We were in the same place when we were looking. We had a 24 ft Keystone Passport trailer and were looking for something that would be a lot easier to set up, and a configuration that didn't have us looking for gas as soon as we had filled up. We were towing with a Nissan Armada with a 25 gallon tank. While towing we would get a 7 MPG, so we were filling up every 100 to 150 miles.
The work in setting up a trailer at camp and then breaking down to leave was getting a bit old.We were camped at a KOA in Steamboat Springs and spent about 30 minutes setting up when a guy pulls up in a brand new Phaeton. He pulls up and the levelers come down and the guy comes out of the coach with a lawn chair and beer. Wife says "I want to set up like that". This was after we had made a 3 week trip to Glacier NP that involved half a dozen set ups and break downs.
We don't have a Phaeton budget or desire for that large of a coach, but did want something we could drive in, level, and be done. We started out looking at Greyhawks and were leaning towards a 29MV and weren't thinking of a Class A. However we found our Thor ACE 30.1, that had a very similar floor plan, but a much more open feel. It drove better, at least on the test drive (more below) as the driver is basically over the wheels, so its got a better turning radius. We also looked at a Fleetwood Flair, a Georgetown 30DS and Forest River Fr3. We found them all to be similar and ended up with the ACE, mainly due to the floorpan and somewhat lower price. We did buy from Camping World, which if I knew what I know now, we would not have done. We are right at 2 years, so I no longer have to depend upon them for warranty service. Fortunately, the few things that have come up for us were things I could fix. However there are tons of people that have had big quality problems with Thor and CW, so I would steer you towards Fleetwood or Forest River and somewhere other than CW. Jayco still seems OK but Thor has bought them up, so they may be in the process of infecting them with a low quality culture.
We've been happy with the ACE, and apparently have avoided a lot of the quality issues that Thor has become famous for. I do look back and wonder how we would have done with the Flair or Fr3. The Georgetown got off the list because DW didn't like the strange two tone couch and dinette covers (deep brown with white piping) and the bed had no side table at all. I think I had had the chance for a do over, I'd probably go with the Flair or Fr3, or even splurged on the small Tiffin. Allegro gas coach.
We did discover that with F53 chassis, which any gas Class A will have, you need to make some investments in better handling. When we got it on the highway, after awhile you realized that it wandered quite a bit and was really sensitive to wind and passing trucks. We. got an alignment (Thor doesn't align the chassis after dumping a few tons of stuff on the chassis), added a Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer, changed the OEM Bilstein shocks out for a set of Koni FSD's, did the cheap handling fix front and rear and installed a rear track bar. All of these contributed, but the Koni's and track bar made the biggest difference. The Safe-T-Plus helps with steering wander and is in my view a necessary safety item. I don't know what if anything extra you would need to do with a Class C, but any class A on the F53 chassis comes with marginal handling. We have made a few other mods - replaced the really poor OEM Harris batteries and the battery killing WFCO converter. We just got rid of the jackknife couch all of these rigs come with and replaced it with a pair of RecPro recliners. Other than handling stuff, the recliners were the best thing we did.
I'm not sure if the Greyhawk would or would not have been a better choice. It does have a smaller gas tank (55 gal vs 80 in the Class A's), and we really like the extra space the Class A layout gives you. The ACE's overhead bunk is only good for 250 pounds, so only one adult can sleep up there. I think the Greyhawk's top bunk can handle 750 pounds). Otherwise the interior quality is about the same. The ACE, and the other smaller gas coaches we looked at have about the same interior materials that the Class C has and basically have the same appliances (gas refrigerator, Atwood hot water heater and furnace). You will have a few things crop up no matter what you select. I generally tell people that you should expect to spend another 10% of the purchase price on upgrades and fixes, and definitely plan on improving an F53 chassis suspension.
