Forest River and Thor, the two behemoths in the room!

[igave]

I read recently that the projections for this year are to sell over (I think I have this right) 54,741 motorhomes this year and 430,691 rv units total this year. There is great opportunity for good things, bad things, and in between things to experience no matter the brand. That's new units, so the already owned numbers have to be fairly amazing. My fingers are crossed, too but I'm fairly confident in the end it'll turn out just fine. I agree with others about floor plan, drivability, and reliability of the power train so if a couple/person is happy traveling then it's the right unit at the time.

[Oldman5145]

I currently own both a FR Flagstaff TT and a Thor Hurricane 34J MH. I can say nothing bad about either company. Early model triple slide models from FR had a design flaw that would allow the aluminum frame to break at a weld and cause the wall to get a crack. FR fixed mine not once , but twice. The second time was 4 years after the warranty was out at no cost to me. Both times they took it during the winter while it would get little use.
This past May I purchased the MH by Thor. Thor has not been the cause of any of my problems. First trip out my awning arm connection nuckle broke. It has the lateral arm awning made by Carefree of Colorado. Two of my 5 tv's had some problems. Maybe Thor could have used a higher quality tv manufacturer. All of these problems Thor and my dealer have repaired. One of my trips a board fell out of the cabinet above the microwave, but I blame that on the ROUGH, and I mean rough, road in northwestern New Jersey. That was an easy fix because it is a snap in panel so that you have access to mount the microwave. That was not Thor problem, but they took care of it and they were very gracious about it. I now have 9500 miles on my Thor and getting ready to make a 2200 mile trip. I am happy with my choice both FR and Thor are good companies that provide a product affordable for most of us to buy.
My first motorhome was a '93 Winnebago Vectra that I bought used in 1999. In 2001 the skins over the basement doors started peeling loose when traveling down the road at 60+ MPH. They were held on with 2 sided tape strips about 3 inches long. I contacted Winnebago to inquire if they had had any problems with the taped on panels. They told me "NO!" Sorry we can be of no help. the cost to repair was over $700 per panel and I lost two. I drilled all of the panels and used aluminum pop-rivets to stop that loss. One of the happier days of my life was in 2009 when I sold the Winnebago.