RRTom
California USA
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Considering the Forest River Forester 2251SLE, and the Thor Four Winds 24F. Any insights to either or both would be appreciated. Please, no brand bashing unless you can give concrete examples.
Thanks
2020 Georgetown GT 31LS
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azdryheat
Tucson, AZ
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I work in the industry. Thor has severe quality issues. Lots of unhappy customers.
2013 Chevy 3500HD CC dually
2014 Voltage 3600 toy hauler
2019 RZR 1000XP TRE
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bobndot
USA
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I really don't think it matters which you buy. Finding a good dealer is the key. If the dealer is making enough profit on the sale, then their is a lot of wiggle room to get things done for you. If you lessen his profit during the sale, then don't expect the dealer to jump for joy when you return for help.
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IAMICHABOD
Sunny So Cal
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One great thing is that you can get both on a Chevy Chassis that is a Plus ![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/biggrin.gif "biggrin") ![[image]](https://www.picgifs.com/emoticons/smileys-and-emoticons/thumbs/smileys-thumbs-217948.gif)
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SidecarFlip
SE Michigan
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Not brand bashing (because I own an FR product) but in my view, all but the total custom units are all poorly constructed today.
I've had my share of issues but being handy and self reliant, I've handled them all myself. Having said that, none of the 'issues' should have been there in the first place.
2015 Backpack SS1500
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Ralph Cramden
Not on this rag of a forum
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azdryheat wrote:I work in the industry. Thor has severe quality issues. Lots of unhappy customers.
Do you think that they may have lots of unhappy customers because they sell twice as many MH's as the 2nd place manufacturer and have done so consistently almost forever?
Thor has 43% share in motorized RV's, Forest River a little less than 23%, and Winnebago 13% and change.
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cbigham
orange , CA
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Recently bought a thor 23u. Had been circling around liking the 2501 sunseejer and the smaller 1 slide sunseeker (fr product) seen a few at the lot with broken slides. One they tried to sell me sales staff said we will repair it if you buy it. I could see daylight thru the slide, improperly aligned when closed. I asked if they drove from Indiana like that? Yes. Pass.
There's a couple rv repair facilities in SOCAL known for competency in major repairs many of these manufacturers send their stuff for rework. One of them had been my main go to for my funmover(thor product we bought in 2005 and put 92k on) Thor, as I already knew, the house, box is strong, inside stuff paper machete. Lots of nice flashy stuff in the various FR products but lots of leaks. Avoid slides. He had a nice business fixing slides including some poorly cut holes.
Because I use my motorhome sever, dirt roads, extended stays no hook ups, I wanted no issues with slides weakening the box or failure to retract keeping me from leaving. No leak issues again either, please. (Dirt bike rider, carried in hitch rack) after 10k miles, many bad roads, the thor is holding up. That's not to say it hasn't been problem free and there have been some stupid things I've discovered..and fixed.
To succeed in rving ur gonna have to be somewhat handy no matter what the brand!
* This post was
edited 08/27/18 07:20am by cbigham *
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lfcjasp
Southeast VA
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Cbigham is right. No matter what brand you decide on, if you do not take care of your rig and respect its limitations and if you don't want to fix anything yourself, you might as well just buy anything or buy nothing.
We've had our Thor Four Winds 24C for five years (six summers...we bought it in May) and it's been relatively problem free, at least compared with some of the horror stories I've read here on brand new campers on their maiden trip of all things.
A good dealer, good insurance and a willingness to do some work yourself can make all the difference between a POS and a fun camper!
ETA: I'm still shocked at all the Forest River complaining; I would have loved one of their Class C's ![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/confused.gif "confused")
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TheLuvShack
Indiana
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bobndot wrote:I really don't think it matters which you buy. Finding a good dealer is the key. If the dealer is making enough profit on the sale, then their is a lot of wiggle room to get things done for you. If you lessen his profit during the sale, then don't expect the dealer to jump for joy when you return for help.
Amazing! Are you saying that when you call the service manager to schedule an appointment, the service manager calls the sales manager to see what kind of profit they made on your unit? The more profit made on the sale the better service you get?
"If the women don't find you handsome, they better find you handy". Red Green
Daryl
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SidecarFlip
SE Michigan
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TheLuvShack wrote:bobndot wrote:I really don't think it matters which you buy. Finding a good dealer is the key. If the dealer is making enough profit on the sale, then their is a lot of wiggle room to get things done for you. If you lessen his profit during the sale, then don't expect the dealer to jump for joy when you return for help.
Amazing! Are you saying that when you call the service manager to schedule an appointment, the service manager calls the sales manager to see what kind of profit they made on your unit? The more profit made on the sale the better service you get?
Unless I'm sleeping, no one does anything in a business setting for free and the more a business can make profit wise, the happier they are.... and in as much as any RV is a luxury item when you get it socked to you. be happy. You are supporting the employees and providing profit for the owner.
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