Miramar vs Hurricane vs Newmar

[MetalGator]

The wife and I went to the Tampa RV Supershow this past weekend. I think this is our 6th or 7th show now. We purchased a TT back in July of 2011 and we have been researching Class A motorhomes the last few years. The last two shows, we had pretty much made up our minds that we wanted a Newmar 3401. We really like the floorplan and the quality.

Fast forward to Saturday. I had seen as add for a Hurricane 35M in the recent motorhome magazine. I knew the quality wouldn't be the same but the "bang for the buck" price was really intriguing. We looked at this model and the wife fell in love with the floorplan. We also looked at the same floorplan Windsport but we liked the colors and floor options better in the Hurricane. The fit an finish was OK. Nothing great but it didn't feel cheap or anything.

Then I made the mistake of going back to the show Sunday. Right across from the Hurricanes were the Miramars. The Miramar 35.3 is exactly the same floorplan as the Hurricane and Windsport 35M. The Miramar had the full body paint, had 22.5 inch wheels vs 19.5 on the Hurricane. The taller tires gave quite a bit more storage space underneath. Inside, the cabinets and hinges were much better quality as was the furniture. Of course, this model was $20K more. I found the quality of the Miramar similar to the Newmar models we looked at. I see all the postings about "don't buy Thor" but I read the same thing about Forest River when we purchased our current Surveyor TT. So, does anyone of the forum have a Miramar RV and if so what are your opinions? The sales person mentioned that the Miramar had the More Ride (called something like that) suspension with Blistein shocks and front and rear anti-sway bars that the Hurricane didn't have. I looked at the brochure when I got home and couldn't find any info on the suspension. The wife originally said we could buy the Hurricane and then get the Motorhome we want in 7-8 years but I would rather get what we want now and then keep it a long time. I hate the depreciation on new RVs but I figure if I get the model I want, I can keep it a long time and won't have any reason to upgrade later. It's just to two of us and our dogs.

Burch

[Passin_Thru]

I'd go with Newmar before I'd buy a new Tiffin. I heard quality is not what it was.

[Aridon]

We'd buy a newmar again. We'd also buy a Tiffin.

[bagman]

To the original poster, we've been RV'ing since 1994 and of the 3 class A's you mentioned, I would buy the Newmar product. You can never go wrong with quality! The others will cost less and there is a reason for that! We have toured the Newmar factory and they build a quality motor home! No offense to the other manufacturers, but that is MHO. Bagman.

[MetalGator]

wredman wrote:
we just bought a Hurricane 34F, and were considering a 35C. Lets say 3/4s of our negatives towards the 35C layout have been rectified with the new 35M. I never stepped into a Miramar, but we were reaching and justifying too much just to get to the price point we ended up at - this is our first RV/trailer/camper ever, besides a tent. I know, one can always get a higher level used for the same cost of a lower level new, but many of the recent trends in motorhomes are "must haves" for us. I looked used, and along with the production gap starting in 2009, probably leading to price compression for 2 year old models to fall right in line with end of the year new models, I could not find used models to be a viable option for us. I guess every buyer has their unique needs and wants, we are a family of 2 teens, 2 parents, and 2 grandparents hoping to do a lot of traveling, not necessarily traditional camping. I realize the half bath may be dearly missed.

I have no experience to interject the effect from 22" vs 19" wheels, but the Thor 36' coach with a 242" wheelbase handles semi truck push as well as I ever expected. It is a non issue for me - stock suspension without an alignment yet.

We have the same problems with the used models. Layouts and options we like we have only been able to find on newer models. I did find one 2015 used model I liked but they wanted as much as a new model. I really do like the 242" wheel base on the Hurricanee and Miramar. The main thing I liked about the Miramar is the full body paint. In Florida, the sun just kills the front of our TT. It is in covered parking but it gets sun on the front end in the mornings and no matter how much I wax, it still gets oxidized after a couple of months.

[wredman]

we just bought a Hurricane 34F, and were considering a 35C. Lets say 3/4s of our negatives towards the 35C layout have been rectified with the new 35M. I never stepped into a Miramar, but we were reaching and justifying too much just to get to the price point we ended up at - this is our first RV/trailer/camper ever, besides a tent. I know, one can always get a higher level used for the same cost of a lower level new, but many of the recent trends in motorhomes are "must haves" for us. I looked used, and along with the production gap starting in 2009, probably leading to price compression for 2 year old models to fall right in line with end of the year new models, I could not find used models to be a viable option for us. I guess every buyer has their unique needs and wants, we are a family of 2 teens, 2 parents, and 2 grandparents hoping to do a lot of traveling, not necessarily traditional camping. I realize the half bath may be dearly missed.

I have no experience to interject the effect from 22" vs 19" wheels, but the Thor 36' coach with a 242" wheelbase handles semi truck push as well as I ever expected. It is a non issue for me - stock suspension without an alignment yet.

[MetalGator]

DocP wrote:

So far, I like it. I, too, was initially not impressed with the quality of both bath countertops, but it should be a relatively easy mod should it end up bothering me too much. I agree that there is less basement storage - mine quickly became close to capacity, but there are 2 compartments that have narrow pass-through storage (about 5" high) where I was able to store brooms, beach chairs and umbrellas and a host of other narrow items.

I came from a 2016 Coachmen Class C motorhome with 16" tires, so the ride with the Thor 35M 19.5" tires felt qualitatively better to me. I did also drive several class A's with the 22.5" tires, but kept coming back to the Thor 35M as best fitting my current needs. There are only 2 of us who will ever be using our 35M, so for us it is a ton of interior space and the wife loves the king-size bed and size of the full master bathroom.

I'm heading out on a two-week trip in several weeks and will have a better sense as to handling, but for now, I really like it!

Thanks so much for the info. We were really serious about this model until the wife saw the Miramar. I guess it comes down to is the extra $15-$20K worth the extras. We are like you as it's just me and my wife and we both work full time so we are basically weekend warriors and a week long trip here and there.

[DocP]

MetalGator wrote:

DocP wrote:
Interesting topic. I just went through the same process of investigating Class A's within various price ranges. Although there were differences across brands (e.g., leather driver's seats vs. "leatherette", solid surface vanity tops vs. laminate, etc.), I went with the 2017 Thor Hurricane 35M. I will never be a full-timer in it, and (for me) the additional $10,000 - $15,000 difference wasn't worth the upgrade to the other models. Just my 2 cents.

How do you like the 35M? The only thing I didn't like about it was the counter tops and the lack of basement storage. Since it doesn't have pass through storage, my broom and several other items would be too long to store underneath. The 35M at the show, the border around the edge of the counter top was already coming loose. That's the same type top that my current TT has and I have the same issue. How does it drive? I have read that the 22.5 inch tires ride better than the 19.5 but I have never ridden in a Class A motorhome so I have no idea if that is the case.

So far, I like it. I, too, was initially not impressed with the quality of both bath countertops, but it should be a relatively easy mod should it end up bothering me too much. I agree that there is less basement storage - mine quickly became close to capacity, but there are 2 compartments that have narrow pass-through storage (about 5" high) where I was able to store brooms, beach chairs and umbrellas and a host of other narrow items.

I came from a 2016 Coachmen Class C motorhome with 16" tires, so the ride with the Thor 35M 19.5" tires felt qualitatively better to me. I did also drive several class A's with the 22.5" tires, but kept coming back to the Thor 35M as best fitting my current needs. There are only 2 of us who will ever be using our 35M, so for us it is a ton of interior space and the wife loves the king-size bed and size of the full master bathroom.

I'm heading out on a two-week trip in several weeks and will have a better sense as to handling, but for now, I really like it!

[Effy]

I looked at the Miramar a while back, I really liked them but could not find anyone on here that had one. You may want to check the Thor forum.

[MetalGator]

A lot of people think the same of Forrest River as they do Thor but I have had a Forrest River product for over 5 years and have been happy with it.

So I guess there's no one with a Miramar? It seems like Miramar must be a fairly new Thor product as I don't see many of them for sale online. Used or New.

[hanko]

No I havnt, but one of my close friends has, hes in litigation with General RV and Thor. I think they have a excessive quality control problem.

[Effy]

Hanko hates Thor. Although I am not sure why, I don't think he's ever owned one.

[MetalGator]

hanko wrote:
comparing Thor to Newmar is comparing McDonald's Hamburger to Filet Mignon from Kansas City

I did not find that to be the case comparing the Newmar Baystar and the Thor Miramar. Maybe certain model Thors. The Miramar and Baystar were very similar in quality inside IMO. I can't comment on the other Thor models except the Hurricane. I have been looking at the Baystars for the last 3 years and have been in dozens of them and I was pleasantly surprised when looking at the Miramar after all the bad things I had heard about Thor. When I say similar in quality, I'm talking about cabinets, furniture, full body paint, counter tops, etc. I do like the Newmar slide system better as I have heard bad things about the swintech slide systems that Thor uses, although most of the complaints I have seen were about the full length slides. My wife is way more picky about the inside of the motorhomes and even she was really impressed by the Miramar models.

[hanko]

comparing Thor to Newmar is comparing McDonald's Hamburger to Filet Mignon from Kansas City

[Georgia_Popcorn]

Well, we bought the HURRICANE the end of October '16...29M. It's our first experience in a "A Class" camper, we have had several fifth wheels and traded in a Keystone Outback 35ft.

I will say this about that, we just got back off a 1600 mile trip to Ft Myers, Fl, on up to Tampa, and then to Destin, Fl for a week. My buddy Bill bought a Windsport 29M at the same time. My drive down was with no turn signal's or flashers, Bill cannot open his hood even to check the oil!(hinge bracket hit's the power steering pump...) We both bought aftermarket stabilizer's for the steering and had them aligned at a front end shop. Neither one of us tow anything, we either Enterprise or Uber.
Because I had never had a "A Class" and Bill had never had a camper...I wouldn't of changed a thing. Yes there are "bugs" in all new camper's, no mater what you buy, BUT they a fixable most of the time by yourself...I am satisfied with the Ford Chassis (even though I do agree 22.5 wheels would be better). I got 10 miles per gallon driving 60 MPH! The new, 2016 transmission is good, even the transmission brake helps tremendously! We still got some more work to do on the stabilizer bars. We left out of Destin on last Monday and the winds fought me all the way home. All systems worked on mine (once we fixed the turn signals...), Bill lost his electric hot water and had to use LP.
It is exactly like the poster's say, it's all in your pocketbook and how much dollars you can spend, would a 35 ft be better, I would say yes but as for me, an entry level guy, the $20,000 left over in my pocket feels better, and we got a KING size bed!
My advice is when you do the walk-thru, take your time and look very, very, very CLOSE, the people you will work with are sales people, take a lengthy test drive, check all systems over and over, whatever you buy......

[MetalGator]

DocP wrote:
Interesting topic. I just went through the same process of investigating Class A's within various price ranges. Although there were differences across brands (e.g., leather driver's seats vs. "leatherette", solid surface vanity tops vs. laminate, etc.), I went with the 2017 Thor Hurricane 35M. I will never be a full-timer in it, and (for me) the additional $10,000 - $15,000 difference wasn't worth the upgrade to the other models. Just my 2 cents.

How do you like the 35M? The only thing I didn't like about it was the counter tops and the lack of basement storage. Since it doesn't have pass through storage, my broom and several other items would be too long to store underneath. The 35M at the show, the border around the edge of the counter top was already coming loose. That's the same type top that my current TT has and I have the same issue. How does it drive? I have read that the 22.5 inch tires ride better than the 19.5 but I have never ridden in a Class A motorhome so I have no idea if that is the case.