Thor or Jayco?

[Jagwater1]

I am looking to but my first RV and welcome the input of Thor owners. I am looking at a 29-31' "C" class or a 31' "A".

For the most part it will be just my wife and I and our plans are to normally stay within a few hundred miles of home, but will also take about two trips of about 2,000 miles each way per year.

Thor seems to be at the lower price level for these and I am worried that perhaps the quality suffers a bit.

Can anyone share some insight for me?

[JamieGeek]

Well, you get what you pay for...

It seems like all RV manufacturers have varying quality issues. In addition, you'll want to pick the right dealer (an RV with some quality issues from a really good dealer may beat a nearly perfect RV from a really bad dealer).

You'll find some owners on here that have had a ton of issues and their RV's were with the dealer more than the owners for the first year of service; but you'll also find owners who are happy with Thor, their dealer, and their RV (myself included).

You'll likewise find a similar thing with the Jayco units.

[EA37TS]

I echo Jamie's comments and will add that in the one year we have owned the Challenger I have received more support from Thor than I did in the number of years I owned my Forest River class C.

I am very happy with our purchase of the Thor Challenger and although we had an issue during the shake down cruise Thor stepped up to the plate and authorized reimbursement of a mobile tech. The coach is now in the shop for its first and only warranty visit along with chassis and generator service. state inspection and step recall. My dealer even found a warranty item I had not identified and added that to the repair list.

A good local dealer, in my opinion, is worth a grand or two in purchase price.

[Beacher]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

Well, you get what you pay for.......

Not necessarily true regarding RVs.

It is possible to purchase a very inexpensive RV that gives you absolutely no trouble, and is properly built. Those RV owners generally DO NOT post on these fine interweb message boards.

It's also possible to purchase a million dollar motorhome with annoying nicks in the imported solid hand-finished mahogany cabinets, and a to have a cracked granite counter top. You will find those common complaints in the Newmar, Tiffen, Prevost, etc... message boards.

From the aerospace world it's all about expectation, and the final owner. If we are delivering a plane to the military, it's all about documented records. If delivering to a commercial airline, it's all about cost. If delivering to a sheik or basketball player, it's all about the piping on the leather seats. And, it could be the exact same aircraft!

Every customer is concerned, (and may notice), about something different that is absolutely not important to another.

In a $125,000 motorhome, one customer may not quite appreciate that a strip of wood molding trim doesn't quite meet at the corner and is off by 1/8", and will angrily post about non-existant QC on a message board. Another customer would never notice and be completely satisfied.

[Hurricane8]

We just recently moved up from a 32' class C to a 32' class A. Hands down night and day difference in driving the two, with the class A giving the better ride, view, space (driver and passenger area) and maneuverability. I would never go back to a class C. We went from a Forest River Sunseeker 3010ds to the Thor Hurricane 31s and both had/warranty issues. Hope this helps!

[Jagwater1]

I appreciate the responses very much. I am finding RV owners are very helpful to one another and look forward to being one soon.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

Well, you get what you pay for...

....cut....

Yeah, except we often get more of what we don't want and less of what we do want. In my opinion it's not a black and white issue.

As an example (realizing I've stated this opinion before in other similar threads), I'd personally trade size for greater quality. Given a certain budget, I would give up size for simplicity and higher-end components made to a higher standard. A smaller motorhome perhaps could have fewer and/or smaller windows of higher quality, maybe a high-end single air conditioner rather than two cheap ones, a lower-capacity battery charger that is multi-stage, etc... The tradeoffs are endless.

The problem I see is that buyers continue to choose lots of content and a cheaper price, which unintentionally drives quality down. And by indirectly choosing cheap over quality it forces manufacturers to compete on that level. So it appears to me that we get what we "collectively" keep choosing to buy.

[bigben]

We've had 2 Class A gas coaches. One was a Forest River Georgetown and our current Challenger 37TB.

Both were new - both had an adventuresome first year. Lots of ankle biter issues in both - a couple of semi serious issues. Gotta say that Forest River support was basically a no show. Thor has been terrific.

Dollar for Dollar, Feature for Feature our Challenger 37TB is tough to beat. Our 1 year warranty is up soon and Thor is going over it at the factory one more time in Indiana. Our dealer service has been solid.

Would I buy it again - you betcha.

[fivejackie]

The DH wanted a Jayco Class C that she could drive. We had good service with our dealer and enjoyed the C. Two years later we went to a RV show and the rest is history, we bought the Thor Hurricane 27K Class A. The dealer and Thor has given us good service.
If we had got the Class A first and not the Class C we could have saved a lot of money. I prefer the Class A over the C, but their are many who prefer the C.
Look and drive both and see which one fits your needs. Make sure you do some research on the dealer.
Good Luck!

[HRDWRK]

We were the same boat as you. We wanted a class C around 30' and we narrow it down to Jayco and Thor. Jayco felt was slightly better build. I really liked Jayco's one piece front cap, I mean the whole from cap not the front portion of the cap, but then we liked the Thor (we got chateau 28z) floor plans way better. Storage was an issue with the same size Jayco.
At it was said, find a good dealer that you can rely on since all coaches will have issues, and find a floor plan that works for you because you can't replace or repair these two!
Good luck.

[Jagwater1]

Thanks for your responses, I have more homework to do.