We did it! We just signed the paperwork to purchase our full time RV. In Part 2 of choosing a full time RV, we pretty much decided to go with a Newmar, either a Mountain Aire or London Aire. Well, we ended up buying an RV that wasn’t on the list. We bought a 2016 Newmar Essex. Why an Essex when the highest Newmar we were considering was a London Aire? Partly because of a few nice features I’ll detail below, but mainly because of the price. The dealer came down to a point where a 2016 Essex was costing only 3% more than a 2017 London Aire, yet the MSRP is 15% higher. Since the differences from the 2016 model year to 2017 are minimal, we jumped on it. The unit we bought also had upgraded flooring, wireless charging, and upgraded cabinet finishes.
If you’re debating between a London Aire and an Essex, which should you get? At a 15% premium there is no way to justify the Essex. Just get the London Aire and you’ll be happy. But we thought it’s worth a 3% premium. Here are the differences:
- 220 volt dryer vs. 110 volt. This is very nice. Drying clothes in a 110 volt RV dryer is a multi-hour process vs. 220 volts is what you have at home.
A 220 volt dryer decreases drying time significantly
- Manabloc plumbing vs. none. Manabloc is a “home run” type plumbing system where all PEX lines go into a single manifold with shutoff valves for every zone. If you develop a water leak in, say, the line to the refrigerator, you turn that zone off and continue your trip. Without Manabloc, if you can’t find and fix the leak, you turn water off to the entire coach.
The Manabloc System allows you to shut off water to specific locations
- Direct tire pressure monitoring system vs. none. Big plus because the aftermarket TPMS systems for RVs suck. I’ve tried two manufactures (TireMinder and TST) and both had so many false alarms you eventually turned the entire system off. Safety tip: When you’re hauling 40,000+ pounds down the road, you need to be monitoring both the pressure and temperature of every tire.
- Power tilt & extend steering column vs. manual. This is actually nice only because the manual version never worked well.
- Memory settings for seats, mirrors and steering column vs. none. This is nice if you have two drivers, which we do.
- Girard slide toppers vs. Dometic slide toppers. The Girard slide toppers have a brush system that supposedly clears off debris while closing the slides. If this works as designed, and if you camp in areas with trees over your slides, this could be handy. I’ll update after we use them for a few months.
- 270 amp alternator vs. 240 amp.
- Then a bunch of stuff I can’t yet comment on due to its qualitative nature, such as “nicer” finishes, “softer” leathers, “better” carpentry (dovetail vs. staple & glue), etc. Here is a quote from a Newmar brochure on one Essex advantage over the London Aire, “All wood finishes include a 3 day, 6 step process including hand sanding twice, vs. a 1 day, 4 step single hand sanding process”. I didn’t notice any difference in the woodwork from a quick walk through of both an Essex and a London Aire.
