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2017 Thor Challenger 37LX pickup
I picked up my 2017 Thor Challenger 37LX from Total Value RV in Elkhart, Indiana last week. I want to share my experience with everyone in hopes that it will benefit their potential future purchase. First, I have to give a big thumbs up to Kyle in the Total Value RV PDI team. It was his attention to detail that made the process much easier.
Buy em’ where they’re made
I live in Texas but decided to order my coach from Total Value RV in Elkhart, Indiana for many reasons. If you have read the forums, you had heard the stories of the transport company not taking as much of it during transport to its destination. I wanted to be the one putting the first 1K miles on the shake down drive to learn the squeaks and potential issues. Plus, I didn’t’ have to worry about it sitting on a dealers lot for 6 months or more not being taken care of and every potential buyer rummaging through it and breaking even more items. I picked up my coach with 67 miles on it. If you are considering purchasing, I would highly recommend Total Value RV. They are all a great bunch of people and treated me as if I were part of the family.
I picked my coach up last Monday and stayed at Total Value RV for two days. They have 6 spaces with power and a dump site in the back. There internet is not very good and I think they turn it off at night. I guess they are helping you get ready for how most internet service at RV parks works. After two nights, I decided to schedule an alignment at Jordan Ford before I started putting a lot of miles on it. Good thing I did because the toe was off by about ¾ of an inch. You will hear different opinions about getting an alignment and who’s responsibility it is but it is your investment. Spending $138 for an alignment is well worth ensuring I don’t ruin my much more expensive tires.
Pre-Delivery Inspection
During the PDI, Kyle was very informative and patient with me even as I continued to asked additional questions. I only found a few small items which they quickly resolved. One item that is a little disappointing is that all of Thor’s advertisement says that the coach has LED lights thru ought. Unfortunately, the lighting in the dinning and cabin area is incandescent. Total Value RV contacted Thor and Thor said sorry, that is the way they have always built them. I got on Amazon, spent $30 and replaced the bulbs with LED versions. Really Thor? The batteries won’t hold a charge very long which means that they have already been drained below 50% many times or not maintained well before the coach was delivered to the dealer. This wasn’t a big concern for me since I already planned on replacing the batteries. Plan on going through a couple of vacuum bags because Thor apparently doesn’t have a shop vac; you will be finding woodwork dust for a long time. Overall, it was Total Value RV’s PDI team that made mine easy. I can promise that when it first arrived from Thor that there were about two pages of items that they needed to fix. This goes back to ensuring you have a dealer that you trust with a great PDI team.
Shake down Drive
The drive was fairly uneventful just lots of creaks and squeaks. When I was almost home, I noticed that one of the dash screw holes was stripped as I watched a portion of the dash bounce up and down. I fixed it myself with some JB Weld. Also, during the trip, the Atwood furnace started continuously clicking. I pulled up the forums and was able to find what I believe resolved the issue. I shut it off, unplug the wiring, waited 10 seconds, and plugged everything back in.
Bottom line, I am very happy with Total Value RV and if I were to purchase again, I would go through them and make the drive. I am about 90% happy with the Thor. While I do like the coach, there are some things that could be better if someone just took a little extra time or just a better quality control before leaving the factory. I know some people are thinking that I will have issue getting warranty done local but I will be traveling so often with a flexible schedule, I don’t think it will be a concern for me. I hope this helps potential buyers. Please let me know if there are any specific questions and see you all out on the road.
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