Thor Vegas 3rd year report.

[jolooote]

After owning my Thor Vegas for the 3rd year here is my report on pro's & cons...
Pro's
After driving a 35 footer & towing I'm very happy to 'Finally' be able to get gas without White knuckles.
I get an honest 10 MPG.
No worries if the camp spot is big enough.
Very easy to drive.
Love the individual beds.
Cons...
This Ford E-350 chassis has a flaw of the Transmission shift cable comming loose, laying against the hot exhaust header, burning thru leaving you stranded. Ford will fix it free.
The Auto transfer switch for the selection of Shore or Generator power burns thru the connectors inside the plastic box under the passenger side rear bed. Mine has done it twice! The problem is Thor tries to mate solid copper wire with braided aluminum wire.
Engine battery almost impossible to get to.
All side windows leak water into side wall rotting wood.
Inside tranny/Engine access cover VERY difficult to remove.
Left rear outside storage door above generator leaks water into storage compartment.
Access to Black & Gray drain hose connection VERY difficult.
Windshield wipers fall off.
LED lights on awning are failing.
Seiki TVs are not compatible with digital TV system.
Radio antenna on roof rotted away.
Roof vent open/close knobs are too high to reach.
Microwave oven is too high.
Entrance door has frosted finish and useless for driving. Dangerous.
Roof air conditioner very loud in front living area.
Blowing up the matrices is stupid.
There is lots of storage area under the slideout couch but is not accessible without modification to front of couch.
Dash mounted Touch screen radio should be illegal in ALL vehicles.
Lights in left & rite storage compartment mounted too far into compartment to reach.
No streetside lighting for night time hooking up.
Exterior sealent used by Thor very sloppy and discolors
Can't read the Odometer while driving. Must almost lay down in seat to see it.
Badly in need of sun shade on top half of both front side windows!!!
TV antenna raise/lower mechanism very CHEAP CHEAP!
Micro wave falling out. Screws stripped.
Why double or even any locks on engine hood when nothing in there is accessible.
Kitchen counter extension broke off if too much weight.
Bathroom sink drains into Black tank!!!
Rear view camera unusable at night due to glare.
Camera view on front display can't be used at night, too bright!
Water heater wiring is fire hazard.
Driver seat should be electric.
Left & rite rear view mirror need to be longer.
Entrance door handle should be lighted.
Due to front fatia being so low to ground, there should be a wire mesh guard in front of radiator to protect from stones.

[Gjac]

Does the short wheel base affect how it handles? Also do you have enough FW capacity to dry camp in the smaller State and NP's? How much water do they hold? I notice some have the large pass thru storage in the rear does this make up for not having the full basement storage bays like you would get on a larger MH? Thanks for the honest report.

[Mr_Mark1]

Jolooote, from the 'con' list, it almost seems that the designers have never been inside or used a motorhome.

I wonder if the 2018 models have any of the corrections that are needed.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck!

Safe travels,
MM.

[Chainwright]

jolooote wrote:
Hi Mr Chainwright. We're not fultimers. I wouldn't recommend a small rig like this for Fultiming. My experience would lean towards about 30 foot with slides for Fultiming. If you spend lots of time in one place and little time driving I'd recommend bigger that 30. Lets face it, there are simply times when ya need yer own SPACE.

LOL. Oh oK, you had me worried there for a bit.

[Bruce_Brown]

jolooote wrote:
This was my 7th RV and 5th Motorhome. All in All, considering many of the 'Fixes & problem I dealt with in all my RV's since 1971...I'm happy with my Thor Vegas....well, sorta. lol.

I have to admit, after reading your first post I was surprised to read this one. With your list of issues "happy" is certainly not a word I would use. I would have said Run!

This is a perfect example of different people having different expectations.

[jolooote]

Hi Mr Chainwright. We're not fultimers. I wouldn't recommend a small rig like this for Fultiming. My experience would lean towards about 30 foot with slides for Fultiming. If you spend lots of time in one place and little time driving I'd recommend bigger that 30. Lets face it, there are simply times when ya need yer own SPACE.

[jolooote]

Hi Mr. gutfelt. Actually the 305HP V10 seems to like higher RPMs better. I get 8.5mpg at 55 mph and 10 at 68mph. Not towing. Flat Florida ground.

[Chainwright]

Wow does Thor make anything that's good? what about the Venetian?

[jarata1]

Remind me not to buy thor

[Chainwright]

So are y'all fulltimers? is this the kind of RV you'd recommend to fulltimers? do you store it in covered parking? Garage?

[1968mooney]

jolooote wrote:
This was my 7th RV and 5th Motorhome. All in All, considering many of the 'Fixes & problem I dealt with in all my RV's since 1971...I'm happy with my Thor Vegas....well, sorta. lol.

After reading the list of problems you presented, I would not want to camp close to your RV much less own one.

[gutfelt]

jolooote wrote:
This was my 7th RV and 5th Motorhome. All in All, considering many of the 'Fixes & problem I dealt with in all my RV's since 1971...I'm happy with my Thor Vegas....well, sorta. lol.

If your getting 9-11 MPG so 10 average you must drive at 50MPH on totally flat roads

[scrubjaysnest]

jolooote wrote:
After owning my Thor Vegas for the 3rd year here is my report on pro's & cons...
Pro's
snip
I get an honest 10 MPG. Ours is between 8 and 10 towing a Wrangler, varies with terrain.


No worries if the camp spot is big enough.
Very easy to drive.
Love the individual beds.
Cons...
This Ford E-350 chassis has a flaw of the Transmission shift cable comming loose, laying against the hot exhaust header, burning thru leaving you stranded. Ford will fix it free.

We have the E 450 chassis and this was fixed at the Ford factory.


snip......
Engine battery almost impossible to get to.
My fix was to remove the plywood above the battery and hinge it.

All side windows leak water into side wall rotting wood.

Only the escape window on ours when open

Inside tranny/Engine access cover VERY difficult to remove.
snip..........
Access to Black & Gray drain hose connection VERY difficult. Ditto
Windshield wipers fall off. Think there was a recall.

LED lights on awning are failing. Ours keep falling out.
snip......
Roof vent open/close knobs are too high to reach.
Microwave oven is too high.
snip....
There is lots of storage area under the slideout couch but is not accessible without modification to front of couch.
snip....
No streetside lighting for night time hooking up.
snip...
snip....
Badly in need of sun shade on top half of both front side windows!!!
snip.....
Kitchen counter extension broke off if too much weight. Had one pin shear on ours
Bathroom sink drains into Black tank!!!
snip........
Left & rite rear view mirror need to be longer. Right is blocked by awning, camera is fine.

snip....

Due to front fatia being so low to ground, there should be a wire mesh guard in front of radiator to protect from stones.

There a mod for this on the Thor forums.

After a year and half and over 13k miles we are pleased with our Axis. Same thing as a Vegas, different color scheme.

I've edited the OP's original comments to reflect ours.

We are pleased over all and for our style of camping, back country small CG's, over 90% is dry, this RV works well.

Tried to edit this to make more readable but kept getting formatting errors

[RJL]

We have a 2010 Damon Challenger. Thor product. Bought it used in 13. Was a HUGE POS when we bought it. Had a host of problems. Luckily I bought the extended warranty and after many, many nights away from home getting repaired, we can kinda, sorta rely on the old girl.

[jolooote]

This was my 7th RV and 5th Motorhome. All in All, considering many of the 'Fixes & problem I dealt with in all my RV's since 1971...I'm happy with my Thor Vegas....well, sorta. lol.