I usually review RVs that many of us consider attainable but today’s review is of the 2024 Newmar London Aire motorhome to see just what you get for almost a million bucks.

Comfort Drive

There is no doubt that many people feel intimidated by something this large, and that’s not a bad thing. Companies like Newmar have addressed this with a number of features.

The driving and safety features that you might expect in your daily driver have migrated up to these huge buses. Many of those electronic nannies that help you not to crash are here as well and that’s not a bad thing.

One of those is active cruise control which will slow down the RV if someone slows down in front of you and you have the cruise control set.

There are also a bunch of cameras on the outside of this rig so it looks like you have a bird’s eye view of the rig. This can be especially helpful in tight parking spaces such as at a campground.

Newmar also features something called Comfort Drive which uses technology in the steering system to help alleviate the swaying something this large can experience in cross winds and when large trucks pass you on the highway. That can significantly reduce fatigue.

This system also helps with parking in tight spaces with by providing the same type of power steering assist you would expect to find in a 1959 Chrysler Imperial. I also like that the steering wheel automatically goes back to straight ahead which is really helpful when parking. Another nifty feature in this system is a control that lets you dial in the amount of assist the system provides. I wish more cars had that feature.

Defining luxury

Luxury is not something that can be readily defined. For example when the Packard brothers decided to build their own line of cars the definition they used was an absence of mechanical failure. After driving cars that broke down frequently, which wasn’t uncommon in the early days of the auto industry, their goal was to build vehicles that were less prone to maladies.

Without a doubt you can define this as a luxury RV. How do I know? Ask just about anybody who steps inside.

For nearly a million bucks you get interiors that are rich and well appointed. There are materials that you wouldn’t expect to find in your average RV. Some of these features include porcelain floors with electric heat. You literally could walk barefoot in here in the winter time and not get a chill.

The standard mattress in this is also not the back wrecker that is common in the RV industry. You can also upgrade that with a bed that has adjustments for either side much like many people have in their homes. So you can raise your feet or put this in zero-gravity mode which, I’m told, eliminates or reduces snoring.

Get out

I also really like that there’s an emergency exit in the back of this rig. We’ve talked about RV fire safety on the StressLess Camping RV podcast and it’s not unfair to say that the fires in many of these big rigs either start in the engine or up in the front where there is a spaghetti factory of wiring.

If it’s night time and you’re sleeping it might take you a while to realize what’s happening in the event of an RV fire. Most people who have a cool mil’ to spend on a rig like this likely aren’t athletic enough to use a window to get out so the fact that Newmar puts a fire door in the back is reason enough to prioritize this over other motorhomes that don’t have this critical safety feature.

Basic necessities

While the luxury features in this rig are what are going to wow you at an RV show the basic cooking and seating features are also nice. Bigger RVs are less and less likely to have propane aboard, which makes me happy for the above fire safety reasons.

But that means that cooking is done electrically. In this case that means that you get a two-burner induction cook top that hides under a panel on the counter. There’s also a convection microwave and refrigeration is done courtesy of a residential Maytag unit.

Since there’s no propane aboard this rig water is heated through a system that incorporates residual heat from the engine and also uses the diesel fuel that’s aboard.

Interior heat comes from the previously-mentioned under-floor electric heat but also from heat provided by the three Penguin heat pumps up on the roof.

You might be wondering about the power for all of this which would come from a 50 amp connection at the campground but you can also do some decent boondocking with rigs like this.

Boondocking and travel access

Big, motorized RVs are a totally different experience when boondocking. They have huge holding tanks with 105 gallons of fresh water along with 80 gallons of gray water and 60 of black. This rig also features a Shower Miser water saving feature. I could see you would easily be able to stay out a week - probably longer - with a rig like this just based on water.

As for power there’s a monster 12,500 watt diesel generator on board.

There is a tiny solar panel that’s mostly intended to maintain the engine battery in this rig but you an upgrade the house batteries with two large banks of lithium power and there are provisions for solar to charge those.

Honestly these big rigs are far, far better at being off the grid than most towable RVs just because of the resources aboard and I’m not just talking about the owners’ wallet, although that’s what gets us here in the first place.

More to know

My perception of something like this is that people tend to buy into a lifestyle and ownership experience as much as anything else. Sure, these are well made with engines that could easily achieve half a million miles.

Instead of stickers on the outside the entire exterior is painted, including those swishy swirls, and those accents are painted right into the side of the slide boxes as well. Oh, and these slide boxes are really something to watch open up as the floors end-up flush with the main floor as well.

I’ve also found that there are groups of owners from companies like Tiffin, Newmar, Entegra and the other high-end RV companies so buying one of these is not only a purchase, but really you become part of a lifestyle.

There are concerns that I have, not the least of which are plentiful reports by owners of emissions systems on these gigantic diesel engines that have had epic failures leaving the owners stranded for extended periods of time. The ol’ reliable that was a diesel engine in the past has been mucked up with all sorts of emissions and electronics goodies.

Further, if you really want to show off to the others at the RV park the London Aire series is just the middle of the road in the Newmar stratosphere. You can also get the Essex for over a million bucks and the King Aire for half again more. That Aire is a lofty place for your derrière.

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