judatt Report post Posted November 13, 2015 Greetings, everyone. We acquired our Newmar Mountain Aire 4523 yesterday. Still trying to get a lot of things sorted out. I am retiring Dec 4 so have about 3 weeks of work left and we plan to leave on Dec 7 on our first trip. We have made the decision not to tow a vehicle on this first trip. Decided we just need to get used to driving the 45' MH and when we return in mid-Feb we will get the toad ready to go. We have a 2014 Buick Enclave FWD. We have thought we would use it as our toad. I went to the local RV Dealer and they said we could indeed use the Enclave. They quoted me about $4,500 ($3100 parts and $1400 labor) to get it ready to tow. Does this sound reasonable? Would I be better off to get another vehicle to tow? We really like the Enclave but if it would be simpler to tow another vehicle, we might consider acquiring another model. By the way, we had already decided to join FMCA so when we acquired the MH yesterday, I called this morning and we are now officially 5 year members of FMCA. We have really appreciated the good input we have received on these forums. Thanks, everyone. David Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CarlAda Report post Posted November 13, 2015 Congrats on your awesome new coach! I like your idea of getting used to driving your MH without towing first....not that towing is difficult, but it's one less thing to worry about on your learning curve. You'll need to state which parts are included in the estimate. I don't think it's far off. You can always price check the components, then decide if the labor charges are reasonable. If you like the Enclave and it's towable, then I'd suggest staying with it. As far as towing is concerned, other than the install and perhaps some adjustments needed, they will all tow similarly. I don't even notice the vehicle behind me. Joining FMCA is an excellent decision. Well worth it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildebill308 Report post Posted November 13, 2015 Congratulations on your new coach. I am going to play the devils advocate here. I say get the car set up and take it with you. If you think you need practice take the coach with the car hooked up on a couple hour drive locally. You will see just how easy it is. You are going out for 2 1/2 mouths that is a long time not to have your toad. Especially since this is your first trip. Once you get started you will have to look in the rearview camera to make sure you still have a toad (you won't know it's back there). The added level of convince having a toad, way outweighs any inconvenience. I do recommend you make a short day of it the first day. 150-200 miles would be as far as I would run. You want to get into a campground early so you aren't tired when you have to set up the first time. Get a pull through the first time. Trust me it doesn't sound like much but the excitement of leaving on the first trip and the first long drive plus setting up will be PLENTY for your first day. You are going to want some time to set in your camp chair,look at your coach and smile. Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wayne77590 Report post Posted November 13, 2015 Your dealer was correct and just for information you can find towing information here on the FMCA Site. Here is the link for the 2014 Vehicles Make sure to read the comments/restrictions, check your weights. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
judatt Report post Posted November 13, 2015 Congratulations on your new coach. I am going to play the devils advocate here. I say get the car set up and take it with you. If you think you need practice take the coach with the car hooked up on a couple hour drive locally. You will see just how easy it is. You are going out for 2 1/2 mouths that is a long time not to have your toad. Especially since this is your first trip. Once you get started you will have to look in the rearview camera to make sure you still have a toad (you won't know it's back there). The added level of convince having a toad, way outweighs any inconvenience. I do recommend you make a short day of it the first day. 150-200 miles would be as far as I would run. You want to get into a campground early so you aren't tired when you have to set up the first time. Get a pull through the first time. Trust me it doesn't sound like much but the excitement of leaving on the first trip and the first long drive plus setting up will be PLENTY for your first day. You are going to want some time to set in your camp chair,look at your coach and smile. Bill Hi Bill. We appreciate your advice and may yet decide to take the plunge. However, I'm retiring from a job where I traveled a good bit and have a good bit of benefits stored up for use in retirement - several hundred thousand airline miles (mostly on Delta); several hundred thousand Hilton points and tens of thousands in other hotel chains; and I have several free days and executive status with National Car rental. This allows me to get some good rates and I've already checked into renting a car for a week in Florida and for a month in south Texas on this first trip. Now that we've bought the motor home we don't plan to use the hotel points or airline miles here in the USA - we have some overseas trips we want to make and will use them for those trips. More than you want to know but we have our first retirement trip already planned. I have been to Sydney a couple of times on business trips and my wife wasn't able to go with me so she has always wanted to go to Australia. Next fall we are flying to Singapore (using miles) getting on a cruise ship and going through Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. Be on the ship almost a month and then fly home from Sydney. We'll stay a few days in Singapore before the cruise and a few days after the cruise in Sydney and both times we will use points to get free hotels. All that business travel needs to have some benefit! Frankly, after a pretty intense job (CFO) for the past many years I'm looking forward to just finding some beautiful spots in our great country and doing almost nothing for awhile. David Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kaypsmith Report post Posted November 13, 2015 Sounds like a lot of fun just starting into retirement. On the towing, four wheels down is a neat way to go, but you can consider a tow dolly also, not nearly as expensive, and U-Haul and others will rent one by the day or week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
judatt Report post Posted November 25, 2015 Greetings everyone. We have decided to sell our 2014 Buick Enclave and when we get back from our initial trip in mid Feb look to buy something smaller to tow. We love the Enclave but one reason we have it is to haul the grandkids around. Since they won't be traveling with us (for the most part anyway) when we see them we'll have access to our daughters mini van if we all need to go somewhere together. Our local CarMax has several 2012-2014 Honda CRVs we like. They also have several Jeeps but our daughter had a horrible experience with a Jeep - having a hard time getting my head around buying one. We are open to recommendations if anyone has them. David Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildebill308 Report post Posted November 25, 2015 I have a 2014 CR-V and LOVE it. I have recorded 30+ miles per gallon since new. Tows great has plenty of room. Go get the 2014 with the lowest miles now as they are the last year you can tow 4 down. Think about it your 2014 Buick Enclave will be worth less in February than it is now. Get the CR-V set up and take it with you. Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
