Looking at entry level Class As.....

"I googled the driving blocks. Seems like an easy enough solution. A buddy of mine with a large RV was saying that the electric/hydraulic levelers were "must have," but those driving blocks look like an easy enough solution."

One of the advantages of having a self contained motor home is ease of setup. I bad weather, you can pull into your spot, drop your leveling jacks, make dinner, relax, have a brew and not worry about any of the rest until it's nicer out.
The fridge has to be comfortably level and you'll sleep better if the rig is on levelers and not rockin' & rollin'! Being on blocks doesn't take any of the 'spring' out of the suspension.

Effy wrote:



Yes the seats will rotate 180 degrees. It's a bit of a puzzle between sliding the seat back before you start the process, move the arm rests up, tilt the seat a little forward, rotate, and tilt the seat back. Once finished my seat reclines pretty far to be comfortable and faces the living area. On the passenger seat it's much easier but you may need to remove the arm rest on the sofa - yes it comes off for this purpose and to offer more leg room when the sofa converts to a bed.

As far as Jacks - when the 29.1 came out in 2012 jacks were an option with paint. An expensive option (like $8k). So it's not surprising you don't see many. My 29.1 didn't have them. I didn't really miss them. I wouldn't mess with after market jacks, just get some leveling blocks. You put these on the low spot and drive the offending corner up on the blocks. They are a bit like giant legos. Most sites I've ever camped were level enough (you need to be fairly level even with jacks) and were only off slightly so blocks worked fine. Process only took a few minutes. Lots of folks out there without jacks still camping just fine.

In more recent models jacks became standard but if you paid attention to MSRP it got baked into the price. The price you will find a 29.1 for was gone because they started making options standard. The MSRP on a 2013 was about 9k higher than in 2012 and this is one of the reasons.

Also the ACE does offer a paint option but you won't see many of these. The tan and taupe colors you see aren't paint. It's tinted gel coat. The white units simply have clear gel coat, the off color ones have tinted gel coat, but it's not paint. Not that it really matters but some people will try and sell it as paint and it isn't so just a note to the wary.

Any ACE model is perfectly suitable for 2 adults and 2 kids. There is plenty of storage, sleeping, and space to be comfortable.

Like everything, it's compromise. You have a budget and a particular range of years you are after. If you had deeper pockets sure you could buy a bigger rig, or if you wanted to adjust your range to older units you can go bigger but older.

But for the criteria you chose , the ACE is a good option.

Thanks so much for taking the time to type all that info out. Now that you mention the armrest coming off on the couch, I do remember that the driver's seat was hitting that as well, preventing the rotation.

I googled the driving blocks. Seems like an easy enough solution. A buddy of mine with a large RV was saying that the electric/hydraulic levelers were "must have," but those driving blocks look like an easy enough solution.

ualdriver wrote:

Effy wrote:


2 - Yes the seats rotate. there is a trick; sliding the seat back, tilting the wheel up, and moving the back a bit - armrests up. Once you figure it out, it takes about 10 seconds.

Effy-

Thanks for that info. Just to be clear, though: Concerning the front seats and rotating them.....when you say that they rotate, do they rotate the full 180 degrees so that they're facing into the coach, or do you mean that they will just rotate? The sales guy knew nothing about the seats, but we could get them to rotate maybe 125 degrees but that was it. If they do rotate 180 degrees with the steering wheel tilted up, does the driver's seat recline at all, or does the steering wheel get in the way?

And sorry, here's another question I have about RVs and hydraulic or electric jacks....surprisingly this Thor that I visited today had no electric or hydraulic jacks. It seems that most of the RVs I have looked at (in my price point anyway) don't have electric or hydraulic jacks. I assume that therefore RV owners get out and hand crank after market jacks until the RV is level? Sounds like a pain but perhaps I am mistaken.

Yes the seats will rotate 180 degrees. It's a bit of a puzzle between sliding the seat back before you start the process, move the arm rests up, tilt the seat a little forward, rotate, and tilt the seat back. Once finished my seat reclines pretty far to be comfortable and faces the living area. On the passenger seat it's much easier but you may need to remove the arm rest on the sofa - yes it comes off for this purpose and to offer more leg room when the sofa converts to a bed.

As far as Jacks - when the 29.1 came out in 2012 jacks were an option with paint. An expensive option (like $8k). So it's not surprising you don't see many. My 29.1 didn't have them. I didn't really miss them. I wouldn't mess with after market jacks, just get some leveling blocks. You put these on the low spot and drive the offending corner up on the blocks. They are a bit like giant legos. Most sites I've ever camped were level enough (you need to be fairly level even with jacks) and were only off slightly so blocks worked fine. Process only took a few minutes. Lots of folks out there without jacks still camping just fine.

In more recent models jacks became standard but if you paid attention to MSRP it got baked into the price. The price you will find a 29.1 for was gone because they started making options standard. The MSRP on a 2013 was about 9k higher than in 2012 and this is one of the reasons.

Also the ACE does offer a paint option but you won't see many of these. The tan and taupe colors you see aren't paint. It's tinted gel coat. The white units simply have clear gel coat, the off color ones have tinted gel coat, but it's not paint. Not that it really matters but some people will try and sell it as paint and it isn't so just a note to the wary.

Any ACE model is perfectly suitable for 2 adults and 2 kids. There is plenty of storage, sleeping, and space to be comfortable.

Like everything, it's compromise. You have a budget and a particular range of years you are after. If you had deeper pockets sure you could buy a bigger rig, or if you wanted to adjust your range to older units you can go bigger but older.

But for the criteria you chose , the ACE is a good option.

427435 wrote:
You mentioned family. You may find that a 30' unit will get small if you have children. At a minimum, be sure you have some slides.

We've been very pleased with our Winny/Itasca 35U--------low mileage examples can be had for $50,000. The size has been no problem to drive or find places to camp.

Thanks, yes that is the plan. We are a family of 4 and definitely require at least one slide.

2gypsies wrote:
You might want to look at this consignment place to give you an idea of what's out there at what prices. It also gives floorplans. They have a Class A section for gas and diesel.

PPL Consignment

Excellent site that escaped my Google search for RV sellers. Thanks.

You mentioned family. You may find that a 30' unit will get small if you have children. At a minimum, be sure you have some slides.

We've been very pleased with our Winny/Itasca 35U--------low mileage examples can be had for $50,000. The size has been no problem to drive or find places to camp.

You might want to look at this consignment place to give you an idea of what's out there at what prices. It also gives floorplans. They have a Class A section for gas and diesel.

PPL Consignment

Newmar Gas job...

DunellenGuy wrote:
I rented a Thor ACE a few months ago and liked it a lot. I found it much easier to drive than a similarly sized Class C. My only complaint was cockpit noise, which is common to most gassers. As many have mentioned, it's an entry level coach, so expect the hardware the cabinets, etc, to be on the low end, but serviceable.

We rented from RoadBear RV, and they sell all of their coaches at the end of each year. It seemed they take good care of them, so you might want to look into buying from them at a big savings. Plus, lots of the kinks are already fixed!

Cool. Will give them a Google!

ualdriver wrote:

Effy wrote:


2 - Yes the seats rotate. there is a trick; sliding the seat back, tilting the wheel up, and moving the back a bit - armrests up. Once you figure it out, it takes about 10 seconds.

Effy-

Thanks for that info. Just to be clear, though: Concerning the front seats and rotating them.....when you say that they rotate, do they rotate the full 180 degrees so that they're facing into the coach, or do you mean that they will just rotate? The sales guy knew nothing about the seats, but we could get them to rotate maybe 125 degrees but that was it. If they do rotate 180 degrees with the steering wheel tilted up, does the driver's seat recline at all, or does the steering wheel get in the way?

And sorry, here's another question I have about RVs and hydraulic or electric jacks....surprisingly this Thor that I visited today had no electric or hydraulic jacks. It seems that most of the RVs I have looked at (in my price point anyway) don't have electric or hydraulic jacks. I assume that therefore RV owners get out and hand crank after market jacks until the RV is level? Sounds like a pain but perhaps I am mistaken.

We purchased a 2015 Thor A.C.E. 30.1 in March and couldn't be happier with it. It came with hydraulic jacks and work like a charm. We've had a 14 year-old boy sleep in the drop-down bunk without issue, as well as a heavier friend. Friend said it was "okay", as the mattress is pretty thin.

Our front seats rotate enough so that they can be used as additional seats for the living area. The driver seat won't recline, as the steering wheel gets in the way. I don't think the passenger seat will, and frankly, I don't know that I'd want it to. The stairwell is right there when the seat is rotated and it's quite a drop, especially if one is short.

I'm not too sure if there's much we'd change about it at this point. Maybe add a Fantastic Fan in the living area, but otherwise we're truly happy campers.