We've had our ACE 30.1 for a little more than a year, and love everything about it. The fit and finish is fine, handling has been excellent, and power is more than adequate. Average mileage so far is 8.59 mpg without toad, 7.78 with toad (a 2006 Toyota Highlander, which is bit on the heavy side). Storage is more than adequate. (I've heard some people say that the 30.1 storage is too small, but we came from a 27 foot trailer so we may have lower standards.) Most of all, we love the layout. Everyone's preferences are different, but for us we have never seen any motorhome, at any size or price, that fits our preferred interior arrangement as well as the 30.1. It's mostly little things, like having the TV across from the couch so that you don't get cancer of the neck bones caused by keeping your head permanently cocked to one side, or being able to close the bathroom/shower off from both the bedroom and the main living area, and having enough counter space, etc. You get the idea ...
One other factor, Thor customer service is unparalleled. We were assigned a personal "concierge" who checked in several times to make sure we were happy. We had a couple little nits with some items, called customer service, and they walked us through checklists and the solution to get everything working. We've owned a lot of RVs over the years and I've never seen anything as exceptional as Thor's customer service. Actually, I've never seen anything like that for any product.
I don't know about the rants about water leaks, handling, etc. We've had no such problems and I'm not aware of those being common issues.
Having said all that, we owned a Forest River trailer for many years and loved it. The FR3 hadn't come out when we bought the ACE, but we definitely would add the FR3 to the list now. My instinct is that the features of the ACE would still prevail for our particular preferences, but your mileage may vary.
I'm sure you'd be quite happy with either. Good luck and let us know what you decide.
Skip
