Thor Palazzo - anyone drive/ride in one yet?

[Butte64]

Originally Posted by OC Bill

We bought a 2012 Hurricane 32A in January, we have put 2000 miles on it and find it very comfortable when parked but not much fun to drive. Don't like the gas mileage, engine noise and terrible handling at speed and in a cross wind.

Last night we went looking and drove an Excursion 33A and then a Palazzo 33.2.

No comparison, the Palazzo was superior to the Excursion in every way.

We liked it so much that we traded in our Hurricane and will pick the Palazzo up on Thursday.

Will report back later on actual use.

Bill

Wow, that was quick!
Be sure or check the Palazzo Q&A thread for exceptionally valuable information. The Owners Manual leaves a lot to be desired.

Jerry

[gmadams]

Originally Posted by OC Bill

We bought a 2012 Hurricane 32A in January, we have put 2000 miles on it and find it very comfortable when parked but not much fun to drive. Don't like the gas mileage, engine noise and terrible handling at speed and in a cross wind.

Last night we went looking and drove an Excursion 33A and then a Palazzo 33.2.

No comparison, the Palazzo was superior to the Excursion in every way.

We liked it so much that we traded in our Hurricane and will pick the Palazzo up on Thursday.

Will report back later on actual use.

Bill

Congrats on the trade and welcome to our small but growing group of owners.

Gary

[TheArnolds]

Originally Posted by OC Bill

We bought a 2012 Hurricane 32A in January, we have put 2000 miles on it and find it very comfortable when parked but not much fun to drive. Don't like the gas mileage, engine noise and terrible handling at speed and in a cross wind.

Last night we went looking and drove an Excursion 33A and then a Palazzo 33.2.

No comparison, the Palazzo was superior to the Excursion in every way.

We liked it so much that we traded in our Hurricane and will pick the Palazzo up on Thursday.

Will report back later on actual use.

Bill

Welcome to the Palazzo family! Like Jerry said, spend some time reading the Palazzo threads and if you do not understand something feel free to ask.

[Freedom65]

Originally Posted by OC Bill

We bought a 2012 Hurricane 32A in January, we have put 2000 miles on it and find it very comfortable when parked but not much fun to drive. Don't like the gas mileage, engine noise and terrible handling at speed and in a cross wind.

Last night we went looking and drove an Excursion 33A and then a Palazzo 33.2.

No comparison, the Palazzo was superior to the Excursion in every way.

We liked it so much that we traded in our Hurricane and will pick the Palazzo up on Thursday.

Will report back later on actual use.

Bill

Welcome to the Palazzo club. I know you will enjoy your Palazzo. As others have said there is a ton of info on this site.

[DP Guy]

Originally Posted by go6car

Anyone have any real-world on-the-road feedback on the new Thor Palazzo yet?

Love the look of them, but so far nothing on the 'net I've found about any ride/drive experiences.

Would a short diesel like this still ride better than a new gasser of similar length (~34')?

Thanks, in advance, for any feedback!

My wife is concerned about the storage space in the Palazzo which we are about to buy. I think it has just as much space as the Southwind we own now, just laid out different. Anyone have any comments?

[TheArnolds]

Originally Posted by DP Guy

My wife is concerned about the storage space in the Palazzo which we are about to buy. I think it has just as much space as the Southwind we own now, just laid out different. Anyone have any comments?

Prior to buying my Palazzo I had a 2010 Serrano (31V) with a huge rear storage area so I had the same concern. The Palazzo holds everything I had in my Serrano and more. The Palazzo has more interior storage such as under the bed which we like.

[gmadams]

When we went to Nova Scotia there were four adults traveling. We had plenty of room. When it is just the two of us, we don't even fill all the cabinets. At least for us we have plenty of space.

[Butte64]

I don't intend on living in it full time or might have a different opinion. While there is only one big basement storage is is really big and the sliding tray will help. As for inside storage I have been trying to figure out what to put in all those cabinets. And how to keep track of what is where. Food storage may be a bit sparse but probably best to not have too much anyway.

[Freedom65]

DW and I moved to the Palazzo from a 23 ft trailer. We find there is too much storage space. Because our memory is not as good as it might be, we end up opening and closing several doors when looking for something because we can't remember which cabinet we put the item in! Like Jerry said we still have several empty cabinets.

[Butte64]

Has anyone had experience with coach battery capacity running inverter?

I am going to a site with no power and do not want to run the generator while I am away from the coach.

To keep the refrigerator cold, how long can I run the inverter off the batteries without depleting them? Is there a cutoff that will shut down the inverter when batteries get below a certain level so inverter is not damaged?

On another note, I have a signature set up but it does not appear in my forum messages. What am I not doing?

Jerry

[gmadams]

Originally Posted by Butte64

Has anyone had experience with coach battery capacity running inverter?

I am going to a site with no power and do not want to run the generator while I am away from the coach.

To keep the refrigerator cold, how long can I run the inverter off the batteries without depleting them? Is there a cutoff that will shut down the inverter when batteries get below a certain level so inverter is not damaged?

On another note, I have a signature set up but it does not appear in my forum messages. What am I not doing?

Jerry

Jerry,

I don't know about the inverter question but your name and Palazzo 33.1 shows up in the signature space.

Gary

[TheArnolds]

Originally Posted by Butte64

Has anyone had experience with coach battery capacity running inverter?

I am going to a site with no power and do not want to run the generator while I am away from the coach.

To keep the refrigerator cold, how long can I run the inverter off the batteries without depleting them? Is there a cutoff that will shut down the inverter when batteries get below a certain level so inverter is not damaged?

On another note, I have a signature set up but it does not appear in my forum messages. What am I not doing?

Jerry

Jerry,

You can run the frig for 10-12 hours without any problems. If you are going to be gone longer then this I would set the auto-start generator to kick on when the house batteries get low, I think it is in the 11 point something range. It is my understanding that the inverter will shut down automatically before it discharges the batteries too low.

Hope this helps?
Jack

[gmadams]

Jerry,

Just noticed your picture of your Palazzo! Good looking color!

Why don't you join in with us at Myrtle Beach in a couple of weeks. We have met only one of the couples going (SkiPat).

Gary

[OC Bill]

We took our new Palazzo 33.2 out this weekend. We picked it up at the dealer Thursday afternoon and headed 250 miles East to the Colorado river. Arrived after dark and set up just the shore power for the first night. Sleeping was very comfortable and just running the forward A/C kept the coach cool. hooked up the shore water in the morning with no problems. Over the weekend, after hooking up the sewer line, we were able to test out the washer/dryer and all seemed to work great. Temperatures were in the 90s during the day so we needed both A/Cs running to keep things cool, no problems with comfort. The only problem we encountered was a leak in the drain trap under the kitchen sink, dismantled and re-tightened but no luck. Will have that fixed when we take it back in for some other cosmetic problems we noticed during delivery.

Driving was a pleasure compared to our 2012 Hurricane, what a difference between gas and diesel power. Very quite while cruising at 65mph, even when going up hills, which was a real deafening experience in the gas powered coach. Resistance to cross winds was much improved over the Hurricane as well as buffeting from passing 18 wheelers. 500 miles in the Hurricane would leave both my wife and I frazzled and tired, 500 miles this weekend was not tiring at all.

We filled up with fuel just before we crossed back into California, 30 cents cheaper in Arizona, and made a 210 mile run at 65mph plus a few mountains to check the fuel mileage, filled it up again and it took just over 19 gallons for about 10.5 mpg average, twice what I was getting on the Hurricane. We also decided to fill up the DEF tank as the dealer only provided about a half full tank. Here we ran into a problem I had read about on the forum, it seems like the truck stops have the pumps only on the driver's side and the DEF filler is on the passenger side of this coach. We were able to pull in to an adjacent stall and pull the hose from the next stall over to our tank, $2.79 a gallon was a lot better than what I paid for a 2.5 gallon bottle at the auto parts store.

Overall we are pleased with our purchase and happy we chose the Palazzo over some of the other coaches we looked at.

Bill