First time RVer here. Have looked at quite a few, and we have a couple of requirements.1. has to have bunks (3 kids plus 3 adults) 2. 32' or under (my wife wants to be able to drive and wont go above that)It looks like there are a couple of good options in our price range (65K-90K). The first is the 2016 Thor ACE 30.2. I have driven it, it has a little shake that I don't like, but good floor plan. Interior quality seems a little low, but generally people seem to like it.The second is the 2016 Forest River Georgetown 31B3. Interior looks higher quality. I haven't drive it, but it is the same chassis. A little bit longer, but still under the required length. Haven't seen too much yet about it but researching it.Any opinions or thoughts one way or the other?

Can't speak to the FR, but we are on our second ACE and had 60k trouble free miles with the first one, and 20k trouble free miles with this one. Thor has excellent customer service. In the fit and finish category, they are all pretty much the same at this price point. That said, the Georgetown is a small step up from entry level. So you are comparing apples to oranges. If you were looking at a Forest River FR3, that would be the same entry level category as the ACE. But it makes sense why the fit and finish looks better on the Georgetown, because it's a little higher up the food chain. The price will reflect that too and be considerably more than the ACE. Georgetown's typically have more carpet too which can become a nuisance with kids. But it's a nice coach for the money. A lot of folks on here will slam Thor, but it's usually by folks who have never owned one, and Thor got a black eye the past few years with a slide mechanism on the Palazzo. As an owener of 2, I can tell you we love it. A lot of bang for the buck. Our 29.2 rides pretty nice for an entry level gasser. Now, if the 30.2 has a full wall schwintek slide, they have been prone to issues in the past. It's not just Thor that uses them, a lot of brands use the schwintek slides, so be careful. The mechanisms are under engineered for a full wall and the solution was to add another rail. I personally would stay away from units from any manufacturer with a schwintek full wall slide. But the ACE is a proven unit and a nice buy in the range you are looking.On edit:So out of curiosity I pulled up a few listings on the Georgetown. A couple things of note. There is no laptop desk like there is in the ACE. This is probably no big deal. But it is a feature we enjoy. It does have a full wall slide, couldn't tell if it was schwintek. The front drop down bunk is a cable system which appears to come to rest on the tops of the front seats. This would be a deal breaker for me personally. One of the nice things about the ACE's articulated bunk is that it stops high enough to allow headroom in the front seats. this means 2 things, one is you could drive it that way if you wanted (we never have), but more importantly the front seats can be used while camped. They swivel to become chairs for the living area and can be used with the bunk down. The Forest river's bunk mechanism renders your 2 front seats useless which is one of the most appealing features of a class A over a Class C. Matter of fact I think the ACE is the only drop down bunk mechanism that allows full use of the front 2 seats. The captains chair swiveled around when camped is my favorite seat in the house. Just some considerations.

Have you looked at any the Jayco Products? I copied the link from a store just for floor plan, Its a Alante 29UM. The size is about what you are looking for with bunks. I by no means am endorsing this dealer! http://www.rvdirect.com/stockmodels.php?stocknum=FLM7297

nma33 wrote:Have you looked at any the Jayco Products? I copied the link from a store just for floor plan, Its a Alante 29UM. The size is about what you are looking for with bunks. I by no means am endorsing this dealer! http://www.rvdirect.com/stockmodels.php?stocknum=FLM7297X2 - or the Winnie Vista, the Newmar Bay star sport, Forest River FR3, Coachman Mirada or pursuit.....

I will check those out, but why those over the Thor ACE or the Forest River? Are they known better quality?

superrayzor wrote:I will check those out, but why those over the Thor ACE or the Forest River? Are they known better quality?"quality" at the entry level is splitting hairs across brands. I would challenge anyone to go to a show and walk through all the entry level class A's with the brand name hidden and tell me what brand they are in. Some will say some brands are better than others and frankly I've never seen it at the entry level. The options we put out are examples that you should not limit your search to a brand. Pick the floorplan you like the best, and compare prices across every brand that has that floorplan. Many with full wall slides at this price will have schwintek mechanisms - if not all. They scare me. But, different brands will have different nuances. Like the bunk I mentioned in the first post. Look at what makes it livable. See how things are laid out and envision life in the coach. Now see what it's like with the slides in. Is the refrigerator, bathroom and bedroom accessible with the slides in? Floorplan and livability are your primary concerns, then brand. I will say that despite being entry level, some brands won't discount much. Newmar and Winnie for example might come down 20-25% off MSRP. While FR and Thor might discount 30-35% off MSRP. The point is, shop around. They all probably make a version of the floorplan you like.

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