Thor A.C.E.

willemkoeslag · 08-09-2017, 01:02 PM

Not sure whether a new thread is warranted, however, I just wanted to say something about our Thor A.C.E. and Alliance Coach, in Wildwood, Florida. We traded our Minnie Winnie, for the Thor, at a sales event a few months ago. We went simply to to get the free umbrella which was handed out simply for attending. We had no intention of becoming a buyer. We just like looking at what the market had to offer.
My wife had gotten tired of sleeping over the cab and on the pull out sofa and would entertain a MH with a proper bed. We looked at a number of unit for sale but kept coming back to the A.C.E. It had the features we were looking for, lots of room and a decent bed. We did the trade during the show, however, when I got home I started looking for Thor, reviews as well as those for Alliance Coach.
As you may imagine, the negative ones jumped out at me and I got cold feet. I emailed my concern to Tom Peterson, sales manager, for Alliance.
He got right back to me and we had a discussion about all of my concerns. I went ahead with the deal and indicated I would reserve my review until our first major trip.
Well, we just returned for a trip of 450 miles, one way, to Tallulah Gorge State Park, GA. We stayed for a week, and as luck would have it there was another A.C.E. two sites over from us. He loved his coach, had been all over the US with it without incident. Did this make me feel better? You bet. To make our story even longer our coach also performed like a champ. Everything worked as it was supposed to. Now, I must add, ours is not new, only a 2015, so perhaps the previous owners ironed out some of the issues related here.
I want also to tell Tom Peterson of Alliance, thanks for the assurances he gave me and the way we were treated when we came to pick up Miss Ellie. (Our name for her.) Thor may not be perfect and they may not do everything to perfection but there are also a lot positives to relate. I just wanted to be one of the positive contributors, just in case there is someone else with cold feet.

bruno1950 · 08-09-2017, 01:45 PM

We have had the same results with our ACE. We purchased a new 2017 and so far we have had minimal issues. We brought it back from Fl (traded in a new FR Georgetown for it) and took the Grandchildren to the Black Hills. It performed great. It's like driving a big van. Glad others have had good experiences with their ACE.

Homer3 · 08-09-2017, 04:03 PM

I understand the apprehension of buying something new - spending big bucks and then hearing all the problems some folks have had. We have a 1999 Itasca Spirit (Class C) that we loved and had absolutely no problems with - it was still like new. However, we wanted a queen size bed and a sofa to lounge on. The Itasca had a full size island bed in the rear but had not real seating except one small chair (often occupied by the corgi) and the dinette.

We searched and searched and really wanted to buy a Winnebago/Itasca because of the very positive experience we had. But our search found the 28H Freedom Elite met all of our "want list" and even had the huge storage in the rear that was the thing that pushed Mr. Homer to say yes.

We've had it two years now and love it. We have had minor issues (posted here) but Mr. Homer is also Mr. Fix-it and we have been able to cope with the small things ourselves. Our dealer was Camping World of Bakersfield and our salesman still helps us if we need it.

Overall, we are happy with Thor and have no buyer's remorse at all!

dcbenny · 08-09-2017, 04:08 PM

We have a Windsport, big Sister to the ACE, we have had 3 minor issues since we have owned it would get another Thor again also have a full wall slide as long as I run it out and in properly again no problems

Muggs · 08-09-2017, 05:39 PM

Good to hear positive experiences.

Our 16 Vegas 24.1 was used (less than 2K miles), over 11K now after 14 months. Has been great, very happy with it.

At times we think we may want bigger, a little hesitant based on friends experiences.

SammyC · 08-09-2017, 11:19 PM

We have the ACE 30.2 and love it. Fingers crossed but three trips with no issues other than learning the ins and outs. We named ours Nellie

SuperD · 08-09-2017, 11:42 PM

We are in our second Thor by choice, if that helps!

DenverTransplant · 08-10-2017, 01:22 PM

We've had our 2017 ACE 30.1 for a year now (this week we are out of warranty), and put about 5000 miles on it. We tow a Mini Cooper with an American Car Dolly.

Things have been mostly good, with only a few, easily fixed issues. We never took it in for any of the warranty items as they weren't worth doing the warranty dance with Camping World (had I fully appreciated their casual approach to customer service, I probably would have gone elsewhere).

Warranty issues that we fixed

- Water Heater, converter and driver side receptacle power circuits were landed on the wrong breakers. Fixed in an hour with some time with a circuit tester

- Two drawers have had their rear drawer glide supports come off the wall. Thor must ration screws as the ones that failed only had one screw each in the thin luan wall. Fixed with some wall anchors and 3 screws each.

- The cheap Harris batteries Thor uses would not hold a charge after about 6 months. Replaced them with a couple of Interstate 6V golf cart batteries. You will find several posts around this forum about Harris batteries and their unwillingness to honor their warranties - I replaced the WFCO converter with a Progressive Dynamics at the same time.

- Water kept getting into the furnace enclosure and pooling under the control board. Caused the blower to run even though the thermostat was off. Fixed that problem with some butyl tape along the cover's edge.

- Had Ford update the transmission software to get the downshift to work in Tow/Haul mode. This was a Ford TSB for the new 6 speed

We've made a bunch of upgrades, the most important of which were suspension upgrades to the F53 chassis. This includes a Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer, a Super Steer rear track bar, replacing the OEM Bilstien shocks with Koni FSD's and the Cheap Handling Fix front and rear. Makes a world of difference in how the coach handles.

Have fun with your ACE.

Hittntherooad · 08-10-2017, 01:40 PM

We too bought our 2014 Thor Ace 30.1 with 5000 miles on it. It was sitting beside a brand new 2016 and we couldn't tell any difference between the 2 except for the 20k difference in price. The previous owners bought a bigger coach and not sure if they had any issues that were taken care of. Like others we've have a few minor issues that I took care of myself rather than taking it back to CW. We love it and have had some great trips in it and look forward to lots more.

Deuce · 08-10-2017, 09:23 PM

We purchased our Thor Ace, we call her Deuce (that's another story) in July. We leave for an extended trip through MN/MI/WS the end of this month. We have done several small local trips to iron out any issues. We purchased Deuce from MHSRV in Alvarado , Texas. They and Thor have been very responsive to a few small issues.
We are not new to RVing as we have owned and traveled in fifth wheel for 15 years. Our newness is to the Motorhome.
I feel this makes a big difference in how newbies respond to RVs. I feel regardless of manufacturer and based on four prior fifth wheels, you are going to have some things to adjust/fix on any new purchase.
We fixed the small things, made adaptions to meet our needs, and contacted dealer and Thor for assistance with leveling, wind noise, loose connection on backup camera, and a ladder that was to short.
My only major concern at this point is the not good fit of the front and screen door. We have remedied the noise and air draft with weather strip.
The Sieki TV is not a favorite due to the "channel Memorizing" that will not allow you to input a channel manually to watch.
Overall we are loving our Deuce and now I just have to adjust to riding in that huge front window and seat.

Dragon70 · 08-10-2017, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DogLovers

Thor builds crap and everyone knows it.

Glad your enjoying it. Unlike some we kinda like ours too.

hames57 · 08-14-2017, 06:57 PM

We love our ACE. I'm also very very mechanical and have fixed a few things and I expected to have to be fixing a few things. All are in the minor category (for me), but if I had to have a shop do even minor things, I probably wouldn't own a motor home of any brand.

Dealerships are bad for all brands because of their scheduling problems that get terribly backed up right during the prime traveling season.

My ACE is beloved by my wife and me and we've put on about 8000 miles. 9 mpg average.

If you look at other brand forums, you will see very similar complaints. So, these things, cupboards, drawers, slides, etc. need to be treated the way you would treat a puppy. Gently and they will do fine. Don't treat a MH the way you treat your home cupboards etc.

For a gasser, I want to give a shoutout to Ford and their V10 F53 chassis. It seems thus far to be bullet proof and all forums seem to agree. I do want to add the Safety+ and some other ride improvements. The F53 is a tough truck chassis and rides like one!

willemkoeslag · 08-15-2017, 12:46 PM

Glad to hear so many positive responses concerning the A.C.E. I'm sure there are many people who come to this Forum, wanting to be reassured about the new purchase. Many of the threads focus on the negatives when there are,in fact, so many positive things to say about the RV life style. As a new Thor owner, and Forum contributor, I am am either looking for a solution to a problem, or want to share with the community, the fun experiences we have. I love Thor Forums because I like to read about the many ways to improve on, or modify, our coach; thereby improving on that experience.

99dart · 08-15-2017, 01:49 PM

We started out with a little 21'- 23 footer (don't remember the brand) It had major water damage to the cabover, so got rid of it. Our WS31 is our second Thor MH. We purchased a 1998 Chateau in 2004 when we discovered it had the cabover entertainment center, and rear queen bed. Other than some normal maintainence/repair items it was a very reliable coach for 12 years. Fast forward to our WS31, we love it! All the extra room from the slide and inside storage is just humongous! We bought it barely used, with 1400 miles on it. The first owners had some issues addressed, so no major issues so far. Our maiden voyage was 3,000 miles home to WA from S.C., everything worked great. We had an inspection done, telling the owners to have it prepped as if they were taking it on the trip.

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