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The diesel heater was amazing and I would never travel in the cold without a van that had one and the fact it turned the bathroom into a drying room when needed was the best invention ever (nothing better than getting up to a warm crisp towel! After witnessing other vans the thing we think defines the Base Jumper in as the best is that you never need to plug it into power (as long as you drive every couple of days, which on this sort of holiday you are going to do!) plugging into power would be annoying, restricting and expensive.
- Carmen, Australia
Compare Features
Motorhome rental companies are renowned for making bold claims - "the newest fleet, best service, best designed, most reliable, most comfortable, best features, and best appointed" (whatever that means). Who should you believe? We say - don't take their word for it. At Wilderness, we don't make any statements that we can't back up with the facts.
To prove a point, we've done a comparison of the features in our motorhomes with four of the biggest motorhome rental companies in New Zealand.
- S = Standard
- O = Optional
-
| | = Not included or not specified |
| | | Wilderness | United | Apollo | Maui | Kea |
 | Vehicle make | Fiat | Mercedes | | | Ford |
| Engine - all turbo diesel (litres) | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 2.4 |
| Fuel consumption (L/100km) | 11
| 10-11 | 15 | 15 | 12 |
| Euro emission compliance | Euro 4 | | | Euro 4 | Euro 4 |
| Auto/ Manual (gears) | M - 6 | A- 6 | M | M -5 | M - 6 |
| Cruise control | S | | | | |
| Dual airbags | S | | | | S |
| Remote central locking | S | | | | S |
| Air conditioning (in cab) | S | S | S | S | S |
| | | | | | | |
 | Water - Fresh/Waste (litres) | 90/90 | 75/85 | 100 | 140/110 | 100/82 |
| Fresh water filter | S | S | | | |
| 240 volt inverter | S | | | | |
| Battery hrs (max unplugged) | 72 | | 12 | 12 - 14 | |
| Gas bottles | 2 | 1 | | | 1 |
| | | | | | | |
| | | Wilderness | United | Apollo | Maui | Kea |
 | Fridge/ freezer (litres) | 110 | 90 | 57 | 80 | 90 |
| Gas cooker (burners) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Grill | S | | | | |
| Rubbish & recycling bins | S | | | | |
| Drying room | S | | | | |
| Heated twin towel rail | S | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
 | CD & radio | S | S | S | S | S |
| TV & DVD player | S | | | | S |
| MP3/MP4 & iPod auxiliary outlet | S | | | | |
| Heating (Diesel, Electric, Gas) | D | E, G | E | E | E, G |
| Fly screens | S | | | S | S |
| Security box or safe | S | | | | S |
| Fire extinguisher | S | | S | | S |
| | | | | | | |
 | Barbeque | S | | | | |
| Outdoor furniture (table, chairs) | S | O | O | O | O |
| Outdoor shower | S | | | | |
| Snow chains | S | O | O | O | O |
| Certified self contained | S | | | | S |
| Vehicle age (max years) | 2.5
| 3 | 3 | | 2.5 |
| | | | | | | |
- Features details are from the various companies’ websites and are updated once a year
- Updated September 2008.
What does it all mean?
Some things are obvious and some things are not. Here’s what our design team say about some of the important features in Wilderness motorhomes.
240 volt inverter
The inverter converts power from the 12 volt batteries to 240 volts needed to operate many appliances and accessories such as a laptop, iPod, or battery charger. Vehicles with an inverter can operate these without being plugged in to mains power. They’re a must for freedom camping.
Battery life
The longer the motorhome battery lasts without having to start the vehicle or plug into mains power the more freedom camping you can do. The batteries in most rental vehicles won’t last more than a day without having to be recharged by the engine or a mains hookup. This means unless you stay in holiday parks (which you pay for) every night, you’ll be drinking warm beer.
Drying room
Serious adventurers get wet sometimes so we designed the bathroom to double as a drying room. The heater outlet supplies warm air (regardless of whether the engine is running) and the heated towel rail provides express drying for towels and clothing. It’s easy to spot the motorhomes that don’t have drying rooms – they’re the ones with underwear hanging from the wing mirrors!
Heating
The diesel heater is so effective that you can comfortably sleep in your motorhome up the mountain in the middle of winter. It draws diesel from the vehicle’s fuel tank so you don’t have to be hooked up to use it. But don’t worry – it’s not going to annihilate your entire fuel tank in one go. It costs about 30 cents for the first hour and as the air heats up, the cost decreases. Unlike gas and electric heaters, you can run the diesel heater while you’re driving. This means your back as well as your front stays warm – you won’t get that “who left the door open” feeling. The whole vehicle stays toasty day and night and the great thing is – you don’t need to towel off the moisture build up on the windows as you do with gas heating.
Certified self contained
A self-contained motorhome is designed to meet the ablutionary and sanitary needs of the occupants for a minimum of three days, without requiring any external services or discharging any waste. Fresh water for drinking and cooking is stored in tanks. Waste water is collected in waste water tanks and disposed of via dump station facilities, connected to a proper sewerage scheme. A self-contained vehicle used properly, will have no adverse effects on the environment and present no risk to public health.
But what do the customers think?
When it comes down to it, the only reliable judge of which rental company best is the customer. Whether it’s how good the motorhome is or how good the service is, don’t trust the company - trust the traveller. Before you make up your mind, check out New Zealand’s independent travel review website
Rankers and read what the customers are saying.