Thor ACE 30.2 vs Forest River 31B3

[superrayzor]

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?

[Franboop]

We have the 30.2 and love it. We travel with our 3 grandkids and 2 dogs and the motor home is plenty comfortable. Our requirements were similar, under 32 ft (to fit in our driveway),needed bunk beds, and needed to be fully functional with the slide in. We liked the Thor floorplan the best--especially the table for the captain's chairs, and the swivel function allowing the chairs to be part of the living area when parked. Kitchen fully functional when slide is in, as is the bathroom, so we can park and dine without leveling and moving the slide in and out. Little things like the under step storage, the shoe bin off the steps (while not called this in the literature, if you've got three kids you will understand exactly what I am getting at!!!) The ability to keep the "princess bed" over the can extended without losing the use of the captain's chairs were big sellers for us. Performing the cheap handling fix, adding a safe-t-plus and a rear track bar have it handling well in wind, rain, and high speed conditions. Consider those add ons as part of your purchase price.
We are currently preparing for a 3.5 week camping trip out west with the kids. If you have additional questions, or want specific advice on add ons and modifications please pm me.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[nma33]

Definitely make a list of "Must haves" and "would be nice", We did this and found the exact coach we wanted, Our one hesitation was the accordion door to the bedroom, That was cured by Jayco, My coach is at Jayco getting a solid sliding door installed as we speak. Customer Service is a very important issue, So far so good for us. I purchased from RV Direct for only one reason, price was unbeatable, no one came within 10k, My Coach listed for 135,000. I purchased it for 79,000. I looked locally and at the Hershey RV Show, No one came close.

I don't necessarily agree that all entry level coaches are the same, We agree to disagree on this, The precept seemed to give us mire bang for the buck, It has certain features standard that are options on others, It drives very well.

There are many manufactures, coaches of all sizes and shapes(kinda), Floor plans galore. it all comes down to what your needs are. We met our needs with the coach we purchased. Good luck on your search and purchase!

[jpmihalk]

Floor plan, floor plan, floor plan. Once you know what you want in a floor plan, list the "must haves" and the deal breakers. After that, the "nice to haves" and then start looking again.

We have been through this exercise over the last 3 years and finally got what we hope will be our last motorhome. Like you, we didn't want a king bed, so we limited our searches to queen beds only. We also wanted a residential fridge, so that narrowed down the scope considerably.

As Effy originally said, the quality at the entry level is splitting hairs. For example, some brands may not have a solid door to the bedroom - that is something to look at. Some brands have a lack of backsplashes behind or beside the range. Some brands have nightstands next to the head of the bed and some have power outlets there as well, but many don't. These are just little details that you pick up on after looking at all of them. Some things you can modify after the fact, some you either can't or need to pay someone if they are important enough to you.

In most cases, the entry level units across all brands have details that separate them from the others. Cost may also be a deciding factor as some dealers and brands have deeper discounts than others.

[ForestRiverTeac]

As the owner of a Thor A.C.E. 30.1 (no bunks), I have to say that one of the biggest selling points for us was how easy it was to work with their customer service. And they've been very responsive for us. We'd previously owned trailers from different manufacturers, and none of them were as easy to work with as Thor has been.

If you've never owned an RV, one of the truest statements I ever heard was that any RV is essentially like dealing with an "abode" that experiences a non-stop earthquake every time it's on the road. Things will get shaken. And over time, they come loose -- even on the most solidly-made rigs. It's the nature of the beast.

So, for us, knowing that we can call Thor's customer service gave us the confidence we needed to purchase our A.C.E.

Enjoy the journey!

[superrayzor]

Effy wrote:

Have you ever rented an RV? Often that's a quick way to find out what you need in a coach. One thing is for sure, it's really hard to buy your last coach first.

I am very confident in what we are looking for in an RV (at our price range). I actually don't think renting will give me the experience that I am looking for as part of our goal is to load it up, and drive it pretty much across the country.

As you said, chances are this isn't going to be my last one. I am fine with making some mistakes and upgrading later on, but I don't want to be stuck with something I hate for the next 3 months.

[Effy]

superrayzor wrote:

Effy wrote:

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=FLM7297

X2 - or the Winnie Vista, the Newmar Bay star sport, Forest River FR3, Coachman Mirada or pursuit.....

Vista no bunk beds until 35 feet unfortunately but looks veautiful.

Newmar Bay Star Sport loses the dinette which is a dealbreaker. Eating for 6 people at the sofa/tiny dinette won't work.

I really like the FR3 32DS. Just annoyed because I don't want a king bed, prefer a queen and would rather give that space to other things 🙂 Also seems to be ~94K for a new one.

I wouldn't pay a lot of attention to an advertised price. If you really want to know what a decent deal would be, price it on RVDIRECT.com. They may not have all the brands, but on the ones they do have it's about the best pricing you can find. If you get near that with a local dealer you are doing well. Of course you could always use RVDIRECT. I almost bought my last coach that way but a more local dealer came close enough.

As a rule of thumb you should be able to negotiate about 25-35% off MSRP. Often it takes pitting several dealers against one another to get there, but with the internet, it's pretty easy to get to competitive pricing.

On your line of thinking, you are on the right track. Often it's a good idea to go to a show and see them all. Even if they don't have the plan you want, it's a good way to see nuances like Décor, fit and finish, etc. While quality may be close some have pretty distinct décor. Look at every single thing you can, how do the blinds work, are they day/night, is there carpet or solid flooring under the dinette, how easy is it to load groceries, how comfy are the seats, where are power ports/outlets, is there room to prepare a meal and dry dishes, what's the TV(s) viewing angles, what can /can't you access with the slide in, how many AC's, 50 amp or 30, how big are the bins, are there slide toppers, how much storage, is the storage on the camp side or under the slide, etc etc.

Have you ever rented an RV? Often that's a quick way to find out what you need in a coach. One thing is for sure, it's really hard to buy your last coach first.

[superrayzor]

Effy wrote:

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=FLM7297

X2 - or the Winnie Vista, the Newmar Bay star sport, Forest River FR3, Coachman Mirada or pursuit.....

Vista no bunk beds until 35 feet unfortunately but looks veautiful.

Newmar Bay Star Sport loses the dinette which is a dealbreaker. Eating for 6 people at the sofa/tiny dinette won't work.

I really like the FR3 32DS. Just annoyed because I don't want a king bed, prefer a queen and would rather give that space to other things 🙂 Also seems to be ~94K for a new one.

[Effy]

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.

[superrayzor]

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

[Effy]

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=FLM7297

X2 - or the Winnie Vista, the Newmar Bay star sport, Forest River FR3, Coachman Mirada or pursuit.....

[nma33]

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

[Effy]

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.