RV Newbies - Question re A.C.E. 30.3

Lori · 10-04-2019, 05:01 PM

OOPS, I posted this twice! Hi all. My husband and I are going to be buying our first RV within the next year. We have fallen in love with the A.C.E. 30.3 floorplan. Does anyone own an A.C.E. and do you have any advice, hints, recommendations or warnings?*

Thanks, Lori

lal22 · 10-05-2019, 06:30 AM

Welcome to the forum! You guys can soak up all the knowledge in advance and be well prepared. I have a 2013 ACE 30.1 and love the floor plan. They say that the most important thing is that you love your floor plan, most all else can be fixed or modified as needed. When I see people post about their ACE I copy their post, paste it in an email and send it to myself incase I ever need it. Sometimes there is so much information in this forum that you miss stuff, so that is how I break it down so that it just applies specifically to my rig. Of course you also have the search feature that works great.

I just retired from nursing..... don't miss it at all, I was ready travel so we got the ACE [emoji16].

HarleypsychRN · 10-05-2019, 11:40 AM

This is out first year with a Thor ACE 29.4. WE purchased a used one with around 3900 miles on it. It's been good so far. Good entry level RV IMHO. We bought ours for the floor plan as well. Feel free to message us as needed...we are still learning too.

kprun · 10-07-2019, 12:09 AM

I have my 2016 ACE 29.4. for 3 years and 20,000 miles. We are still happy with it. We haven't had any major problems. It's never been in the shop except for routine maintenance. Some minor issues that I have been able to take care of myself. As people always explain on here, be sure to inspect every inch and test everything before you part with any dollars. Good luck and I hope you enjoy yours as much as we've enjoyed ours.

Lori · 10-07-2019, 03:03 AM

Thank you for the answer. Lal22, I'm a nurse too and I can't wait to retire and go traveling! We're planning to start small with weekend trips and work up to a year touring the drivable 49 states.

lal22 · 10-07-2019, 03:47 AM

Lori, Funny (odd), 3 of us, just in this thread, like the ACE & are nurses. Plus my name is Laurie. Nurses have good taste!

HaRVey · 10-07-2019, 09:36 AM

We use to have a ACE 29.2 and my advice is to try to hang out and pretend you're living in it to determine if there are things that feel uncomfortable because those are the things you may grow to hate. For example our 29.2 had a toilet on a pedestal which left my feet hanging (I'm 5' 10"), and to get into my side of the bed I had to walk sideways past the foot of the bed (even our 7 year old grandson commented on this). Getting in and out of the drivers seat past the engine cover is difficult and the main slide limits how far you can move the drivers seat back (barely enough for me).
The ACE is entry level, so we had a lot of fit and finish issues like gaps between drivers and engine compartment allowing heat and noise through.
The white backing on the windshield curtain deteriorated within the first year (SoCal sun) and was replaced under warranty, but went away again in another year.
We had the dealer modify the battery compartment to swap the two 12V batteries for four 6V and added a whole house inverter and added 400W of solar. With those mods we had lots of dry camping capability and enjoymemt!
We also swapped the terrible jack knife coach for custom theater reclining seating.
Best of luck and welcome!

Mr Sunshine · 10-08-2019, 01:18 AM

Welcome to the forum!

The best money you can spend is to rent a coach and spend some time in it before you buy. Try to find the model you are lusting after, or a similar one. Besides renting from dealers, there are some rent-by-owner sites on the web.

It is a good idea to buy a good used RV for your first. You'll miss out on that big depreciation hit that a new owner gets driving off the lot. Then you'll find out if it really is the right floorplan or if something else suits you better.

We had a similar floorplan in a 33' Class A, and found that we could do without the dinette, for mostly the two of us and no pets. For us and the way we travel (now) our Vegas 25.2 fits us just right. We know folks who had a Vegas like ours and are happy they moved up to something like you mentioned.

KReed464 · 10-12-2019, 07:15 PM

Hi, I have a 2018 ACE 30.3 and I love the floor plan. It just makes sense to me to have all the seating opposite the television. I did get the suspension upgrades, had it done by etrailer.com. I also just had solar panels put on. Etrailer.com does free installs, you just have to agree to let them film the install and use it on their website. Sounds like a "no brainier" to me. As far as the motorhome itself, it has all of the issues you would expect from something that is being bounced down the highway. Things come loose, I have had the furnace breakdown twice, would recommend getting spare parts for it. Easy to fix, just have to have the spare parts handy. I'm a full timer with 2 dogs, one suggestion is to put some screen material behind the vent under the fridge. The fur was getting in there and fouled up a microswitch on the furnace, another easy fix, just blew out the dust/fur, just a pain because you only find out when you need the heat. It's been fine since I added the screen. Overall, I am enjoying it, good luck and if you have any specific questions about the 30.3, just ask, I'll be happy to share my experience.

Quickuc57 · 10-12-2019, 08:16 PM

What year? We own a 30.1 very similar floor plan. We actually have had a class, small and large, pull trailer, now the 30.1 all in a 7 year period. I do believe this is the one. Happy Trails...

z28 · 10-13-2019, 12:30 AM

So I also have a 2018 Thor ACE 30.3, overall I am very satisfied with the floor plan, what I am dissatisfied with is pantry storage. I had a 1999 Thor Chateau 31 foot that had more storage. I plan on adding some pullout wire shelving I saw at Lowe’s
under the sink.
This unit is still a good investment and I plan on using it for many years to come.

Jefvm · 10-13-2019, 04:37 AM

Well I own a 30.2 basically the same RV. Remember like they say this is an introductory rv meaning low end unit.
We do love it don't get me wrong.
My recommendation would be to have the dealer include or buy and install a track bar for the rear end to reduce sway plus a Safe-T steering stabilizer.
Another thing I didn't realize at the time is the driver sit wasn't capable of being adjusted up and down , not sure in the newer units if the changed that however make sure it adjust up and down not just forward and backwards are you will wish you had.
If it don't I would advise you to have that changed out too or expect to have some stackable boards so when your legs lose circulation from hanging over the seat you can keep driving.
I'm sure there are some more things I just need to think about it and ask the wife it's been a while.
Good luck

KReed464 · 10-13-2019, 01:17 PM

It's a 2018, I've already put 28,000 miles on it and I am really happy with it or maybe it's just the life style? Either way, I'm enjoying life again and that's what it's all about.

KReed464 · 10-13-2019, 01:22 PM

I'm a single guy and don't do a whole lot of cooking so it seems decent to me but the slides do sound like a good idea.

KReed464 · 10-13-2019, 01:24 PM

Enjoy! So far I really like it.

Norrirn · 10-13-2019, 01:59 PM

We’ve owned and enjoyed our Thor A.C.E. 29.2 for almost years and 46K miles. As it is built on the same chassis as the 30.3, I offer a some suggestions; 1) have the front end aligned after loading the rig for travel. 2) Install, or have installed, a Safe-T-Plus or similar steering dampener. 3) Cheap Handling Fix, front and rear, not difficult to do yourself nor expensive for someone else to do. Those basic things will significantly improve your driving experience. Beyond that, you’ll no doubt find lots of other things that will make your RV easier, safer, and more enjoyable. But keep in mind that stuff will fail or break and if you can fix it yourself, just do it. Our ownership has not been without frustration but necessary repairs have been made and we have no qualms about taking Priscilla on semi-annual month long odysseys.

Good luck with your decision!

AndyT1183 · 10-14-2019, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lori

OOPS, I posted this twice! Hi all. My husband and I are going to be buying our first RV within the next year. We have fallen in love with the A.C.E. 30.3 floorplan. Does anyone own an A.C.E. and do you have any advice, hints, recommendations or warnings?*

Thanks, Lori

We own an ACE 29.4 and LOVE it.

labileaffect · 10-25-2019, 12:06 AM

I just bought an ACE 30.4 and I am a RN as well!!

HarleypsychRN · 10-26-2019, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaRVey

We use to have a ACE 29.2 and my advice is to try to hang out and pretend you're living in it to determine if there are things that feel uncomfortable because those are the things you may grow to hate. For example our 29.2 had a toilet on a pedestal which left my feet hanging (I'm 5' 10"), and to get into my side of the bed I had to walk sideways past the foot of the bed (even our 7 year old grandson commented on this). Getting in and out of the drivers seat past the engine cover is difficult and the main slide limits how far you can move the drivers seat back (barely enough for me).
The ACE is entry level, so we had a lot of fit and finish issues like gaps between drivers and engine compartment allowing heat and noise through.
The white backing on the windshield curtain deteriorated within the first year (SoCal sun) and was replaced under warranty, but went away again in another year.
We had the dealer modify the battery compartment to swap the two 12V batteries for four 6V and added a whole house inverter and added 400W of solar. With those mods we had lots of dry camping capability and enjoymemt!
We also swapped the terrible jack knife coach for custom theater reclining seating.
Best of luck and welcome!

Can I ask what type of theater seating you went with...agreed, that jackknife sofa is terrible

HarleypsychRN · 10-26-2019, 11:22 AM

Labilaffect cool what year did you get?

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