Hello everyone!

[Christina]

My name is Christina and I just want to say how nice it is to have these threads to read while trying to make an informed decision. We are currently in talks with MHSRV about purchasing a new 2017 Thor Axis 24.1. About 6 months ago my husband and I purchased a 33' travel trailer hoping to see America through RVing. The minute we drove it off the lot I knew we had made a big mistake. We are very new to anything related to RVING. The walk through was very detailed and exhausting. Thankfully I recorded the whole thing. Regardless, towing the trailer scared me to death. Upon taking our first outing, we came upon a large accident involving a truck pulling a travel trailer. 2 people died in that accident. That was all I needed to see. I have not lost the dream of RVING, just the towing part. So here we are... I'm just leery of making another financial mistake. I would like to ask if anyone out there has regretted buying their 24.1 and any thoughts going through MHSRV? Thank you - Christina

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Christina

I would like to ask if anyone out there has regretted buying their 24.1

That is a pretty wide open question. You'll get answers like: "yeah it was a lemon" or "after a while we found it was too small for us" or "we didn't like the way it drove" or "I didn't like the fishbowl affect of the front window in a campground" or ... Each reason will be different and may or may not be the answer you're looking for--are you looking for us to talk you out of it?

We love our 24.1; going on the 3rd season with it now. Prior to it we had 2 travel trailers and a 5th wheel. As for the driving part of that: My wife hated to drive pulling any of our campers before. I think she drove a total of 10 hours or so for all three combined. The Axis, on the other hand, she has no problems driving and has split the duties with me on the longer trips we've taken--that includes pulling a car!

Its just big enough for us to go camping with it and be comfortable but its small enough to use for things that we'd never consider with any of our trailers before (we even used it to tailgate our sons doubleheader baseball games at a local middle school).

Tailgating at a middle school.

[Christina]

Thank you for your reply. Do you find the storage space inside adequate for your family's needs? Possibly a 2 week trip?

[tenbear]

Hi Christina, Your story is similar to ours. We bought a trailer, our second, and wrecked it on our first time out. Fortunately no one was hurt. We went out and decided we didn't want another TT and bought the Class C we have now. Have been very happy with it.

Welcome to the forum.

[vkb]

Originally Posted by Christina

My name is Christina and I just want to say how nice it is to have these threads to read while trying to make an informed decision. We are currently in talks with MHSRV about purchasing a new 2017 Thor Axis 24.1. About 6 months ago my husband and I purchased a 33' travel trailer hoping to see America through RVing. The minute we drove it off the lot I knew we had made a big mistake. We are very new to anything related to RVING. The walk through was very detailed and exhausting. Thankfully I recorded the whole thing. Regardless, towing the trailer scared me to death. Upon taking our first outing, we came upon a large accident involving a truck pulling a travel trailer. 2 people died in that accident. That was all I needed to see. I have not lost the dream of RVING, just the towing part. So here we are... I'm just leery of making another financial mistake. I would like to ask if anyone out there has regretted buying their 24.1 and any thoughts going through MHSRV? Thank you - Christina

Hi Christina ... Ron and I had 2 Class B/B+ motorhomes, all the while he was wanting a Toy Hauler Trailer...Sept. 2014, he found exactly what he wanted and we sold our motorhome and bought the trailer. Used it all summer 2015..a couple long trips included. At the end of the season he decided he did not want to pull the trailer (when he bought it I told him I was not driving the truck with the 30' trailer behind it..scared me from the beginning)
We traded our toy hauler in for a 2016 Axis 24.1...we are soooo happy ! We are back in our comfort zone with a 25' motorhome, which we can park, virtually, anywhere and has plenty of space for the 2 of us and an occasional grand kid !
We have done 3 overnight local trips to make sure we have it set up correctly...and everything is working the way it should. So far so good.
As you will find...there are many options out there...it took us 4 different units to get it right !
The advantage of the 24.1 is the bed in the rear.. can be twins or a King .. with the slide up front, it offers more living room. The table setup for us, is better than a dinette.
You just gotta weigh all the options and hope you make the correct decision for you and yours.

Enjoy the search and know that everyone on this Forum will be happy to offer all kinds of information and advice !

Kay

[axis earl]

Hi Christina,
We have a 2016 Axis 24.1 and chose it for two reasons. First was the size. We needed something around 25 feet long because of our driveway and storage next to our house. That was a winner. Second was the fact that it drove so much smoother than a Class C (Winnebago View, Mercedes Sprinter chassis) was our first choice.... and it was quite a bit cheaper. Storage? It has quite a bit in the outside storage bins but we have the oven option in the galley which cuts down a bit on inside storage. We haven't gone on a two week trip yet but plan on making it work.... There are always trade offs with size, budget, etc.... INSIST on your dealership paying for an initial front end alignment since they ALL need one when they are new. I had to pay for my own even though Thor offered to offset my costs by $250. I haven't seen any $$$ yet and now don't expect to. For the money, it is a very enjoyable unit.

[KNMIB]

Welcome. We do not have a 24.1 but we do have a 25 foot class C so I can't speak for the 24.1 but I can for the size. We love the size and thought that we may go bigger some day but those thoughts are gone, it is ideal for us and we need nothing bigger. We have spent up to 5 weeks in it going through the west and it was perfect. One thing to consider is the dealer, you will read a lot on this sight that the dealer is one of the keys to happiness. I do not know anything about MHRSV, but somebody on here does. Have a great time and safe travels.

[mustang94]

Originally Posted by Christina

I would like to ask if anyone out there has regretted buying their 24.1 and any thoughts going through MHSRV? Thank you - Christina

Hello and welcome to the board. We bought ours at MSHRV just a few months ago. Seemed like a bunch of really nice people until the final deal day. They tried their hardest to get more money out of us for just about anything, even wanted to charge us 1800 bucks for tires on the truck we were trading in when they just looked at the truck 2 weeks prior. We have never had a MH, just campers and 5th wheels, We asked if some one could please pull it out of the tight spot it was in when it was time to go, 5 of them just laughed, smiled and walked away. 3 days later sent them a email on a few things we seen wrong with MH and to this day have never, I MEAN NEVER, heard a word back from them, not even to say thanks for buying from us. So far everything I have done to it I have called Thor tech line, most are very nice and happy people. But now MHSRV does have a very nice lot and a big selection of motorhomes and you are free to look around all day long with out being bugged by a sales person...

[DocMike]

Christina,

We owned a Coachman B+ on a GMC Chassis ("Big Mama" as the boys called it) back in the late 80's when the boys were little and for 6 years it was just a camping/fishing weekender to the mountains and back (one long trip to FLa). Also doubled as my daily ride to work.

We will be ending our Rookie year as a 2016 Vegas 24.1 owner next month and for the past 6 months things have gone quite well. The Vegas is much much more than "Big Mama" was made to be or used for. But it is scheduled for a fishing trip tomorrow!!!!

The first 5 months required some learning and some fixing of things (some minor, some not, some we discovered and shared here on this Forum and others were discovered by others on this Forum and shared here).

All is well with the unit and we are looking forward to our second year of ownership. After 6 months of trying I received a phone call from Thor last night that my last headache with Thor is being corrected and the check is in the mail.

Write down this name, address and put it in a safe place. Then if all efforts fail on getting something corrected and you have are at your wits end write a clear and concise letter with documentation to:
Robert W. Martin, CEO, President and Director Thor Industires Inc, 601 East Beardsley Avenue Elkhart, IN 46514-3305.

It took him just 4 weeks to get the problem corrected.

Happy travels.

Doc

[jazzfest]

We had 3 motorhomes before we bought the Vegas. The last one was a 36' Bounder. While I loved all the room, it was just too big for me to drive.
I can easily drive the Vegas.

As for storage, we're packing for a month & I'm not having a problem finding room for my stuff, even though I have more to pack than my husband.

So far we're very happy with it. If we ever have a problem, this forum is our first stop. These people really step up and help out. Even if someone doesn't know a solution, they'll give a phone # or email to someone at Thor that can help.

After we signed up to buy it, but before we picked it up, we watched a youtube video tour of the motorhome, so we were familiar with a lot of the stuff they showed us on the walk through.

One thing the brochure said that wasn't true was thet it is satellite ready.

Another thing, it's too low to the ground to crawl under to check things out. We did this on the Bounder, but could not on the Vegas.

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Christina

Thank you for your reply. Do you find the storage space inside adequate for your family's needs? Possibly a 2 week trip?

We haven't done a trip over a week. For our week long trips we will typically only bring enough clothes for about 4 or 5 days and use the laundry facilities where we're staying at (we usually stay at full-service campgrounds and rarely boondock--only in rest area's! LOL).

There are people who have stayed months in their 24.1 on here; I'm sure they will post at some point.

Another thing: Make sure you download the crowd-sourced owner's manual from here. You can grab it and read up before you purchase--you'll be more prepared for communicating with the dealer.

[bevedfelker]

Christina:

We have a 2015 Vegas 24.1. We have over 5000 miles on it and probably 45 days of camping in it.

My wife & I love it. We like the twin bed setup. We also find the storage capacity is huge. We use the upper cabinets above the couch as a pantry. We have been out for two weeks at a time several times and never had a problem carrying everything we needed for that period of time. We have the 15K A/C, and my wife gets the coach down to meat locker temps even in FL summer weather with no problem. The hot water heater provides plenty of hot water. We find the size to be perfect for our needs, especially driving in town and accessing parking lots.

We have a really great dealer and we found only 3 minor discrepancies when we did the initial PDI. You will find several discussions on the forum with people who have had problems; however, I think in general ,most people are happy with their Vegas/Axis.

I developed an owners' manual to supplement the generalized manual you'll get from your dealer. I designed it to be a self-teaching tool especially for people new to RVing. It also has several checklists to include a Vegas/Axis specific PDI checklist to use at your dealership before taking ownership. Send me an email to bevedfelker@live.com and I'll send you an electronic copy.

[Oneilkeys]

We are on our second Vegas/Axis (2014 Vegas and 2016 Axis), so we must like them. We had a Class B and 22' Class C before the Vegas. We took three long trips in our Vegas - two to Alaska and back and loved it. The last trip to Akaska (last summer) lasted over four months and we stayed in a motel one night. If you pack carefully and take only what you really need, there is plenty of storage. Unlike taking our boat to the Bahamas, in the RV there is almost always a Walmart or Kmart or large grocery store close by. If you can't buy it in Kmart, you don't need it. It's really a great life.

[rabbittracker]

We love our 24.1, and our problems have been minor. In fact, we've never needed to return to the dealership for warranty work. I hope it stays that way. We did have an alignment done, which Thor paid for. We also installed the Safe T Plus steering stabilizer, thanks to advice from this forum...the wisdom and sharing here have been invaluable! We're also about to install the ARC shower rod. Once we get that done, I think we will be completely happy with our motorhome, (although we'd love to add Magna Shades at some point!).

We find the storage to be more than adequate, and don't even have much put away in the cabinets over the beds. We love the beds in the twin configuration. We added memory foam pads to them and regular twin bed sheets from Target, which fit perfectly. This is the first RV we've ever owned that we can honestly say the beds are as comfortable as home. We use the small table between the front cab seats for dining (we have the older model which was rectangular and slightly larger than the oval one offered in the 2017 models). We feel like we have it all in a small size motorhome.

If I could suggest changes, I'd like to see Thor offer the flush two-burner range and nicer countertops, and TVs that tilt and swivel. A more contemporary decor would appeal to me as well, but we knew we weren't going to find every single thing on our wish list in any unit.

Definitely order the manual offered here if you end up buying the RV. Good luck!

[Christina]

I really appreciate everyone's feedback. Thank you for taking the time to respond. It's definitely scary spending this much money and I just liked having little reassurance beforehand. I'm sure this will be the first of many questions we'll have along the way. Your observations and experiences have been very helpful. Thanks!

[vkb]

Originally Posted by Christina

I really appreciate everyone's feedback. Thank you for taking the time to respond. It's definitely scary spending this much money and I just liked having little reassurance beforehand. I'm sure this will be the first of many questions we'll have along the way. Your observations and experiences have been very helpful. Thanks!

As you can see, all in all, everyone is, pretty much, on the same page. We love what we do ! We find new experiences at every bend of the road...and one thing for sure, to repeat what ONeill said...when on the road, if you forgot it or didn't have room for it when packing...just stop and pick it up at a store !

Too much good natured fun !