dobbler98 wrote:
Please give me any opinions or advice on the Thor ACE models. Do you like yours? What don't you like? Problems noticed after purchase? Options you Need or don't need or wish u had? Gas mileage? Power on hills problem? Are they reasonably priced for what you get? Never owned a Ford before but its getting hard to get Chevrolet. Looking at the 29.7 model. We really like the hybrid floor plan. Thanks in advance.
We've had our ACE 30.1 for coming up on three years now, and it's proven itself to be perfect for us. We love it, and it's exactly (no more, no less) what we wanted in a rig. Mostly, we love the layout, and it was the only rig we found that had the design and usability we needed for our style of travel. Seriously, we've gone to several RV rallies since we got our ACE, looking at lots of multi-$100,000 rigs, and have yet to find anything we like better. For example, I know that layout is a very personal preference, but we have several threshold criteria, like being able to use the kitchen bathroom and kitchen with the slides in, having a TV not at right-angles to the seating area, being able to close off the bathroom/bedroom from the living area, etc., all of which has to occur in a smaller-sized rig, and it is rare for us to find other rigs at any cost that even pass the test for further consideration. There are a couple ACE-like knock-offs out now, including the FR3, which looks very nice, so if I were buying now I would add those to the list of candidates. But for us, the Thor was unbeatable.
Understand, it is an entry-level rig, so there are a lot of features you won't find. Most such things, though, are "features" we didn't want anyway (like fake fireplaces, marble counter tops, power window curtains, outdoor kitchens, etc.), but we have found ourselves compensating for the entry-level implementation with several upgrades or add-ons. As examples of the add-ons we've done: the unit did not come with front speakers, so we added those; we added Fantastic fans to the LR and bedroom; we added a couple towel racks to the shower stall; etc. All pretty minor stuff. We also upgraded the Jensen TV and stereo, replaced the mattress, and made a couple other upgrades. Basically, though, having to supplement the stock entry-level implementation with these kinds of changes was trivial in the grand scheme of things.
You'll find there a cottage industry in Thor-bashing, but for our unit none of the criticisms were warranted. All of the systems (power train, appliances, slideouts, etc.) all worked fine (with one exception, not related to Thor). The were a couple nits that we had fixed under warranty (like a squeak in the slideout), but nothing major.
(The one exception is that the F53 tranny blew its torque converter. Really. I'm told that the F53 tranny is world famous for being indestructible, so it was like a one-in-a-billion bit of bad luck. Oh well ... no big deal, and it was covered under the Ford warranty.) The fit and finish has all be way above what I would expect from an entry-level rig. And some of the elements reflect such an attention to usability that it speaks very well of Thor: like the "mud room," a small storage area under a step, and the "broom closet," all next to the steps, right were you'd want them.
The 6.8l V-10 has plenty of power. We tow a Toyota Highlander (about 3800 lbs) and it works fine. We haven't traveled out west (yet), but we've done the Monteagle climb in Tennessee and the SC #130/NC#281N climb up to Lake Toxaway several times each and have had no trouble maintaining speed. We basically creep along on the freeway at about 62 mph, so mileage is acceptable: about 7.5-8.0 mpg pulling the toad, and 8.5-9.4 mpg toadless. At our speeds, the unit handles well, with little sensitivity to passing trucks or cross-winds (up to about a crosswind component of about 20 mph, at which point I have to start paying attention). The suspension does seem a bit sensitive to road expansion joints, so I'm thinking about switching to dual-stage shocks at some point, but so far it hasn't been a big enough deal to overcome my natural inertia.
Storage has been more than adequate for us, although our past RVs have been trailers, so we tend to travel light. We had the unit weighed fully loaded and all four corners were well below ratings. The only shortcoming we've noticed in layout is that the couch, dinette, and drop-down bunk, are all kid-sized, which means that the layout isn't really ideal for more than two adults. However, it's unbeatable for kids, and we've taken our grandchildren on several trips and they love it, especially the drop-down bunk area (AKA "the secret fort"). I'm not familiar with the 27.9 model you cite, so I can't compare it to our layout.
Thor customer service is stellar, way better than any other RV brand we've ever encountered or heard about. We were assigned a "concierge" who stayed in contact with us over the first couple months to make sure we were happy, and who acted as a point of contact when we needed help. On the couple times I've had to call technical support, the responsiveness could not have been better. For example, I had a diverter value go bad in the stock kitchen faucet, but I thought the problem was a crimped water line. The tech faxed me a copy of the plumbing layout, then stayed on the phone to walk me through a trouble shooting process until we identified the problem, and then sent me a free replacement faucet even though the unit was out of warranty!
I wonder if this is both more and less than you expected, so feel free to PM me if you need any further information.
Good luck in your decision,
Skip
