Newmar Dutch Star 4325 vs 4369

April 5th, 2023

We used to live in a 2019 Newmar Dutch Star 4369 but it blew over in 100mph winds (read the whole, crazy story here!). We loved it, but it was completely totaled. We recovered a lot out of it, and we stayed with friends until we found our new home, a 2023 Newmar Dutch Star 4325. The 4369 model is probably the most popular Class A motor home, and the 4325 is new for 2023. We thought we'd share our opinions about the two. You can view photos of our previous coach here and in many of our previous posts.

Both of our specific units had many upgrades, so this review will not compare stock models. We bought the 4369 used, so some of the issues we had were likely due to some things the previous owners did. We bought the 4325 new, so keep that in mind. Here we go!

The Chassis, Controls, and Furniture

Our 4369 was on a Freightliner chassis, while the 4325 is on a Spartan chassis. The chassis is the "car" part of the coach, and we're including a comparison of the engine, ride, and everything else that makes it go. Margot has driven many miles with both, and she says they're pretty comparable. The 4325 has more get up and go, more "pep," and accelerates faster from a stop. A motor home shouldn't be very fast, anyway, so this may not be a big deal.

They've redesigned the dash for 2023 and we really like the new instrument panel. You can see a lot more information at a glance in the new model. We also have Adaptive Cruise Control on the new model, so it won't get too close to the vehicle ahead of us on the road. It buzzes your seat when you venture out of your lane without a turn signal (this is great or awful, depending on how often you leave your lane).

This may be just our experience, but we're seeing much better gas (diesel) mileage with the new coach. We were getting six or seven miles per gallon in the 4369. and we're seeing eight or nine miles per gallon in the 4325. We haven't had the 4325 for many road trips yet, but things are promising. We're driving exactly as we did before.

The Rand McNally navigation in the old coach was pretty bad, in our opinion. It's upgraded in the new coach (with new monitor screens) and it works really well now. We relied heavily on phones and an external Garmin GPS before, but we may not need the Garmin anymore.

Instead of multiple controls up front and a thermostat in an awkward place above the passenger seat in the 4369 (ugh!), we now have a mid-ship control center with HVAC controls and many other things that is very easy to use. We've even connected our phones to it via Bluetooth and we can control it from anywhere nearby. This is a big upgrade, and we love it.

We had leather seats in the 4369 and they were showing some wear (the previous owner must have had a cat). Now, the seating isn't leather but it feels great. It seems like it will be more durable.

We had two couches in the 4369 and one folded out into a comfortable, queen-sized bed with an awesome air mattress. Now, we have theater seats facing the TV (so nice!) and a couch that folds out into a decent, queen-sized bed.

The lighting was better in our 4369, at least for us. The accent lights in the 2023 model are very, very bright. We used to use the accent lights quite a bit in our 2019 model, but they're too bright to use as merely accents, now. Also, due to the limited wall space now, there is only one wall light in the 4325. We never use it, though we used them a lot in the old coach.

Though the windows are very similar, they've done a better job getting the rolls of blinds out of the way so the valances don't come down as far. That means you see more of the windows, which is awesome. There are also bigger windows behind the main living room seating, and we're really liking that.

The Floorplan

The big difference is evident in the floorplans for each. We've compared the pros (good stuff) and cons (bad stuff) between the two models in the table below.

4369 Pros	4369 Cons	4325 Pros	4325 Cons
Huge master bathroom	Smaller kitchen counter	Bigger kitchen with more storage and more counter space	Limited space next to toilets
Huge shower		Additional pantry	Limited space in front of washer and dryer
Tons of hanging and floor storage in the back		Bigger guest bathroom	The "Pit" (see below)

They are the same length and width, with the same space gained by the slides. So, to get a bigger kitchen you have to give up space in the master bathroom. We decided we'd rather have more kitchen and guest bathroom, so the 4325 makes more sense for us. But we're really missing the back bathroom in the 4369.

The weirdest spot is what we're calling The Pit. It seems the back corners of the back bathroom are the toughest to figure out. In the 4369, they worked it out by using the entire width of the coach as storage. To get to the shelves in the back, passenger-side corner you had to go in from the cupboard doors and reach around the edges. Same with the driver-side corner, though there was a cupboard door in front of them that made things a bit easier. It worked.

In the 4325, the sinks fill the middle of the space but not the corners (there is a ton of counter space behind the sinks, which is nice. There is a cupboard to the left of the sinks. In the passenger-side corner is a huge, empty space that goes from ceiling all the way to the floor. You have to get into it from the cupboard next to it -- it's awkward and a weird design. Though it would be easy to just toss things in there, we opted for some hanging storage racks instead (used mostly for shoes).

Doing laundry is a bit cramped, but we are making it work.

Though the shower is smaller, we really like it. The previous shower was actually bigger than what we needed, and it often felt like wasted space. The shower isn't small by any means, and it works well for us.

The desk area is slightly smaller, but not too bad. The additional pantry is a game changer. And we love the extra space and storage in the guest bathroom.

The bedroom is the same. The basement is the same.

In the end, we like both floorplans, but we are liking the 4325 a bit more.

Our Options

We have completely different options for the design of our 4325. In the 4369, we had glossy, tan cabinetry and shiny stone floors with specs of browns. It looked like marble and it was very glossy. In the new coach, we have flat, gray cabinetry and white stone floors that aren't as shiny. It's a completely different look, and we like both.

The floors in the new coach are going to work very well because they aren't so shiny. The previous floor always seemed to have dog footprints and dried water droplets all over it. It was tough to keep clean, and it seemed to always be dusty. The new floor is likely just as dirty, but it doesn't show it at all. And we will have fewer concerns about scratches.

In the 4369, we had a buffet and desk with a pull-out keyboard tray. The table expanded by pulling it out of the buffet, though it remained attached. It worked well, but it got pretty cramped when we had guests (especially when we wanted to play cards and other games). In the 4325, we have a free-standing table that you can remove from the buffet and put wherever you want. It has a leaf that stores in the table, and you can make a pretty big table. It's really fantastic and gives you a lot of options. It also looks a lot more like a sticks-and-bricks house with a free-standing table and chairs. Nice!

The paint was gorgeous on both coaches. Both had black on the top half. The old coach had swirls of grays, while the new coach has a white strip, a lovely blue on the bottom section, and swirls of a grayish blue. Both are lovely.

The Final Word

There are a few things we miss about the 4369, but we'd still choose the 4325 over the 4369. We spend more time in the main living space then we do in the master bathroom, so giving up space in the back for more space in the front was a no brainer. We're really enjoying the new coach and everything Newmar introduced in 2023. We couldn't be happier with the coach.