Active Air

[MRUSA14]

Well if money was no object, why not a King Aire?

[SWag]

Originally Posted by MRUSA14

Well if money was no object, why not a King Aire?

Not really crazy about the Essex or King Aire interior styling Mark, just a bit too fancy for our taste. No disrespect to the folks who own these models, there are a lot of great reasons to own them, but we all have our personal preferences. My wife actually requested Newmar to build Ventana cabinet doors and drawer fronts in our Dutch Star, which they agreed to at first but later came back with a no because every piece would be a custom build (sizes are not consistent between the models). Also why we went with only 3 paint colors on our exterior finish and we eliminated the fade. I would also prefer the Freightliner chassis over the Spartan.

I really like the London Aire, not sure my wife would want that styling either though, she may be OK with the Mountain Aire. So perhaps it would be the London Aire with the Mountain Aire cabinetry.

[Scottybdivin]

Swag, since you had active air installed on your previous Ventana, and have recently sold it or traded it, how did it do on resale? Do you feel like you got anything for it in the trade/sale? I am sure CD helps in our MADP, but I still feel the leaning. It's night and day better than pulling a 43' high profile 5th wheel with a F350 DRW, but still could be a lot better. I haven't had the pleasure of driving it anywhere without wind yet. Just trying to determine how long the payoff is for Active Air.

[PDR John]

I agree with you SWag. Our taste sort of ended at the London Aire, it seemed to hit the "perfect for us" without going over the top.

There is a lot to love about Essex and King Aire, but if you're not 100% with it's styling...


I'm just figuring another $10,000 into the price tag on a London Aire, just for Active Air.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by SWag

Not really crazy about the Essex or King Aire interior styling Mark, just a bit too fancy for our taste. No disrespect to the folks who own these models, there are a lot of great reasons to own them, but we all have our personal preferences.

Same here says someone who just went from a DSDP to a CC Magna!! We always said the even if we won the lottery we wouldn't want a London Aire or Essex or King Aire, but I guess our tastes changed.
We ordered the DSDP the way we wanted and all along planned for it to be our final one. Then the DW got so sick that she almost died a couple times and her outlook changed! Why leave all your money for the kids to fight over?

[PDR John]

Originally Posted by Skyskipper

Hey Swag,

We are in the valley of decision to buy the Dutch or the London Air. Is your 450hp enough to tackle the hill while pulling a car? We might an enclosed trailer for the car and some suplies when we go full-time in the future. We can afford the London Aire and like the interior but do want to over kill with 600hp if not needed. Is think we might like the Eye on the bumber (Z Cruse Control) but not sure. Same goes for the Silver Leaf. Do you think the London Aire is worth the feature not counting preference?

What about splitting the difference in the Mountain Aire?

It runs the ISX 500 hp 1550 ft lbs of torque.


Our 450 hp does just fine running down the road at 44,000 lbs, but if I were gain another 10,000 lbs it would be lacking. I've run lots of 6-8% grades without worry.

[SWag]

Originally Posted by Scottybdivin

Swag, since you had active air installed on your previous Ventana, and have recently sold it or traded it, how did it do on resale? Do you feel like you got anything for it in the trade/sale? I am sure CD helps in our MADP, but I still feel the leaning. It's night and day better than pulling a 43' high profile 5th wheel with a F350 DRW, but still could be a lot better. I haven't had the pleasure of driving it anywhere without wind yet. Just trying to determine how long the payoff is for Active Air.

I believe I did quite well on the sale of the Ventana. I had done about $20,000 in upgrades on the coach, everything other than Active Air I purchased the components and my son and I did the installations, so I had done quite a bit. The buyer of my Ventana is a good friend and he was very familiar with all the upgrades and what the Active Air difference was to the coach. I think if I had sold it to another party I would have probably got back half of my Active Air investment. But, quite difficult to know for sure.

I know what you mean about the lean and roll. You have a beautifully handling coach but there is nothing on that chassis that will deal with the roll, the suspension system is passive. Only a system that can actively measure and adjust the suspension is going to help with that part of the ride.

I believe you are up in the Fort Worth area? I would be more than happy to take you out in my Dutch Star to see the system first hand if you come to Houston.

[SWag]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Same here says someone who just went from a DSDP to a CC Magna!! We always said the even if we won the lottery we wouldn't want a London Aire or Essex or King Aire, but I guess our tastes changed.
We ordered the DSDP the way we wanted and all along planned for it to be our final one. Then the DW got so sick that she almost died a couple times and her outlook changed! Why leave all your money for the kids to fight over?

Funny how things change! I just wanted to congratulate you on that new Country Coach. I had a good look at the photos you posted by link and that is one very first class ride, you and your wife are certainly going to be comfortable. For a while there I thought you were going to find a DS 4375 but you've done well and no doubt will be very happy with your choice. Post a few more pics when it's officially yours!

[Scottybdivin]

Originally Posted by SWag

I believe you are up in the Fort Worth area? I would be more than happy to take you out in my Dutch Star to see the system first hand if you come to Houston.

Thank you. That's a very generous offer. We are actually in the Austin area. I will definitely do some more research. 1st I have to figure out how I'm going to choke down the $10K and a week+ long trip. When you are still working full time, those weeks are pretty precious.

[resullivan]

While I really like the concept of the HWH Active Air system, it looks as if they add a lot of equipment/electronics for this system, one of my concerns would be reliability of all this added equipment/components, as I would be adding another complex system to my already complex MH.....does a simple failure in the system leave you inoperable, or are there work arounds??? who is the go to guy at HWH on this system??? any help/advice/comments from those of you who have this system will be appreciated....thanks

[Old Car Nut]

Originally Posted by resullivan

While I really like the concept of the HWH Active Air system, it looks as if they add a lot of equipment/electronics for this system, one of my concerns would be reliability of all this added equipment/components, as I would be adding another complex system to my already complex MH.....does a simple failure in the system leave you inoperable, or are there work arounds??? who is the go to guy at HWH on this system??? any help/advice/comments from those of you who have this system will be appreciated....thanks

I wouldn't worry about the quality of the parts they add or their work. They started in 1967 building parts for tractors. You can't beat up anything more in daily operation than that.
Check them out

[PDR John]

Originally Posted by resullivan

While I really like the concept of the HWH Active Air system, it looks as if they add a lot of equipment/electronics for this system, one of my concerns would be reliability of all this added equipment/components, as I would be adding another complex system to my already complex MH.....does a simple failure in the system leave you inoperable, or are there work arounds??? who is the go to guy at HWH on this system??? any help/advice/comments from those of you who have this system will be appreciated....thanks

Redbaron73 has every contact you would need at HWH, try sending him a PM.

[SWag]

Originally Posted by resullivan

While I really like the concept of the HWH Active Air system, it looks as if they add a lot of equipment/electronics for this system, one of my concerns would be reliability of all this added equipment/components, as I would be adding another complex system to my already complex MH.....does a simple failure in the system leave you inoperable, or are there work arounds??? who is the go to guy at HWH on this system??? any help/advice/comments from those of you who have this system will be appreciated....thanks

I think you'll find the system isn't any more complex than other systems you have on your coach. It's more equipment but I believe it's very reliable. The HWH folks tell me they seldom see failures of any kind and I haven't had a single failure on either of my coaches, they system has worked flawlessly.

I suggest you speak with Paul Hanser, owner of HWH. Call their main number to reach him. You can also try to reach Mitch Shmaltz, Mitch is the lead engineer and has done much of the engineering of the system, he can answer any question you may have.

[resullivan]

I have been in conversation via phone with two of the HWH engineers....they have answered most of my questions technical and otherwise they were very helpful....talked to several other people up there as to how this affects my factory FL 3 year, 50.000 mile chassis warranty...there only comment was "you need to contact FL"....thus far I have been unable to navigate my way thru their auto phone system to talk to someone that can give me any answers to this question....has anybody else looked into the warranty issue??? thanks