What do you think of the newer Thor Gassers?

[Ludmilla]

I have looked at a number of class A gassers, and Thor quality was poor compared to many other brands. Fit and finish, quality of workmanship and materials were not as good. I was most impressed with Newmar and Tiffin.

[Vicr]

In the gas class A market it all comes down to how much you want to pay. Tiffens will be 20K more and Newmars 25K for the same type coach. Is it worth spending the extra money? Any RV will come with problems unless your buying a Marathon or other custom 1M+ coach.

[pequeajim]

I'm surprised that nobody has brought up Nexus...?

[Hgrace56]

Didn't Thor aquire Entegra?
Isn't Entegra at least Newmar it Tiffin?

[NewToRVinNJ]

We bought a thor hurricane a few months ago and we love it. We have had minor issues with it that the dealer was able to take care of. We have an awesome dealer. For the price I think we got a great rv for our family.

[pequeajim]

That is 99% of the equation. The dealer can make or ruin your RV experience. Good luck with your purchase.

[voglr]

I have a Winnebago Vista 30t and love it. Went with a class a gas for the front living. I looked at Thor ACE not impressed with the quality.

[janniemac]

We have a 16.5 Challenger 37LX. It handles great and don't feel any push from semi's or normal winds. Cabinetry is beautiful and we love the floor plan. Issues--yes a few but they have been taken care of by Thor/CW. QC not so great, but the money we saved was worth a little hassle. Thor has an emergency hot line and the techs are very knowledgeable.

[manderson2228]

Originally Posted by WDW

We were really NOT impressed. But what really matters is the character of the dealer and whether they will REALLY stand with you after the sale.

No truer and more important words have ever been spoken. We didn't buy a Thor simply because the only dealers close to us that sold Thor were camping world.

[lanerd]

One of the first things I did when searching for a new motor home was to find out all the recalls of that certain model. Typically a simple Google search will be sufficient.

Ron

[pequeajim]

Good idea, get the recalls out of the way, and they also can tell you a little something about the build quality. We pretty much have decided on an F-53 chassis under an Itasca Suncruiser or Winnebago Adventurer 37F, (pretty much).

[marjoa]

My wife & I at first, seriously considered a Thor product because at first look it appears you do get a lot of bang for your buck. However, when you read owners reports of their experience with Thor products over time you get a very different picture. Just go to the Thor forum for a sampling. I know there are some happy Thor owner campers, and that's great. But the main items I see that consistently come up are:

• Amenities such as but not limited to: cabinets, fixtures, countertops & furniture coverings look good at first but can start to break down within the first couple of years

• And this is the biggie….Schwintek slide systems are very problematic: From everything I've read (and I won't go into all the details here) it's not the system itself so much but the lack of or sloppy QC when they are installed at the factory and the lack of checking the systems for proper operation before they leave the factory. There are numerous posts everywhere (just search Thor slides OR Schwintek slide issues) of very unhappy new owners that have systemic problems with their slides. Thor tried to address the problem by installing a 2nd alignment rail at the top of their large slides but that didn't solve the problem either because it didn't address the root problem...which is the install procedure of improper bottom main rail alignment, proper weight on the rollers, rails not being parallel to each other within a very tight tolerance and numerous reports of screws & debris found in the slide out box area which finds it's way into moving mechanisms. Thor chose to not use a proven hydraulic system but these use electric motors which often fail. I personally have a friend that lives 10 miles from me and he bought a brand new Thor 38' Challenger about 6 months ago and as soon as he got home from the dealer his large slide would not come out. Took back to the dealer and that began HIS journey with slide problems. My wife and I decided not to buy a Thor MH strictly because of this slide problem since in our opinion, slides are a very important component in a MH.

Here’s a comment from another poster that I kept that pretty much sums up what he discovered and how he approached to fix this slide problem:
I had to replace my slide assembly on my 2011 sunseeker and imo the problems with the schwintec slide are due more to poor installation than anything else. When I got done with mine I could push slide in and out just barely pushing with one hand and you can hear that the motors are not working nearly as hard. Two years later I have had no schwintec problems at all.

What I discovered was that the schwintec slide should not carry any weight. The weight is carried by the floor rollers. Also all the rails need to be square and parallel to each other to a “tee” and that also goes for the mounting into the camper opening. The other major thing is that they do not attach things well. I just don’t think they are allowed the time at the factory to install and test correctly. I spent upwards of 15 hours measuring checking and measuring and testing just to get the rails mounted on the room perfect.

Last thoughts:
Think carefully when shopping for your MH. Not just what I & others have or may post here, but there are many things to consider other than what you see when you walk up the steps to enter the cabin and whether it's a gas or diesel.

[Rob358]

Take a look beyond the surface and Thor is cheap in my opinion. Walls are paper thin and not backed by any solid material. Using 1/8 inch pressboard and very thin glued on corners. Just saw a brand new one and corners on door were already broken off where something bumped it. Side walls are 1 inch thick, that's it! It is all about cutting weight to get smaller motor to reduce cost. If you dig deeper u will see what I mean. Happy shopping.

[Bakeryman]

We Judy bought Thor challenger 37yt. Prior we had bought new 2004 Damon intruder 36'. Thor bought Damon some time back.

On older unit (we just sold this year) we had in shop fur initial fixes back in 2004. After that never in shop. Not that it did not need minor fixes, point is to own rv you need to be handy or your rv will be I shop and you will be more upset at that process than a minor issue.

On the new unit, we bought out of state, got 35% off msrp. My wife and I planned to go smaller but loved this new unique floorplan.

We have spent five nights and I then took rv to local Colorado dealer for the punch list items. Note did not buy from this dealer. I believe QC at plant could has avoided many of my issues but I also think most manufactures have similar issues but Thor sells so many the amount of post are skewed.

Issues I have on new (note new 2017 floor plan unit built October 2016 so maybe one of first built).
Auto level jacks lift rv front wheels irratic behavior- shop found leveling box mounted with front arrow facing side...simple fix but QC should have caught.
Water tank level indicator not working. Shop found loose wire fixed.
Slide awning covers fabric loose and would lift with wind. Shop found tension adjustment needed and fixed
Furnace under king bed loud...I assumed it may be normal but brought it to attention. Shop found bad motor in furnace.
Bathroom door pops open while driving sop found wall out of alignment (not flush) and will fix

Point of all that is yes it's frustrating and QC should have caught it all but rv's are selling fast (not and excuse) but if you document things and work with dealers they will come around. I am leaving my rv at shop for month of June and they at one point said they might not get to it due to heavy new sales they did address most issues this week.

As to how new chassis and engine performs compared to my 2004. My 2004 had banks power pack, pulled a atv trailer 4500# in colorado over all passes.

Both are high revving motors but new 6 speed transmission is really great. The larger wheels make the new chassis feel planted to the road. Road bumps still a little bumpy (I had put air bags on older unit) and rattle the unit but better than old. Sway in much better in new. On road the new one cruises great at 70-75 seemed to like that better than 65 (note this was on return new from Illinois on I-80 with a lot of wind. Semis didn't unsettle it but huge gusts of wind did make it exciting. Wind was abnormally high.

Mileage stunk due in part to high head wind with worst average at 5.85 mpg. One tank 6.5. Again high wind and I was cruising along to get home 70-75mph

Holiday coming up, rv due back thursday and I will be towing trailer to mountains and will see how it tows.

Sorry for long response but I was looking for this type of info as well when shopping.