Newmar and the Hershey RV Show

K-Star · 09-14-2008, 05:36 AM

I went to the RV show in Hershey on Friday. It is supposed to be one of the largest in the country. I went with the express desire to look at the new 5th Wheel products from Newmar and Doubletree (the 2 that I have my future choice narrowed down to).

The first 5ers I saw were the new Entegra 5ers. I was wondering if they would have any 5th wheels as TS was one of my choices for a new 5er when the time comes. They had 2 units there. The Emblem which is a new model from Entegra (maybe a few floorplans from the Jayco lineup). They also had an Avante 5er. What a beautiful coach. They said it was from the "old" TS Select lineup. This one currently has 3 floorplans but more are to appear shortly. I was also very impressed with Doubletree.

Why am I writing this here? This show is a Manufacturer show. Newmar only brought Cypress 5ers and a boat load of MH's. Not that Cypress is a bad coach, it is just not the coach we are looking at. I looked at a Torrey Pine when they first came out and was not impressed at all with the quality. I was curious to see if the quality had improved. As much as I like the other brands, we would prefer to stay with Newmar as we never had a serious problem with any of our Newmar 5er's. Guess this reaffirms my belief that Newmar is abandoning the 5er market in favor of the MH market.

K-Star · 09-14-2008, 05:36 AM

I went to the RV show in Hershey on Friday. It is supposed to be one of the largest in the country. I went with the express desire to look at the new 5th Wheel products from Newmar and Doubletree (the 2 that I have my future choice narrowed down to).

The first 5ers I saw were the new Entegra 5ers. I was wondering if they would have any 5th wheels as TS was one of my choices for a new 5er when the time comes. They had 2 units there. The Emblem which is a new model from Entegra (maybe a few floorplans from the Jayco lineup). They also had an Avante 5er. What a beautiful coach. They said it was from the "old" TS Select lineup. This one currently has 3 floorplans but more are to appear shortly. I was also very impressed with Doubletree.

Why am I writing this here? This show is a Manufacturer show. Newmar only brought Cypress 5ers and a boat load of MH's. Not that Cypress is a bad coach, it is just not the coach we are looking at. I looked at a Torrey Pine when they first came out and was not impressed at all with the quality. I was curious to see if the quality had improved. As much as I like the other brands, we would prefer to stay with Newmar as we never had a serious problem with any of our Newmar 5er's. Guess this reaffirms my belief that Newmar is abandoning the 5er market in favor of the MH market.

Lug_Nut · 09-14-2008, 06:02 AM

John, I don't know if that would be true or not. Shows throughout the country are expensive and cost both manufacturers and dealers a good chunk of change. Therefore it is not surprising, given the economy and market state, that limited space and product may be a noticable result. Newmar, as far as I know, build only to order. Either to a dealer spec for stock or an end user. I would think 5ers are, on a per unit basis, out selling class A diesel coaches. It is then possible that the 5er production is such that stock units are limited for such use.

It is too bad that you were disappointed that the unit you wanted to view was not there. And I certainly understand that. I went to a boat show, quite a large one in Toronto, this week. My purpose was to look at the vendor items, not boats. It was, however toted as having in-the-water boats from 18' to 60'

Well first, the bigggest boat was 58' and there was only one that size. There were maybe 7 or 8 42' to 52', the rest much smaller. There were no real marine vendors, save insurance agents, T shirt sales, holiday yacht charters and the like. Needless to say I was disappointed. I left and drove to a West Marine and had more quality fun there.

Perhaps you could contact dealers in your area and see who's getting one in you can check out. Alternatively, if you don't mind the drive, you may be able to arrange to view one at the factory. I've done that before too. Because it's a big buck to shell out and you need to see them up close to properly evaluate their quality and if it will suit your lifesyle and needs.

Best of luck.

Peter

MT flyfisher · 09-14-2008, 06:47 AM

My wife and I bought a 2008 Kountry Aire 5th wheel this past spring in upstate NY and have been staying in it in MT since the end of May.

Although we have a home just a few miles from Hershey, we havn't been in PA during September for a number of years so we've been unable to attend that show recently. However, I would have been disappointed, as you were, if I had gone there and did not see the full line-up of Newmar's 5th wheels, including the 2009 Kountry Aire model. (We did pick up the 2009 literature for the Kountry Aire at the factory in Nappannee when we stopped there en route to MT in late May.)

We've been so happy with our Kountry Aire that I'm already contemplating buying a new one a couple years down the road, so I hope they do not discontinue producing this model and 5th wheels. It certainly wasn't without its defects (no new RV is), but after comparing it to every other top-of-the-line 5th wheel on the market, we felt this model gave us the most value for the $$.

Incidentally, I see you also have a 2008 F450. We also have the same model truck, which we bought just before we got our 5th wheel. It drives, and tows the trailer, wonderfully. Fuel consumption, however, is another subject...

John

jojolima · 09-14-2008, 09:24 AM

The question regarding the future of Newmar 5th wheels was asked at the Newmar Kountry Klub Rally in DuQuoin. Here are the facts:

85% of Newmar business is motorhomes.

They have NO INTENTION of giving up 15% of their business. They frankly need every unit that they can sell. Matt Miller personally said that they plan to develop new designs for the 5th wheel market.

I have heard discussion that the Kountry Aire might be dropped. They only make a very few of these units each year.

Brigadoon · 09-14-2008, 02:50 PM

We also attended the "largest rv show". It certainly was big but no match for the supershow in Tampa in January.

We went to look at Newmar, Tiffen and Country Coach. Newmar and Tiffen did not disappoint, but Country Coach was a no show- just a big open area where they were supposed to be displayed.

No problem though, the wife still wants a Mountain Aire.

K-Star · 09-14-2008, 05:56 PM

I can certainly understand the economics of providing many coached during these trying times. BUT. They were able to bring 5 of 6 Cypress 5ers. I think they could have mixed it up a bit. Oh well. Just my opinion.

If I cannot actually see a floorplan I won't buy a coach. One just cannot tell from a piece of paper. It may look good on the paper but when you see it live; it may not work. Maybe another show at another time.

shirlock1 · 09-15-2008, 02:58 AM

I too went to the Hershey show and was a bit disappointed. Yes looking at the new coaches was interesting but I have a coach that I plan to keep and wanted to talk to some of the component venders. I did not find much interesting inside in the component area.

Jetsmania · 09-16-2008, 04:54 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Country Coach was a no show- just a big open area where they were supposed to be displayed. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Hi! Before anyone reads the Country Coach thing the wrong way, ... I was told that the show is very strict for years about arrival times. They stop allowing display units to enter after 5:00 PM on the last setup day. CC got there much later that night. They were denied entrance. They sent all there coaches back to where they came from except one Veranda model that was on the test track. I was told Newmar had a strong show. Paul

RV7255 · 09-29-2008, 06:36 AM

Just as a clarification you are correct the Hershey show is a manufacturers show, however it is the dealers that have to buy the inventory for the entire show. So my guess would be that either the dealer carrying the product at the show didn't carry those particular lines or scaled back to limit the amount of $$$ they were investing due to how tumultuous the economy has been. It is unfortunate that you were not able to see what you were looking at though.