TRW Comfort Drive on Spartan Chassis

[rebelsbeach]

I wondered if there are any owners of '07 Newmar products with the Comfort Drive and if so,what has been your experience?

[rebelsbeach]

I wondered if there are any owners of '07 Newmar products with the Comfort Drive and if so,what has been your experience?

[RV Wizard]

Bob, if anything rides better than my old Spartan Mountain Master chassis and is quieter than the aerodynamic front end I have, I would fall asleep at the wheel! Actually I have had to stop sometimes and move around, get a cup of coffee and years ago when I drove many miles in one weekend took a nap before continuing on. And now they have something Better? If it is on what you are getting at the end of the month, I would expect so! Congrats and enjoy!

[Lug_Nut]

Only thing I can say Bob, is when you first drive a Newmar with the TRW Comfort Drive it is quite strange. At stopped or near stopped it feels like the steering wheel is not connected as it's so extremely light. Backing up is a whole new experience as it seeks to back straight, much different than a normal vehicle in reverse that due to caster affect wants to go either way but never straight.
It's going to take some getting use to, but I think it is a great feature. Imagine never needing to constantly apply corrective pressure to maintain heading in a stiff cross wind or steep crown.
We'll wait to hear your experience and thoughts after you have driven your for a run or two.

[rebelsbeach]

Peter,
I CAN'T WAIT!!

Just arrived at Disney,after doing the I95 shuffle for the better part of two days....
The IFS on the Vectra is certainly an improvement over the '04 Journey I had, but I'm
smacking my lips waiting for the chance to roll that Essex.....

[rebelsbeach]

This time tomorrow I will be checking out the TRW Comfort Drive for the very first time!!!

The PDI is scheduled for Thursday morning,but we will hopefully arrive on Wednesday evening before closing time...Watch this forum and the Newmar forum for pictures and updates on my opinion on owning my first Spartan!!

[Doc Mark]

I drove it Monday on a 2007 MADP. Awesome! Dead straight, wheel turn with 1 finger! It is revolutionary.

Well done Newmar.

[rebelsbeach]

Mark,my delivery was put off a day so maybe I can get to drive it on Friday....

Coach was not out of the body shop for the rock chip as of this morning,so will go down tomorrow afternoon and PDI Friday instead of tomorrow....

Love reading the good comments IRT to the Comfort Drive though...

[rebelsbeach]

More tomorrow......just got home.....WOW WOW WOW!!!

[rebelsbeach]

Had the occassion to really "work" the coach around today, both on the Interstate as well as when I got to my satellite internet install appointment... I've been there before, but today was a bit different, as I was now in a 45'er!!

NO WORRIES!!!!

I'll sort of go backwards and tell you about my arrival experience,as it's shorter, ( I THINK!!) than the "in route" experience...

The satellite dealer is at the end of a road, where there's a turn around or "cul de sac" as we call them here. When you get to the end of the road, you either enter the lot, or use the turn around and go back the way you came.... I discussed with the installer the fact that I was arriving in a 45 and was told to simply park in the cul de sac,as it's a dead end... What he didn't say was there were TWO travel trailers in the cul de sac, one at 3 o'clock and one at 9 o' clock in the circle... OH BOY!!
Well.... turns out that's NO problem for the Comfort Drive and the tag dump coupled together as I simply made a wide enough swing to where I lined my rear end up as I headed out,then noticed that the steering wheel wasn't moving wildly, but it had stopped at dead where I was lined up....I put the coach in reverse and WOW!!! I backed straight along a track and was there!!

On the way out, I made several lane changes and was amazed at the lack of effort needed by me to hold the coach straight... As I get better at relaxing with this thing, I can "feel" the stress level reducing!! This is really only my second day of having the coach on the road, the first day was mostly long distance Interstate travel and today was "off and on" Interstate, with even some commercial district maneuvering slipped in....

Looking forward to getting on the road Saturday and pointing my pride and joy towards Tennessee!!

I'm thinking I won't be wiped out at the end of the day and THAT'S a GOOD THING!!!

["007"]

Hope you don't get too relaxed and fall asleep, it doesn't have auto pilot does it, your baby sure has everything else.

[rebelsbeach]

Sorry I've been so busy here at the iTV2 National Rally that I just realized this morning I forgot to post my initial long trip driving experience!!

We left Virginia Beach this past Saturday morning and headed up I-64 to I-81, heading for an overnight stay near the VA/TN border...

I stand amazed at the ability of the Comfort Drive to essentially take all the worry out of driving the coach, whether it's wind deflection due to natural wind or even the trucks buffeting you.
There is no "pain" in lane changes due to the crowning of the road,as the Comfort Drive seemed to adjust rather quickly to the lane changes.

I found myself driving with the arm rests down and needing only the thumb and index finger of each hand on the wheel to keep it on the road....Coming from an old fire apparatus "two fisted" driver, this is a REAL CHANGE for me!!

Maneuvering the coach in the campground was made easier,especially when I had to back OUT of the inclined space we were placed in... I simply found my wife in the mirror, set the steering wheel where she pointed and let go... The coach tracked as promised right toward the target area... (and that was NOT my wife!!)

I would encourage anyone that has any questions about this systems ability to get to a Newmar dealer and test it for yourself!!

["007"]

You should have seen Bob move that coach around the hilly campground he got trapped in, in Bristel,TN.

[rebelsbeach]

This will be long....

OK folks....this will be on the Comfort Drive and as little as possible about the rest of the coach if possible....

As a matter of necessity, since we lost the radiator cooling fan, we were towed to a Cummins repair facility in Knoxville,TN. I left Knoxville in the coach on Tuesday afternoon at 4 PM and drove straight to Wilmington, NC to "make" my already scheduled Wednesday warranty appointment. I then drove from Wilmington, NC home to Virginia Beach today.

I must confess that I was a bit apprehensive about driving 8 straight hours in a coach, but the performance of the Comfort Drive made it WAAAY better than any "conventional" coach I've ever experienced...

I was so comfortable driving this coach that once I got my seat and the steering wheel set, I could steer the coach with my elbows resting on the arm rest and only using my thumb and forefinger most of the time...Every now and then I added one more finger to make a lane change or ninety degree turn.
I actually experiemented with something....On I-40 through North Carolina the road is dead straight for long periods...In several instances when there was no one around, I took my hands straight up off the wheel and let the coach do it's thing...As long as I was tracking a straight line in the lane, the darn coach just went straight....REALLY COOL!!!

Lane changes were pretty much effortless, as the Comfort Drive caught up with the crown so quick.
No more buffeting by the big trucks or the wind, as the Comfort Drive takes that away too...

When I got to Howard I simply pulled way to one side and swung around, lining the rear of the coach up with where I wanted to place it....I let the wheel go and placed the tranny in reverse.

What I also noticed, even after the eight hour marathon drive, was that although I was tired from the ride, my shoulders and back were not sore, like they'd been so many times...

THANK YOU TRW and Newmar for this GREAT innovation in steering technology!!!

Thanks to YOU Ken as well!!!

I'll have some more thoughts I'm sure, just what I can think of right now.....would be happy to try and answer any specific questions too...