Does the Thor MH quality go up with price?

[Long & Winding road]

I been wondering lately if the Thor Motorhome quality goes up with price.

Im not talking about the frames / Engine or Tranny (which I would expect all of DP to be better than a Gas Coach). Im talking about materials, workmanship, fit and finish etc. Like are the cargo doors and seals much better, Flooring, furniture, cabinets, showers, bedding, blinds etc.

From what I see on the Gas coaches .... not really..... just larger, more bells and whistles. But the all have same floor material, cabinets (pending color and some designs), bedding, blinds, same exact plactic shower stalls in all of them (just diff sizes).

But what about jumping from a Gas coach to the DP? Are the Palazzo much beter quaility than a Hurricane or Challenger? Looks like they have the same flooring and cabinets in the pictures online.

I have looked at many Thor Gas MH at CW and for the most part they all look about the same.

But the only DP I looked at were 5 + years old (they either keep the new DP locked or never have any in stock at my local CW).

If you look online it looks like the Palazzo are just a Gas coach materials put on DP chassis? But then as you go up (Aria, Venetian, Tuscany) they look like Tile floors, maybe better cabinets, showers etc??

What have you seen or experienced first hand in the Thor lineup? High price = better quiality? Looks to me you have to spend big money to get quality in a Thor.

[lwmcguire]

You should hit one of the large dealers where they have all models in stock and spend a day looking around

Our Tuscany is very well build with top end finishings throughout. I haven't been back on the lots looking since 2016 so have no input about the current offereings

And as you mentioned the price tag is a bit on up there

[lwmcguire]

https://www.thormotorcoach.com/tuscany/

Decent overview on the web site

The polished porcelain tile is very nice in the 2016 as is the solid cherry wood but again I have not been in the later offerings

[Long & Winding road]

Yeah, I looked online at the Tuscany (The top of the line for the Thor MH lineup). Very nice looking.

Did you look at the other Thor DP's back in 2016? Did you think the quiality was better on yours compared to them?

[mpinva]

Originally Posted by Long & Winding road

I been wondering lately if the Thor Motorhome quality goes up with price.

Im not talking about the frames / Engine or Tranny (which I would expect all of DP to be better than a Gas Coach). Im talking about materials, workmanship, fit and finish etc. Like are the cargo doors and seals much better, Flooring, furniture, cabinets, showers, bedding, blinds etc.

From what I see on the Gas coaches .... not really..... just larger, more bells and whistles. But the all have same floor material, cabinets (pending color and some designs), bedding, blinds, same exact plactic shower stalls in all of them (just diff sizes).

But what about jumping from a Gas coach to the DP? Are the Palazzo much beter quaility than a Hurricane or Challenger? Looks like they have the same flooring and cabinets in the pictures online.

I have looked at many Thor Gas MH at CW and for the most part they all look about the same.

But the only DP I looked at were 5 + years old (they either keep the new DP locked or never have any in stock at my local CW).

If you look online it looks like the Palazzo are just a Gas coach materials put on DP chassis? But then as you go up (Aria, Venetian, Tuscany) they look like Tile floors, maybe better cabinets, showers etc??

What have you seen or experienced first hand in the Thor lineup? High price = better quiality? Looks to me you have to spend big money to get quality in a Thor.

Using the same materials across the lines helps to keep costs down and profits up. My Thor is great and I believe that they offer better value.

[Beau388]

Drive down to MHSRV and look at 100+ Thor motorcoachs on the same lot. You can do it with a salesman or just borrow a golf cart and cruise the lot. See for your self and don't take anyone else's word. You can also compare Thor's offerings with the other major manufactures. Just don't expect to look at everything in one 12 hour day.

[Long & Winding road]

Originally Posted by Beau388

Drive down to MHSRV and look at 100+ Thor motorcoachs on the same lot. You can do it with a salesman or just borrow a golf cart and cruise the lot. See for your self and don't take anyone else's word. You can also compare Thor's offerings with the other major manufactures. Just don't expect to look at everything in one 12 hour day.

Yeah, Well im NOT looking for a new RV... I was just thinking about the Thor MH quality and what you guys thought about them.

I only have CW near me with Thor products so I have never looked at a new Thor DP inside.

[lwmcguire]

Originally Posted by Long & Winding road

Yeah, I looked online at the Tuscany (The top of the line for the Thor MH lineup). Very nice looking.

Did you look at the other Thor DP's back in 2016? Did you think the quiality was better on yours compared to them?

We actually went to three large dealers and looked at all the offerings up to $500k which was the top we were willing to go

After looking at the specs, warranties, appliances, furniture, wood, storage, and floor plans we settled on the Tuscany.

So to answer your question we did look at other Thor's on the higher end and they were finished out very nice as well much to the opposite of what you will hear on the IRV2 forum. I remember almost going for a Venetian but decided the Tuscany checked one more box which was all electric. I actually made up a spread sheet to make sure we gave all the coaches a good looking over.

The one thing that in 2016 made the Tuscany a better value than SOB was the options were all included in the package, nothing had to be added.

Given they all depreciate like heck we went to the discount dealers when ready to purchase as the warranties are exactly the same. If someone needs more hands on assistance then buying from a local dealer would be well worth it.

[Bob Denman]

I can tell you that price doesn't affect quality in the Gas Coaches one bit...
We compared our Outlaw 29H, to an Outlaw 37RB
Right on the lot, and ready to be sold: the RB had a piece of tape (used to seal the garage ceiling panels together); dangling from the ceiling, and hanging all the way to the floor!
(An easy thing to see and fix; yet nobody did!)

[TurnerFam]

the 'quality', meaning the perfection from those who are on the lines everyday building these coaches, are subject to the humans involved, and the quality control along the way, or at the end of the build. The quality won't change a whole lot between different models or floorplans built in the same building, but it might between the different locations for each, which is generally to do with the 'type' of coach, whether classB/C, Gas A, or Diesel A, though some are built on the same line, even those with different engine types.

In any manufacturing process, any given day will have a different 'quality' outcome. Any manufacturer tries to have a quality control process built in, but some are not as effective as others, and sometimes different from one week to the next. Some factories are extremely busy, and concentrate more on the 'numbers' than quality, while some will limit their numbers because they know they can't build the numbers the sales department is 'selling', because then the quality control won't be there - it's just not reasonable to produce 'more' at the same level of quality with the same number of people with the same number of hours in any given work week. : / You get the picture.

[Bob Denman]

"Garbage in, and garbage out": right?

[Long & Winding road]

Originally Posted by lwmcguire

We actually went to three large dealers and looked at all the offerings up to $500k which was the top we were willing to go

After looking at the specs, warranties, appliances, furniture, wood, storage, and floor plans we settled on the Tuscany.

So to answer your question we did look at other Thor's on the higher end and they were finished out very nice as well much to the opposite of what you will hear on the IRV2 forum. I remember almost going for a Venetian but decided the Tuscany checked one more box which was all electric. I actually made up a spread sheet to make sure we gave all the coaches a good looking over.

The one thing that in 2016 made the Tuscany a better value than SOB was the options were all included in the package, nothing had to be added.

Given they all depreciate like heck we went to the discount dealers when ready to purchase as the warranties are exactly the same. If someone needs more hands on assistance then buying from a local dealer would be well worth it.

Thanks, This is exactly the type of input I was hoping for. I tend to like most of the Thor MH (Gas or DP) despite the QC that I have seen first hand on my Axis and other experences on this forum.

So when I retire (10+ years from now) I will give the Thor DP's a good looking over (that is if Im still into the whole RV thing at that time - lol).

But one really needs to compare different coaches to get a feel for the quality, price and options that they are willing to pay for.

The other RV's on the top of my retirement list are Newmar and Tiffin. I tend to like they way they look, QC seems to be good and the prices seem to be resonable too.

[Long & Winding road]

Originally Posted by TurnerFam

the 'quality', meaning the perfection from those who are on the lines everyday building these coaches, are subject to the humans involved, and the quality control along the way, or at the end of the build. The quality won't change a whole lot between different models or floorplans built in the same building, but it might between the different locations for each, which is generally to do with the 'type' of coach, whether classB/C, Gas A, or Diesel A, though some are built on the same line, even those with different engine types.

In any manufacturing process, any given day will have a different 'quality' outcome. Any manufacturer tries to have a quality control process built in, but some are not as effective as others, and sometimes different from one week to the next. Some factories are extremely busy, and concentrate more on the 'numbers' than quality, while some will limit their numbers because they know they can't build the numbers the sales department is 'selling', because then the quality control won't be there - it's just not reasonable to produce 'more' at the same level of quality with the same number of people with the same number of hours in any given work week. : / You get the picture.

Yep, your absolutely correct. Even the $300k+ RV have some QC problems. I would make darn sure for that price they are 98% correct before the get a dime from me. You cannot be in a rush to purchase an RV.

[Long & Winding road]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

"Garbage in, and garbage out": right?

Yep, you got that right.

I think the local RV dealers should pay someone like us to do the walkthough for their customers. $150 per a hour.

We could find more wrong with the RV's in one hour (Heck 30 minutes) than the dealer will ever. And it will save thier customers hours of aggravation and improve their customer service (and return customers) by 100%.

Not to mention minimize the dredded first year trips back to the dealer for stuff that should have never been over looked to begin with.

So who is on board for the "Thor Forum QC program"?..... available at your local Thor dealer now!

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Long & Winding road

Yep, you got that right.

I think the local RV dealers should pay someone like us to do the walkthough for their customers. $150 per a hour.

We could find more wrong with the RV's in one hour (Heck 30 minutes) than the dealer will ever. And it will save thier customers hours of aggravation and improve their customer service (and return customers) by 100%.

Not to mention minimize the dredded first year trips back to the dealer for stuff that should have never been over looked to begin with.

So who is on board for the "Thor Forum QC program"?..... available at your local Thor dealer now!

The dealer's should have a QC person to walk through the coaches as soon as they arrive at the dealer and fix the coaches then (yeah of course they aren't going to do this until the coach has a sale).

[Bob Denman]

I'd try to talk my Missus into volunteering for that kind of duty!

After all: she's an EXPERT at finding all of MY errors!

[lwmcguire]

The IRV2 forum pretty much is the Prevost/Newell and their cousins, crowd as far as what they consider a MH worthy of them. Interesting for me has been the visits I have made here locally to get non Thor items such as the Aqua Hot repaired and the coaches in with mine are all high end. That is partially due to the fact they cater to the bus crowd but they are sure busy. Never a Thor yet except mine. Now I know the QC is lacking but if you expect to buy something with all the equipment put together in one small moving box then you are just kidding yourself. The problems we have had with the Tuscany came down to one or two DS's working at Thor thought it would be funny to put kinks in hoses. We haven't had any structural issues or woodwork, slides, roof, nothing at all in three years that could be blamed on Thor engineering.

Down the road as one poster noted something like a Tuscany should be a great value since it has all the amenities the expensive coaches do and you will get it for a fraction of the cost. That will allow many to get out and on the road.

I will have to give MHSRV a plug as they let you stay on the lot under a canopy (summer) and then come by and fix anything you find. If they cant get it fixed in one day then you stay again and when you leave everything is working and you have time to have them show you how it works if you forget anything from the PDI

Having walked through many coaches we noticed some QC here and there but not as bad as many noted, however we were looking at 250K and up so maybe the difference.

If you look at the numbers of coaches manufactured you will note that many of the lines only kick out a few coaches. Thor makes more in a week than most of them due in a year so you are going to see and hear more stories.

Bottom line they all need to be on top of the QC and hopefully that will happen without driving up the cost significantly.

I am not a particular fan of any of the Manufacturers, we just bought the best coach for the money and that is a fact. Should we buy another in a few years the same review of the current offering will be done again and the winner will be?

[Bob Denman]

It sounds as if MHSRV does what it can, to make up for the "gaps" left by the manufacturers...

... Proof of the value of the Dealership; in the equation!

[Long & Winding road]

Thanks LWMCGUIRE for your input. I think if your purchasing a DP it would be wise to go to one of the biggest dealers in the country to get the best service.

I really like the higher end of the Thor products. At first I thought it would be best to say away but it looked like one has to compare all of the coaches in your price category.... then make your decision.

[m1noel]

I have to agree with most everything LWMCGUIRE has to say. While we were not looking in his price bracket, we looked at pretty much everything even close to our Aria. We looked for 18 months. Tiffen, Newmar, Fleetwood, Winnebago, Forest River, Monaco. I really didn't want to even consider Thor, as when we bought our last gasser 16 years ago we had looked at a few, and the quality was pretty horrible. My wife looked at this Aria, and I walked right by it. I was pretty much hooked on a Discovery 40X. The Berkshire we looked at right before the Aria was literally falling apart brand new on the lot. The Discovery was pretty nice, but lacked a lot of basement and kitchen storage. It did have a larger engine, but didn't drive as nice as the Aria (when I finally gave in and went back to look at it). Our Aria is nicely finished and better equipped standard than anything else we looked at even 50-60k higher priced. It had a few bugs, but nothing drastic. I enjoy the heck out of it and do not regret the purchase at all.