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Old 10-26-2021, 02:03 AM   #8
BeeRAD56
Junior Member
 
Brand: Jayco
State: Colorado
Posts: 8
THOR #25187
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judge View Post
I've owned a 2020 Magnitude SV34 for just over two years and I purchased one of the first off the line built in April 2019. So let's set some expectations and give you one owner's experience to consider in your decision making process.....

1. 4 Season Camping - The XG32 is not a true 4-season coach. While the black and grey tanks are heated, there is some exposed plumbing in the wet bay (outdoor shower) and the coach is not insulated in a way to prevent water lines from freezing if temps are below 30 for several hours. The Girard tankless Water Heater does have a built-in protection where it will fire up the heat exchanger periodically when temps drop below 35. However, that assumes you have an adequate supple of propane (and your furnace would also be using propane significantly in cold weather.

2. Front Cap - I had the front cap separation issue after only ~5000 miles on the coach. This is an issue that dates back to Thor's previous Super C's and is a result of poor manufacturing practices. They use too few screws and the screws are too small and short and they are typically over-tightened and stripped during manufacturing. I took the coach to the Thor Factory Service Center in Wakarusa a year ago to have it fixed. I just got back from a 2-month / 7200 mile trip and now have 20,000 miles on the coach and so far the front cap repair seems to be holding. I would say that 80% of the Omni / Magnitude owners I have encountered have experienced the front cap issue.

3. Slide - The XG32 has two slides that are shorter than the single full wall slide of the SV34, BT36 and RS36. Several of us have had slide issues with the full wall slide because the Schwintek Slide Mechanism is not the best design when it comes to large and heavy slides. I had my slide fail in the middle of my 2-month trip. I ended up diverting to Tucson at the end of my trip to have the Schwintek Mechanism replaced by the Vroom Slide System.

4. General Quality and Workmanship - The Omni / Magnitude look great on the dealers lot and I have gotten compliments almost everywhere I go about how sharp my coach looks. However, when you peel back the onion you will find quality and workmanship that leaves something to be desired in many cases. After owning another Thor Class C coach previously, I came to expect that I would be doing some amount of repairs and upgrades on my own. During the 12-month warranty I had the coach at the Thor Service Center twice, the dealer once and I performed over a dozen of my own repairs under warranty (Thor Customer Service is great and they sent me parts under warranty so I could do the repairs better and faster myself). I have also done an extensive number of upgrades that you will read about if you do some searches. Many of the repairs during warranty were minor to moderate in terms of severity.



I had reached a point where I considered dumping my SV34 and going with a Renegade or Dynamax Super C. They are more expensive but the quality, workmanship and components used are better than what Thor offers in my opinion.

Now that it appears the front cap is attached properly and that the Vroom Slide System is superior to the Schwintek Slide System that I recently had replaced, I think the coach could be stable and reliable enough now to keep. I am very good mechanically speaking and I feel I can handle most other issues that might come up.

My concern with any new coach built since late 2020 is that quality and workmanship could be worse than what I have typically come to expect. All of the RV manufacturers have experienced unprecedented demand. They have had trouble hiring enough workers to meet that demand and they are taking what they can get in terms of warm bodies. Most of these workers are somewhat unskilled and lack pride in the quality of their work.... and the RV manufacturers are also to blame because they are trying to just push out as many units as they can as quickly as they can.

The other issue is that component shortages are causing some manufacturers to rip up their schematics and modify units on the line to make different components they can obtain fit and work when they may not be the same as what was originally spec'ed for a model.

Now with all that being said, I am not trying to scare you into not going through with your deal. You could get lucky like you did with your Jayco and have relatively few issues. But you need to set your expectations that you may have to do quite a few repairs on your own. If you don't have the skills to do 80% of the work that could be needed on the coach, then I would recommend you pass. I'm not talking about fixing a front cap or major slide issue.... that is major stuff that I let the experts at the Thor Service Center handle.

I made the decision early on that after dealing with enough poor service at dealers that I would only use the Thor Factory Service in Wakarusa for major repairs. I also wouldn't wait weeks or months for a dealer appointment and then have the coach sit there for weeks until they looked at it.... submitted the repairs to Thor for approval.... and then order the parts once approved. That can be a slow and painful process.

As I said, I have had two Thor coaches and Thor Customer Service sent me parts under warranty for both coaches so I could so my own repairs. But based on recent feedback from this site it sounds like Thor Customer Service is overwhelmed from the demand created by the flood of new and many first time owners. I could usually make contact with Thor same day or next day and they would get the parts shipped out in one or two days. It sounds like it is taking longer to get through to them and for them to ship out parts now.

I have the coach winterized and stored in my pole building in PA while we spend our winters down in Florida. I am going to spend from now until May when we head back north deciding whether I keep the coach or whether I look for a Renegade.

After going over the coach after we got back from our long trip, it seems to have held up well, including the repaired front cap. I had to spend $2500 on the Vroom Slide System at the end of our trip but after using the slide numerous times now I can tell it is performing far better than it did with the Schwintek System and I feel it is robust enough to be reliable. I also have spent a lot of time and money on upgrades (including a recent LiFePO4 upgrade) so I am factoring that into my decision making process as well.

At the moment, I'm leaning on keeping the coach based on all of the above. I also doubt I can get out anything close to what I have put into the coach.... although it is far better now than any Omni / Magnitude you could ever purchase. I wouldn't trade it in.... I would sell it outright to get the most I could out of it so I would have to deal with that process. Then there is the additional money to buy a more expensive coach.... plus the process of fixing issues and upgrading a new coach (although those should be less theoretically). I do like our Magnitude when everything is working as it should. It checks off 90% of the boxes for me, looks great and does meet our traveling goals.

My wife also loves our current coach and doesn't want me to get rid of it.... and you know what they say about a happy wife.

I'm not trying to tell you to not do the deal or to do the deal. You'll need to make this a logical more than an emotional decision. Major purchases like this always involve an emotional component so the key is balancing the emotion with logic. You need to consider the feedback you get from other owners (feedback from others besides me as well), your financial situation and the deal you worked, your own ability to do repairs and upgrades, how much patience you will have when issues will inevitably occur and whether you would drive to Indiana if you need to have Thor address a major issue like a front cap problem.

I hope you will find some of this useful. Good luck and I hope things work out the way you and your wife hope!
Thank you Judge! Your response is extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!
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