lookng at purchasing a new THOR

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Chance

Your post raises an interesting issue regarding slides that I've never seen discussed before.

Research I've read over many years says that slides are still the #1 quality/repair complaint with RVs, although the reports don't generally provide a breakdown by slide type, size, etc.

You mention your full-wall slide adding 60 square feet (seems high to me but let's use that for comparison), which could replace three smaller slides. The question would be what is more likely to have a problem, one large slide or three small ones?

Obviously a large slide may be more prone to having problems, but since there would be three small ones, would the chance of the larger slide be three times as high?

I personally expect that having a failure in any one of three small slides is more probable than a failure in one big slide, although the consequences of failure are much greater with a full-wall slide.

20ft slide extending 3 feet = 60 square feet of living space.

Another possible point of failure with the full wall slides: The larger the slide the more stuff they put in them. Sinks, refer's, stoves, bathrooms!, etc. This means you now also have plumbing in the slide and more moving parts.

Granted they've had kitchen slides for a while now with all those parts in them as well.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

20ft slide extending 3 feet = 60 square feet of living space.

Another possible point of failure with the full wall slides: The larger the slide the more stuff they put in them. Sinks, refer's, stoves, bathrooms!, etc. This means you now also have plumbing in the slide and more moving parts.

Granted they've had kitchen slides for a while now with all those parts in them as well.

Jamie, I looked at his Hurricane 34J floor plan on Thor site and it looks to me that it's under 30-feet long by 2-feet deep. In the past these digital floor plans have been drawn very close to scale. It may be 60 square feet, but it doesn't look it. Not that exact size matters.

To your point though, it's likely that if a similar-size motorhome had three small slides instead of one large one, it too may have the kitchen (or part of it) in one of the smaller slides. Likewise, a manufacturer could place both the kitchen and the bathroom on fixed side of an RV with full-wall slide. These are not mutually exclusive potential problems.

Of the two I would personally avoid a moveable kitchen more, but don't need or want a slide either. Having said that, if I had to choose between one long versus three short slides, I'm not sure what I'd prefer.

[EA37TS]

When we were looking at upgrading we looked at the Windsport, Hurricane, Four Winds Super C and Miramar. All of them with an outdoor kitchen (our requirement/must have) had the full wall slide. Due to my research into the full wall slide issues, we refused to purchase any model with the full wall slide. About a year into looking we found the Challenger 37ND that had the outdoor kitchen an three slide rather than a full wall. In one slide we have the kitchen which has the fridge, stove, micro and sink. Across from that is the living area with counter, dinette (non-booth) and sofa. The bedroom slide has the bed and overhead cabinets. My living area slide is 151 inches wide, the kitchen slide is 130 inches wide and the bedroom slide is 90 inches wide. The kitchen and living area slides are both 76 inches high and the bedroom slide is 61 inches high.

Based on the drawings my kitchen slide alone has approx 44 linear feet of 3 inch wide 28 gauge electro-galvanized steel in the exterior wall.

In our floor plan neither the shower nor bathroom are in slides. The shower is on the living area side and the bathroom is on the kitchen side.

[winder1]

Originally Posted by Chance

Jamie, I looked at his Hurricane 34J floor plan on Thor site and it looks to me that it's under 30-feet long by 2-feet deep. In the past these digital floor plans have been drawn very close to scale. It may be 60 square feet, but it doesn't look it. Not that exact size matters.

To your point though, it's likely that if a similar-size motorhome had three small slides instead of one large one, it too may have the kitchen (or part of it) in one of the smaller slides. Likewise, a manufacturer could place both the kitchen and the bathroom on fixed side of an RV with full-wall slide. These are not mutually exclusive potential problems.

Of the two I would personally avoid a moveable kitchen more, but don't need or want a slide either. Having said that, if I had to choose between one long versus three short slides, I'm not sure what I'd prefer.

This seems to be a pointless argument. Let me give you my take on slides: They are ALL going to fail, period. If they are made by Lippert, and most are, the are going to fail 100%. All of their systems, in my opinion, are under engineered, poorly constructed, and then eventually, installed incorrectly by the manufacturer. They are definitely a low bid manufacturer, with all of the QA problems associated with ALL of their various systems.

Spacelink is typical of the new RV buyer, as was I, one year ago. Unless you have been RVing for years, and have become accustomed to being treated like garbage from RV builders and suppliers, the experience is sobering.

My advice to anyone interested in owning an RV is to NEVER buy a new RV from a manufacturer. You will discover, as Spacelink and I have, that a new RV warranty is actually a LIABILITY! You must take your RV only to factory authorized repair centers, instead of to either the closest, or the best repair facilities. The best repair facilities usually do not honor factory, or extended warranties. They will usually do the required work quicker, better, and for lower overall costs than any of the national chain affiliated repair centers.

It is totally unacceptable to me to have 12 warranty items needing to be repaired. Thats ridiculous, as is a wait of 2 weeks to get your vehicle back. But if that is what you are used to from an industry as good service, you begin to accept it. Even defend it, on forums. It is NOT ACCEPTABLE, and people that are new to the RV industry are not going to tolerate it!

I have owned a new THOR since October of 2015, and have been able to use it a total of 3 times, for less than 2 weeks total, the rest of the time it has been in a shop of one kind or another. The generator, the auto levelers, and the slide out have never worked for more than one trip, ever. That is just the beginning, I have over 20 defects, and counting as well.

Worse, I would never trust this coach for an extended trip. It has never been able to last more than one night of camping without multiple failures, of systems that have supposedly been fixed, several times. What good is an RV that is too undependable to take on the road? With what we have spent on this motorhome, in less than a year, we could have taken a 3 month long round the world cruise, and still be money ahead! And I am not even counting in the purchase price!

We are discussing just selling it on, or filing a Lemon Lawsuit. We would love to just have this POS out of our life. It, and THOR, has ended any interest we had in the RV lifestyle. Selling it seems like the quickest and easiest solution, but I have problems being no better than the manufacturers. Any reputable company would have stepped up and handled the problems that Spacelink and I have had. Don't hold your breath!

[Chance]

Originally Posted by winder1

This seems to be a pointless argument. Let me give you my take on slides: They are ALL going to fail, period. ....cut....

When it comes to not wanting a slide, you are preaching to the choir.

I once read that slides only have two advantages: They provide more room and they increase resale value. Disadvantages are too many to list; so yeah, I'd rather pass on slides if given an option.

I think slides to some degree have been a crutch for getting away with poor and otherwise inefficient floorplan designs. I'm not saying they can't add value, but they are not always needed. There are other ways to make a coach comfortable and efficient.

Today while doing research I noticed that many of the 2017 small Class C floorplans that were previously offered without slides now include them. Manufacturers have gotten initial cost so low that they include them wherever possible. And apparently they are too clueless to notice that some buyers may actually prefer not having a slide. As I've said before, I would pay a premium to have a slide deleted on an Axis.

I was told again recently by Thor that buyers can't special order anything like a slide delete or a dinette in place of a couch. While I don't personally like their reply, I respect it. So I'm moving on trying to find something else that works for us.

And while I prefer to buy new, I haven't ruled out a lightly used motorhome so that I don't have to deal with warranty issues. I wouldn't do well with that if I got a lemon.

[Burq57]

We have a Thor Tuscany diesel pusher. We have had a few issues, but remember you have a rolling earthquake. Some things are going to come loose.
I have talked to many Motor Coach owners and almost all ask how much time has it been in the shop in the first year. This seems universal to all manufactures. I just budget for issues.

Our large slide has a refrigerator, stove, sink and couch in it. The Schwintek slide came apart in the second year. After looking at it, the factory did not align it properly. All other slides work good and are aligned. Now that it has been replaced and properly aligned, it works better than ever.

We are happy with our coach (not the dealer), and would purchase another Thor product.

[WillowRun]

We recently purchased a newer 2016 not 2017 Super C 35sf......LOVE IT.....did months of homework...read and asked questions in many many forums and facebook groups.....came to our own concensus that
1) there are several plants at thor...each address manufactures different Rvs and 5th wheels
2) we noticed that many models made at the third plant between 2012 and 2015 seem to have the most complaints from real people on the road....

We know there are issues with anything moving and electric....but we almost went the 5th wheel route with a truck...we looked at them for 3 years....and at the last decision pull the trigger time we flipped to a class c AND diesel AND big......we decided it was safer,more reliable,very sturdy and hope to have many many years use and enjoyment! So far we could not be happier with a camping living vehicle and we have only contacted Thor once about the lippert jacks once and they were helpful,curteous and responsive the same day! Happy Hunting...it is exasperating and so enlightening all at the same time!

[bigben]

Very nice WillowRun - where are the pictures!! That looks like a great rig! Does it have a bath and half? Nice

[blr]

We enjoy our Miramar. Have had issues, Thor has always be more then helpful. Can't say the same for CW. Would buy again but no from CW again Bradley& Candy

[WillowRun]

Okay trying..not sure how to upload multiples!

[WillowRun]

[WillowRun]

Least that's the basics.....so nice in person!

[bigben]

Love the dark wood - very nice. We have a Challenger but this is one great looking coach.

[WillowRun]

[Rakkasan]

I just put 5700 miles thru the Rockies, Ozarks, and Smokies on my 2015 WindSport 34e and other than a few loose screws and nuts, I think it did pretty well. The $1700.00 in fuel I burnt still has me hurting a little. I have it all tightened up, maintained, and am ready for a run down to FL. All in all, I'm not regretting it.

[vkb]

Originally Posted by Rakkasan

I just put 5700 miles thru the Rockies, Ozarks, and Smokies on my 2015 WindSport 34e and other than a few loose screws and nuts, I think it did pretty well. The $1700.00 in fuel I burnt still has me hurting a little. I have it all tightened up, maintained, and am ready for a run down to FL. All in all, I'm not regretting it.

Yep ! no one ever said camping/rv life was cheap ! It is a way of life, we all enjoy ! The peace of mind, knowing everything in the 'home' is yours and you control the cleanliness, sleeping in your own bed ... staying the nite or several days in awesome areas of the country ... outweighs the cost involved !

We just returned from a 4 state loop of the southwest and are headed to Florida soon !

Enjoy !

[RVCampingNut]

I just took possession of my 2017 Thor Challenger 37LX last Thursday and I have gone over every inch of it and pushed every button to make sure it was in good working order. Other than 2 water cutoffs not being turned on or off (1 was the water to the full sized refrigerator and the other was the second bypass valve on the water heater was not closed), I have found 0 issues. Now, that being said, I have only been on one weekend trip to test everything out. I am about to take a week long trip and really test things. I expect to find some issues, not with the quality of workmanship inside, but with the mechanical parts not produced by Thor. Like any manufacturer, you are at the mercy of the parts supplier to make sure they are performing quality checks. While the dealer walked through a thorough checklist (which I was involved with), everything works, but that doesn't mean that in the second, third, or forth trip something might fail. There are a lot of parts from many different producers and they do their best to make sure things are in working order. This is my 2nd RV, the first was a Forrest River Leprechaun. While that one had issues and was more of a learning curve for me, I think with this purchase, there is nothing that I cannot handle/fix.

I did some research and as with all forums, there are those that are not happy with a manufacturer and those that love them. I took everything into consideration and then found the coach that works for me and my family. So far I am impressed with it. The workmanship inside is excellent. Unlike my last RV, I see no knicks on the wood, misaligned cabinets, or caulk either all over the place or blatantly missing (like around the sinks which I found out the hard way).

Would I purchase another Thor again, absolutely. My next model will be a diesel pusher because I really want one but it's not in the budget at the moment. So when you make your decision, weigh out all of the advice people give, find what fits your needs and budget, and pull the plug and purchase it.

[DocMike]

Willow,


Neat looking Unit!!


What kind of gas mileage does a Super C get?


Doc

[WillowRun]

doc....still doing break in...but with cruise control at 60 about 10...10.4
back roads about 8.4 so we are happy with her so far!! And for us it's an investment so not planning on "trading up" or swapping or selling till both of us can't drive i guess...and then I guess we will park her somewhere for the fulltime thing in about 7 or 8 years!! LOL

[kwplot34]

Here is an update to this thread I started a while back, and thank you for all the replies.
We pulled the trigger on a new 2016 Thor chateau 31L. We will pick it up this Thursday. Explained to the salesman that I want plenty of time to go over the PDI, I want to see EVERYTHING work. We drove it yesterday with GEN running so we could have the coach a/c running, no problems there. Looked it over very closely and found the pull out counter top/drawer would not stay closed, one blind would not roll up all the way and the that the air mattress is stored in had a rip in it, these are all supposed to be fixed before delivery.
We are leaving on a 2 week trip July 1st, so not much time to give it a good shake down before we leave, so we are planning on living in it in the driveway for a few nights to make sure there are no problems.
Any other suggestions before we take off on this 2 week 3000 mile trip???