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stew9483's avatar
stew9483
Explorer
Jun 22, 2016

Thor ACE Model 29.4 reviews??

Has any of you bought the Thor ACE model 29.4? Just wondering what your take is on this Class A RV. Might be a future purchase of ours. My wife loves the BIG front one piece windshield with the overhead bunk that comes down. Give me your thoughts. Thanks in advance.
  • We have friends with one and spent a little time on board. We thought it was a good design and a comfortable layout. We were impressed, but our friends traded for an even smaller class c.
  • DW and I recently bought the ACE 30.1 and really like it. Have had it our 4 times already and going out again next week for a long trip. So far, have no complaints or issues have come up.

    Things we like overall (regardless of floor plan). It's on the shorter side, so easier to maneuver and fairly easy to drive down the road. Plenty of "extra" sleeping space with the drop down bunk, dinette and sofa (although it is only the 2 of us). A good bit of thought in the design of the cockpit area. A lot of standard and optional extras that really add to the comfort of getting there, setting up, and staying there.

    There are a few differences in the floor plan and we found the 30.1 more to our liking. Things to we liked about the 30.1 over the other floor plans: more counter space in the galley, larger shower, TV is directly across from sofa.
  • Effy's avatar
    Effy
    Explorer II
    Most ACE owners really like them. This is our second and we have had no major issues with either one. Thor has treated us great. there are a few MH's in this class category now so shop around, but a few things that kept bringing us back to the ACE. One critical factor was the drop down bunk. Although many manufacturers are putting in drop downs, pay careful attention to how they operate. The ACE is the only one that allows the use of the front seats when the bunk is down. (front seats swivel to become living room chairs) Every other manufacturer uses a mechanism that the bunk comes to rest on the top of the front seats rendering them useless. You are looking at the newer model with smaller slides - that's a good thing. The full wall slides on the shwintek mechanisms historically had issues. They may have worked through them but not confidence inspiring. All in all, we love our coach. In my opinion it was cheaper and of the same if not better quality than the competition and Thor dealers will negotiate better on price where some won't. All that said, it's an entry level coach and your expectations of fit and finish should align with that.
  • stew9483 wrote:
    Has any of you bought the Thor ACE model 29.4? Just wondering what your take is on this Class A RV. Might be a future purchase of ours. My wife loves the BIG front one piece windshield with the overhead bunk that comes down. Give me your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

    We've had our 2013 ACE 30.1 for over 4 years now and love it. In fact, as I type this, we're 3000 miles away from home in the middle of a 7200-mile wonder-trip through Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Olympic, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier, and a whole slew of other places. (Oh, and we've visited family who were nice enough to add a new grandson as part of the inducement for the trip.) Like some of the posts above, we found the 30.1 floorplan the best for our preferences, but in terms of the product line, we have been very satisfied with the ACE, it's features, it's quality, and Thor's support. Surprisingly, even though the 30.1 is on the teeny end of the Class A spectrum, we've found it to be very livable even on an extended (2-1/2 month) trip for two adults and two dogs. Although we've taken grandchildren with us from time to time, the unit is probably too small for more than two adults. I agree the ACE is an "entry level" coach, but for us that mostly meant giving up a bunch of features that we didn't want anyway (like fireplaces, washer-dryers, and granite floors). Having said that, though, we did have to do a bunch of upgrades and mods to add in some features that we did want, like we replaced the crummy Jensen TV with a Visio, replaced the crummy Jensen stereo with an Alpine, added front speakers, added Fantastic Fans to the vents in the living room and bedroom, replaced the mattress, and so on. We also made some suspension improvements. All of that was a few thousand dollars to move those aspects of the coach up out of the "entry level" bare-bones feature set.

    You'll find there's something of a cottage industry of Thor-bashers. Like most things, some of those criticisms have a basis in fact, so be sure to do a very careful pre-delivery inspection. (Which is necessary across all brands since there are lots of horror stories of units getting to a dealer with a long list of serious punch-list items.) But based on our experience, I'm glad we ignored the Thor-bashers and went with what we liked.

    Incidentally, driving cross-country I'm stunned at how many ACEs we've seen (as well as ACE knock-offs, like the Forest River FR3 and the Winnebago whatever-it-is). Looks like Thor has really found a sweet spot in the market.

    Hope that helps. Keep us posted on your decision.
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  • We have a 2015 ACE 29.2 and really like it. We had a few issues just like every other new RV that we've purchased. Had a real problem trying to get Camping World to make the repairs. We contacted Thor and they had us take it to a local dealer and repairs were made in a timely manner. The local dealer said that Thor was very helpful and easy to work with. We would buy another Thor motorhome. But we wouldn't buy it from Camping World!!
  • We have it's baby brother, an Axis 24.1 seems to be nice the month we have had it. Thor doesn't stand by their warranty though. They weasel on things like the dealer ship didn't note it when they received it so it's the customers fault.