Community Forums

Fasteddie08 · 09-15-2014, 05:42 PM

We are looking to trade-in and step up to the Cornerstone or London air. The Hersey show gave us the opportunity to look at the both of them. Already being an Anthem owner, we kind of knew what to expect out of the Cornerstone. Yet, it is still a very impressive motor coach.

However, the London Aire was also a great looking coach. We were especially attracted to the beautiful bathroom they have. It's really awesome. I also like the way the whole front end of the coach comes out with a touch of a button for generator and other maintenance needs. Things seem to be easily accessible when the front end is open like that.

Though I thought that the half bath door was unique in its design in the way it operated, it seemed to rattle a lot when it was closed, might be a slight concern but not a deal breaker.
The wash bay and power cord bay were ok. I thought the electrical panel in the drivers front bay was cleaner than the Entegra, but again make no difference to me. That's all personal preference.

Gotta love that coach monitoring system. it really can't get better than that, they did a great job.
Total monitoring of your batteries, inverters, black and gray water, electronic dump valves, No need to get out of the coach the empty or black or gray tank, and all from a touch screen! Amazing! Are you listening Entegra.

What was noticeable to me were the cargo bay doors. When I put my hand on the top of the cargo bay door on the London Aire and shook it back-and-forth the bottom of the door bends. If you try that on the Cornerstone bay door, it doesn't move at all. Again not a dealbreaker as I've never heard that Newmar had a problem with their cargo bay doors.

I did like the drivers seat area slightly more than the Entegra, mainly because it was a new view for me after all the hours driving mine. But I thought that a Entegra had better furniture. It just seemed bigger than the Newmar.

It's going to be hard for me to move away from the Spartan chassis to a Freightliner, especially with the 600 hp in it. All of Newmar's top coaches the King Aire and the Essex all have Spartan K3 chassis. Next step is the test drive, so I will actually get a chance to see if the "comfort drive" is everything they say. Again, not a dealbreaker for me, as I have absolutely no problem driving Anthem many hours.

Got some numbers back for the London Aire and it was $30,000 more expensive than the cornerstone prices we received. Not in the negotiating process yet but will keep you posted

I would like to see what the 2016 Cornerstone looks like. As I heard there are changes forthcoming in that model. I hope they make changes and keep up with Newmar's willingness to make changes.

Overall two very beautiful and great coaches it's going to be a tough decision. My heart is with Entegra but, if they don't make some changes it looks like it might be the Newmar.

Time will tell.....

univmd · 09-15-2014, 06:02 PM

Did you happen to notice if the height of the basement storage area is greater on the London Aire? We like the full wall slide of the London Aire. Do they both have the same size 365 tires? Is it true that Cornerstone has air leveling and London Aire does not?

Fasteddie08 · 09-15-2014, 06:07 PM

No, I just gave a glance, the door might be larger but still the cross beam through the coach is what I worry about. again not a deal breaker, that's just personal preference stuff. We don't full time RV, just family vacations so if one is larger than the other is no concern, both have significant under storage, Entegra appears to have more storage space from an initial look.

MRUSA14 · 09-15-2014, 06:40 PM

What you said about air levelling is correct.

zman62 · 09-15-2014, 07:48 PM

Having been an entegra owner I looked hard at the cornerstone and london aire when we upgraded. We felt the london aire was much better for us. The basement is 11 inches taller. Its the same height as the king aire. This was huge for us not having to hit my head on the slides. I am a wiring qeek and I was always bothered with entegras wiring. Everywhere I looked the newmar had nice tight wiring. In my opinion i think the experience of newmar shows. They have been building these things a long time. Entegra has come a long ways in 5 years. They are pushing other manufactures that have decades more experience so my hat is of to them. We just felt at this stage the spread was huge which is why we jumped to the london aire. Also I got agressive quotes on both and it ended up being just a little cheaper going the newmar route.

I must say, it has been so awesome being able to make changes to make it better for us which is not possible with entegra.

Fasteddie08 · 09-15-2014, 08:10 PM

I don't care about the wiring. I am not going to wire the coach, I only care about being able to locate and replace fuses if needed. and you can do that easily on both coaches. Our Anthem has been a great coach, no problems what so ever. I do like that rear bathroom and the monitoring system on the London Aire. the full wall side is nice but I don't know how much that will affect our decision.

hogdriver · 09-15-2014, 08:15 PM

I'm interested in the comparisons. I like competition. So far I'm leaning a Cornerstone next, but I gotta admit Newmar makes a nice RV. I'm sitting out this round.

oneal · 09-16-2014, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hogdriver

, but I gotta admit Newmar makes a nice RV. .

I'm there too Dave. Keep us posted Fasteddie on your choice.

RRDefector · 09-16-2014, 04:57 AM

Have to admit... I may be in a similar situation.. We loved the anthem. Then Dw snuck on board a Cornerstone when my back was turned. Well... You know how that one works out. I do like comparing the Cornerstone to the London air as as in all Newmar/entegra comparisons similar models always price out 30+ K higher for newmar with less standards than entegra. Newmar keeps getting my eye as I can customize if i like and we do want things not offered by entegra. so atm.. After market pricing and research fills my days. At any rate.. It may be a longer wait for us than we had hoped.. Thats fine tho.. More time to dig deeper.

One thing thats always Red Flags me with Entegra is the placement of the Parking Brake. I do not like it at low level as it is in all models. I like Newmar placement much better. I have nightmares of Dw hitting it or my Dachshund( believe me he is strong enough to activate it) Ive went so far as to trying to develop a key to lock it in place similar to my table power saws.

Perhaps i have way to much time on my hands ... Lol.. Be interested in any opinions.

Robert & Jana Stanton... Birthing a 2015 Anthem.

RRDefector · 09-16-2014, 05:02 AM

Btw... Maybe its just me.. But Entegras furniture and cabinetry win out everytime we tour. Something feels off to us about the Newmars after being in the Entegras. Although we know the quality is there with both company's and you can't beat the Amish for attention to detail... Newmar always seems to have a "Plasticy" feel to our eye. Think its the high gloss... Something neither one of us are fans of?

Robert & Jana Stanton... Birthing a 2015 Anthem.

MRUSA14 · 09-16-2014, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RRDefector

One thing thats always Red Flags me with Entegra is the placement of the Parking Brake. I do not like it at low level as it is in all models. I like Newmar placement much better. I have nightmares of Dw hitting it or my Dachshund( believe me he is strong enough to activate it) Ive went so far as to trying to develop a key to lock it in place similar to my table power saws.

A number of people have fabricated a safety lock for the brake knob. It seems to be a simple thing to fabricate, and quite effective.

RRDefector · 09-16-2014, 05:43 AM

Great... Yeah... I know it would be a simple thing and does not steer me away from Entegra.

Robert & Jana Stanton... Birthing a 2015 Anthem.

ken n deb · 09-16-2014, 05:46 AM

We also have been thru this whole decision process. Every coach is a compromise. Deciding which features are most important was difficult and we have a fairly long list of pluses & minuses for each coach. Once we outfitted a London Aire w/all the options we wanted we started thinking "dang, maybe we should look at an Essex (in addition to upgrades fit & finish seemed substantially better)" (great sales strategy, by the way...option you right on up to the next level...it works!).
In the end a 2 year warranty, Hadley Air, Spartan chassis, Samsung appliances, a floor plan we liked, and a number of smaller differences and personal opinions (slide out the kitchen counter and feel the difference, all doors and drawers tight no squeaks no rattles, LA first year new model issues?, 'bang for the buck', understated décor vs. 'bling', a couple of personal recommendations, etc) tipped the scales and we now await (impatiently!) delivery of our new Cornerstone!
Yes, we'll be doing some mods, it's not perfect.
We know this whole post could easily be turned around to be 'waiting for a London Aire' so I guess what I really want to say is that we could live in luxury in any one of these beasts, and we all should feel fortunate and blessed to be able to even be having this discussion! There's a great country out there waiting to be explored. Good luck in your decision. Ken P.S. IRV2 rocks!

brobox · 09-16-2014, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RRDefector

One thing thats always Red Flags me with Entegra is the placement of the Parking Brake. I do not like it at low level as it is in all models. I like Newmar placement much better. I have nightmares of Dw hitting it or my Dachshund( believe me he is strong enough to activate it) Ive went so far as to trying to develop a key to lock it in place similar to my table power saws.

Perhaps i have way to much time on my hands ... Lol.. Be interested in any opinions.

Robert & Jana Stanton... Birthing a 2015 Anthem.

I have bumped the one on my Travel Supreme (same location) many times and it is one of those things, when you hit it....it will get your attention with the noise. I have heard of people using a simple cloths pin as a lock.