, it seems that in this day and age of keyless ignitions, that requiring a key to start the engine is a bit old school. This is something that I’ll pay more attention to as I continue to take future test drives on various models. While it didn’t dawn on me until well after the two-day training session had completed,

I’m now wondering if these are the same ignition mechanisms that caused GM so much trouble recently. If you remember, the weight of the keys on a keychain can cause the ignition to turn off during usage and that issue not only was found to cause multiple loss of life situations, it cost GM quite a bit of money in legal fees and settlement costs. Considering there’s a gray area of NHTSA’s responsibility regarding motorhomes, I’m hoping someone can add the correct answer to this question in the comments.

While I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent with my ignition question, here’s Part 2 of my two-day driving lesson at Newell Coach in Miami, OK. This is now my 5th segment on Learning To Drive A Motorhome. In case you missed the other segments and would like to start from the beginning, you can to my Learn To Drive A Motorhome section to view the videos in sequential order or go to GadgetGuru.com/Motorhomes to view all my motorhome coverage in blog order (newest first).

Here’s my video of Day 2 Of Driving A Newell Coach: