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Old 06-22-2017, 01:59 AM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger 37LX
State: Nevada
Posts: 5
THOR #7624
2018 Thor Challenger

Our 2018 Thor Challenger 37LX is on its way from Indiana to Las Vegas! We are so excited! Our PDI will be Thursday next week, where as first timers we will spend 2 nights in our coach on the dealers lot learning all that we don't know. As brand new full timers, that is going to be a lot!

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Old 06-22-2017, 02:31 AM   #2
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: hurricane 32n
State: Florida
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Welcome and congrats. Great idea to spend a couple of days at the dealer, as it may save you future visits and time not enjoying. Happy trails
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Old 06-22-2017, 02:49 AM   #3
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger LX
State: Colorado
Posts: 122
THOR #3922
Congrats on your purchase! A few thoughts on your PDI: hit the windshield with a hose and turn on wipers full blast; turn on the shower and look for leaks around the floor; switch the water feed through all settings and check for leaks; borrow a level from the dealer and insure the leveling system really is level; turn on all tvs, and bring a DVD to play in the DVD player; run the generator under load for an hour. We really love our Challenger, but there are just a few things we wish we had checked on before we left the dealer.
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Old 06-22-2017, 01:48 PM   #4
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger 37KT
State: Texas
Posts: 235
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Post problems, questions, likes and dislikes here. AND if your reported problem gets solved tell us. All to often we help others with problems but never know what they did to fix it.
BTW: Welcome to the "Challenger Owners Club" no dues and no rules. Owning a Thor Challenger automatically gets you in the club. Sign-up for free at*RVillage https://www.rvillage.com/group/2171/...r-owners-unite- Group Profile - Thor Challenger Owners Unite. If you keep your location current you will get to meet other Challenger owners face to face. Since you are buying there may be a Challenger owner nearby that would be willing to help with the pre-delivery inspection or help explain things after delivery. Before you start loading her up I recommend a complete inventory of all system components like slide controllers, inverter, circuit breakers, fuses, drain valves etc. Keep up with*Thor Challenger Owners Unite http://www.irv2.com/forums/f121/thor...te-150811.html!. Post your questions, problems, solutions and adventures. If you have time read from post #1 lots of good info. And welcome to the club.
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Old 06-22-2017, 04:37 PM   #5
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Model: Challenger 37LX
State: Nevada
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Thanks everyone. We are anxiously awaiting the day we can get into our coach to check it out. We have been browsing the forums for a while, and have heard some scary stuff. All advice is welcome, and we will definitely post our findings next week.
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Old 06-22-2017, 05:27 PM   #6
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Model: 36FB
State: Arizona
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[QUOTE=TheSnows;73441]Thanks everyone. We are anxiously awaiting the day we can get into our coach to check it out. We have been browsing the forums for a while, and have heard some scary stuff. All advice is welcome, and we will definitely post our findings next week.[o
Don't let any thing/anybody on this forum or any other scare you away from what you want. For every one negative post there's probably countless people that are totally satisfied that don't post here. It doesn't matter what manufacturer, brand, price they'll be a quality control problem on every one, every forum of whatever brand will read the same as this one, same problems, same percentage of unhappy consumers, welcome to the rv industry.
The dealer you chose is the BIGGEST factor in your satisfaction, they will either take care you (which they ALL should) or unfortunately the majority are sellers not fixers, so search the dealer as well as the rv, do a thorough PDI (pre delivery inspection) before you sign on the bottom line.
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Old 10-23-2018, 08:50 PM   #7
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Brand: Still Looking
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Hello "TheSnows"...how about an update?
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Old 10-23-2018, 09:04 PM   #8
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: THOR Chateua 35SF
State: Florida
Posts: 5,850
THOR #11130
They're still at the dealership getting things fixed.
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Old 10-24-2018, 03:34 PM   #9
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger 37LX
State: Nevada
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Update ~ Our 2018 Thor Challenger 37LX

So we got our 2018 Thor Challenger 37LX at the end of June 2017 and spent our first 2 nights on the dealers lot getting the small bugs worked out and learning the systems. This was a great experience, and I highly recommend our dealer, Johnny Walker RV just for this. On July 1st, we pulled into our spot at the Oasis RV resort in Las Vegas, also highly recommended, it was beautiful and we made a lot of good friends there. Our Challenger was glorious and everything we hoped for. Gleaming dark wood, beautiful accents, spacious, just amazing. Oh, and the storage space. There was so much! So we settled in and began to notice the flaws we missed at the dealer. The 2nd bathroom was one of our favorite features. Unfortunately, about a foot down, the pipe took a sharp 90 degree turn and wouldn’t allow solid waste to pass that juncture. Had to use a broom handle to nudge it along. Icky. My husband fell through our dinette seat, on closer inspection the bench seat was only resting on a 1x1. Our generator didn’t work, the dealership couldn’t repair it so we had to wait for a new one. We couldn’t put out our awning, Thor had put on the wrong one. The gfi outlet in the bathroom didn’t work and the dealership guy finally just gave up on trying to fix it. The beautiful light floors scratched with the tiniest piece of gravel tracked in on our shoes. The lights reflected off our glossy polished wood (which was everywhere) causing an inescapable glare. The sunscreen over the windshield collapsed and wouldn’t roll back up, we had to strap it to keep it clear while driving. The actual driving part was hair raising, I recommend insisting on a test drive. It just didn’t seem like it had enough braking power, we should have looked into diesel pushers for a RV this size. With our first rain we found there was a tiny tear, almost a crack, in the metal band securing the roof to the walls. Water cascaded in our full wall slide and we went running out in the storm to try and tarp it. Our TVs were some off brand with terrible speakers. We couldn’t hear the tv if we ran the air conditioner at the same time. The final straw was the air conditioners. Naturally, our salesperson reassured us that they would be able to keep up with the Vegas heat. Not true. Even with sun shields in all the windows, and both ac’s running full blast, we couldn’t drop below 90 until the sun went down, and the inside temp still didn’t get below 80 until about 2am. Some of these problems could just be due to our Challenger being one of the first off the line. But 1 month after we bought out Challenger, while we were out for our second round of repairs at the dealer, we decided to trade it in and got a Landmark Charleston 365 5th wheel. I have to wrap this up, but just a bit more. The Landmark was wonderful with its space and build quality, no major issues to complain about. I miss the kitchen the most. The 3 ac’s kept it blastingly cold. But we quickly realized that the slides, just like in the Challenger, let in a lot of the outside heat and cold. So 5 months later we traded it in and bought a 2018 Airstream 30 Classic, and are living the slideless life. We have been in our Airstream for 10 months now and are as happy as peas in a pod. Thanks everyone for listening to our story.
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Old 10-24-2018, 04:02 PM   #10
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: THOR Chateua 35SF
State: Florida
Posts: 5,850
THOR #11130
I guess I was right...not good!!
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Old 10-24-2018, 06:03 PM   #11
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Brand: Still Looking
State: Rhode Island
Posts: 13
THOR #13004
OMG!!!

For the first time in my research I got a little scared reading your story.

Is there anyone out there who can tell me a happy story about their Challenger?

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Old 10-24-2018, 09:51 PM   #12
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Model: Accolade 37TS
State: South Dakota
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THOR #1469
After getting the initial bugs worked out we are very happy with our 2015 37ND. Took it to the Outer Banks the past week and I haven’t had any problems for some time now.

Correction, one issue on Monday, the crank handle for the antenna fell off while driving. Two minutes and an Allen wrench and all is well.
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Old 10-24-2018, 10:34 PM   #13
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger 37LX
State: Florida
Posts: 315
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Will&MichelefromRI View Post
OMG!!!

For the first time in my research I got a little scared reading your story.

Is there anyone out there who can tell me a happy story about their Challenger?

We LOVE our Challenger! We bought a 2017 37LX in January of 2017. Since then we've been from Talladega AL, to Ashville NC, to Key West and places in between. Not yet retired so that's about as far as we can go. We've put 7600 miles on her with very few problems. All taken care of under warranty in the first year with exemplary service by Thor. Sitting outside her right now in Unicoi State Park GA, enjoying the last campfire of our recent trip.
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Old 10-24-2018, 10:42 PM   #14
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Model: ACE 27.1
State: Florida
Posts: 14,116
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSnows View Post
....we decided to trade it in and got a Landmark Charleston 365 5th wheel. I have to wrap this up, but just a bit more. The Landmark was wonderful with its space and build quality, no major issues to complain about. I miss the kitchen the most. The 3 ac’s kept it blastingly cold. But we quickly realized that the slides, just like in the Challenger, let in a lot of the outside heat and cold. So 5 months later we traded it in and bought a 2018 Airstream 30 Classic, and are living the slideless life. We have been in our Airstream for 10 months now and are as happy as peas in a pod. Thanks everyone for listening to our story.
Wow! 3 new RVs in a year! Bet that wasn't good on the pocketbook.
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Old 10-24-2018, 11:35 PM   #15
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: challenger 37FH
State: Delaware
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Challenger

2019 challenger 37FH great coach
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Old 10-25-2018, 12:49 AM   #16
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger 37LX
State: Nevada
Posts: 5
THOR #7624
Nope. We definitely figured out what we wanted via trial and error. The key is to trade them in asap before they lose any more value [emoji6]
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Old 10-25-2018, 01:46 AM   #17
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Challenger LX
State: Colorado
Posts: 122
THOR #3922
We have now been full time in our 2016 Challenger LX for a bit more than 2 years and we have been happy campers. Only two major issues of workmanship: first was the wiper assembly, which was replaced by the dealer. Second was a missing setscrew on the rear motor for the full slideout. It caused the motor to pop out of its seat. I fixed that. There was a bad weld on an exhaust bracket, but that's not a Thor issue (fixed that too). There have been minor issues like a small leak in the water distribution center (I now have plumber's tape on all water connections) and a wobbly ladder (I reseated all of the screws on the ladder brackets). Other than that, anything else is in the weeds.
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Old 10-25-2018, 02:30 AM   #18
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Aria 3901
State: Florida
Posts: 103
THOR #6952
We love the floor plan of our Challenger 37KT but have had more problems than we should. We previously owned a Jayco Precept and had less issues but didn't like the floorplan. I am glad to hear to you are happy with the Airstream and wish you many years of happy camping. As for us, really thinking about making a move to a diesel pusher but looking for used. After buying 2 new RVs in 3 years, I want to buy one that the previous owner has dealt with the issues.
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Old 10-25-2018, 11:12 AM   #19
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: THOR Chateua 35SF
State: Florida
Posts: 5,850
THOR #11130
As outlined above...be cautious of buying "slightly used". I've always questioned the one year old or less RV for sale with very few miles on it. It's either been a headache for someone, a repo, or if you're lucky...just a bad floorplan for someone they couldn't live with.
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Old 10-25-2018, 12:24 PM   #20
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Brand: Still Looking
State: Rhode Island
Posts: 13
THOR #13004
Whew!!! That was a relief to hear some happy campers...

I know you have to take most reports with a grain of salt on these forums...but I really feel for the people who have their lives turned upside down when they get a real lemon.

As it stands right now, I think we will hope for a 2018 Challenger LX in the spring of 2020, so if you have one and are reading this, keep us in mind if you want to sell yours around that time. We would go with a 2017 if 2018 is not available, but that floor plan with the stadium seats in front of the TV seems perfect to us...

Of course, as I follow my current research obsession, I may still get scared by horror stories, but I hope not. I already booked our flights and room for Tampa in Jan 19 for the RV show...hope to see some of you there on the 19th or 20th!!!

Will and Michele
Newport, RI
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