Quote:
Originally Posted by bigskyline
Hello, All.
My wife and I have been following the FR forum for some time now and have been concerned that the quality of their product and long turn around time for service have been worrisome to us. We are both retired and looking for a Class C home that is similar to the FR Sunseeker 2400W. We love the open floor plan with the one slideout. We also think the Mercedes Benz engine is what we want. I stand 6' 7" tall so having the longest bed available is important. We are both looking forward to following this Thor forum as we plan to make our decision to buy by the end of this year or the beginning of 2018. We are also in the beginning stages of planning a trip to and around Alaska next summer after we get any bugs worked out of the unit we buy. Any input or advice from the experienced folks in this forum will be appreciated.
Thanks!
The (Retired) Librarians
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I'm not sure you are going to find a Thor similar to the 2400W. I know, because I was first very interested in the 2400W, then decided the Mercedes platform wasn't for me (I'll address that in a bit) and so decided on the 2430/2431 GTS floorplan (one is Forester and one is Sunseeker, don't remember which is which) on the Ford E450 platform. So, why I didn't get it.
My first hesitation was after spending a bunch of time researching things on the Forest River forums site, I became very concerned about quality. So, that was my first hesitation. In addition, I didn't really like the small shower, which many don't mind especially if they plan to use campground showers, but my wife and I wanted a bigger shower, but it was really the quality complaints on the Forest River forums that made us pause. In addition, the new Forest River models were being built with the Lippert MyRV tablet system and they have had a LOT of problems. So much that they are about to start adding manual switches back for the awning, slides, lights, etc. in addition to the tablet (when at a dealer, they couldn't pull the slide in because the tablet system broke and they couldn't reset).
So, I moved on to looking at Nexus RV next, which has an identical (nearly) floorplan of the 2400W/2430/2431 on a Ford E450. I mostly read good things about Nexus and they have tons of options, but they are relatively new and you have to go to an independent RV mechanic for warranty and Nexus reimburses you or you go to a mechanic in a network and they pay direct. This approach concerned me, but ironically now I think that would be FAR better than what I hear about many Thor dealers, since you get to choose who you want to work with. I mostly read good things about Nexus, so in theory, I think it's the floor plan you want from a coach maker that makes fewer coaches and hopefully much fewer issues.
I then started looking at Pheonix Cruisers, because they have a rabid fan base that love them. I convinced myself that I could live with twin beds, as otherwise their floor plans were nice (2551/2552). Maybe not as stylish as many coaches, but seemingly well built (key word, seemingly). They will work with you. So, if for instance the twin beds aren't long enough and you want them longer, they will go as far as lengthening the coach a foot or two to make the beds longer. They have a power twin bed that will slide out to make into a King, but the kicker is that you then have to climb out over the head of the bed to get to the bathroom or possibly lay across in the other direction and only one is near the bathroom (see floor plan to see what I mean). If you want more outlets. No problem. In motion satellite, no problem. Solar? No problem. Etc.
Then, I started spending time on the phoenix river forum and for instance a recent thread was "2017 slide -- a river runs through it?" and it's a series of people talking about leaking issues. Multiple other issues being discussed on the forum, but my sense is it's still much better than the mass produced models.
So, in the end, the wife and I just recently put a deposit in on a 2018 Vegas 25.3, which has most of what we want, with the exception of a living room area a bit tighter than we would like (can't beat that full wall slide in a 25' or so length on the 2400w/2430/2431 floorplan). I came to the conclusion that if you by an RV whether a Thor or a Forest River or a Tiffen or a Renegade or whatever, you are going to have issues and it comes with the territory.
Now, a few final thoughts, if you read this far and as librarians, I assume you like reading so have.
First, while they haven't announced it yet, Forest River is replacing the 2430/2431 (Ford E450 version) with a slightly longer floor plan, that has a marginally bigger shower and it's a rear bath arrangement. Instead of a full wall slide, it has the queen bed on a wall slide, then a fixed cabinet I believe, and then the couch, or dinette on a slide. So, it's very much like the 2400W but with two slides instead of one (the queen slide I think goes out farther than the living slide, which is why it's no longer full wall, so there is room to walk past the bed to the bathroom).
So, why did I swap to the Ford from Mercedes. A few reasons. First, I think many if not most people driving around in Mercedes based coaches are over the weight limit of the chasis and don't even know it. Many of them only have 900-1000lbs of CCC (cargo carrying capacity), which means that you, your wife, your luggage, gear, fresh water or anything else you put in the coach other than a tank of gas, needs to be less than 900-1000lbs or so (varies a bit by coach) or you are overweight.
While they are mostly reliable, when there are problems, if you are rural it can be a bear to find a repair shop to work on them and at times they have to order parts in from Germany (see horror story posted on Rv.net a couple days ago). The generator is undersized (again, due to weight limit on coach), in that the dealer said that if you have AC on and run microwave you might pop the breaker. Again, due to the weight limit and Mercedes rules about chassis modification, you won't find any with auto levelers at most you will find stabilizers and if you wanted to do it after market, you don't really have the capacity to have a 200-250lb leveling system installed, because then you would be down to 700lbs capacity for EVERYTHING other than gas.
So, in the end, I don't have a good alternative to the 2400W, other than the mirror RV which is the Nexus RV 25P (link below), if you really like the full wall slide in a small coach.
https://nexusrv.com/product/2018-pha...gas-motorhome/
I do strongly suggest you do some more reading about the limitations of the Mercedes chassis and make sure you are comfortable living withing the weight limits and other limitations of that chassis. Everyone loves how they drive, but beyond that there are a lot of disadvantages beyond the $15-20,000 premium over identical Ford E450/350 models.
Good luck.
P.S. Since this is so long a post, I haven't gone back and proofed for typos, so please excuse any you found.
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