Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 06, 2025 ...

A suggestion on the two manufactures you chose. We also did the research and the difference was seen at the factories. Have you been to both Foretravel and Newmar factories? We also went to Newell to see how they were built. In order of OUR choice, it was, Newell, Foretravel, and we totally eliminated Newmar.  Just crappy construction except for the King Aire. It came closest to Foretravel.

Have you looked at NCCC differences between the two?  I recall reading from iRV2 that the 35' New Aire is a bit "pudgy", but that may have been the first year of the longer length which may have been on the 360 hp chassis.  I do recall running the numbers and the weight to HP ratio for the 2021 35' New Aire is much worse than a 40' 2003 U320 (different engine, but both have 450 hp).  I don't have the FS450 approximate UVW or wet weights for calculation.

It appears the FS450 has a 150 gallon fuel tank, vs 90 for the New Aire.  That's significant in terms of travel distance and also using some of the diesel discount programs which have a 100 gallon minimum to get the discount (pump start is not affected)

One of the 2 chassis options, I can't recall if it's Spartan or Freightliner, for the New Aire moved away from pad/switch controls and put things (like engine brake and cruise control) on a "smart stick".  If it's Spartan - see if the FS450 has the same.  I watched an "Angie video" that included it, and it seemed like it would have a bit of a learning curve (for someone used to separate controls).

FS450 has a combined grey/black waste tank at 130 gallons (likely has a grey tank bypass); New Aire has 40 gallons black, 60 gallons grey. 

FS450 has 122 gallon fresh tank, New Aire has 105 gallons

FS450 has AquaHot 450D which will have an engine heating loop; New Aire has Oasis hydronic heating - don't know if that includes an engine loop or not.

FS450 also has steering assist; they just don't use the name "Comfort Drive" since Newmar has that trademarked.  Likely the same or very similar system.

One two notable things - underlying assembly quality and documentation.  A major issue I see repeated time and again with Newmar is how unbelievably sloppy the wiring is.  Owners complain they can't get schematics to figure things out (perhaps this will documentation issue will change now that they're owned by WGO).  You will not have that with Foretravel, if they are building them the same as they have in the past.  You will get schematics.  You will get reasonable documentation.  Your wiring will be neatly loomed AND LABELED with wire numbers.

Newmar owners don't have Foreforums 

kds4, the only reason I don't own a Prevost --it is above my pay grade--others may disagree but I personally put Newell and Foretravel on much the same level when It comes to quality--Newmar--(again just my opinion) is about same level as Tiffin
They all will have problems and need something fixed, but this Forum is hands down one of the best things going if you own a
Foretravel. I'm just glad they let this old farm boy participate!!
Just my 2c worth
Chris

Some call them 36' some 37'

Used New Air at MHT, a few Mos ago. looked at it, not what we wanted given our current situation.

We had a Newmar, Dutch star 43 2011.. this was built 010 when the RV mkt was lousy.  MR.Miller owned the business lock stock & barrel.  Met him, like Bob Tiffin nice guy U felt was trust worthy  Sold 018  about 50,000 miles.

  We had big problems [$25 to 30,000] with the Cummins, that's traced to freight liner, my guess saving a few dollars on the coolant, fortunately extended warrenty covered it, with a little help from Cumins. 
Only problem that we had traced to upholstery, which after much whatevering the Mfg  gave us new, with I think some help from Newmar.  Cost us to get it put on.  This was after 6 yrs ownership
We had a variety of problems, beyond that but nothing could blame Newmar for.  Oasis, hot water system I still wonder why we had it but they were generous with there help the one time we needed them.
Thus "I think" a Newmar is a good coach..
NOW, THE PROBLEM.

Newmar has sold recently, Tiffin has sold recently, Foretravel almost died, has a newer owner.  Got to look at the new ownership,  NEW-BALL GAME.
The old owners had Quirks, Newmar Oassis , TRW electric/ hyd. Steering )OUTSTANDING ..and lots of odd things such as pull out tables,  Tiffin spot lights, internal mirrors. Slide outs that did not fit.
Mr Fore,  a weird generator, near perfect woodwork,  odd arrangements , desks.
Currently happy with Mr Fore's odd arrangement.  Hate the giant queen chair.    Our oldest, cheapest investment in a MoHo.

We had the opportunity to tour the 36'  Foretravel  at the recent F-Travel gathering Mineola TX.  Nice, but in our few min. Our thoughts not up to F travel past.
We have some friends with a 36, Vintana, Newmar, bottom of the line, solid front axle etc.  so know it won't ride as well as the FTravel  BUT we like the interior, fit finish not as good as the F Travel but not bad either.  Close to 1/2 the price.
If we had more use for a coach, we would buy it Up grade a few things over the FTravel.  And then buy better wine & Steaks.

Motor Homes some things have improved over the years, got to consider, most things that fail are not the fault of the name on the front.

I've read the Newmar story and heard some about the Foretravel story (was there really a shop class involved in building the first coach they actually sold)?

I know Newmar was acquired. Was Foretravel acquired by a larger coach company like Newmar was or is it staying 'independent' (even with the new ownership)? I hadn't heard the founding family was no longer operating Foretravel.

Foretravel's History [ForeForums Foretravel Motorcoach Wiki]

Foretravel nearly went under in 2005 (believe me, 2004 and 2005 were really bad times for the company - no parts, broken vendor relationships, many employees let go, etc.).  The company was acquired from the Fore family by a small group of investors (no history in the RV business); much of the financial backing came from partner Dane Miller (no relation to the Miller family - he was the owner of Biomet and passed away a few years ago).  Early years under the new ownership had some growing pains.  The Phenix, 2007 and newer Nimbus, IH, Realm, the MicroVilla Sprinter conversion, and the short-lived IC-37 were all designed/built under the new company.

Since it's a privately-held company, no one really knows the present situation, however several years ago, right after the Realm (and it's pompous, pretentious videos arrived  ), we were at MHSRV in Alvaredo, TX talking with Donny O'Banion's father.  He referred to the Realm as their (MHSRV's) coach and that they had Foretravel build the coach for them (they certainly did the spec'ing of things).  MHSRV was purchased by start-up RV Retailer, LLC a couple of years after that and that group added RVOne to their holdings.  Those are now the exclusive dealers for Foretravel coaches (they no longer sell from the factory). 

Welcome, kds4. From the discussion it sounds like you are looking at a new, rather than used, coach. If this is going to be your first RV you may want to rethink that. Very few first time RV buyers get it right. Depending on their financial situation, they may trade fairly quickly, or wait a year. Unless you are somewhat experienced, you often don't know what you don't know.

We researched for a couple of years before we did anything. We started with a blank sheet of paper and jotted down what we thought we would like to do as full-timers. Then we joined several forums, some brand-specific and some more general, and asked lots of questions. We went to every RV show we could and talked to people there and at campgrounds (we were tent-camping then). We asked people why they chose a particular type (MH, TT, 5'er, etc.). As we got answers we compared that to what we thought we wanted to do. While we were researching the different types we paid attention to brands. We knew we wouldn't be buying anything anywhere close to new, but we were interested in quality. Several brands kept coming to the top of the lists, so we focused on those.

Eventually we settled on a MH as what would best suit us. The top brands for us were Bluebird, Foretravel, and Newell. There were no Newells available in our price range, but I had several 'Birds and a couple of Foretravels on our short list. We went to see the coach that was closest to us, only 300 miles away. A few days later we made an offer. We are the third owners of our Foretravel. No, we never even looked at any of the others on the list.

Going back to the quality, for a moment. There is a member of this forum who told us their story. They bought a brand-new popular brand MH for fulltime use. Within a year they traded it even-up for a 10-year-old Foretravel because they could see the difference in quality. Even if you aren't going to buy one, go look at some 10-20-year-old coaches and see how they stand up.

Given the number of 'Birds on my list, I was pretty sure that's what we would get. Boy am I glad we didn't get one! I mentioned above that you don't know what you don't know. We didn't know that Foretravel and Newell use the air bags to level the coach, while Bluebird uses hydraulic jacks. If you are parking on concrete pads that may not be much of a difference, but if you are parking on asphalt it will be. We were campground hosts with a couple who have a 'Bird. They actually had to move from one host site to the other because their jacks were sinking into the asphalt!

Last comment: spend some time talking about how you will be traveling and what you need/want to take with you. We started out thinking that we'd travel 4-5 days per month, maybe stay two months once in a while, but generally move around quite a bit. Since then we've stayed in one place for more than a month at a time several times, once for nearly six months and another for five months. We're now realizing that a towable would make more sense for they way we are now living, so this summer our Foretravel will get a for sale sign.